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Weekend free family events Pick n Mix are back at the Aotea Centre with shows and workshops and Renee Liang gets in on the action, quizzing the creators. This week she chats with Greg Ellis of GEAR productions, a Wellington company that specializes in improvised entertainment for the whole family.

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Who can improvise?

Anyone can improvise as long as they are prepared to relax and just go where things take them. You just have to be prepared to let go and follow where inspiration takes you. Remember that we improvise all the time in our lives – every little white lie to get out of something is improvisation, every game we play is improvisation, we almost never script phone conversations.

What's the best way to teach it?

By creating a fun environment where people feel safe to take a bit of a risk and just play. That’s why we’re hoping that having kids and parents together in our workshop will help the adults play a bit and remember the fun we had as kids where anything could happen.

Greg, you were Thom's teacher - was he a good student or was he always goofing off?

He still goofs off. But that’s the best part about Thom. The goofing off is what takes us to all the wild and crazy places we go. Its just my job to keep up with him.

Why did the two of you decide to work together?

After working with Thom as a student I always wanted to perform with him. There was something about the way he did things that made me think that we would work well together. We had tried a couple of times to get together and perrom when he came to Wellington to go to University but studies always meant that didn’t quite work. When he had a bit more time on his hands we finally got the chance to work together and we’ve been doing that for the last four or five years.

What's the most important thing you do when performing?

Listen. You listen to your fellow performer and you listen to the audience. Not just the suggestions they give you but whether they are laughing or shocked silent, listeining intently or fidgeting. That lets you know what they want and how you’re going about giving that to them.

Have you really “never travelled further than Hawera?”

No – in all honestly Thom and I have travelled a fair bit around the country and even to Australia and the Pacific Islands to work together. But some of the places we’ve been in our shows – Yugoslavia, Egypt, the moon – we’ve never visited them.

Tell me about your show, Thom & Greg’s Tales of Adventure. What can happen?

Absolutely anything can happen. We’ve had a tsunami of giraffes and shifting Mummy’s tomb, an American Forest, a giant talking crab and more in our shows. We have absolutely NO idea what is going to happen. Its hard enough predicting what Thom will do let alone what an audience will suggest. We will take anything onboard that we’re given – that’s the fun challenge of the show and why it never ever gets boring

What are you planning to do in your workshop?

We’re planning to look at some improvisation that families can do together. There’s lots of boring bits about being a family like long car rides, waiting while Dad finishes looking a shoes, travelling around the supermarket and stuff like that that could be make more fun with a bit of improvising. So we’ll look at games and exercises that families can do to fill in those boring bits, have fun together and become more creative.

What are you working on next?

Thom and I have a lot of corporate entertaining to do in the next couple of months, including another trip to Australia. Hopefully we’ll have time to perform again soon as our band The Peculiar Sensations and there’s also a show about Zombies I’m working on for the NZ Improv Festival in October – hopefully Thom can be part of that too.

The Company

GEAR Productions is a Wellington company that specializes in improvised entertainment for the whole family. They have years of experience in making audience laugh and join in the fun. Their performances range from the musical majesty of Vance Fontaine through to the family mayhem of Thom & Greg’s Tales of Adventure.