CRUMBS in Mannheim & Heidelberg


1)
Show at tig7



A blimp the captain and the first mate. the captain always wanted to fly planes
the first mate is just always so happy. On board is a princess and her servant on their way to marry the arch-duke of France, she doesn't want to marry him, she wants to marry the captain...

Oh, also there is a weather sports show, the sports guy over powers the weather guy and tries to take over the show. Of course because of this there is a storm warning that gets glossed over and it affects the blimp.

Here is some easy math for you all: Storm + Blimp = Disaster.

The blimp needs to lose weight to rise above the storm, everything goes including the servant who sacrifices himself for the Royalty he has pledged to protect. But the captain and the princess run away together, thus ending the royal line.


Conclusion?
Blimps are magic and the weather guy gets his own show.


2)
Show at DEA



Things covered in the show:
-a red water cooker (kettle) makes or breaks your relationship
-guys who drink beer all the time will lose everything
-gals who work in factories dream of being artists can make their dreams come true


3)
This show was a new form involving a live illustrator who had his drawings projected on a screen using a rear projector. This is a really cool concept with a whole lot of potential. I felt as the show was still finding it's legs while we were doing it. It was one of those shows where you know that if you did the show right after the actual show that you just did, it would be that much better... does that make sense?

These are some of the things mentioned in the show... I will let you connect the dots.







4)
The final show in Mannheim, the final show of the 20 year anniversary of one of the sweetest improv companies in Germany (and one of the oldest... 20 years). Drama Light was one of the very first groups who recognized CRUMBS and brought them to their city. We hold up an imaginary cake with imaginary candles and sing an imaginary round of “Happy Birthday”.

The show was at the Alte Feuerwache, which I think translates to the the old fire washer or something like that. We had almost 300 hundred people laughing in the aisles as we did our improv thing. The show was sort of a fusion of Theatresports, Micetro and Gorilla Theatre... but of course we put our own little German, Canadian and Slovenian twist on it.


We now take the train to Munich...

CRUMBS in Mannheim

So at our Mannheim show we had a photographer take some pictures and then make some awesome art out of the pictures. This is what they look like.

Go to the site here

The next post will actually be about the shows we did in Mannheim and in Heidelberg, but until then you will just have to enjoy these wonderful pictures.

CRUMBS divide and conquer



Sometimes when CRUMBS is on tour there are more people that want us than we can handle together, so we have devised a way where we can actually separate and be in two places at the same time (haven't you ever wanted to do that?). Lee stayed in Leipzig and taught some workshops to a group, while Stephen trained it back to Berlin to get driven out into the countryside to teach some workshops to a group.

These times when we split up and double team Europe...?

When there are workshops that last the whole weekend and it is an intensive and you are focused together with group on a certain goal and you are out in the country with them... something happens... you end up playing Werewolf.


next halt: mannheim

CRUMBS in Leipzig

So it is our second time in Leipzig, and it is a wonderful place and has a wonderful theatre (die naTo) and they even have a marquee where we can see our name in lights (who doesn't want to see that?).


Quick note: if you want to say Leipzig right, say it like this "Lie-P-Shh"

The show went well, and we got to keep the fans we made there last year. We started the show off by pulling a birthday boy out of the audience (who was sitting front row centre) and we just asked him some questions and that was our suggestion for the show (we took: take it easy, socks, knitting). The show took some nice turns and we didn't realize it at the time but we inadvertently had some references to “Stasi” with all the reports on people that one of the characters were doing.

Quick note: The Stasi was the secret police in the the former east.


We had a couple of workers in a power plant that supplied power to the city. Larry and Charlie worked together but it turned out that every single day Charlie would write a report to the boss about Larry and how he was making mistakes... of course it turned out that Charlie was jealous of Larry. Anyways, they both ended up fixing a meltdown together (by making everything calm down) and of course became the best of friends... of course, of course, of course.


