For an hour, Improv Adelaide’s Quest Time! turned the Adelaide Room at the Duke of Brunswick into a mystical world filled with magic weapons and doppelganger monsters. Quest Time! is an improv comedy with fantasy roleplaying game (RPG) elements from games like Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). It’s a weird combination, but it brought an evening of laughs, engaging characters and some unexpected WTF moments.
Although an odd combination, improv and RPG elements work very well together in Quest Time!. The main characters of the show are formed by the audience, common in improv, which is everything from their fantasy race( (eg. elf, dwarf, gnome) to their name. This show started in a day spa with two gnomes, one being a towel apprentice and her master, a great warrior. Where the D&D elements come into play is the use of the d20 die. It is here that I found the combination of improv and RPG elements at their best together. Whatever the game master rolled affected the outcome of the story, changing it before my very eyes.
The game master gave effective descriptions and brought me into the world. At one stage, I actually felt as though I were in the world myself, trudging through a swamp and sitting in a cave covered in bones and gore. The mixture of fantasy music also brought me further into the world, enhancing my experience overall.
The comedy worked very well in the show. The performers did a really good job improvising their act, which in turn made the show funnier. My favourites of these was a nonplayer character (NPC), who played an Irish/Scottish man searching for his daughter. The performer’s accent was down pat and had me laughing each time they made their appearance.
While I did enjoy the characters, acting, and comedy, I did find the story very difficult to follow. The randomised style made the main plot very difficult to follow and I couldn’t quite follow some of the character stories. This did bug me but it’s how the show is meant to be played out. The plot is not meant to be clear and changes with each viewing.
Quest Time! is a whole lot of improvised fun. I really enjoyed my version of the show and the improvised acting is very well done. If you enjoy improv comedy and RPGs then I highly recommend you see this show. It’s a whole lot of randomised fun!
Words by Cameron Lowe
Four stars
Quest Time! is playing at The Duke of Brunswick Hotel February 20-21, 26-28. Tickets available here.
Tulpa Magazine 