(A field. Midnight. Full moon. Hatter, an old clown, still in his clown make up and costume, from the show, sits on a tree stump looking depressed. Enter Hare, another old clown, looking depressed as well.)
Hatt. You got here.
Hare. Yes.
Hatt. Did you manage to slip out undetected?
(Hare nods dejectedly.)
Hatt. Who was on?
Hare. Mario and his dancing penguins.
Hatt. I thought they got sick.
Hare. He gave them anti-biotics. In their pilchards.
Hatt. I thought they liked herring?
Hare. No. Pilchards.
(Hare looks up despondently.)
The moon is full. They say starring at it can drive you mad.
Hatt. Well don’t stare!
(Hatt gets up and paces around annoyed.)
You did it again you know. (Miming.) I blow in my saxophone. Your trousers fall down. I drop the baby in surprise, and when we both bend over, bingo! Our heads bang together, but yours was miles away. Miles away.
Hare. I can’t concentrate.
Hatt. Miles away.
Hare. I feel confused.
Hatt. Miles away.
Hare. My mind wanders.
Hatt. Miles away.
Hare. I’m bored with it.
Hatt. (Superior and knowing.) Look. They’re not paying us to be ordinary people who manage to preserve their dignity by rigidly controlling every single aspect of their behaviour and keeping it all within a small and undemonstrative framework.
(Pause.)
Hare. What are you? Some kind of therapist?
Hatt. No. I’m a clown.
Hare. You are a clown.
Hatt. And what are you then. Winston bloody Churchill?
Hare. I told you before that the head banging bizznizz was old hat but you wouldn’t listen, would you?
Hatt. Well. What did you come up with. The fucking squirting flower! Who hasn’t seen that before?
Hare. The kids like the squirting flower! It has class!
Hatt. It’s got about as much class as my arse!
(They square up to each other. Turn away. Hare sits on the tree stump.)
Hare. Oh what difference does it make? It’s not what we want to do.
Hatt. No.
Hare. It’s not like it’s our act.
Hatt. No.
Hare. It’s not the act we wrote.
Hatt. All those years ago.
Hare. In the boarding house.
Hatt. In Brighton.
Hare. When we first met.
Hatt. (Laughing.) Mrs troubshaw.
Hare. (Laughing.) She said her husband’s car had a catholic converter.
Hatt. She had that stick to measure the bathwater.
Hare. In case you took too much.
Hatt. When you farted she said.
Hare. I fear someone has had an extraneous eruction!
(They both laugh.)
Hatt. Priceless. And what about mr Troubshaw.
Hare. The mysterious Mr T.
Hatt. Yeah. You hardly ever saw him.
Hare. Always in the other part of the house.
Hatt. Locked away.
Hare. Doing his stuff.
Hatt. But when he did come out.
Hare. His skin.
Hatt. Like it was covered in a fine white powder.
Hare. Sort of desiccated.
H&H. UUUrrgghh.
Hatt. You know what he was doing back there.
Hatt. I can imagine.
Hare. Holidaymaker’s mysterious disappearance.
Hatt. Torso found by side of dual carriageway.
Hare. Local iron mongers sells out of industrial acid.
H&H. UUUgghhhrrrgh. DESSICATED!
Hatt. I didn’t like being in the same room as him.
Hare. Me nie-ther.
Hatt. Nee-ther.
Hare. Niether. (Pause.) So you know. Why the hell aren’t we doing our OUR act? That was the act we wrote. That’s why we got together. The act. It’s us. Isn’t it? And do we do it? No we don’t.
Hatt. It aint that simple.
Hare. Yes it is.
Hatt. No it isn’t! And we’ve discussed this a million times.
Hare. So?
Hatt. You just can’t do your own act. Nobodies going to pay you for that. Not in this post-modern world.
Hare. Fucking post-modern world.
Hatt. It just isn’t going to happen.
Hare. But our act is good!
