Improvisation

THE HISTORY OF IMPROVISATION

“In all likelihood, improvisation began in prehistory, with two cavepeople trying to explain to another caveperson what they were doing in each other’s cave beds.” The National Theatre.

Records exist of improvisation as early as the 4th Century BC. Attelan Farces, comic improvisations by stock characters, were popular in Rome and contemporary Italy.

In the 16th Century, the first form of professional theatre, Commedia Dell’Arte, was born. This art form was often called Commedia Dell’Arte All’Improvviso. The actors used the set Commedia Dell’Arte characters to improvise scenes and stories.

Improvviso or Improvisation became popular again in Vaudeville routines in the early 20th Century. Dudley Riggs and his fellow actors would famously ask for suggestions from the audience to then improvise. Riggs own term was “instant theatre”; the critics called it “Word Jazz”, as improvised jazz music was prevalent at the time.

Viola Spolin created “Theatre Games” in the 1940s, a set of improvised exercises to promote spontaneity. In her book “Improvisation for the Theater” she included some of the following exercises for improvisation:

Gibberish Interpreters – one actor talks gibberish, and the other actor translates for the audience
Building a Story – the actors create a story based on audience suggestions What’s Beyond? – three actors improvise a scene, one actor leaves the space and the other two come up with a secret. When the third actor re-joins the group, their challenge is to end the scene by guessing the secret.

Joan Littlewood formed Theatre Workshop in 1945. The training focused on voice, movement and improvisation. Her actors were well known for improvising published plays for the general public and faced legal action more than once as this was against the law. This law was changed in 1968, giving performers more freedom.

Many famous film directors have embraced improvisation. In the 1960s, Mike Leigh began to use improvisation in film and continues to date. In his own words, was to capture reality. Without improvisation in films, we wouldn’t have the famous lines:

“ Here’s looking at you kid” Casablanca 1942

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” Jaws 1975

“Here’s Johnny!” The Shining 1980

“hsss hsss” Silence of the Lambs, 1991

“I don’t want to go” The Avengers 2018

Viola Spolin’s son, Paul Sills, founded The Compass Players in 1958, which evolved into The Second City, which he co-founded in 1959. The Second City was an improvisational sketch comedy show for tv. Other tv and radio shows based on improvisation were Whose Line is it Anyway? and Saturday Night Live. In the 1960s, Sills opened a theatre with his mother, Viola Spolin, inviting audience members to improvise scenes, showing that anyone can take part in improvisation regardless of training or talent.

Keith Johnstone co-founded the Loose Moose Theatre in the 1970s and The International Theatresports in 1998. His improvisation exercises include Gorilla Theatre – 3 performers, one dressed as a gorilla, one the MC and one as the director. The gorilla is the prize to be won. Good directing results in a banana, poor directing a forfeit, awarded by the audience. Players take turns directing the improvised scenes.

Micetro – the director asks the audience for suggestions for the scene (this can be done before the show or at the start) and then directs. After each scene, the audience gives the actors a score, the actor with the lowest mark is eliminated until there is just the actor left on stage.

Johnstone also wrote plays such as Theatresports and Life Game. In Life, a guest is a different person each night. The performers interview and act out their story.

In 1979 Johnstone wrote Improvisation and the Theatre, and in 1999, Impro for Storytellers.

Improvisation is still popular today, proving that there is still a place for very live theatre! Many professional improvisation groups worldwide in fringe theatre and mainstream theatres such as The National Theatre’s Lost Without Words in 2017. Improvisation has proved a popular genre of theatre online during the Covid19 pandemic.

The benefits of improvisation are increasingly being utilised in non-drama settings such as business, engineering, therapy, art and even weapon creation! Increasingly, professionals in other industries are getting in on the act, finding improvisation to be a valuable skill to promote entrepreneurship, nurture creativity, and build leadership skills. Finance professionals are making improvisation classes part of their own personal development plan, with listening skills, and the ability to read body language and to think on your feet among the benefits.

Improvisation, it seems, is here to stay.

THE KEY PRINCIPLES OF IMPROVISATION

BE PREPARED Warm up your voice and, if time, warm up the body with a few drama games.

Just as a musician warms up their hands and gently plays to engage body and mind before a performance, actors need to do the same. Warming up the voice and body with a vocal warm-up and drama games can really heighten the awareness before starting an improvisation.

