Justin
Hunter Case writes: ... the name of the Omelette show (was) "Meanwhile
..." We'd collect suggestions from the audience who put them in a glass see-thru
goldfish bowl and then we would pick out suggestions at random and do them --
pre-"Theater Sports," pre-"Who's Line Is It Anyway," in fact
Dan (the TV producer of "Who's Line Is It Anyway") saw our show. We
performed in Edinburgh Festival and sold out -- we had the "OMELETTER"
newspaper which was our "programme." It is a classic -- created/designed
by the amazing Marjolein Kuijsten -- who was the kingpin & co-founder of the
Melkweg (she's still the President) and supporter of Omelette & the 2 Reel
Company -- she toured with us too... We actually made ... pilots with TVS /
Humphrey Barclay but the Broadcaster got cold feet ... and then along came "Who's
Line Is It Anyway." Now I look back on it -- it's quite amazing -- I did
a course with Keith Johnston (the creator of Theater Sports) in the UK then went
to Loose Moose in Calgary and studied with him there, and with Alan Marriott (Canadian
Impro performer / writer) we set up Theatre Sports In London with Nica Burns who
was running the Donmar Theatre just off Leicester Square. It was from that and
doing an Improv Marathon night with the likes of Jonathan Price (big on improv),
plus other famous actors that "Who's Line Is It Anyway" took off using
well known performers. Jim & Steve appeared in the UK version, but by then
I'd left the UK to live in Europe & then LA.
Justin continues writing
about the group's beginings: ...
I saw Jim & Steve (The Wee Wees) do a video show at the Oval Theatre in London,
I was so impressed that after touring Poland I came back and wrote/directed/performed
a Video Theatre show called the "Candid Case Affair" in 1977 with Nick
Fry -- which Peter Wear, Steve, Johnny, Jim were in the videos segments. Peter
was my co-creator/technician/actor/ buddy here -- it was because of him &
Nick that the show managed to come to life. I toured Europe with in a VW bus
1978-79 with Nick pre-VHS. Mad! Huge TV sets all B&W, Reel to Reel
video. Wires/cables no remotes. Still have some video footage and photos. It
was after that the 2 Reel Company was born and then in Copenhagen there was a
spare spot in the Festival for one group and so the Wee Wees & 2 Reel Company
joined forces and we decided to do an Improv show based around a radio broadcast
that went wrong -- so we got suggestions from the audience of what the story/scenes
were to be and Omelette was born. (We called it OBC) The following year we
went back to Denmark and Johnny joined us. I think there is video of those shows.
(We performed Omelette in between time in London and Amsterdam) |