Hatt. That isn’t the point. You have to entertain.
Hare. (Disgust.) Entertain. Where’s the artistic element in that?
Hatt. Art isn’t an issue. Only entertainment.
Hare. Bloody philistines.
Hatt. That may well be. But that’s how it is. In this culture, at this point in time, all they want is trouser dropping…
Hare. Head banging…
Hatt. Baby losing…
Hare. Fire engine bell ringing…
Hatt. Custard pie receiving…
Hare. Saxophone bubble blowing…
Hatt. Flower squirting…
Hare. BOLLOX! (Pause.) But our act is good. (Pause.) Let’s do it now.
Hatt. What?
Hare. Let’s do it now. Here.
Hatt. Why? No one’s watching.
Hare. Does there have to be an audience?
Hatt. Yes. Of course. I’m an artist.
Hare. You’re a tosser. Look. I’m the audience, and you’re the audience.
(Hatt is not convinced.)
Percy mate! For the love of Gawd! Let’s do it. Our act. For one last time, here, in a field, under a full moon, at midnight, (Indicating audience.) for the cows, if no one else! It’s our act fer Kristsakes!!!!!!!
(Hatt struggles and at last capitulates. He nods. They turn round and reach into hold-all, that Hare brought on with him. Turn back wearing some kind of nazi uniform with Hitler moustaches. German accents.)
Hare. Hello children.
Hatt. Are you feeling unhappy.
Hare. Are you feeling depressed.
Hatt. Are you tired of zee know-it-all adults?
Hare. Telling you to sit down?
Hatt. To shut up.
Hare. To behave like them?
Hatt. To be boring unhappy robots.
Hare. In a boring unhappy universe?
Hatt. And giving you zee potty training.
Hare. Poop poop poop.
Hatt. Zee etiquette training.
Hare. Zee fork, zee spoon, zee k-niff.
Hatt. Zee brain training.
Hare. (Singing.) I am zee very model of a modern major general, with informations animal, zee vegetable and mineral.
Hatt. Zen fear no more.
Hare. For we are here.
Song
Everybody needs to be
A nazi now and then
What will make zee world go round
A final prog-err-ah-ham!!!
So it’s time to get your parents
Take them far away
Conduct some fun experiments
It’s time for you to play.
They acted like nazis to poor you
Now you can be a nazi to them
It’s only fair
Do you think they care?
How much must you bear?
(March type music.)
So children unite!
You know you must fight.
This parental blight!
For we are the Hitler clowns
And we are fucking right!
Hare. It’s a fantastic act!
Hatt. It certainly hits the spot.
Hare. The Hitler clowns. What a genius we had when we came up with that!!!
Hatt. Yeah. Genius.
Hare. The moon’s gone behind a cloud.
Hatt. Yeah. (Pause.) Well. That’s that then. We did it.
Hare. Yeah. One last time.
Hatt. One last time.
Hare. The last post.
Hatt. The end of the road.
Hare. The final …
Hatt. Curtain?
Hare. Encore.
(Pause.)
Hatt. Did you bring it?
Hare. You mean the rope? The rope to hang ourselves with?
Hatt. (Sarcastic.) No. The bleedin clockwork stirrup pump.
Hare. (Despondent.) Yeah.
(Mime. Takes it out of bag. Everything with rope is mimed.)
Hatt. What are you looking at me like that for? We agreed. We painstakingly went through all the pros and cons, the ifs and buts, the yeas and nays. Are we going to carry on being a couple of sad old clowns, going through the same stale routines, just to make a mindless bunch of kids, scream pointlessly with mindless bloody laughter? Are we? Are we? Where’s are dignity? Where’s our integrity? Where’s our true clown spirit? I’ll tell you. Here. Here, in this here rope. Rope. (Pause.) So come on. Tie the bloody noose and let’s get it over with.
(Hare starts to tie rope to tree bough above head.)
