This week I wasn’t able to go to improv as I had to go on a trip to a television festival with work but luckily enough this week it was the year anniversary since I started training in improv and thought would do a ‘year in review’ type of thing looking at the past year and the adventure that it has been.

I looked back at the original series of posts called “The Improv Diaries” this week and it is crazy to think how much has been learnt and accomplished in such a small period of time. I originally did improv for two reasons – the first was that I wanted a new feature to write about and thought that the best way to understand the topic I was talking about was to go and actually delve into the comedy world itself. The second reason was that I wanted to meet people in Newcastle as I was new and alien to a city and wanted to meet new people.

Important Lessons
Over the past year there have been many vital lessons that I have learnt for the art of Improv that have stuck with me and have developed my skills as a performer. I continue to do lessons because there is always something new you learn every time and it doesn’t matter how advanced you are in the art form there is always someone that can teach you something new and look at something in a new angle. Here are some of the most important and also some of my favourite lessons that I have had

Just Say Yes!
The most important rule of improv and also one of the hardest to get used to. When you first start performing it is difficult to just accept everything that is thrown in your direction and to commit to a role. It is hard to accept that you are put into situations such as proposals, fights, an enthusiastic killer etc pretty much anything that’s thrown at you as sometimes your natural reaction is to block and say no. In improv if you block a suggestion it ruins a scene. When you first start improv you don’t really notice how much it effects a scene but nowadays when I do scenes with beginners you really notice how much of an impact it can have.

Who What Where
As much as I don’t like a lot of the exercises that you do for this it is such a vitally important thing in improv. Establishing who you are, what you are doing and where you are doing it really builds a scene and helps both your fellow improvisers and the audience establish what the scene is about. I may not be a fan of a lot of the games that we do as exercises but they are really helpful and allow this concept to sink in. One of my favourite games that i have done with this was in a lesson in Newcastle. We were each secretly given an occupation and emotion that the rest of the group did not know we had. Two people would then go into a scene blind as to what the other person was and use the who what where to guess who the other person was. From an audience perspective it was hilarious to watch a scene where they know what each person is and fun for the improvisers as they have fun trying to guess.

Lead with your Knees!
One of the best lessons I have had about improv was learning about creating a character by leading a walk with a part of your body. By leading a walk with a body part such as your knees, nose or stomach you can naturally create a character with emotion. It is something that is so simple but also very effective and something I should really do more of.

The Power Of the Mask
One lesson that was really interesting was how much power a mask can have on you and how strongly it can take over you body and create a character. It was a really interesting lesson and was interesting to see how outfits can be used.

Union Jack walk
Another really important lesson I learnt was the union jack theory about the stage. If you think of it as a flag and use the lines as a walking path of the stage you will naturally use more of the stage.

Performing

When I first started performing I always remember it was the nerves that pushed me onto the stage in the first point – if you don’t feel nervous then the thing in front of you is not a challenge. Whilst I was nervous about performing on stage once the first game was out of the way the adrenaline kicked in and the feeling of making an audience laugh made me want to up my game even more as the more they laugh the more you want to perform in front of them.

Since the first performance I have done many shows and really enjoyed each and every one of them and looking forward to performing more shows in the future.

Plans for the Next Year to Come

So the first year of doing improv has been very fun, life changing and is now a huge part of my life. I couldn’t imagine being without it now and hope that in the next year i get to develop my skills even more, perform some more great shows and be part of a troupe. I want to be on stage more then ever so often i love being in front of an audience and it really is exciting. I hope that this time next year I will be able to be sitting here writing more about my adventures and the exciting tales that it ensues.