The more you improvise, the easier it can become.

WILLINGNESS “You can’t learn anything without failing” Keith Johnstone Improvisation is about being brave, taking on the challenge of entering a theatrical arena without a script or preconceived ideas. Improvisation is to let go of preplanning perfectionism and be open and willing to discover and create new material. Improvisation can be exciting and challenging. Mistakes don’t exist in improvisation as there is no set structure – there are only opportunities.

LISTEN Many performers think they aren’t very good at improvisation. Perhaps they are not the best at quick-witted one-liners. However, some of the best improvisations come out of listening to what is being offered by the fellow performers and simply using the offer to move the action. The person who wants to be heard is not picking up on the offers and, therefore, ultimately blocking the action.

TAKE ACTION Don’t think it or say it – do it! Improvisation is physical. The action moves the scene forward. Make sure your offer/action is specific so that it is clear to the group. In this way, your fellow actors have a clear idea to build on or make counteroffers to.

BE IN THE MOMENT We individually spent years fine-tuning how the world sees us. Improvisation is about being in the moment and not pre-judging yourself or how others may see you. Accept the offer from the fellow actor and let yourself be totally in the moment.

FLOW We can only control our own choices, so let go of everything else. Enjoy being in a state of flow. You will find you become more creative and productive.

TRUST AND TEAMWORK Trust your own decisions and go with them. It is important to also trust your team around you. If you get into a tricky spot in the improvisation, keep going and trust that either you or one of your fellow actors will find a solution to the problem. Improvisation doesn’t work if one person is trying to always bend the others to their preconceived vision of the scene. Trust that everyone knows what they are doing.

YES, AND… This is the main principle of improvisation, to accept the offer and move the scene on. Keep a focus on relationships and maintain character; remember to give statements, not questions and don’t block the offer, or the scene will grind to a half. Blocking also means you are making the scene much harder for your fellow actors as they then have to reoffer to try to restart the action.

BENEFITS OF IMPROVISATION, BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM, FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

“The benefits of learning improvisation have been proven in young people to improve and promote communication, decision making, working as a team, social interaction, confidence, active listening, physical awareness and helping with anxiety.”

Drama improvisation is a great tool for young people to help them make new friends, build confidence, work as a team and celebrate their own ideas, creativity and achievements. The key principles of improvisation can benefit young people both in and out of the classroom.

3 the-educator.org

IMPROVISATION PRACTITIONERS

A comparison of two of the leading Improvisation Teachers: VIOLA SPOLIN AND KEITH JOHNSTONE

“The heart of improvisation is transformation” Viola Spoon

Viola Spolin’s Theatre Games book developed improvisation techniques, whereby people from different backgrounds, countries and cultures could all work together to produce a spontaneous and honest improvisation.

Viola Spolin felt that the performer should have a direct experience to be affected by the improvisation. Of not “being in your head”, but rather to go with the improvisation without judging or analysing. An intuitive, holistic connection to the other performers in trying to solve a problem. The improvisation stems from solving a problem. This work creates a very natural, spontaneous acting style. The performers have the freedom to play and explore. They are fully immersed in the task at hand.

Some examples of Spolin’s games are:

Emotional Symphony – the audience gives each actor an emotion, which they vocalise when conducted.

Contact – the actors improvise a scene but can only talk when they make physical contact.

Dubbing – two actors take a suggestion of a film genre and relationship from the audience as their stimulus. Two other actors dub the two actor’s voices as they perform.

“It’s not the offer, but what you do with it”, Keith Johnstone.

TheaterSports is another form of improvisation created by British teacher and director Keith Johnstone. Two teams of improvisation performers are needed and a judge, much like in the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? The teams compete against each other. They are normally given a category/heading to improvise around, often using a modern-day topic that is easily relatable. The score is usually based on originality, comedy and some form of relevance.

Johnstone’s method involved status, narrative, character, blocks, offers, platforms and tilts. Of intellectual understanding of interactions and storytelling. Johnstone encourages his performers to look for the obvious – to be average.

The differences between the two approaches to improvisation are that one is immersing yourself in solving a problem, the other is to win a competition. Spolin’s method relies on the performer acting without pre-thinking, working in a spontaneous method. Johnstones method of improvisation relies on quick thinking. Both can and do produce surprising imaginative results, but the improvisation process to get there differs along the way.