Improvisation
(improv)
• Improvisational Theater (improv): is a form of
theater where most or all of what is performed is
created at the moment it is performed.
• In its purest form, the dialogue, the action, the
story and the characters are created
collaboratively by the players as the
improvisation unfolds.
• Improv exists in performance as a range of
styles of improvisational comedy as well as
some non-comedic theatrical performances.
• It is sometimes used in film and television, both
to develop characters and scripts and
occasionally as part of the final product.
• The skills and processes of improvisation are
used outside of performance as well. It is often
used extensively in drama programs to train
actors for stage, film and television and can be
an important part of the rehearsal process.
• It is used in classrooms and businesses as an
educational tool and as a way to develop
communication and brain-storming skills.
• It is sometimes used in psychotherapy as a tool
to gain insight into a person's thoughts, feelings
and relationships.
Improvisational comedy
• Modern improvisational comedy, as it is
practiced in the West, falls generally into two
categories: shortform and longform.
• Shortform improv consists of short scenes
usually constructed from a predetermined game,
structure, or idea and driven by an audience
suggestion. Many shortform games were first
created by Viola Spolin based on her training
from Neva Boyd.
• The shortform improv comedy television series
Whose Line Is It Anyway? has familiarized
viewers with shortform.
• Longform improv performers create shows in which
short scenes are often interrelated by story, characters,
or themes.
• Longform shows may take the form of an existing type of
theatre, for example a full-length play or Broadway-style
musical such as Spontaneous Broadway.
• One of the better-known longform structures is the
Harold, developed by ImprovOlympic co-founder Del
Close.
• Many such longform structures now exist. In the UK the
Comedy Store Players are a well known shortform
improv group, who are also in the Guinness World
Records.
Non-comedic improv
• Other forms of improvisational theatre
training and performance techniques are
experimental and Avant-garde in nature
and not necessarily intended to be
comedic.
• These include Playback Theatre and
Theatre of the Oppressed, the Poor
Theatre, the Open Theatre, to name only a
few.
KEY TERMS
• Improvisation (improv): the impromptu portrayal of a
character or scene without any rehearsal or preparation.
• Spontaneity:
– the quality or state of being spontaneous
– the spontaneity of their behavior
– the couple sacrificed some of the spontaneity in their lives when
they had a baby
– voluntary or undetermined action or movement; : its source
• “illusion of the first time”: a situation in which an
audience is led to believe that each performance is the
first.
• Scene stealing: calling attention to one’s presence
onstage and diverting attention away from the main
actors.
• Character-centered approach: an approach to telling a
story that focuses on a character or a group of
characters who experience different situations.
• Situation-centered approach: an approach to telling a
story that takes a single situation or a series of situations
and puts characters in them to show how different
personalities respond to the same event.
• Motivated sequence: the natural way in
which a person responds to a stimulus –
the brain registers, the body responds and
then reacts – as mirrored by an actor in an
improvisation.