
Improvised theatre – “impro” or “improv” if you want to sound down with it – is usually associated with madcap sketch comedy. Thank God You’re Here and all that jazz. Impro Melbourne, however, is set to give that image a shake-down with Fat City.

Day One. A Hotel, Evening is a comedy of manners that uses wit and words to satirize, and comment on, middle-class middle-age infidelity.

Big ideas gathered in a small moment. Big voice, big emotion, in a simple idea. Both at once. Big and Small.

It’s not traditional stand-up. Simmons bursts into song, lets us hear the voice inside his head and uses a series of props – including the contents of a supermarket trolley – to create a bizarre menu of ideas and images.

The choice to tackle such a dark subject by the Australian Theatre for Young People could be considered brave or foolish. Either way, the performances by the young ensemble cast were courageous and confronting if a little uneven at times.

