Talented Irish improv group, Dreamgun, return to pull out all the stops with their full reading of a different film script every night, and filling it with enough jokes and parodies to keep the audience laughing throughout. The film of the night was Pixar’s animated classic Toy Story, which results in the performers bringing their multiple respective well-beloved characters to life.
The tone throughout is refreshingly irreverent, with Ronan Carey’s narration frequently making self-aware observations about logical inconsistencies within the film itself as well as coming up with ‘interesting’ theories about certain characters (Andy’s father’s absence in particular becomes a running joke that has a hilariously dark payoff).
The performers themselves also provide an energetic, freewheeling sensibility to the whole production, with their frequent corpsing provoking bigger laughs from the audience whilst never holding up the pace of the performances. In particular, Erin McGathy brings the house down with her enthusiastically manic portrayal of the bully Sid, and a running gag of performers flopping to the ground with increasing intensity also provokes a great deal of laughter from both cast and audience.
This relaxed and carefree atmosphere is what makes Dreamgun’s approach so appealing and endearing. Instead of forcing the humour and overreacting to any misstep made by the cast, they fully own any mistakes made and incorporate them skilfully into the overall performances. This results in what could have been a simple script reading with a few jokes becoming an enjoyable experience for all.
There are different films covered each night, so the experience documented above won’t be exactly the same for later performances. However, the quality of the show described should let any prospective audience member know that they will be in for an enjoyable evening, with Dreamgun proving themselves to be true entertainers in every sense of the word.