Improvisation

Improvisation is something some of the most talented and experienced actors I know find hard.

This is interesting because every human being is capable of improvisation; we do it every single day of our lives, with our friends, partners, family, shop assistants the list goes on. Every interaction we have is an improvised theatrical performance with an audience of at least 1.

I will never forget going to watch Paul Merton at the Comedy Store in London and being enchanted by his ability to be witty and coherent instantaneously while performing in a 'who's line is it anyway' style performance. Now it is true that I am sure years of experience no doubt helped in the development of this skill, however there are surely other factors that play a part.

At University this was a question I considered early on in my studies -

From a personal perspective I believe that the ability to improvise is absolutely key in the development of a performer or indeed any creative professional, acting however will be the focus in this post.

Improvisation is at the very core of how I go about creating a character. The ability to improvise gives way to limitless possibilities to help answer the question HOW. Improvisation also develops the ensemble and creates inter-performer relationships.