Another story line was a husband and wife. She wanted things to stay the same forever, which was sitting on the couch while knitting a blanket while watching the fire. She figured if they never changed they would never fall in love. But it turned out the blanket was a blanket of guilt over a moment of infidelity in Italy... oh yeah, and he wanted a brand new TV.



Did I mention that she then knitted a pair of stocking? Who doesn't like stockings? Well I like stockings...


And well it turns out that the wife of the guy whose birthday it was was filming the show AND she has a knitting blog AND posted our encore on her knitting blog... enjoy the clip folks.

Next stop: The fork in the road

How to say Munich



So here is a video of a real live person from Munich displaying some of the ways to say Munich. I always wonder why the English version of this German city is so different from how it is pronounced when actually in this city. Come to think of it, why do we call it Germany when they call it Deutschland?

Oh well, enjoy.

p.s. The Munich speaker is Roland from the amazing impro group Isar 148

CRUMBS ice bear eagle spirit



This was filmed during the Berlin International Improv Festival. This is pretty much all the information you are going to get for this... I know, what the hell does CRUMBS really do in Berlin?

CRUMBS in the middle of nowhere

Arhoena is in Mansbach.
Mansbach is in the middle of Germany.
It is a hidden jewel.

Arhoena is a place for natural horsemanship. I have written about it in the past. I could write more about it now, but then the past would be without meaning.


The show in Arhoena is always the most atypical of shows. The audience is usually made up of some children and parents that are at the horse ranch, plus we have some of the town folk show up. The english isn't the strongest, the attention span in the country is different than that of the cosmopolitan cities we usually play. But we had and have a fun show regardless. We please the children by playing animals and we please the adults with a love story. If there isn't a love story, why tell a story anyways.

Two monkeys in the jungle, one wants to leave the jungle and escape to adventure, one doesn't want to leave the jungle.


We also have a tailor who's store is in trouble with the bank.


Both monkeys escape the jungle, one likes it in the city and gets a good job. The other misses the jungle and his love, so he returns to the jungle. The tailor makes the bank worker an amazing suit that sparks success for both the bank worker and the tailor.

Did I mention the jaguar stalking through the jungle who just loves the taste of monkey?

CRUMBS in Berlin!

The Berlin International Impro Festival 2010

This is the festival that started it all. We were at the inaugural festival in 2001 and this is where the CRUMBS name was made in Europe. We just happened to do one of the shows of our lives there and everyone thought that we could always be that good. Perhaps it was the audiences energy, maybe it was the collective judgment of everyone, perhaps it was just the right moment for us to level up, but we have always done our shows with a little more power ever since that very first time in Berlin.



The opening of the festival show:

We did a short scene involving a star student of Latin who admitted she was cheating to not let down the teacher (whom she loved). The teacher was so impressed with her work (before he found out that she was cheating of course) that he had retired and given her the job of teacher. It turned out that they had been destined to be together and throughout history had constantly met and fallen in love. So she had to leave and soak up knowledge to and then track him down on the internet to finally fulfill destiny once again.

"diligo inter a discipulus quod magister"

CRUMBS then did two showcase shows at the Festival.

#1
CRUMBS show in Berlin on Monday

The opening CRUMBS show at the English theatre was an interesting one. It was a show filled with sadness and pathos. Now usually a CRUMBS show has pathos, but this show was heavy on the pathos and only slightly seasoned with the hilariousness.


We saw a couple of undertakers, one that was very good at his job but didn't enjoy anything, and one that was bad at his job but enjoyed life (and was late for everything). I should mention that one was afraid of the dead bodies.



We saw a father and son who had to somehow cross a mighty river, a river that would taunt the father, and who had throughout the ages and generations drowned members of their family.



We saw an old couple who had to deal with one of them dying... did i mention that this show was a sad one?


I suppose I could mention that she wanted to be buried in her favourite red dress and blue shoes.

#2
CRUMBS show in Berlin on Tuesday

Okay now this show was again filled with hilarity and peppered with pathos... yes we are philosophers. This show was also a show that Dj Hunnicutt blew minds with his video manipulation. Now Monday's show was the premiere of the CRUMBS show with video, but this is the show where we really showed the Berlin audience what we could do with it.


