David Elms Describes A Room comedy review: An improv mind palace
Elms turns audience suggestions into an imaginary room in this ingenious, quietly playful exercise in collective imagination
Perhaps one of the most novel and ingenious improv shows at the Fringe, David Elms Describes A Room should also receive a garland for being one of the more literal titles around. For an hour, as he explains in the intro, David Elms will describe a room. But not the room he’s standing in. It will be an imaginary room created in participation with the audience. And then, at the end of the show, it will disappear.
It’s a premise that initially seems unsustainable for an entire hour, but the audience is very quickly engaged with the joy of letting their imaginations run wild. Sitting somewhere between Victorian parlour game and knotted acting exercise, slowly populating the room provides an insight into the mindset of the audience members, who variously suggest charming, funny or outright sinister objects. Elms himself is a calm and quick-witted anchor, amiably teasing and slowly prodding them for more detail.
Orson Welles once said: ‘Give a theatre audience just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the theatre meaning: when it becomes a social act.’ Elms has pushed that sentiment to its logical conclusion, directing proceedings to an ingenious closer that’s both a feat of memory and of his good humour. As the crowd filed out the door, they shared mini anecdotes about their suggestions and what else they would have added to the room. Their mind palace may vanish when they leave the venue, but Elms’ sense of wonder leaves its mark.
David Elms Describes A Room, Pleasance Courtyard, until 30 August, 9.30pm.