how does improv help in real life?

Improv has completely changed my life. Hoopla has literally been like therapy to me. It’s that one day a week where I can just forget any problems and be silly and have fun. I am honestly a changed person. Before improv I suffered from quite severe anxiety, and improv inspired me to take chances I never thought I would take. I would not be at university if I hadn’t done Hoopla. It was one of the reasons I realized- I am going to get this degree- what’s the worst that can happen. It literally did change my life, it’s the best thing I ever did. Improv allowed me to go back to school because it helped me learn to embrace the unknown. Beforehand I was so settled, and I knew what tomorrow brought, and I was bored of it to be honest. Getting a bit older I started deciding I needed to make some changes. And I’m not scared of change anymore. I used to be terrified of change, and now I’m okay with it. I tell everyone about improv and I think everyone should do it. It changed me and everything about me.

I started improv because I had to do a best man speech. I had done a few before and always found them very daunting. I don’t like standing up and presenting. I did a public speaking course, which actually didn’t really help because you’re still just practicing reading off a piece of paper. I then started the Hoopla beginners course and have now gone through level 4. And what it’s actually done, besides just being really fun and supportive, is force me to be truly in the moment. When there is nothing scripted to say, it’s very freeing. That freedom was a new feeling for me. Since doing the course, I did the best man speech and found it much easier. In my daily life, doing improv has really emphasized my ability to listen. That’s a massive part of improv, is listening to what your scene partner is saying. Because if you don’t listen to what they are saying, you’re in a different world or different story. And in real life, if I’m going to a party or meeting new people, now I’m not in my own head thinking about what I’m going to say, what if they say this, what if they say that. Now I just treat it like an improv scene and trust I can go in, see what the other person says, fully listen, and respond naturally. The listening and being in the moment has really been the main thing for me.

I started improv over 20 years ago. I think it helps life all the time. Before I started improv I was on a graduate scheme in my early 20s. It was meant to be a dream job, but I found that with things like presenting to people and even just having small meetings, I was so bad at it and got so nervous. I felt like I’d found myself landed in adult life and I was like- woah- I’m missing some stuff here. I had a lack of confidence in being in front of an audience. And I felt weirdly stuck in life and not able to take risks and go for things sometimes. When I started improv classes the benefit was kind of immediate, the biggest benefit I got was.. Being happy. Being happy in adult life. I realized adult life can be fun and playful. I really liked the fact that there were people of all different ages there. Some of my first improv friends were 20 years older than me. It gave me hope for the future. Keeping a sense of humour and play while navigating through anything in life was a big one. The original reason I went I don’t even think about anymore because I’m so comfortable talking to audiences now. Even at short notice, if someone is like “can you come chat to this room of people” I’m just like “yeah sure what’s the topic” and they’ll be like it’s 500 people and I’ll be like “okay” and even just that is way above and beyond what I thought I’d get from it. Just by doing improv regularly a lot of other things in life start to feel a lot easier. If you’ve been improvising without any preparation in front of an audience, then just saying a few words at a meeting becomes a lot easier. Also definitely creativity, it gives you a shared language and understanding for creating ideas using listening and Yes, And. Also being able to let ideas go. When I was working in TV, sometimes I would have to pitch 20 ideas and only 1-2 would make it. Improv helped me be excited to create all those ideas, and easily let go of the ones they didn’t take and not take rejection personally. Being in an environment regularly where you can play and come up with stuff, but know that if you make a mistake you can weave it in or learn from it has been really helpful. There’s a good Keith Johnstone quote which is “accelerate your rate of failure” and now if I’m embarking on learning something new I can just accept that I’ll probably be bad at it the first 1,000 times I try, so I’m going to try 1,000 times as quickly as possible. I feel much more comfortable being in the beginner zone. Being a parent improv helps a lot too, because you’re just already used to playing. Yes, And as a parent too is really helpful. If we’re at the park playing floor is lava and one of my kid’s mates says that I’m the lava monster, I can just choose to be like yeah you know what, I’m not working right now, my phone is off, hell yeah I’m the lava monster, and if I catch you you’re the lava monster too. If there is one uniting philosophy we have at Hoopla it’s play. When you’re in a state of play you learn much quicker and on a much deeper level. It’s when new ideas come, new relationships form, it’s where we find different parts of ourselves. Offstage, improv has helped me to accept that we are never a finished product. There is no finished Steve (chuckle). So part of the process is always playing and finding out things and pursuing what’s interesting.

 One of the reasons I came to improv was because I was going to be made redundant a couple of years ago. I had been working at that job quite awhile, and I thought, oh god I am going to have to do job interviews now, once I get a job I’ll have to meet a whole new load of people, and so I thought- I better brush up on my skills. I started off doing drama classes as I thought that could help. Someone I was in a drama class with was absolutely evangelical about Hoopla and recommended it to me, saying it helped them so much with their communication and people skills. I started improv and it helped so much with my job interviews. I felt more confident speaking off the cuff about stuff. I used to prepare so much when I needed to speak publicly. When you do improv you’re practicing leaping into the unknown all the time, so it helps with your spontaneity and getting comfortable with the unknown. People can tell if you’ve been preparing for ages and it sounds quite robotic and dry. Now I can present in a way that’s human and engaging, and react in the moment to questions or things that pop up. Improv has helped me so so much. Definitely with collaboration skills. In improv you’re always working as a team, and you’re always thinking about your team. It’s helped me think in a team mindset. It’s also helped with taking initiative and acting on my ideas. Improv also teaches you that making mistakes is okay. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, and in fact when it’s not perfect it’s probably the gold, mistakes are the gold. Probably the biggest thing that improv has given me is community. I’d never been apart of a community really. It’s really interesting how improvisers just kind of band together. And it’s kind of wonderful, that you meet these wonderful wonderful people.  I’ve met some of my best friends now through Hoopla, I’ve got a whole new social circle, I’ve met so many wonderful inspiring people. It just gives you this wonderful community that you feel comfortable with, and that’s so enriching. Improv has also helped with being more positive. It makes you think about the sillier aspects of life. Now when something goes wrong, or I’m in a tough meeting or something, before maybe I would have just felt upset or annoyed, but now I look at it and think- well, this is absolutely absurd, and I bet it would make a really good improv scene! With improv you basically just meet all these fantastic people and you’re all laughing all the time! It’s lovely to just get to be really really silly and play. I just love going to play!

The prioritizing of celebration in improv really stuck up to me. Both with myself and learning to celebrate my little wins, and going into a work environment and being able to celebrate others more, and be their “whoop-er”. I “whooped” a lot during my improv course and have brought that energy back to my workplace. Another big piece is trusting my voice, and leaning into the improvisation of life and the truth that we are always improvising even if we don’t realize it. It’s helped me to not overthink what I’m saying, both in personal conversations and at work. I used to really hold myself back at work, especially in meetings, and I find myself being more confident to just trust what I want to say. Also, being seen in front of strangers in a vulnerable way has been so valuable. My parents always called me “mini plan girl” – so improv has helped me to release needing a plan and embrace the spontaneity of life. Being seen and accepted while being on stage in class and not having a plan has helped me to trust in myself. Improv also helped me learn to work with other people rather than against them, and come from a place of acceptance and encouragement.