We saw a lonely laundromat owner who hadn't seen his family for years because his business was open 24 hours.



We saw a couple who constantly wrestled with their day to day life. She (Rebecca) was not the smartest and a little insensitive and he (Jonathan) was constantly searching to fill an emptiness he felt daily. Well, perhaps it helps to say that it turned out that he had never eaten anything before... some people just don't know how easy it can be to fill that emptiness.



We also saw a couple of bastards who ran a cafe and yet hated everyone who sat at a table (were they French, Italian, Spanish? They were french).


Oh the world, it is a cruel joke, non?


The rest of the Berlin Festival went very well.

1) We did shows in different locations and played as if we were a country's pavilion at some bizarre world expo of impro. Canada had the banks of the river in Berlin and we had use of canoes (which the Germans call Canadians). Other countries involved were Austria, Israel, Sweden, Slovenia and Germany. We had border guards and passport control and everything. A fun concept.

2) We did some shows involving Comedia dell'Arte (which means profession of improvisation, of the art of improvisation or something like that...). I played the part of Pantalone and Lee played the part of one of the young lovers.

3) Lee did a Shakespeare show, which I didn't see, but I assume that everyone died at the end.

4) Tyler and I designed a show called “What Would the Dj Do?”. It was a show giving the Dj (or musician) more of the director's power to influence the scenes. We took some of the tools of the Dj and translated them to the language of what we do in theatrical improvisation and played several Dj vs player games. Then in the second half we put all these games and tools together to make a longform. It worked out mostly, mostly it relied on the skill and playfulness of the cast. It would be nice to play again.

5) I was in the Grand Prix show, which is the impro version of the Eurovision Song contest that is HUGE in Europe. Yes, I had to sing a song... a horrible blues song about horses and ice cream. Of course I came in last place. I had more fun in the second half where I was able to play some scenes more.

Oh Berlin, I miss you.

Next stop: Leipzig (pronounced Lie-P-Shh)

CRUMBS in Oslo, Norway

CRUMBS has never been to Oslo. CRUMBS has never been to Norway. Last year was the first time our show was in Scandinavia (in Stockholm, Sweden) so this will be number two for us.

We arrived in Oslo at night and it was raining, but we didn't give up on Oslo quite yet. We get taken to our “hotel” which is a “floating hotel” which is a boat.



We are close to the train station and right in the heart of Oslo so it is easy to get around. The boat is cool except for the fact that they seem to be constructing the loudest thing possible right outside out boat window. I can usually sleep through anything, so simply go from “sleeping” into “just resting”. We must now muster all our energy for the show. We aren't about to give up on Oslo yet...

First of all, Norwegians totally think Canadians bleed Maple Syrup and totally made a bunch of maple syrup jokes in the show. Then the next day I found this.

So suck it! (maple syrup I mean)


The show... was great. The Norwegians are fun to play with and we again play “The Director's Cut” which worked so well in K-Town. I don't need to explain how the form works (because I have explained it already) but here is the breakdown of what happened.


The Stories:

#1- Two mounties (one veteran and one rookie) investigating the moose gang robbery of maple syrup. (This story was just riddled with factual Canadian facts)




#2- A classic Henrik Ibsen drama about a poor rich girl, her mean father, her dying mother and the poor servant boy she loved.



#3- A husband and wife, wife is dying of a disease, husband is a jerk, turns out wife was lying about disease, doctor shows up and it turns out she really has a disease, doctor falls in love with the wife, she needs a new heart... what will happen?



#4- Set in 1777, a dual at sunrise between two best friends, what went wrong between them?



#5- Space is always a nice place to set your story right? A captain (boss) and a first mate (named space) discover a planet and must overcome their own differences to defeat the aliens... classic and silly.