Hare. But one of us will have to go first and then suppose the other one changes his mind. Loses his nerve.
Hatt. We discussed that. Memory like a sieve. We go together.
Hare. Two heads in one noose? That’s a bit unorthodox.
Hatt. Yes. Well. We’re clowns not merchant bankers.
Hare. (Worried.) But will it work? Surely the noose is a one person piece of equipment?
Hatt. (Thinking.) Alright then. We go one at a time.
Hare. But who goes first?
Hatt. I will. There. Problem solved.
(Hare organises rope and moves tree stump to stand on. Hatt stands on it. Noose mime.
Hare. Ready?
Hatt. Ready. (Pause.) I hereby renounce life for being the painful godless sham it is, Samuel Beckett. Like a mental patient receiving an award for playing William Shakespeare, yadda yadda yadda, the end.
(Hatt sways on the tree stump. Screws eyes shut. Tension.)
Hare. Wait!
Hatt. What?
Hare. I’ve had a strange kind of epiphany or mystical realisation!
Hatt. Oh bollox! What?
Hare. I’ve realised. If I looked in my heart. If I was honest with myself, really honest, not pretend honest, I’d have to admit, I’ve only one real friend in the world. And that’s you Hatt. And when you stepped up there on the stump, I saw it all. All we have shared. All the struggle. All the heartache. All the times we died on our arses. The boredom. The rejections. All of it. And I realised. There’s still one thing that’s important to me. And that’s not, NOT, letting you down. So that’s why I’m making this confession. Because once you’ve gone, I don’t think I’ll be able to go through with it. Without you here, to egg me on, my nerve will go. And I don’t want to let you down. That would make me fell worse than what I normally feel even. So I’m asking you. (Kneeling like in prayer.)Hatt. Give it another go. Maybe there is a point to it all. Maybe there is a purpose. Maybe there’s,(Like a sacrilege.) even a God. Who knows. Who really knows. Please.
(Hatt takes off noose and steps down off tree stump.
They awkwardly embrace. Take down rope and put it in hold-all.)
Hatt. So. A happy ending.
Hare. (Despondent.) Yeah. Happy.
Hatt. Come on.
(They start to leave.)
And remember. Tomorrow night. When I drop the baby.
Hare. Yeah yeah yeah.
(They exit. Curtain.)
Wednesday 25 August 2010
THE IMPRO MYTHS
IMPRO MYTH ONE
Your mind analyses the elements of a scene in order to arrive at the thing you must contribute.
This is the most prevalent myth, Mr Jones, and the use of games and controlling strategies, that rely on cultural expertise, fosters this myth. HOWEVER. It is a myth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A better way to arrive at the knowledge of what to contribute to a scene, is to feel your way into it. FEEL. Don’t look directly at it. This isn’t about emotion. Emotion a different area. You must feel. Stop thinking. Feel your way in the dark. Work with the your lack of knowledge, not your possession of knowledge. The analogy is with driving a car. You feel it. You drive with the seat of your pants. It is instinctive.
So guideline, not rule, is to feel. It you start thinking, try and observe yourself doing it, and them remind yourself to feel.
And this means feeling simple things. Like for example, feeling hot. Or feeling your uncertainty. Feeling your unsure-ness about what to do in a scene, could well be a good starting point for a scene. It’s an illogical thing, that uncertainty can be productive of certainty. But there it is. And when people say, “But I don’t know what I feel!” then of course, that is what you feel. This boredom. Frustration. Doubt.
IMPRO MYTH TWO
To be good at impro you must be witty clever and talented.
