Under the Bed is back in action with their wildly entertaining improvisation and their witty, crazy, and sometimes inappropriate humor. Andover’s only student-run improvisation troupe had their first performance of the year Halloween night in the Theatre Classroom. The room was packed with people. There was an extremely long line in the GW mailroom before the show, and people were even turned away. UTB decided on a Halloween theme for the occasion, complete with scary stories and more. The show began with Patrick Brady ’11 and Andrew Schlager ’12 pretending to be a gay couple in “secret.” Schlager joked about the erotic movies they would be watching later that evening, including one called “Grinding Nemo.,” which was met with enthusiasm from the audience. The fake couple proceded to watch horror movies together on Halloween night. Audience members called out the titles of the films, and members of UTB performed the films on the spot. “Casper the ‘Friendly’ Ghost” and “Vampire Date-Rape” were two amusing movie premises among many. The cast then performed an original, on-the-spot, spooky story about a young boy who could not count to three and was found strangled under a tree. Though the plot was difficult to follow, the cast made the story work with some comic cannibalism, a creepy but funny narrator and innovative characters such as the “Ghost-Lusters.” After these skits, UTB had the audience name their favorite games from last year’s shows. They decided to play “World’s Worst” and “A Day in the Life.” “World’s Worst” was not a huge hit, but “A Day in the Life” made more of an impression. UTB interviewed Casey McQuillen ’11, then reenacted a day in her life. The result was explosive and unrealistic, but parts were amusing. The group comically exaggerated every aspect of McQuillen’s life, from history class to her romantic life and passion for song writing. “It was really embarrassing, and I hope that’s not what people think of my life,” said McQuillen, “but it was funny.” UTB members sometimes danced in the gray area between funny and mildly offensive, but most people felt that they managed to achieve a good overall balance in this show. “It was really impressive because I didn’t realize that [UTB] made everything up right on the spot,” said Geena Chen, a visitor to Andover. Others had mixed feelings. Ben Talarico ’11 said, “I felt that it was funny, but there were moments of complete awkwardness.” He added, “I would give it a five [out of six]. I did like the Halloween theme.” Though UTB was missing several members, the group still presented a strong first performance of the year, with the help of new members BJ Garry ’10, Patrick Wohlber ’11 and Charlie Danner ’11. Don’t miss Under the Bed’s next show, a “Christmas Spectacular” performance, coming soon to the Theatre Classroom.
