Impro Match
Where are we?
Description
This is a Game. It is in the following categories:
How it Works
This format does not have a specific name and is mainly popular in French speaking countries. There seem to be leagues in just about every French speaking country; there's even a league playing this format in the Congo! These leagues meet every year to play a world championship.
The game is modeled after an ice hockey match: 2 teams of 6 players, 3 men and 3 women, perhaps with one coach per team play each other during 3 30-minute rounds, in a 'ring' resembling an ice hockey field. The game is lead by a referee and 2 aides.
The referee draws challenges out of a bin; challenges can be mixed or separated. A mixed scene is played by players of both teams; a separated scene is played twice, each time by players from one team. Challenges consist of:
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Title for the scene: can be anything
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Number of players per team: can be unlimited, or specified. In some countries they may even specify the genders, like '2 females for the red team, unlimited for the blue team'
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Category: could be anything, but examples would be Science Fiction, Drama, Dostojewski, Western, Musical, Opera, Without words or Without sound, or To Be Continued. For the latter one, the scene played by the first team is to be continued by the second team
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Duration: a number of minutes, ranging from 20 minutes to 30 seconds
Every member of the audience also receives a slipper. This can be thrown into the ring when the audience doesn't like a scene, or even better, at the referee, whenever he or she makes an unpopular decision.
After each round the team captains may ask the referee for an explanation on the faults that were blown, and then the audience gets to vote. Every team has a color, and the audience gets colored cards to vote with.
After 3 30-minute rounds we know which team won the match. Finally, a celebrity or local hero gets to award 'stars' to the 3 best players.
This is a very rigid format, in which just about anything, except the scenes themselves, are fixed. There is a whole protocol to be followed to play a match, and even the number of separated and mixed scenes is set in stone. The idea is that the rigidity of the format contrast well with the anything-is-possible concept of the improvised scenes.
This is a difficult format, as teams really play against each other. Quite often even players in the same team will play against each other, as everyone wants to get awarded a star at the end of the night.
Origin
This (copyrighted) format was developed by 2 Canadians: Yvon Leduc and Robert Gravel.