What better way to spend the depressing end of Summer than at an improv show on Granville Island?

Running from awning to awning under and intermittent barrage of classic Vancouver rain, I found myself in a theatre at east end of the island quietly nestled away next to a steep hill with grass bearing the resemblance of the iconic Microsoft XP default screensaver. Unlike that instantly recognizable and unexciting picture, the show that I was attending, The Love of Your Life, was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. From a quick prior reading of the show programme, it was billed as a quirky rom-com improv show, promising to be completely different at each show. Furthermore, the main selling point of this show in particular was that it was entirely focussed around the audience, more specifically a couple from the audience.

The show was set up with a host and the couple up on the stage, the host would ask the couple questions related to their relationship in order to provide prompts to the improv actors waiting off to the side. The questions were very broad, which allowed for hilarious over exaggeration by the actors in retelling their story. The story in this instance started off with a middle-aged couple who had met about a year prior on a Tinder date, in the quintessential first date setting: a coffee shop. The tale traversed through the lives of the couple who went from ordinary working people in Calgary to the owners of Tesla, being handed the reigns of the company at Burning Man!

Where the highs of this riveting rom com where incredibly erratic and fun, the lows where equally as ridiculous yet emotionally testing (like the male character going on a soul-searching mission in Ucluelet after finding his abdomen modeling career getting out of hand and for all intents and purposes destroying his relationship).

Fear not though!

This story has a happy ending, with the male and female leads rekindling the flame of love in the cell of a US border detention center over a case of drug possession. This show was incredibly zany and fun and would definitely recommend that anyone who hasn’t been to an improv show to give it a shot and support local talent. My stomach hurt from laughing at the end and I’m sure yours will too if you’re able to catch Love of Your Life or any other improv show on Granville Island.