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Improvisation
Why do performers like stand-up Cecilia Holmes love improvisation? And what's in it for the rest of us?
by Cecilia Holmes
Improvisation is a sport of the mind. It challenges the ingenuity of the team of improvisers with each line uttered. As adults we forget that when we were children we were good at improvising - it came naturally. The skill of the players in improvisational theatre is their development of those innate skills to a professional level, while making it feel intimate and fun for the audience.
As adults, we censor what we say all the time, and improvisers learn techniques to counter this inhibition. Improvisation is an inclusive artform – anyone from any background can join in. We have all been in a shoe shop to buy shoes or at an interview feeling nervous, so surely we can act it out. But, unlike children, adults find it hard to ‘keep it real’. Yet improvisation is internationally popular - in the corporate world, in teaching, in therapy and in theatres - because it fulfills the need in us to be playful and expressive – an increasingly necessary yoga of the mind. And improvisation shows are steadily making a comeback on the London comedy scene. We are on the crest of a popularity wave now, with groups like The Spontaneity Shop players taking the lead.
Jim Libby made a guest appearance at Coming Ready or Not (Ealing Studios, October 2005) featuring The Spontaneity Shop, and newer group The Undersigned. He’s an American from Vienna, and an internationally renowned improviser. ‘Improvisation is not the death of traditional theatre, but the rebirth’, he maintains. That night he developed the character of a vicar killing lesbian and gay folk in his village. The vicar was controlled by God in his path of destruction. God was controlled by a computer. As God was a bit of a technophobe, his instructions went awry. Jim Libby’s characterisations demonstrated the way improvisation can lead anywhere, and bring in so many contemporary strands.
The Undersigned were formed in 2005 in the footsteps of The Spontaneity Shop. At a gig in the Hen and Chickens Theatre (October 2005), they acted out short scenes, mainly between two people: dropping into the characters of an old lady, a priest, a repentant son and so on. First scenes were crucial - they set the characters and subject matter for the particular interaction, and these elements were revisited throughout the show.
Keeping the unfolding stories obvious is more difficult than it appears - the incongruity of the mind is being grappled with before our eyes. The audience really has to listen and become absorbed to follow the scenes and understand where they are leading. We are so used to television and ‘finished’ stories and sketches, it is refreshing to see the thought processes of actors in the raw.
Audience feedback and inclusion is also paramount, and improvisation events offer a healthy alternative to stand up gigs, where the crowd can sometimes feel force-fed and uninvolved. The Undersigned also involve mime and physical theatre in their clear-cut characterisations.
The motto of The Spontaneity Shop is We Suck and Love to Fail – failing and not getting it right makes it funny, while censoring our thoughts without playfulness can make it tedious to watch. Because we all live and observe life, the improvisers have to work hard to convince us that the scene they are playing is believable. It involves consummate skill as an actor and a storyteller to hold it all together in front of the critical but knowledgeable eye of the audience. But improvisation is also teamwork, so no one player holds total responsibility for a scene petering out to nothing, or for the glory of a brilliant moment.
END
(c)Cecilia Holmes 18 March 06
The Undersigned play Hen & Chickens Theatre (www.henandchickens.com) 26 March 06 & 23 April 06 at 9.15pm. Spontaneity Shop gigs are at www.the-spontaneity-shop.com
Sub-editor – Mary Paterson
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2009
