In terms of emotional reactions and responses improv can be looked at as real life in reverse.
Real Life
An example of someone accidentally encountering a sleeping wolf (happens to me all the time).
- There is an external reality, a sleeping wolf.
- I see the reality.
- I process the reality.
- I have a feeling about the reality; fear.
- I have a physical/emotional response; I gasp and my heart rate goes up.
- I display that response; I look scared, my eyes widen, my mouth open.
- I have an action; I tip toe carefully away.
Improv is the other way round. In improv you do an action, have a response, that makes you feel something, that presents you an idea, you see it, you share that idea, that is now the new reality.
For instance in improv:
- I’m jumping up and down.
- I’m laughing.
- I feel exhilarated and happy.
- I think/process it’s my brithday.
- I 'see' the other person is holding a birthday cake.
- I say “oh wow a birthday cake”.
- When they accept that then that is the new reality, it is my birthday and I have a cake.
Attempting to do improv by thinking and processing is coming at it the wrong direction. Much better, easier, and more fun to come to it from the emotional, behavioural, physical, especially at the start of a scene.
When you have nothing just do anything, and see what happens from there. Let the movement and emotions direct the mind.
It doesn’t make sense at the start. So do something that doesn’t make sense, then let yourself make sense of it.
Blog by Steve Roe, co-founder of Hoopla Impro. Hoopla run improv courses, classes and shows in London and across the UK. Twitter: @HooplaImpro. Facebook: HooplaImpro. Website: www.HooplaImpro.com.
I think you'll like this, related to your last paragraph. I read it to my little boy only last night, abridged from Chapter 7 of The House at Pooh Corner:
ReplyDeleteRabbit, Pooh and Piglet were having a rest in a small sandpit on top of the Forest. Pooh was getting rather tired of that sandpit, and suspected it of following them about, because whatever direction they started in, they always ended up at it.
"Well," said Rabbit, "which way shall we try?"
"How would it be," said Pooh slowly, "if, as soon as we're out of sight of this Pit, we try to find it again?
"We keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I thought that if we looked for this Pit, we'd be sure not to find it, which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that we weren't looking for, which might be just what we were looking for, really."
"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."