If on a winter's night an improvisor...

[hardboiled]

If my calculations are correct (and they rarely are), I belong to the improv troupe closest to Antarctica.

A distinction which says little about our skill as improvisors, and a lot about our isolation from the main centre's of improvisation.


I'm tired of short form games. So, so tired, I don't want to go out of the room and then guess what crime I commited with which celebrity, I don't want to show you examples of the worst person for any particular job. (I don't know why I haven't just sat down and written out three of four gags for each of the six or so occupations that are called out for world's worst [1])

But I still do it. Because it's the only game in town.

So far.[2]



[1] If you're ever forced to play World's Worst the solution is very simple, for the first round play a guy with no arms (doesn't matter what the job is it's always funny). You can then just do Mr. No-arms for all subsequent jobs (that's re-incorporation).

[2]I didn't want to start out so negative, it's just very cold at the moment (hence the cold motif).

 

[hardboiled]

The Japanese have a theory of aesthetics based around ephemerality, namely... My god that sounds pretentious.

I'll start again.

In Japan they really like cherry blossoms. The reason being that they bloom for just a couple of days, and then they all drop to the ground. The idea is that cherry blossoms wouldn't be nearly as beautiful if they were there all year, it is dependant on their impermanance.

That is why I love impov...


...that and silly hats.

 

[hardboiled]

Since discovering the whole online journal thing a couple of years ago I've made a couple of interesting discoveries based on those people who I know in both meat-world and e-world;

1) People lie about themselves. Weblogs are a sort of personal propoganda, and people use blogs to reinforce those lies they tell in 'real life'.. I'm not saying everyone does, but many do.
2) Some people have very little awareness of how they are percieved.

Now, I like to think that I'm pretty self aware, but I'm aware that there isn't anywayof testing that, so let's just keep these two discoveries in mind while we read this (and any other) journal.

 

[hardboiled]

corrective

I don't think I'm reaching my full potential as an improvisor.

Thing to work on for this week; entering scenes with a strong character choice.

Hmmm, I think I'll give that a couple of weeks.

 

[hardboiled]

In High School my family would come and watch the plays I was in, and then afterwards they would come up to me and say "Wow, I can't believe you could remember all those lines."

Now it's certainly possible that my acting was terrible, and they were just looking for something nice to say. But I suspect that they had just got hung up on a minor technical skill actors must master to put on a show.

I have the same feeling when poeple say '"I can't believe you made all that stuff up."

Improvisation is a means to an end, and that end is a good show. How the material is produced shouldn't matter.

 

[hardboiled]

my biggest fear

I've found a fundamental disparity between what I believe should be the case, and what actually is the case.

I really believe in improv as some sort of meta-art form, and I believe that becoming a better improvisor and becoming a better person are more or less the same thing*.

To my mind a great improvisor is not just a confident performer and not just some funny bastard, but sensitive, supportive, observant, positive, skilled, and knowledgeable. A kind of new renaissance person.

In the real world, I find that a lot of those people who are considered to be great improvisors are in fact arseholes.
(these are people you probably don't know).


I'm pretty sure the answer is ego, but I'm not sure how to avoid it. I'm hoping this journal might help.
----------------


*I don't mean that if you are a bad improvisor you are a bad person, this is a separate issue which I don't want to go into now.

 

[hardboiled]

Uncomfortable moment at a show a few weeks ago.

Character A makes a comment about Character B, Actor B takes it personally and retorts with a comment that clearly targets the Actor A rather than the Character A. Audience laughs, scene continues.

Neither made any comment after the show. I'm not even sure that anyone else even noticed whaT. But it keeps coming back to me, which I assume means there's something for me to learn from it.

When you're up there on stage you are completely exposed; inside and out. But if you're invested in your character, you won't even realise how much of yourself you are revealing to the audience.
However, if you're just up there to say funny lines that you think of, then there is a much greater risk of...embaresment? because everything that happens you relate directly to yourself rather than your character.

Not particularly insightful, but if there's some way for me to talk to actor b without offending him, I think it will solve some other problem's he's having.

I seem to recall Keith Johnstone talking about excercises where actors yell insults at each other.

More thought required.

