My second show of the evening at The Free Association, offers a new innovative approach to harvesting suggestions from the audience. The company request that their followers call a phone number ahead of the show (which is manned by an answering machine) and record a message with their idea. This is not entirely new, as The Showstopper! offer a similar pre-show request, but via their social media account.
The Free Association team for this evening were Graham Dickson, Greg Hess, Alex Holland, Holly Laurent, and Alison Thea-Skot.
Unlike the previous show, there is no pre-prescribed subject matter, the world is your oyster which makes the suggestions completely open. The use of the answering machine as a tool is an interesting one, as it takes the pressure off the audience to be improv heroes themselves, and gives them a relaxed environment to get their creative juices flowing.
And flow they did! Who knew that within someone’s imagination was the idea of taking an orange into the shower with you, a solitary moment with your orange, nakedly eating your orange, slowly peeling the skin away and eating it segment-by-segment. Well, you get the idea, this life changing pursuit of citrus heaven was taken by The Free Association crew and transformed into a business idea for a public juicer, which later evolved into a self-juicing orange. The competition to take credit for these inventions was hot and cut-throat, recognising the need for seed capital.
The second suggestion referred to the person’s experience of being raised in a cult, and how to now navigate dating. I may have missed the finer points of this description, as I found it difficult to hear some of the narrative. The beginning of this scene revolved around bringing food to a sex party, and a lasagne is ok apparently, unless it is too sloppy. This then moved on to how a person could die by swallowing a dick and then later on lifesaving surgery to remove it.
The final message was left by a lady who hates magicians, which produced some side-splitting humour when the magician made half an aeroplane disappear with the loss of 352 passengers. These were all fabulous suggestions, but for the audience to really enjoy the improvised performance, they must be able to hear the answering machine message clearly.
This was my first visit to The Free Association, and from the box office to the bar staff I was made to feel welcome. The theatre is a good size, and as a lover of improv, I am so pleased to see another bespoke home for improvisation. The show that I witnessed was expertly crafted, the ideas were interesting, but I am hoping that the hook of using an answering machine does not cause them problems. Firstly, they need people who are not involved with the show to ring in, and the recording needs to be audible. The improvisers are excellent!
I love the idea of the show, and there is a wonderful feeling of inclusivity at the venue.
Do go along to The Free Association and sample their hospitality. Mailbox #23 has five more performances – 30th-31st January, and 5th-7th February 2026. To book tickets go to – https://www.thefreeassociation.co.uk/shows/mailbox2.
Date: 29th January 2026
Star Rating: ***
