back of a spreadsheet; back of the net

I really enjoy my improv sessions and hanging out with my improv chums.

The last session was great, not because we were doing great work, but because I learnt a lot about the craft and myself from taking part in it.

( Cut for Tidyness )

One of the things I am learning is that I need to be better at explaining things. This will be made easier if I had a better idea what I am doing. It is easier to explain an improv Handle if you are very familiar with the rules and know what the Handle needs in the way of Askfors, set-ups, and key concepts.

At the moment we have lots of new people. They are terrific. Very talented, enthusiastic and good to hang out with. However, they are new, they don’t know all the Handles, or the Concepts or the Rules. (Not that I do, but I have a year and a bit and three shows under my belt). I find myself in much more of a leadership role than I was expecting. More on this anon I’m sure.

Last Wednesday’s session was a Tin of Destiny session, followed by an outing to the pub. Tin of Destiny sessions are playshops where we pick games at random from a Tin. The idea is that we play whatever comes out of the Tin. We don’t need a facilitator and because we don’t know what is coming out of the Tin we can’t plan and so we have to improvise.

Sometimes they work very well, sometimes less so. A lot depends on who is there, how they are feeling and working and which combination of handles come out. If you get lots of hard technical exercises and a group with lots of new people you get superficial results. If lots of parlour games come out, you have fun but it’s not satisfying.

Half way through last Wednesday’s session The Tall One (who I utterly respect as an improviser and think is a top bloke and is one of the reasons I wanted to join this group) shouted stop. The Tin had thrown up lots of parlour games and some physical stuff and we were struggling with bits of Blocking and Wimping. “Not Enough Narrative Stuff” he cried. “Let’s do something with a beginning a middle and an end” He was right. Although the next few scenes weren’t classics (and we were still struggling with blocking) it was great to see some stories coming out.

The Tall One’s outburst and the fact that we’d had some issues with blocking meant that when we got to the pub afterwards, late in the evening we were ready and able to have a really good conversation about what we are trying to do as a group and, on a technical point of view, blocking.

So my learnings from last Wednesday Session are

• -being clear in my own head what I want to explain
• -not assuming that other people have got it when they nod, err on the side of repetition and being overly simplistic.
• -asking for help, even if I don’t think I need it