 

[hardboiled]

In my early improv performances (only performances, never rehearsals) my arms would go completely numb, right up to the arm pit. I would only notice when the scene was over and I was going to sit down.

I've always assumed it was something to do with my breathing, but I've never heard of it happening to anyone else.

Hasn't happened for a couple of years now though. Just one of life's little mysteries.

 

[hardboiled]

Oh boy oh boy. I'm really looking forward to getting hold of this new book by Mick Napier. Unfortunately it's going to have to pay more than the cost of the book again in postage.

Still, it sounds fantastic.


Had a good show on Friday. Audience numbers seem to be on the rise which always gives us a bit of an extra boost.

 

[hardboiled]

I am learning so much from reading other improvisor's journals. It's so easy to feel isolated

While I'll readily agree that the internet is a poor replacement for going to see live performances, it's still far far better than nothing.

Me and a friend have begun some experiments into long form improv.

At the moment we're working on developing the relationship rather than the narrative.

Results so far; promising.

 

[hardboiled]

Small plate, many things (on)

Things are really starting to happen now.

I'm rehearsing a new play that a friend of mine wrote, it's very 'Waiting for Godot'/ 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern', which is fine with me because I love that kind of stuff. Somewhat daunted by the number of lines I have to learn, which is funny considering my previous description of lines learning as 'a minor technical skill'.
Still, great script, great cast. I couldn't ask for anything more.

I've got some improv tutoring coming up. Teaching High School kids always keeps me on my toes. Some schools have incredibly skilled and experienced performers, others have never even seen any improv.
I'm not sure if I like teaching better than performing, but in the end I couldn't do without either.

Working on an improv show. Trying to keep the whole thing hush hush at the moment. But Me and a couple of other guys are working on a long form type show to take to a fringe festival later this year. Really excited about this, it's just really hard finding a time when we can all rehearse together.

Regular improv shows are still good. At the moment I'm just focusing on finding the joy, even in games that I don't like on an intellectual level I'm just getting in there and having fun with it.


New goal. Stop arguing with people about what will work and what wont work. In the end, either will work if you just commit to it.

 

[hardboiled]

progress

A few weeks ago I set myself the goal of making stronger character choices when I enter scenes.

Thinking back ovre my last couple of performances, I think I'm certainly making some progress. But there's still room for improvment.

I've managed to injure myself recently. Last Saturday night I was participating in inebriated antics, and managed to injure my left shoulder.

At workshop this week I landed a little too hard on my left knee.

I know do a pretty good Richard III, even when I'm not trying.

I used to bang myself up quite a bit while improvising, but not so much anymore. I don't know if it's because I've aquired more grace, or I'm just performing in a less physical way.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the latter. I've been wanting to get some light knee pads that I could wear under my trousers without anyone noticing. Haven't found anything yet. I think dancing supplies shops have them, if I can find such a thing.


Sold out show. We must be doing something right.

 

[hardboiled]

My copy of 'Improvise' arrived this morning. I am filled with the joy of someeone who has a book written about exactly what they want to read about. A rare joy indeed.

Read the whole thing in one sitting. Still digesting.

 

[hardboiled]

history pt. 1

I became involved with improv about five years ago. I was in my second year of university, and I saw some posters around saying that the universities drama society was going to be running weekly theatre sports workshops.
I decided to go along (I was a big fan of 'Whose line' at the time).

At the workshops we learnt a lot of games, but not a lot of theory. The tutor did however mention that there was a guy named Keith Johnstone who had written quite a good book.

Well, I was hooked. I scoured both the internet and the library for things about improv. I read Spolin, Close, Izzo, plus others that I can't remember, but the one the really struck me was Impro for Storytellers (though Impro is also great). I literally couldn't put it down.
I remember walking down the road to my bus stop, with the book open in front of me, trying not to waste any moment that could be spent reading it.

I can't express the degree to which Keith Johnstone's books have affected my life.

So needless to say, when I heard a couple of weeks ago that Keith was coming to New Zealand for a week long workshop, I could hardly pass it up.

Sure, I found out only half an hour before applications closed, sure I didn't have any contact details for the organizers, sure it cost considerably more that I could afford. I wouldn't let anything get in my way.

So now I'm just focusing on not getting too excited about the whole thing, because it would be very difficult for anything to live up to the kind of expectations I have.