Well Mr Jones,this is the socially conditioned view of impro based on all the ideas we have been imprinted with by the competitive, judgemental, goal orientated world, we have all grown up in. Much better to just understand that this is not the reality. It is just a very one-dimensional view of life. A very self-obsessed view. Talent is indeed a wonderful thing, but it often has the negative effect of making people over value one area of their lives, causing an imbalance. Picasso was a good example. No one can deny his power in creating images. He was though not good at relationships, even with his own children! Also talent is really very misunderstood. It helps to shift the focus and see it in terms of extra self awareness, relating to a certain area. In short, Mr Long, impro can be whatever we make it. Whatever we bring to it. It is up to us.
IMPRO MYTH THREE
Impro is so frightening it can kill you!
Hear is our fear of losing our coolness coolness! Mr Jones! writ large for all to see. We are terrified of stepping out of the comfort zone. The known. And this really is just ignoring reality in a head strong stubborn way, for no matter what fight we put up, or resistance we have, life will eventually force us out of the known, the comfort zone, and the intelligent thing is to go to meet it, and not passively wait till it comes crashing down on your comfortable head!!!!!!! OUCH!
IMPRO MYTH FOUR
You can progress up through the levels with impro getting more and more sophisticated as you go along.
What important to understand here, Mr Jones, is that on the one hand you can become more fluid in changing your intensity, and consequently be a better improviser, but impro itself is a zen thing. It will always be the stupid silly thing it was when you first did it. There’s a book called ‘zen mind beginner’s mind,’ and this the impro mind. It always a beginners mind, even if you are very quick fluent and proficient at doing it!!!Doh!!!!!
IMPRO MYTH FIVE
Impro will help you in other areas of life.
Finally!!! Mr Jones! A myth that is true!!! I knew we’d get there sooner or later, Mr Jones!!! Yes. Whether it a job interview, the need to chat up the opposite sex, creative writing, or whatever, impro can and will help in these and other areas. Hoo-ray! Success at last!!!
Your mind analyses the elements of a scene in order to arrive at the thing you must contribute.
This is the most prevalent myth, Mr Jones, and the use of games and controlling strategies, that rely on cultural expertise, fosters this myth. HOWEVER. It is a myth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A better way to arrive at the knowledge of what to contribute to a scene, is to feel your way into it. FEEL. Don’t look directly at it. This isn’t about emotion. Emotion a different area. You must feel. Stop thinking. Feel your way in the dark. Work with the your lack of knowledge, not your possession of knowledge. The analogy is with driving a car. You feel it. You drive with the seat of your pants. It is instinctive.
So guideline, not rule, is to feel. It you start thinking, try and observe yourself doing it, and them remind yourself to feel.
And this means feeling simple things. Like for example, feeling hot. Or feeling your uncertainty. Feeling your unsure-ness about what to do in a scene, could well be a good starting point for a scene. It’s an illogical thing, that uncertainty can be productive of certainty. But there it is. And when people say, “But I don’t know what I feel!” then of course, that is what you feel. This boredom. Frustration. Doubt.
IMPRO MYTH TWO
To be good at impro you must be witty clever and talented.
Well Mr Jones,this is the socially conditioned view of impro based on all the ideas we have been imprinted with by the competitive, judgemental, goal orientated world, we have all grown up in. Much better to just understand that this is not the reality. It is just a very one-dimensional view of life. A very self-obsessed view. Talent is indeed a wonderful thing, but it often has the negative effect of making people over value one area of their lives, causing an imbalance. Picasso was a good example. No one can deny his power in creating images. He was though not good at relationships, even with his own children! Also talent is really very misunderstood. It helps to shift the focus and see it in terms of extra self awareness, relating to a certain area. In short, Mr Long, impro can be whatever we make it. Whatever we bring to it. It is up to us.
IMPRO MYTH THREE
Impro is so frightening it can kill you!
Hear is our fear of losing our coolness coolness! Mr Jones! writ large for all to see. We are terrified of stepping out of the comfort zone. The known. And this really is just ignoring reality in a head strong stubborn way, for no matter what fight we put up, or resistance we have, life will eventually force us out of the known, the comfort zone, and the intelligent thing is to go to meet it, and not passively wait till it comes crashing down on your comfortable head!!!!!!! OUCH!
