Here’s a super quick guide to improvising for people who are doing a beginners improv course with Hoopla.
If you’re already doing our beginners course and want to do some more after the course the next step is our Level 2 Performance Improv Course which is starting soon.
Have fun!
Improv is fun! It’s all about playing games, making up scenes and stories, expressing yourself, playing characters and having a good time on stage through play. Hopefully some of these things below help remove some fears and help you to play on stage and have some fun.
Play
There is no set way to do improv. Play with games and exercises and find out how to make them fun for you. Improv is a constantly evolving art form so your own sense of play is what makes it special. You can play improv games your own way and discover something new about them, rather than trying too hard to get them “right”.
Don’t worry about making mistakes
You don’t get punished for mistakes in improv. There is no report card afterwards or grading system or detentions. Mistakes can often lead to a whole new thing in a story and can become the best bit.
For instance let’s say your scene partner says you are a Cat Burglar. You don’t know what that is so you say “Miaoowww” and steal milk from the fridge. The rest of the show supports you by being The Dog Police who turn up barking in their pedigree chum powered van.
So don’t worry about getting it wrong, as mistakes can be a gifts.
You’re not in competition with each other
Your scene partner is in collaboration with you not competition. You’re not trying to out wit each other, you’re playing together to discover new worlds and characters. It’s OK to lose a tug of war on the improv stage, the rope is imaginary after all.
You don’t have to be clever, funny or entertaining and you don’t have to make up jokes
Trying too hard to be clever or funny can sometimes make people freeze up instead as no idea seems good enough. Doing the opposite and being obvious allows us to relax and be in the present moment and discover things line by line moment by moment.
The fun and funny of the scene happens naturally from the play between the improvisers on stage, you don’t have to force it. For instance if the suggestion of a scene is “school” and you have an impulse to go on stage and be teachers in a staff room then go for it, that’s a great start to a scene.
What’s obvious to you is often massively creative to someone else, as they don’t see the world through your eyes. For instance some people hear the suggestion “school” and what’s obvious to them is a strict Victorian school in the smog of 1880s London, other people hear “school” and they think of a diving school on a beach in Bali. All impulses are welcome, and what’s obvious to you is beautiful.
Being obvious helps us to not overthink things and be relaxed and spontaneous instead.
Listen
Be kind and open and listen. Listen to what people say in scenes. Not just a bit, but right to the end of their sentences. That’s often where the gold is.
Be as present as possible. Don’t plan what you’re going to say or try and second guess the game or what your teammate might say. You won’t be able to. And that’s part of the joy. It’s one of the few times in your life you’re actively asked to be under-prepared. Celebrate that freedom!
Put your attention on the other person. If you’re freaking out about the audience and feeling self conscious put your attention on the other actor instead. In fact do that even if you’re not freaking out. Eye contact, listening, movement all help to stay connected to your scene partner instead of feeling self-conscious. It also helps to pick up what improvisers call “offers” which you can build on to discover a scene together.
Yes, And
Agree with the reality your scene partner presents you and add something that explores that moment.
For instance if your scene partner starts with:
“Captain, welcome to the ship”
You could respond with:
“Thank you Lieutenant, and a great job you and the crew have done with cleaning”
Or
“Thank Captain Zarg, it’s wonderful that humans and aliens can finally meet”
Or
“Ahhhh!!! And it be a great vessel for pirating!”
Or any number of offers.
Each offer agrees with the scene partner and explores the situation. Notice that each line changes the scene in different ways. None of them are right or wrong. We are collaborating together to discover the story moment by moment, line by line. Your scene partner will also agree with what you present, so if you go for spaceship and aliens they will go along with that, and if you go with pirates they will go along with that.
Your characters don’t always have to be in agreement, just the improvisers playing the characters. For instance:
“Captain, welcome to the ship”
“I don’t feel very welcome”
“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to sound sarcastic”
Also in general we’re trying to agree with the underlying reality presented by the improviser, instead of block it (saying no). Here’s an example of a block:
“Captain, welcome to the ship”
“I’m not the Captain, and there is no ship”
Although even that is not impossible to get out of, as we treat even mistakes as gifts. It’s only improv anyway and you haven’t broken any laws and won’t go to prison for blocking, so if someone blocks a reality accidentally we can still have fun trying to incorporate it somehow and make the block a gift:
“Captain, welcome to the ship”
“I’m not the Captain, and there is no ship”
“Sorry! I always get you and your identical twin mixed up. Dammit! That means the Captain has stolen it in the dead of night, I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him.”
Remember you don’t have to accept or Yes And things that are demeaning, dangerous or comfortable. The teacher will help you with that too. For instance if someone offers you a poo sandwich (not that they would), then probably best to say no thanks!
Make Each Other Look Good
Make the other person look good. Give people gifts. If your teammate loves sci-fi maybe drop some into a scene. If they love doing accents maybe endow them with one and watch them light up with joy. Make them look good and you’ll look good in the process. Use your intuition and try to avoid deliberately wrong-footing people or endowing them with something you know they’ll hate.
Commit
Say the first thing that comes to you, as long as it is coming from a place of support for your scene partner.
Your impulses are great. Trust them and let them out, as long as they are coming from a place of love and support from your scene partner. If something odd blurts out don’t worry it’s only improv and you’re not at work, and we can make it part of the scene.
Watch some improv
If you haven’t seen improv it’s worth watching some while doing a course, as it stops improv becoming too academic when you see it live on stage. We have improv shows every night of the week at our London improv theatre, featuring people who trained with Hoopla and went on to perform in our groups.
Our next beginners improv courses start next month across Central London.
If you’re doing our beginners course and want to do more after the course the next step is our Level 2 Performance Improv Course which is starting soon.