A RED telephone and a chair are set up on an otherwise empty stage. There are no elaborate scene changes or costumes and all five actors remain visible at all times.

No clues are offered up to give away what is going to unfold as I sat in the audience waiting for Showstopper! The Improvised Musical to begin.

But that is probably because even the actors didn’t know what the show was all about. The director didn’t know a thing either and the musicians sat on stage were awaiting a cue to start playing but there was no sheets music in front of them.

That is because Showstopper! has always been an entirely improvised musical, from its genre and theme to the plot twists and love scenes since it launched onto the stage in 2008.

Audience participation was a must throughout the experience. The director and co-creator of the Olivier award winning show, Adam Meggido, called on us to shout out ideas for settings, we went for Kensington Palace, and genres, we chose rock, Gilbert and Sullivan and the hit musical Chicago.

Finally, with the stage set for an all singing all dancing royal show with some jazz hands thrown, he asked us for the show’s title, to which a quiet voice from the front rows offered “The Queen Mother is dead”. So then we had all the ingredients these brilliant improvisation stars needed.

Stand out moments included a reggae dance scene about shopping in Lidl and Prince Harry declaring his love for his servant, Matilda, through the medium of Les Miserables. They spun together songs and harmonies with a skill that dumbfounded me and their band threw in key changes and uplifting moments at the drop of a hat.

The best moments revealed themselves when actors responded to the random and hilarious situations thrown at them. I just might just have to go again tonight to see which way the story goes.

The show is playing tonight, tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening at the Theatre Royal Bath. Tickets start from £15.Book from https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/event/showstopper/