Amsterdam Theatre Review: Upgrade or Die at Boom Chicago
You can read my five-part blog about visiting Amsterdam, created entirely using my iPhone 3 at girvgoesdutch.tumblr.com
Having spotted in my Rough Guide and cycled past it on my bike tour I was determined to consume the theatrical offering of Boom Chicago, an English language comedy/improv/cabaret venue in the heart of the city’s cultural centre.
There isn’t much English theatre on offer in Amsterdam, and neither there should be, if a culture is to be represented, examined and better understood through traffic on the stage then it should be done in the mother tongue, how else is it to speak to its audience? It could be argued that Boom Chicago fits within this statement as more tourists performing to tourists. The mainly American accented cast had a Dutch speaker amongst them and made enough Dutch language and political jokes to keep locals feeling that they were in on something the rest of us weren’t, but the main comedy offering was one of universal appeal and was genuinely funny.
I wasn’t quite sure what format to expect from the company, my guidebook talking only of comedy and my ticket saying cabaret, but Boom Chicago do a fantastic job of combining both improv scenes with prescripted and well worked scenes, some of which they drop audience members into for good measure.
The show I saw on Tuesday night, Upgrade or Die, had a technology bent and as well as allowing the troupe to poke fun at the likes of Facebook and Google, it also allowed them to show off some of their increadible technical expertise.
I have seen other improv and comedy companies presenting work in their own spaces. Some of the best Theatersports I have seen were on Vancouver’s Granville Island where the company operated from their own space. Edinburgh’s Improverts also operate out of their own theatre with their midnight shows at the Bedlam Theatre but neither had taken full advantage of their surrounds as much as Boom Chicago managed. Combining their quick witted improv with short sketch films shown on a large video screen cyc, the show combined acting with live video minipulation and online trickery.
The actors regularly made trips into the audience, most tucking into the venue’s table service bar and restaraunt, and were able to draw attention on unsuspecting audience members not only with a roving mic but with a camera as well, the product of which was shown of screens across the venue.
It was this clever use of multimedia, often a taboo in anything but massive scale theatre, which lifted the show from clever and well excecuted improv theatre and sketches to one of the best live comedy shows I have the pleasure of watching. Where at other venues I have been impressed with the quality of the improv, the laughs the performers were able to draw from their crowd, or the speed at which the tamed techie was able to whisk a suitable accompanying tune from iTunes, Boom Chicago go the extra mile, improvising and getting big laughs across stage and screen, not only in English but Dutch as well. Well worth a watch.
July 24, 29, 31, August 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19
Weekdays: Dinner and seating 18:30. Show starts 20:15
Saturdays: Dinner & seating 19:15. Show starts 21:00
Tickets €20, VIP tickets €35
Add €4 for Saturday shows
www.boomchicago.nl
