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An idea that is already big in Canada and America was displayed to great effect at The Cut, Halesworth recently, Theatre Sports. The theatre called it "Whose Line is it Anyway" after the improvisation TV game. If you've ever watched the likes of Josie Lawrence, John Sessions, Tony Slattery, Sandi Toksvig, and Caroline Quentin, battling it out with impro based on audience suggestions, you'll know the sort of thing they were doing. Three teams of teenagers, from Mouth Youth (the drama club at The Cut), "And Action" from Norwich and Fisher Youth (Bungay) took turns to step onto the stage with just a scenario, teamwork and their wits to keep them going in improvised sketches.
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"Arms Expert" – a game for two – one the talking head and the other (standing behind with arms through) providing the expressive gestures, made the audience rock with laughter at how the suggested topic (giraffes, hairdressing, trees) were portrayed. The Theatre Sports continued with a cocktail party host guessing the idiosyncrasies of his guests, the comings and goings of sitters on a park bench, the barman who has to listen to the woes of his customers – sung opera style, and (my favourite) an advert based on such diverse audience suggestions as a slow car, pension plans and extra large lingerie (and yes, "the quality of the underpants did count" as one of the judges put it). The winning team by very few votes, was Mouth Youth, but it was a great evening for competitors and audience members alike. As Jon Mckenna, the man behind the Theatre Sports event said to me, "It would be great if it could be like inter-school sports – you don't need costumes and sets, a coach could go from one school to another in the same way as a football team does now." Although not the winners, a special mention must go to Fisher Youth Theatre who had never done anything like it before the night, but just let the other teams go first and followed their lead brilliantly. | 
