The Improvisation School is a seed that is growing day by day. This site is a little taste of where things are going. And while it’s not finished by any of the stretch of the imagination, it represents what we hope will be a great adventure for many many students. As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen. – Winnie the Pooh If you see things that seem off Read more…
WEE WISDOMS – 3 CHANGE! hi 6 munths on the planet – wooooooo i am older than i wuz when i last wrot to U. it alwayz stay the same that i keep changing. deep. Dad sumtimes keeps doing the same thing wen he tries making me laff. same cwazy face. same cwazy sound. buuuuuuuut… that wont work. i been there – i done that. i think he gets lazy. He thinks that wut waz Read more…
Walkin’ Talkin’ Directors often tell actors not to walk as they speak. “Plant your feet, then talk. It gives your words more weight. It makes you stronger,” they say. So, when I heard the premise of the following exercise, I, unfortunately, let this implied rule lingering at the back of my head affect my sense of judgement. “Of course, this game will be a failure. It has to be. I know the rule!!” But then… Read more…
ARTIFICIAL IMPROVISATION It’s Here & Now (part-002/003) WELCOME to PART 2 of the AI IMPRO special!!! If you got to the end of PART 1, you would have realised that 70% of it was co-written by AI (including 4 of the 6 pictures which were AI generated.) I promise not to do that again. Or am I doing it now!!!??? Damn you AI!!! Let’s take a look at some possible formats and at some actual Read more…
ARTIFICIAL IMPROVISATION (part-003/003) It’s Here & Now WELCOME to PART 3 of the AI IMPRO special!!! In PART 1, AI argued for itself. In Part 2, The humans and AI begin to play awkwardly. In this final Part 3, we hear the horrors, imagine the magic and move on bravely with AI IMPRO and more. (All images except Geoffery Hinton created by AI) AI/IMPROVISER – Villains to the performing arts!!!How are we to tell what is Read more…
KEITH LINKS! Interviews, Videos, Press, Commentary, Reviews and even a musical MASH-UP of Keith Johnstone teachings. I’ve listed some here for easy access. More will be added weekly. Feel free to send in ones that you’d like to have included! All Videos PRESS TEXT Keith Johnstone WEBSITE (official) Keith’s Official Website. His blog is a “must-read” KEITH’S TED TALK Keith suggests they can edit it if they want to limit the time. About Impro & Read more…
COLLAPSING WALLS THE GAME During a class in Germany, I noticed an improviser consistently avoiding interaction with her partners. She told me she had been given that note before, but was uncertain how to address the issue. This often ignored, but common improvisation problem can damage scenes especially when it becomes a performer’s fall-back tendency. Lack of interaction means that performers tend to focus on superficial ideas and on characters outside of the scene. Avoiding Read more…
Recommended by Keith… Previous Next After a performance lacking in substance, devoid of refence to current events, or having no point of view, Keith Johnstone would often say, “Read a newspaper, read a book. It will improve your work on stage.” He encouraged us to watch a good movie or TV series that peeled back human nature. And in any class he taught, he always had an opinion about what might be worth reading, watching, Read more…
OUR KEITH MEMORIES Part 3 – Around the World Keith Johnstone’s reach has been vast. He was never a big self-promoter. His work said it all. His writings are in numerous languages in dog-eared books on the shelves of people from every continent. He asked me once, “How did you get to Chile? I haven’t taught in Chile!” I felt a little embarrassed and reminded him that he didn’t go because he thought it Read more…
OUR KEITH MEMORIES Part 2 – AGAIN! “The audience will lend you their attention, as long as you pay it back later, with interest.” – Keith Johnstone Keith opened his classes low-key and unassuming. He nudged the students into calm before revealing the monsters were inside us all and guided us to releasing them fearlessly. In reality, we would discover that the monsters were just like us and wanted to play. The Life game Read more…
OUR KEITH MEMORIES Part 4 – Some last words… for now Whenever I thought I KNEW a “Keith exercise”, I was always snapped back to reality watching Keith teaching the same exercise again but with a slight twist or a whole new flavour to it. His variations of the “WHAT COMES NEXT” evolved over decades. You could teach that exercise all day repeating the phrase, “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!!” “What Comes Next?” evolved from a Read more…
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