That’s crazy, but alright…
In UCB / FA style improv the “straight” or “grounded” character often exists to: It’s a mechanic that works, but it also produces a binary dynamic of “the weird one” and “the reasonable one,” which can settle into predictable rhythms, and even block the forward movement of the scene. Used well, the reasonable one helps […]
Improv maxims
Here are a few choice improv maxims that work in other parts of life too. Notice moreIs having the presence of mind to notice what’s happening in the moment, and the ability to sense what is most alive and important right now. Rather than closing down and missing a lot of what’s going on, we […]
Playful mindfulness
Connecting playfulness with mindfulness offers some mutually reinforcing benefits for presence, learning, freedom and inner peace. On the one hand, playfulness helps us to move, experiment, laugh, release energy, connect, feel, explore novelty, embrace change, get lost in flow, and absorbed in the moment in a task positive way. Mindfulness on the other hand helps […]
Owning your mistakes
We tend to treat mistakes as things to avoid at all costs. We rehearse, polish and double-check because we want to get things right. And while there’s care in that, there’s also a quiet cost: the more we grip ourselves, the less space there is for surprise, play, and connection. When we try this hard […]
Whose feeling is it anyway?
‘Whose line is it anyway?’ was one of my favourite shows as a teenager. I would tune in every week on the small telly in my bedroom, captivated by the wit and dexterity of Paul Merton, Mike McShane and Josie Lawrence and others. At school the next day with my friends we just talked about […]
Generosity
Attention is a precious commodity, and I love watching people giving each other their full attention In improv, this happens all the time. It’s this quiet, generous act that keeps me coming back for more. When people give each other their full attention, something shifts. There’s palpable sense of shared presence. In those moments, we’re […]
Make your own entertainment
We’ve lost sight of something simple but important in our culture. And that’s the simple fun of making your own entertainment. In our consumer culture it has been outsourced it to the ‘entertainment industry’ and we’ve lost touch with something essentially human. But we can take it back. And it’s not that hard. And people […]
Just show up
“The world is run by the people that show up” has a lot of truth to it. It’s not possible to influence or change anything if you’re not involved, and yet many of us struggle to show up consistently in life for things that matter most. So I thought I’d share a few insights and […]
Just presence
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 […]
La Wronge
An all-star improv cast bring you an improv experiment you don’t want to miss! The La Ronde is a classic tag-based format where we see snippets of the lives of various characters, each the hero in their own story. What happens when you push those boundaries to their breaking point? Add story telling, monologues and […]