3am Improv Thoughts from Jill Bernard from Jill Bernard on Vimeo.
A great video from Jill Bernard. So much good stuff here.
This is probably my favourite
“You’re being vague because you think it’s respectful of your partner’s plans. But she has no plans, she’s improvising. So, name some sh*t so we can move on please.
Just discovered this wonderful comic. Art by Ethan Nicolle (age 29), with story by Malachai Nicolle (age 5).
This is extremely similar to the stories I would write in primary school (actually, it’s quite similar to some of the stories I write now). But what impresses me is the storytelling techniques at work. There’s routine breaking, reincorporation, and internal logic (for example, in the world of axe cop, any time you get someone’s blood on you, you gain their powers).
This is the next part of the Patsy Rodenburg talk I linked to below.
I think this is (perhaps) another way of looking at Keith Johnstone’s status work. 1st circle is low status, 3rd circle is high status, and 2nd circle is the status player (someone who can adapt their status to the situation). She also makes the connection that it is only in the 2nd circle that one has to be ‘in the moment’.
Edit: Oops! fixed the link.
Fascinating snippet of a talk from voice teacher Patsy Rodenburg
Great news!
Yesand.com is back up and running, and it looks better than ever.
I probably should have mentioned this at some point.
My comic is now on sale online.
It’s actually pretty good, the narrative was improvised, and Saki’s art is amazing.
You can order it here.
I feel like I’m finally recovered from Improvathon. In the end I improvised for 12 hours on Saturday, which I feel was pretty impressive, though it pales in comparison to those who went for 30 hours straight.
I remember Keith talking about Micetro and saying the ideal situation was to play several Micetros over a weekend, as that was the best way to stop improvisers caring about winning and losing. I can certainly appreciate the idea now. I never felt any pressure to jump into a scene, and I never worried if I screwed something up. There was always going to be another chance later.
Can’t wait for WIT’s Improvathon.
Flying up tomorrow with a couple of other Jesters to take part.
It’s gonna be intense.
This mind-blowing exercise I learnt from Patti Stiles at last years NZ Improv Festival.
Again I think this ties in well with the other exercises I’ve been talking about, but I might not play them in this sequence, I might do this one, then the others, then this one again to see if it helps.
Here’s how it works;
Everyone in pairs, find yourselves a space in the room. Person A is going to play the role of the worst improviser imaginable. Person B is going to play the role of the best improviser imaginable. A, try and make the scene fail. B, try and make the scene succeed. Go!
After a few minutes I’ll swap them over without discussion.
Then we talk about successful strategies for both roles. Then we try it again, encouraging each side to try different approaches, and pointing out that if they can succeed when someone is actively working against them then improv will be easy for the rest of their lives.
It’s impossible to describe all the possible ways this game can go, but I assure you, the first time you see the good improviser flip things on the bad improviser so that it looks like they’re both working together (and making them both look brilliant) you’ll be hooked.
It’s a great proof of the fact that No one can block you but yourself (As Jeff Wirth said in this wonderful but long lost article), and that if you treat your partner like a genius and a poet then they will become one.
Following on from stop at the same time, I enjoy ‘leave for the same reason’. This is an exercise I’ve read in Impro for Storytellers many times, but never tried until recently. Turns out it was just what I was looking for.
How I play it,
Four chairs in a line. Four people up. The aim of the game is, everyone must leave for the same reason. But! No talking.
Some groups will get this first time, others will struggle a bit. Once they’ve succeeded a few times, usually as a result of very strong mime offers from one person (miming a bus timetable, checking watch, everyone gets on the bus) we add in another rule.
Now, just like with stop at the same time, you’ve got to make it so I can’t guess who’s idea it was.
This is where things get really interesting. The players have to totally focus on what the others are doing if they want to succeed. If they’re struggling I’ll either either side coach a little (”Dan just yawned.” “Emma just scratched her arm”), or we might stop and ask the audience what possibilities they saw. I’ll also rewind them if I can tell one person is leading. After a while we start to see players amazingly in sync with one another, picking up and amplifying offers made by others (one of my students very astutely compared it speak in one voice). An exciting discovery we might make at this point is that other players are always making offers, even if they don’t realize it, we just have to look for them.
I sometimes teach this along with the Sandy Carroll games from the Improv Handbook (also known as ‘Yes, Sounds good to me, I’ll go along with that’).