This post is inspired by a class I took with John Cremer, one of my favourite improv teachers. 

Classes with John feel incredibly alive. Permission is granted. People take risks. People share. And the scenes speak for themselves.

John once said that you could sum up his approach to improv in one word: presence.

So I thought I’d write an article about presence in improv but it felt like nailing jelly to the wall – tedious and fruitless. So I wrote a list of things not to do, with some useful pointers from my inner-spirit-guide-John*.

Don’t plan ahead…
Just be present. Don’t let anything take you out of this moment. Notice your partners every move and respond honestly and authentically.

Don’t hold on to the past…
Stay alive to this moment, and this moment, and this moment…(and this moment)

Don’t worry about yourself…
Give your inner critic/editor some time off. Give yourself permission to be seen and heard.

Don’t worry about others…
Venture more. Be as you are. You are more resilient than you know. Let others think and feel what they will.

Don’t act, don’t act, don’t act
You’re not in a ghastly genre-based improv show. React as if it’s real. Which makes it real. Kinda.

Don’t hold back
There’s a Jungian cave of horrors in every one of us waiting to be let out. Open the door. Let them play. Don’t judge them.

Don’t gold plate the shithouse
Don’t be too easily satisfied. Tear down the shithouse and build a new one instead. According to my inner-John Gurdjieff said this. Although he’s never been able to track down the quote.

Don’t hold back
There’s a Jungian cave of horrors in every one of us waiting to be let out. Open the door. Let them play. Don’t judge them. They are part of you.

Don’t sacrifice your scene partner
The dynamic with your scene partner is EVERYTHING. Don’t sacrifice it for an imaginary backdrop of who, what and where. May the improv gods be merciful.

Don’t be nice
Your nice-y niceness is born of your social conditioning. Be selfish. Get it wrong. Today is the day. Open the cave. Let it all out. Your stage partners will thank you.

Don’t be in your head
That’s the last place you want to be. Get into your body. Feel your feelings. Your head always runs out of lines but your body never runs out of feelings.

Don’t think about the narrative arc
The audience doesn’t give a shit. Your invention is tedious non-presence. Just keep on discovering what’s real and compelling.

Don’t be hard on yourself
Be gentle. The more you share the more we see, and the more you grow and change.

*My inner-spirit-guide-John is not to be confused with the actual John Cremer and these are my notes from his class. Having an inner-spirit-guide-John is probably not a good idea, and definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Some of this post contradicts stuff I have written in other posts. So be it.

Photo by Anne Nygard on Unsplash