improvisation 101 and what i learned

Have you watched that episode of The Office where Michael joins improv? 

Michael is just being himself in this episode, so every time he comes up to perform he acts like a gunman. That should have probably made me not want to join improv but it somehow prompted me to go for a taster session earlier this year. 

While Michael might be trying to be funny, he is undeniably a horrible improv artist. His personality is a core of narcissistic needs that make him seek attention. It is the exact opposite of what you are required to do in improv. 

How do I describe improv to someone who has never heard about it before? I’ll say it could seem like a lazier form of theatre. However, just imagine you are onstage with nothing prepared and an expectant audience to entertain. Sounds like a nightmare? Yeah, so improv can seem one of the scariest forms of theatre to an overthinker like me: no script, no rehearsals, only you and your spontaneity. 

Last week marked the graduation of my six-week improvisation course. Apart from the initial push of signing up and the pain of travelling to Clarke Quay at nine AM on Sunday mornings, I loved it. I met amazing new people, and most importantly, I let myself be someone different, someone, who I am not usually.

Say YES!

The first thing that you will learn in improv is saying yes. Not just ‘yes’, but ‘yes, and…’. When you are improvising, you are supposed to agree with whatever your partner is saying and add to it. Even if it is the most ridiculous thing in the world, you got to say ‘yes’. Not literally, but essentially agree with the world your partner has created and built on their idea.

Make your partner look good

One of the things that I struggle with as someone who loves to speak is listening. Often when I am listening, I might do it with the intent to reply and not to understand. We all love to talk about ourselves, to look better than the person on the other side. Although in improv, you need to ‘make your partner look good’. It means you focus on your partner, allowing them to take the ‘centre stage’ and sometimes shut the fuck up and listen. You lose your ego and take responsibility for them, look at them as support, not a martyr.

If it’s a big scene with ten people, of course not everyone can take the lead. ‘Make your partner look good’ here would mean that sometimes some should voluntarily choose to play the side characters. In a restaurant scene, you could simply choose to play a mere window cleaner. You may think that this would add no value to you as an improv artist or the scene, but that’s untrue. Sometimes you need to take the back seat and remember to allow your partner to be the surfer, while you do everything to sustain and amplify the wave that they are riding on. 

Never talk to a stranger  

In improv, you are creating a world which is unlimited with its possibilities. In class, we would be thrown at with the most random word and make a scene of whatever we make out of it. One of my favourite exercises was the one with mystery paper chits (with song quotes, dialogues from movies, or the most random sentences written on it). In the middle of a scene, we would pick one of the paper note chits and let our next sentence be the one written on it, and make sure to justify it. 

Creating a world out of such randomness is even trickier with a stranger. So we followed a (not so very strict) rule, ‘never talk to a stranger’. Let the audience know of your relationship with your partner, they could be your dad, your lover or even your grandparent’s lover. 

Losing control 

In improv the thing which you have the least is control. The scene could take a flip with any single action and dialogue. The twists are real. While most of us are taught to take life too seriously and have a plan every step of the way, improv might disagree. Be attentive and simply trust yourself and your partner. Let yourself loose and let your craziest thoughts come to life. 

Long story short, take an improv class

You can never really understand the essence of improv without experiencing it. I joined it to be more confident, be more spontaneous with my responses in conversations and even to become funnier. It taught me how to let go of my perceptions of right and wrong, putting myself out there and being present. But, improv was also an escape, a way to laugh at life or some might say that it was just a bunch of adults acting crazy. 

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• Improvisation