Five intrepid actors take the stage. Each in turn directs the other four in the first scene of a story. Will we see the end of each story? You decide! Each director makes a pitch, then the audience votes to eliminate one story. The remaining directors, with a sigh of relief, direct their second scene.

So goes Super Scene, my very favourite impro format, which makes its return to the Impro Melbourne stage for the first time since 2015!

Super Scene is my favourite format because the stakes are so high: think of it as “Survivor” for unscripted theatre. Every scene might be that director's last, if the audience decides it's had enough. There is simply no room for filler in Super Scene, because the audience will throw it out! You might think that would lead to directors playing it safe, but that too is a trap: safe impro is ordinary impro, and the audience will punish that too.

No, the only way for a director to survive is to stand out: to take bigger risks, and tell stories that go places you've never seen improvised theatre go. Only then will the audience keep you in the show. The director who tells the most extraordinary story is the only one who gets to see that story through to its final scene – the super scene.

Ready to get extreme? See you at Super Scene!