REVIEW: 3 by The Free Association at the de Beauvoir Arms 16 June-22 July 2023

‘In this performance there was a real sense of connection between the performers and the audience that can’t be easily recreated’ ★★★

The Free Association creates a performance space for professional comedians and a school for new or improving amateurs. Their new show ‘3’ brings together three cast members, plus three set pieces and three audience suggestions to create an improvised hour-long play. Comedy fans will be excited by a revolving cast of special guests from stage and screen, including Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts, Stath Lets Flats) and Cariad Lloyd (Griefcast, Peep Show, QI). There is a sense that this is an attempt at real, very bare-bones improv, with very little structure to protect the actors in the moment. The success of the show will almost entirely depend on the actor’s skill as an individual performer and a unit, in their knowledge of comedy, storytelling and timing.

Strictly speaking, the 23 June performance amounted to three one-act plays, rather than one three-act performance. The nature of the show is such that attempts to force the action in a particular direction can suck the air out of the scene, by and large, this performance managed to avoid this. Each scene had moments of brilliance and the audience seemed engaged throughout. Successful improvised comedy relies on the ensemble having a sort of telepathic ability to identify when the action needs to change, or the scene needs to come to an end. There were moments in ‘3’ where scenes felt overlong and a change in direction was needed.

Despite this, the three performers were eminently watchable, in particular Lola Rose Maxwell, who was able to deliver fast, funny lines that took the scene into new directions. Some of the best moments were to be found when the actors caught each other off guard. Part of improvised performance is simply having the confidence to say whatever mad thought is conjured in response to those around you. As a result, the magic of the show is in the actor’s openness and vulnerability, and in this performance there was a real sense of connection between the performers and the audience that can’t be easily recreated.

3, The Free Association at the de Beauvoir Arms, 16 June-22 July 23, Hilarious Improv Comedy Shows | The Free Association — The Free Association | Improv Class | Improvisation Classes | Improv Comedy | London

Reviewed by Natalie MacKinnon