IMPRO MYTH FOUR
You can progress up through the levels with impro getting more and more sophisticated as you go along.
What important to understand here, Mr Jones, is that on the one hand you can become more fluid in changing your intensity, and consequently be a better improviser, but impro itself is a zen thing. It will always be the stupid silly thing it was when you first did it. There’s a book called ‘zen mind beginner’s mind,’ and this the impro mind. It always a beginners mind, even if you are very quick fluent and proficient at doing it!!!Doh!!!!!
IMPRO MYTH FIVE
Impro will help you in other areas of life.
Finally!!! Mr Jones! A myth that is true!!! I knew we’d get there sooner or later, Mr Jones!!! Yes. Whether it a job interview, the need to chat up the opposite sex, creative writing, or whatever, impro can and will help in these and other areas. Hoo-ray! Success at last!!!
IMPRO & THE SPIRITUAL
Impro is people improvising games, stories, scenes, songs, in a performance context,or in a workshop, and this is not considered spiritual by the majority. Spirituality is always seen as something elevated and refined and what happens when you free associate, is a load of repressed sex and rage type stuff comes up, and this seen as low. Base. Not elevated. Impro also seen as people being witty & flippant, entertaining and funny. Something clever and heady. And again that show-biz, not spiritual. And this is product of turning impro, into an entertainment. A comedy producing machine. It’s as well to remember though that Keith Johnson, who wrote the book, and who started the whole impro movement, did not start it entirely for that. His original impro experiments went into much darker areas. They were much more to do with serious theatre. Narrative. Character. So if we shift the focus on this, and now look at impro, only as a scene, A SCENE, generating machine, a way to find a story and some characters, we must ask what is actually happening when we enter a scene? What are the fundamental elements of that? The answer is that the fundamental thing is, we cannot control or choose, most of what occurs in the scene. We have no real way of choosing the elements in a scene. They won’t conform to our tastes, ideas, expectations!!!!!!!!!
(A enters. Starts cleaning a window. B enters with a baby in her arms. Says. “It’s got a fever!” Concerned, A mops baby’s brow with window sponge. B says, “Not with that!” And a row ensues.)
As you can see here at beginning A does not know who he is. Where he is. What his relation to B is. This was all made clear be B’s offer of bringing in the baby. It then became clear they were parents at home. The point being that what ever is there, the window cleaning, the baby, the sponge, you will have to work with it. You can’t really choose it. A does know why he cleaning window. B doesn’t know how A react to the baby. If indeed she does know she is holding a baby. Agreement must be reached, because no one knows what’s there to begin with. But whatever is there we must work with it. We can’t ignore the window cleaning. The baby. The sponge. We must work with these elements.
Now this is the spiritual truth impro shows us, in that in life we often find good reasons for not working with what’s there. If a thing is below our standards, not to our taste, not what we expected, not in keeping with our ideas, somehow ‘unsavoury’, we reject it in favour of some other thing, we can go in search of!!! IN SEARCH OF!!!! i.e. something in the future. At a later date. Not now. We have this luxury in life that we can control, reject, pass over things in search of a more pleasing, or a better alternative, in the future. And this is perfectly acceptable and fine. The drawback with it of course, is that it does take us out of the moment. OUT OF THE MOMENT! By embracing something that only exists in the future, we are rejecting the here and now. We are not being in the moment. This is a thing that gurus and impro teachers alike, are always, constantly telling us to do. Stay in the moment. And impro does actively teach us that we can do this. WE CAN! That we can shift the focus on this. We can instead accept what is there, and work with it, intelligently looking for agreements, instead of denying what’s in front of us, and demanding something different.
WE CAN!
