“Improvisation is too good to leave to chance” – Paul Simon
My Impro offerings:-
Improv to Improve – extraordinary transformation in the workplace
Box of Frogs – life-changing fun for ordinary folk
Upstairs Improv – resident improv company at the Old Joint Stock Theatre
What is Impro?
Impro (or Improv, to use the American term) is, as I’m sure you already know, a form of theatre performance which is completely unscripted. The show, often but not always comedy-orientated, can be anywhere between a few minutes and well over an hour long, and is created in the moment by actors, often together with musicians and singers, and sometimes assisted by sound, light and other technicians.
One type of short-form comedy impro has been popularised by the American and British TV versions of “Whose Line Is It Anyway”, where well-known comedians create funny scenes using audience suggestions. While the performers in these shows are undoubtedly brilliant and often hysterically funny, it can easily lead to the idea that Impro is about being witty, clever and standing out from your peers. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, improvised performances are created through great listening, fantastic teamwork and boundless care and respect for the other players.
Impro Training
Just a jazz-musicians can only start to improvise together once they have reached mastery of both their instrument and their musical understanding, so theatre improvisers have to learn a whole set of skills and techniques in order to be able to create performances together.
Impro at heart is a game, which players learn to play gleefully, plunging into the unknown by trusting their fellow team members and supporting every decision they take. The training focuses on a number of areas, including great listening, careful observation, and genuine care and support of other team members. Players learn to follow their own instincts and creative impulses freely and fearlessly, secure in the knowledge that others will support them implicitly. Impro only works when it is entirely and completely collaborative – any attempt by a single player to control the direction the work takes invariably weakens and damages it.
Impro workshops take the forms of games, played in groups, pairs or sometimes solo. Many people attend Impro training sessions with no intention of becoming performers, but simply for the sheer fun it offers. Impro classes are characterised by noise, energy, fun and laughter.
The Rules
There are some golden rules at the heart of Impro, which enables it to succeed. These are:-
- make your fellow players look good at all times – give them what they need moment by moment
- listen, listen, listen; then listen some more; then keep on listening
- never block or deny other peoples’ ideas, always build on them
- allow what others do to change and affect you
- the answer always lies with your fellow players, never in your own head
- say “Yes! And…”
- mistakes are gifts – grab them and use them
- use conflict collaboratively (no, this is not a paradox)
- be constantly agile, willing at any second to accomodate change
- commit – leap in with at least 100% committment (more if you’ve got it!)
- never make jokes at the expense of the scene or your fellow players
- find the truth in everything you do
- fail gleefully with a beaming smile
Why Do Impro?
Taking part in an improvised performance is exhilarating, energising and liberating in equal measure. It’s also huge fun!
Watching an improvised show is inspiring, entertaining, touching, and more often than not side-splittingly funny.
It is impossible to learn Impro without being changed. You become more playful, more curious, more supportive, more flexible, less fearful, more collaborative, more appreciative of others, and usually develop a more positive outlook on life (see my blog post on the experience of being in a room with 200 improvisers at the AIN conference). This is why I learn, teach and perform Impro, and embrace it in all my training and facilitation.
I do this in 3 settings:-
Improv to Improve -I am one of a growing network or trainers who use the techniques of Improv to bring about extraordinary transformation in the workplace
Box of Frogs – lifechanging fun for ordinary folk out of office hours
Upstairs Improv – professional performances at the Old Joint Stock Theatre