Curse of the PHARAOHS A game of unpredictable death I’ve just been in Egypt and had the great fortune to be hosted by Improviser Ramsi Lehner whose father just happens to be Mark Lehner, one of the most revered Egyptologists in the world. As we moved around the Read more…
TEACH LIKE… A RIVER Rivers adapt to their environment. They look consistent from one angle but they can’t be pinned down to a single picture if you look closely. Improvisation teachers and their lessons appear to be one thing – a human teaching a topic to a class. But every Read more…
MURDERVILLE A review of a televised, semi-improvised, murder mystery Based on Murder in Successville, a semi-improvised sitcom airing in Britain from 2015 to 2017, Murderville is the NETFLIX version starring Will Arnett that premiered in February 2022. I wanted to like it. I really did. MURDERVILLE is a scripted murder mystery Read more…
DOSE OF DESTRUCTION, PINCH OF POISON “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” Pablo Picasso When Improvisers protect every rule, idea and philosophy they’ve learned, they risk creating an unbreakable box that they cannot imagine their way out of. This is a great danger for fear-filled improvisers Read more…
TERRIFIC TORMENT Playful torment is the cornerstone of humorous interaction. I used to perform at children’s festivals where I would interact with families as one of the characters I had developed. One of my favourite characters was a loudmouth masked character with big lips and googly eyes. He was good-natured, Read more…
ESTABLISH & DESTROY VALUES!!! A quick way to make the audience care. Rowan Atkinson’s, mostly silent, obsessive character, Mr Bean is engaging to watch regardless of the language you speak. We know exactly what he wants and he’s obsessive about getting it. The simple nature of Mr. Bean can teach Read more…
GHOST IMPROVISER Hints and suggestions can excite an audience’s imagination more than all the blatant words and images we forcefully create. Build the outline of a character and the audience will fill in the rest. (usually with the elements of their own lives). Here’s a “solo” exercise that mixes, impro, Read more…
REINCORPORATION & PLAUSIBILITY A key concept in ending the story “Yea, I shall return with the tide.” ― Khalil Gibran Instinctively we know that all things are circular. We start somewhere in some emotional state. We journey away, but something in us pulls us back to that beginning idea or image. Read more…
DRESS REHEARSAL – the game – I got into the car with my friend Lee. We were off to Impro class. Lee asked what we were going to do in the class: “Didn’t you get the script?” I joked. “I did but I’m a bit confused about page 23.” Of Read more…
HATS OFF TO YOU! The Hat game played for spontaneity I was on the evil Facebook a couple of weeks ago and read a comment about The”Hat Game” from Avish Parashar. He was asking about The Hat Game: “(the one where you try to grab a hat off your scene Read more…
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