Now this is the harder option, but in long term it will achieve a more satisfying outcome. Now you might protest that this isn’t a spiritual truth, but a self-development truth, and that they are not the same thing. And this is very common. Most people do not want spirituality to be about the nuts and bolts of human relationships, but choose to see it as something more refined, more elevated. More, in a word, SPIRITUAL. In response to this I’ll say that charity, begins at home. How can something be spiritual, if it separates you from others, by making us feel superior???
Also that spiritual comes from word 'spirit'. and this is something disembodied. and before we incarnate our group awareness is effectively disembodied, and so spirituality is essentially about group awareness, or our
relationship to each other, in group terms.
It also mirrors the fact that we need to find connections between things, for we can only really make progress in our understanding of life, when we can relate one thing, to another different thing, and so intuit the pattern that lies beyond the surface of things. Having said this though, in doing impro we must not think we can use it in one particular way. i.e. as an exercise in finding the links between things, because that is what its for. No. We need to drop all our agendas, try and be in the moment, and trust in ourselves to grow from the experience, no matter how it transpires. Put another way, we must try not to be too goal orientated, which again is putting the focus on something in the future.
Now in coming to impro everyone more or less, starts in the same place. And this is a painful uncomfortable place. The place of being stuck. In Toltec terms it means your assemblage point is fixed. Stuck on one spot. What impro requires is fluidity. When you assemblage point moves, keeping it simple, you change your intensity. You would change in a scene, because the story demands it, from a young person to an old person, say. Two very different intensities. This would require an energetic fluidity. Or put simply, the ability to drop one thing and take up another quite quickly. So, to un-stick ourselves means we will have to go through an unpleasant period. A probationary period. For some time it feel wrong. Difficult. Even perhaps hopeless. However, if we can just stay with it, and trust in the process, we will reap the spiritual rewards it has to offer. These benefits are the cornerstone of spiritual development. This is why impro, even when it is seen as being very challenging, and not spiritual by most people, and the province of a few ultra talented types, is really none of these things and IS something worth pursuing from a spiritual standpoint.
(A enters. Starts cleaning a window. B enters with a baby in her arms. Says. “It’s got a fever!” Concerned, A mops baby’s brow with window sponge. B says, “Not with that!” And a row ensues.)
As you can see here at beginning A does not know who he is. Where he is. What his relation to B is. This was all made clear be B’s offer of bringing in the baby. It then became clear they were parents at home. The point being that what ever is there, the window cleaning, the baby, the sponge, you will have to work with it. You can’t really choose it. A does know why he cleaning window. B doesn’t know how A react to the baby. If indeed she does know she is holding a baby. Agreement must be reached, because no one knows what’s there to begin with. But whatever is there we must work with it. We can’t ignore the window cleaning. The baby. The sponge. We must work with these elements.
Now this is the spiritual truth impro shows us, in that in life we often find good reasons for not working with what’s there. If a thing is below our standards, not to our taste, not what we expected, not in keeping with our ideas, somehow ‘unsavoury’, we reject it in favour of some other thing, we can go in search of!!! IN SEARCH OF!!!! i.e. something in the future. At a later date. Not now. We have this luxury in life that we can control, reject, pass over things in search of a more pleasing, or a better alternative, in the future. And this is perfectly acceptable and fine. The drawback with it of course, is that it does take us out of the moment. OUT OF THE MOMENT! By embracing something that only exists in the future, we are rejecting the here and now. We are not being in the moment. This is a thing that gurus and impro teachers alike, are always, constantly telling us to do. Stay in the moment. And impro does actively teach us that we can do this. WE CAN! That we can shift the focus on this. We can instead accept what is there, and work with it, intelligently looking for agreements, instead of denying what’s in front of us, and demanding something different.
WE CAN!
Now this is the harder option, but in long term it will achieve a more satisfying outcome. Now you might protest that this isn’t a spiritual truth, but a self-development truth, and that they are not the same thing. And this is very common. Most people do not want spirituality to be about the nuts and bolts of human relationships, but choose to see it as something more refined, more elevated. More, in a word, SPIRITUAL. In response to this I’ll say that charity, begins at home. How can something be spiritual, if it separates you from others, by making us feel superior???
