Story Robot

I’ve been collecting together improv terms I find useful, and as I was doing so I remembered barbequing.

Barbequing is something I see commonly in High School Theatre Sports teams (especially all-male teams).

A problem is established (Broke the priceless vase, pet tiger is sick etc). Not knowing what to do about it, the onstage players call on players from offstage until the whole team is standing in a semicircle around the problem in a pose very similar to blokes standing around a bbq.

I’ve started listening to this Improv Podcast (thanks Shawn!)

It’s notoriously difficult for improv to retain it’s spark once it’s been recorded*. But here, the improvisers take their time and turn the restrictions of the format to their advantage. An enjoyable listen.

*I recently heard someone describe an uninspiring improv scene as “like an improv video on youtube”.

Thanks to Ian for pointing out this.

Which is truly a thing of beauty.
(I’d seen some of Dyna Moe’s Mad Men drawings before, but I never knew she was an improviser).

Still I don’t think my efforts were completely wasted, since there’s nothing like wrestling with an idea to help one really understand it.

A little experiment to try and represent the (training wheels) Harold pictorially. Suggestions welcome.

Stumbled across this little video of Keith talking about the secret of acting

View Here

(I gave up on trying to embed it)

The Improv Handbook
Tom Salinsky and Deborah Frances-White (from The Spontaneity Shop)

Why this book blew my mind.

1. The Improv Handbook is clearly written by people who do exactly the kind of improv that I want to do. Many other improv books I have read and enjoyed; Truth in Comedy, Art by Committee, Improvise, etc. All of these books I have read more than once and got a lot out of, but these books were not written for my style of improv.
(To clarify, my favourite kind of improv is fundamentally narrative based and Johnstone inspired, and that’s what this book is about).

2. I love Keith’s books. Love love love them. But I know many people find them very difficult reads*. This is a much smoother read, the layout is easier on the eyes, the sections follow a logical flow, the index is more useful, and (though this is a bit unfair) the pop culture examples are things that I know and like (I knew it was love when they used Die Hard as an example).

3. It’s filled with exactly the exercises I was looking for as a teacher. The one slightly demoralizing thing about the book is that I saw so many of the little insights that I had gleaned in my years as an improv teacher and thought my very own written down in front of me and put much better than I ever could have. The upside is that in the book I found the exercises that I probably would have eventually worked out for myself (or at least I like to think so).

4. Cross style discussion. I’d always wanted to know what Keith thinks of Del, and what what Mick thinks of Keith and so forth. So it was a treat to see someone asking those questions. Favourite Keith quote “I think what Del was trying to attack was to stop it being a total waste of time.”

You can read a sample from the Improv Handbook here.

*I enjoy the labyrinthine quality of Keith’s writing, it means I’m always finding something I missed last time through. But I certainly see where people are coming from.

One of the most surprising improv moments of the year;
The MC asks for ‘a part of the body’ from the audience.
Someone throws an artificial leg onto the stage.

Back from the New Zealand Improv Festival, and it was a blast.

Probably my favourite show was Austin Found from the ConArtists, a musical in the style of Jane Austen. I’m relieved we were on before them, because it would have been a tough act to follow.

It was nice to improvise with new and different people, something I get to experience but rarely.

Big thanks to Derek and Merrilee who did an amazing job of organizing the whole thing.

I’m heading up to Wellington on Thursday for the New Zealand Improv Festival (hosted by WIT, who are awesome).

With so much good improv going on around NZ, I’m stoked to see some of it being brought together for a few days.

Will report back next week.

Saki Miyamoto (talented artist and translator) enjoyed Vinny’s guest post so much that she decided to translate it into Japanese. I provide it here for my other Japanese readers.

「 残念なお知らせ 」 Francois Vincent著

君は失敗から逃れることはできない。
もしもまだ一度も失敗を経験していないのであれば、君はまだ何も学んでいない。
失敗なくそれをうまくやってのけたのなら、君はもうそれを会得したということだ。

君は自分の殻を破らなければならない。
君の力の全てを出し切り、ぬるま湯から飛び出すのだ。
しかし君はまた失敗する。
もし、まだ失敗していないのであれば、君はまだ全力を出し切っていないということだ。

君は疲れきって、くじけそうになる。
それでもまた壁にぶちあたり、迷い、とことん失敗を繰り返す。
しかしそうしているうちに、ある日君は成功する。いつしか君はそれを会得し、乗り越えるのだ。

君はこの失敗と気づきを繰り返すだろう。そうしてこそ君は立派に成長する。
さぁ、恐れることはない。楽しもうではないか。

幸せになる君へ、ひとつだけ忠告しておく。

君はその時、また失敗を経験する。