It’s been said that no one looks stupid when they’re having fun.
Perhaps that’s the most important lesson that Kevin Matviw teaches at Garden City Improv.
The second lesson is that the secret to improvisational comedy is the skill of releasing your partner’s imagination.
“The hardest part of improv is overcoming the fear of failure and learning to trust yourself,” Matviw said. “There’s no script or pre-planning. Everything is made up on the spot based on audience suggestions.”
Matviw’s background has positioned him to bring improv comedy to Victoria.
He worked at Second City in Toronto for 12 years, taught at their training centre and, over the years, met and worked with some of the country’s comedic greats.
But anyone who wants to try their hand at improv can do so by enrolling in classes at Garden City Improv. It’s Victoria’s professional improv comedy training centre. Matviw teaches the classes and his goal is to bring improv comedy to the city in new and exciting ways through workshops, special performances, and an exciting variety of weekly and monthly shows.
Garden City Improv is now presenting a series of Theatre Sports shows in Victoria, with one on Sept 29 and then on subsequent Friday nights stretching until Dec. 1.
“The name of our shows is Theatresports. It’s a competitive improv comedy show where two teams face off and the audience decides who the winner is by their applause,” Matviw said.
The venue at the KWENCH Culture Club is licensed and the show is a perfect way to kick off the weekend.
More information on those shows is available at gardencityimprov.com.
For those who want to try their hand at the craft, classes are available at the same website.
After all, in the words of the late, great Robin Williams, “you’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”