Also that spiritual comes from word 'spirit'. and this is something disembodied. and before we incarnate our group awareness is effectively disembodied, and so spirituality is essentially about group awareness, or our
relationship to each other, in group terms.
It also mirrors the fact that we need to find connections between things, for we can only really make progress in our understanding of life, when we can relate one thing, to another different thing, and so intuit the pattern that lies beyond the surface of things. Having said this though, in doing impro we must not think we can use it in one particular way. i.e. as an exercise in finding the links between things, because that is what its for. No. We need to drop all our agendas, try and be in the moment, and trust in ourselves to grow from the experience, no matter how it transpires. Put another way, we must try not to be too goal orientated, which again is putting the focus on something in the future.
Now in coming to impro everyone more or less, starts in the same place. And this is a painful uncomfortable place. The place of being stuck. In Toltec terms it means your assemblage point is fixed. Stuck on one spot. What impro requires is fluidity. When you assemblage point moves, keeping it simple, you change your intensity. You would change in a scene, because the story demands it, from a young person to an old person, say. Two very different intensities. This would require an energetic fluidity. Or put simply, the ability to drop one thing and take up another quite quickly. So, to un-stick ourselves means we will have to go through an unpleasant period. A probationary period. For some time it feel wrong. Difficult. Even perhaps hopeless. However, if we can just stay with it, and trust in the process, we will reap the spiritual rewards it has to offer. These benefits are the cornerstone of spiritual development. This is why impro, even when it is seen as being very challenging, and not spiritual by most people, and the province of a few ultra talented types, is really none of these things and IS something worth pursuing from a spiritual standpoint.
IMPRO-THE SHOCKING TRUTH!
INTRO:
The main difficulty in gaining a deeper understanding of just about anything, is that we tend to view things in isolation. Consequently we see impro, as being solely about performance, theatre maybe, having fun, comedy, and so on. Being identified with our view of the world means we have this narrow focus and this prevents us seeing that that things do connect. One thing does merge into another. Our narrow focus though demands that it doesn’t. In this purist sense then, impro is only about impro, as theatre is only about theatre, and film is only about film. Put another way, we do not see that life is a whole, and that if we are going to tune up one area, like say the performance area, we do need to carry that through and tune up all the other areas. Like for example, we can become a better improviser, and still be terrible at relationships. For these are two different things, quite unconnected, and we have decided we want to be better at impro, for we have performance ambitions in that area, but we are not too bothered about relationships, for we feel that that’s just how we are. Or that this is not our preference, for something to work with. Now what I have spoken about here is something which it is very difficult for the rational mind to grasp. This is a truth you cannot flatten out and explain. Consequently I’ll begin this exposé of the shocking truth about impro, by saying that it doesn’t matter if cannot grasp what I am saying here. SHOCK! HORROR! Try to let go of that desire to analytically understand everything, at least in this context. And then try to just flow with your feelings. So in the end, if all this article does, should you get to the end of it, is just to annoy you, then that in a way is good. It is how you feel. And that is the right place to start. And if you can do this and keep doing this whilst suspending judgement, understanding will arrive, sooner or later.
The shocking truth: The Beginning!
So, to begin with, in the first instance, no matter what the deeper truths of the impro scene are, I would encourage everyone to do it. Working with our blocks and inhibitions in a creative way, can only be a good thing. This holds good even if your interest in impro is purely a performers interest, and not a therapeutic one. Now, moving on to the deeper truths, when people first come to impro they are to different degrees blocked and inhibited, lacking trust and technique, and through doing impro, they are taught a set of rules, which greatly facilitate being un-blocked and spontaneous. And this really facilitates performance, helping the performer’s gifts to really shine through. You internalise the right response to situations, those which allow space, development, and general positive characteristics, and this leads to more satisfying performances. This is the blueprint Keith Johnson, who wrote the book on it, has given us. So job done! People are now free spontaneous improvisers! So what’s the problem?
