In Hyderabad, improv theatre is catching on

“Apple, pineapple, jackfruit, guava…” A group stands in a circle, listing fruits and playing a fruit-basket game in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. “The game is to warm up, focus and break the ice,” says Jayashree Raj, founder of Improv Commune, an improvisational theatre collective who has been in the city for nine years now. The games and improv exercises are part of a workshop-cum-production with a filmy twist, to be staged at Rangbhoomi Spaces on August 30.

While one of the city’s popular improv shows is helmed by stand-up comedian Rajashekhar Mamidana, Hyderabad’s growing tryst with improvisation — an unscripted form of live theatre — is gaining attention. Armed with a repertoire of techniques, performers respond to audience prompts — an idea, word, character, problem or situation — and build scenes on the spot. The audience gets to see its suggestions played out as actors construct stories seemingly out of nothing.