The next day CRUMBS explored Oslo, walking around aimlessly and sometimes with aim. We found the Edvard Munch (LINK NEWS ABOUT SCREAM STOLEN) museum and wondered around there until we realized that “The Scream” wasn't even there (though there was a sketch of it there). We also ate food. I was hoping to perhaps partake in the famous Norwegian rotten fish (link to fish preserved in lye) but it turns out it is harder to find than I realized, if I was here during X-mas it would have been easy I am told.




Next Stop: The Berlin International Impro Festival 2010


but wait, there's more....

#1
There is a huge train crash right by where our boat is anchored. For some reason a bunch of empty train cars without a locomotive start to move down a hill. There is nobody on board and no brakes. The train cars end up smashing into a building and crashing into the sea. Some people died in the crash and it even ran into a boat. Not our boat, in fact we might have slept right through the noise, assuming it was the construction that has been going on constructing right outside our boat window.

#2
We wake up in the early morning to take the train from the train station to the airport to take our plane to Berlin. Everything is fine, the train is delayed and even stops about halfway there on the tracks because of some problem they don't know. The train gets going again and we make it to the airport at around the time we should, not too tight. The electronic check-in won't recognize our printed out tickets so we are sent down a different line. When we get to the check-in human she is puzzled that her computer won't recognize our tickets either.

“Oh, I see the problem” she says reassuringly “You are at the wrong airport. You want to go to the other airport, it is about an hour and a half away.”



So it turns out we have minutes to change our flight, luckily the line up to this human was almost non existing. The problem is the flight would cost us almost 1000 Euros. She also says that it is to late to check out luggage and would have to see if we would be allowed to get our obviously not carry-on luggage onto the plane. She said that if it didn't work she would refund the cost of the tickets. There was another flight the next day we could by for just over 600 Euro, and even though she mentioned the bonus of being able to check in our luggage, we thought we could do better.

Time for a phone call to HQ and get Marie on the case. Within minute she has us a flight out of the correct airport (whatever airport you are in is always considered the correct airport) in a couple hours and cheaper than what was offered us. So after a couple hours spent eating pizza and relaxing, we get on board our much nicer flight and start the trek to Berlin.

Oh Oslo... Oh Berlin...

CRUMBS on video

Okay, so I am jumping back and forth anyways, so why not post a video of CRUMBS doing a little performance. This clip was taken at the Berlin English Theatre as part of the 2010 Berlin International Impro Festival. I filmed it on my laptop, cut it up on my laptop and then uploaded it from my laptop... is there anything my laptop cannot do?



So perhaps after this, the next posts will then resume the order of our tour.


Next post is Oslo, Norway


Next shows:

07.04.10 Mansbach, Arhoena

09.04.10 Leipzig, naTo

15.04.10 Mannheim, TiG7

16.04.10 Heidelberg, DAI

17.04.10 Mannheim, TiG7

18.04.10 Mannheim, Alte Feuerwache

19.04.10 Munich, theatre... und so fort

CRUMBS in K-Town part2

Now K-town is Konstanz, Germany, a nice little touristy town in the south of Germany right on the lake and right on the border to Switzerland. We have given it two nicknames:

#1 K-Town if because it sounds cool, not to be confused with K-town, slang for katemine (thank you to loyal listener Q-base @jaypeecue)

#2 Konstanztanople (not because it is reminiscent of of Constantinople (now its Istanbul not Constantinople) but just because it sounds cool)



*nicknames don't have to make sense, sometimes they can just sound cool.

It has been three years since we were last in K-Town and I don't think much has changed. This year we again did a show at the K9, which is a cool venue. Instantly we remembered the tech (a crotchety yet charming old Irish man named Kevin) and remembered the vibe of the room.

The show? Well let me see here...











A mysterious dream about a book and an old bookshop, a trip down the rabbit hole (inspired by the fact that we saw “Alice in Wonderland” at a cinema in Zurich days ago), a professional murderer and his lonely mother, Ivan the evil murderer who kills murderers, the showdown, writing a story with your tongue and love eventually winning in the end. Make sense? I guess you had to be there.



Thank you Tmbh

Next stop Oslo Norway