FIASCO, Rosemary Branch Theatre
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Adapted from the hit tabletop role-playing game from Bully Pulpit Games, FIASCO is a show about the complex relationships between selfish people with poor impulse control. Every performance, with the help of the audience, Cryptids Improvisational Theatre will explore a new story in their fully improvised archive; stories filled with brutality and intrigue, rage and desire, and a tangled web of threads that combine with unfortunate circumstances to create the fiasco.
Annamarie Burke (AB) and Alexandra Sophia Ashe (ASA) joined us to explain how this all works in practice and to entice us to come and see their show that will be playing at Rosemary Branch Theatre on 7, 10, 16 and 23 August, tickets available here.
What can audiences expect from the show?
A.S.A: FIASCO is a show about the complex relationships between deeply selfish people and the disastrous outcomes of their poor impulse control. Every performance, with the help of the audience, our players will explore a new story in our fully improvised archive. Audiences can expect plans gone wrong, hearts broken, terrible secrets, violence, intrigue, drama, disaster. While we can’t promise what combinations of the above you’ll see on any given night, anything is possible in FIASCO. Our show features the fatal missteps of the well intentioned, the ambitious and desperate pursuit of glory by the deeply flawed, and the tangled web of relationship threads that combine with unfortunate circumstances to create the aforementioned fiasco.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
A.B: We are by no means the first company to perform some version or adaptation of Fiasco – the game gets lots of well-deserved love, from the improv and actual-play gaming communities alike! I myself have performed in several successful runs of a similar adaptation back home in Seattle. However, the key takeaways from my previous experience with both the show and its source game have significantly shaped our vision for the show, such that the end result is a really unique framing of, and approach to, the format. We really wanted to invest in audience immersion, as well as committing to the show being not just improv comedy, but improvised theatre – anything and everything a scripted play can be, just without a script. Our adaptation is new, fresh, and performing its first-ever run at Camden Fringe!
What was your inspiration behind the show?
A.B and A.S.A: FIASCO is an adaptation of the hit indie tabletop role-playing game of the same name (just less all-caps) from Bully Pulpit Games. The original game is designed to allow a table of friends to collaboratively tell a fully improvised two-act play in the structural style of a Coen brothers’ movie. The core of the game, and what makes it such a fantastic improv format, is that every player’s character is defined not by a single suggestion, but by the things that link them! These connecting relationships and needs (as well as locations and objects, in the original game) create a complex spider’s web of often conflicting objectives, which makes the drama and dynamic of the narrative really fun and easy to play!
If you’re looking to play the game yourself (which we would highly recommend), good places to look are Leisure Games in Finchley, and Orcs Nest in London, near Cambridge Circus. If they don’t have the game currently in stock, they’re good people to ask about ordering them! You can also find links to online-only versions of both Fiasco Classic (the version our show is modeled after) and Fiasco 2nd Edition at bullypulpitgames.com.
How long have you been working on the play?
A.B: Sophie and I conceptualized Cryptids as an improvisational theatre company in the summer of 2024, when I pitched FIASCO as a potentially good debut show. We were immediately on the same page about our vision for the show, which was very exciting! Rehearsals began off-and-on that autumn, and really picked up in early 2025 – practicing not just the format, but also running stage combat and intimacy workshops to provide our cast with as many tools as possible to support bold choices and committed performances. As this show is more involved than a lot of other improv formats, it’s definitely been a longer rehearsal process than audiences might expect for a show that’s made up on the spot every performance, but it’s been incredible to see the payoff as the ensemble gets more and more in sync, and the runs get better and better every time!
What brought you all together?
A.S.A: Almost all of us in the company are alumni of East 15 Acting School’s MFA Acting International program, which has made our ensemble building and show creation really special. Anna and I were in the same year at drama school and had done a few projects together, so when they pitched FIASCO to me, it was an easy yes. From there it was just about attracting the right improv nerds to help us breathe life into it; We’re so fortunate to have built an ensemble of craft-focused artists dedicated to elevating the form and making improv just as engaging and full of depth as scripted theatre. And even more so, it’s been the experience and privilege of a lifetime to have so many global voices shape entirely new stories in a totally unique way, and it’s what really gives FIASCO its wings.
How important is audience interaction to you?
A.B: The audience plays a crucial role in making FIASCO happen! To make sure every show is never-seen-before-and-never-the-same-again original, the audience takes the place that rolling dice would if you were playing Fiasco Classic around a table. The audience selects the “playset”, or the world of the story, as well as the relationships and needs within that world that guide the characters. They also choose a special suggestion in the middle of the show, called the Tilt, that is key to deciding how the story cascades into its resolution. We never know what suggestions the audience will pick on a given night – or in what arrangement – so each story is new and different!
If you had to describe your show as a colour what would it be?
A.S.A: FIASCO is definitely a deep, nearly black forest green, dappled with light and shadow. You’re still able to make out vague shapes and forms, but the longer you look, the more things shift. Nevertheless, your eyes keep searching in the rich depth of color, and when you blink, the negative image of leaves and eyes lingers. We want to invite you to get lost in the forest, because no matter what you encounter there, we promise you we’ll ferry you safely to the other side… albeit perhaps a little changed.
IWhat’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
A.B: There are many different ways this concept has been phrased to me, as I’ve trained and worked as an improviser – trusting the moment, making bold choices, free fall, emergence – but the one that has really stuck with me lately is the idea of “killing the king”. It’s an idea I first heard from an improviser named Steve Waltien, in an interview on the podcast Yes, Also, with host and fellow improviser Suzi Barret. In the interview, Steve talks about how often improvisers will go into a scene with a character who has a specific goal or premise – killing the king being the given example – and then waffle and delay when an opportunity arises to accomplish that goal earlier in the story than they were expecting. But what if you do kill the king? Well, now you as the player get to discover the fallout of that decision! What a gift! This has been a major guiding principle in FIASCO, as a show about selfish people with poor impulse control. What better way to make these stories and characters compelling than to make them active, and then put them face to face with the consequences of their actions? When in doubt: kill the king.
Thank you Annamarie and Alexandra for explaining this, as we’re not sure we’d have fully understood without it, but now we want to come along and be a part of the actions.
If you also want to be a part of FIASCO then you can catch on the 7, 10, 16, and 23 August at the Rosemary Branch theatre. Further information and tickets are available by following the link below.
