(To learn more about this show, please visit the show’s page here)

Performance 6/11/26 – Portland Stage Studio

The title of this thirty minute show, The Epic of Gilgamesh, is a hook for story telling broadly speaking- a lead in for a tale of uncertain destination, improvised by performers and guided by curated audience input. It’s pretty standard fare as improv shows go, but improv, of course, is always a high wire act. The performers on Thursday did a nice job, kept the story moving, and landed jokes with regularity. In a high risk affair, that is a win. Congratulations to them.

Submitted on 6/11/26 by Mark Shaughnessy, PF26 Independent Review Team

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There were several clever lines and skilled deliveries that cracked the audience up in this improvisational performance. The two female performers were standouts, as character-driven improvisers who leaned into story over witty one-liners. And the pursuit of delivering a long-form improvised story over short-form comedic games and bits was very much appreciated. The mechanics of this show got in the way of the audience’s enjoyment, though. There were several times when all three performers reached a deeper, more engaging layer of storytelling, only to be interrupted by the show’s framing device, which often stalled the fun and forced the improvisers to restart the process of building a scene and finding the game again. Yes, it is the nature of improv to leave a scene at its pinnacle and jump into something new, but it began to feel like we were only here to watch the improvisers’ hard work rather than their joy in playing in a unique situation.
I enjoy the concept of the “crossroads” within the story that the audience is asked to guide us through, but the prompts were very rigid, leaving little to no room for the audience to really engage with the story and make a fun, meaningful contribution. Perhaps questions that are more general, that the improvisers are left to weave into the story in their own way, or a quick prompt of “Cut to…” from the Host, that an audience member can then finish with whatever pops into their head, would help lighten the experience and lean into the improvisation over controlled storytelling…

Overall, there was some really fun scene building and character work in the creation of the story, which turned out to be about a boy having a sexually-competitive relationship with his mother as they vied for the affections of Charlotte, a girl who was, “A lot to look at, but with not much else going for her” (semi-quote). The performers created several fun turns, but that word “Epic” in the title evoked expectations of a vast world of unlimited possibilities that the story’s “A Day In The Life” vibe didn’t reach.

Submitted on 6/13/26 by Nathan Gregory, PF26 Independent Review Team

Performance 6/13/26 – Portland Stage Studio

The Epic of Gilgamesh is built on a clever premise: the audience helps create the evening’s adventure, providing suggestions that the improvisers transform into a live, unscripted story. The concept itself has tremendous potential.

Unfortunately, the execution never quite lived up to the promise. The show relied heavily on the improvisational skills of its performers, and too often the choices made felt safe, predictable, and lacking the bold creativity needed to sustain a full-length improvised narrative. While there were a handful of genuine laughs, they were too infrequent to carry the evening…

Improvisation is one of the most difficult forms of theatre, requiring quick thinking, strong comedic instincts, and performers willing to take risks. While the audience supplied the scenario, the cast rarely transformed those suggestions into something truly memorable. An intriguing concept, but one that, at least on this evening, failed to deliver on its considerable potential.

Submitted on 6/14/26 by Michael J. Tobin, PF26 Independent Review Team