The problem is, and this is a truth we’d all, in our mad scramble for fame and glory, much rather ignore, is that impro shows are entertaining and funny, and audiences are amazed to see people working without a script, and yet these same shows are also predictable, and a bit stereotypical, with obvious plots and obvious characters. To recap, you create a comedy product, but it lacks authenticity, or any deeper level. What you get is the appearance of spontaneity, but not spontaneity itself. You don’t get anything new, quirky, left field or original. Now if we just want bland X-factor type entertainment this is fine. But if we want, like Oliver, a little more, then this a problem. And if that the case we must identify where problem stems from. Now. I always felt uncomfortable in impro classes because people would insist on me following the rules. And I knew, the rules do work. I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH RULES!!! I am not proposing anarchy. Society needs its rules and laws to function effectively. So why was I uncomfortable? And then I realised this was because a part of me knew to be spontaneous, you can’t really follow rules, no matter how well they work! The one doesn’t jibe with the other. The definition of spontaneity is something beyond rules, not in their moral sense, but in sense of what kind of behaviour is allowed. If I push a custard pie in a vicar’s face at a Fete, it would go against the rules of polite behaviour, and yet it would be spontaneous! No question. Pie. Face. Spontaneous. This makes me think of course of Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice In Wonderland, a situation with a lot of rules about polite behaviour, the English Tea Party, which the Hatter and Hare do not subvert, but simply ignore, thus making an outrageous scene.
Now I’m well aware that most people are happy with the bland predict-able safe comfortable option. They don’t want to be challenged, and neither do they think it is necessary to be challenged. Why bother to think deeply about things, when you have another champagne party instead????? No. This not an easy option. It is very much the ‘unknown’. And that is frightening and difficult. But still. Think. If we hadn’t embraced the ‘unknown’, we wouldn’t have air travel. The internet. Seinfeld. And do you really want to live in a world without those things???
Lecture over. AND NOW IT’S…
The shocking truth!
What has happened is this. The improviser has replaced a bad set of rules, with a good set of rules, but he still in many ways no better off, for he still following a set of rules!!!!!!!!!!!! The point being that our inhibition was never the problem. The problem was what created the inhibition,in the first place, which was rules themselves! So if we continue to adhere to systems that use rules, we are continuing to inhibit ourselves at some deeper level!!! Another way we could put this is to say that in applying the rules and standards that apply to life, society, human conduct, too impro, we are ignoring the fact that impro isn’t life. It is fantasy. Invented. An imaginative realm. So the problem is one of discrimination. We do not discriminate between life, and not-life!!! So that’s all it is. A very simple truth. And yet, one that it is extremely difficult to grasp, as it is really to do with the heart, and not with the head.
Finally, you may think, but this negative truth does not empower me! But think. We automatically see the negative as being something bad and undesirable. And yet in truth, it is just a different type of energy. Positive energy. Negative energy. In physics they wouldn’t say negative energy bad. That would be ridiculous, even for scientists!!! And this is just social conditioning, that has always insisted that we must avoid the dark side. And so we discriminate against, and not between. Bad. Doh! But finally, my last appeal, I would also encourage you to look at successful comedy people like Spike Milligan, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, and many more. These marvellous people who have done so much to change our awareness of things, and ask yourself, do these people follow the rules???????????? The answer is no. What they have in common is a disregard for rules in general. Look at Cleese goose-stepping in front of the german tourists. Is this following the rules???????????????????Is it???? (Don’t mention the war!!!)
The main difficulty in gaining a deeper understanding of just about anything, is that we tend to view things in isolation. Consequently we see impro, as being solely about performance, theatre maybe, having fun, comedy, and so on. Being identified with our view of the world means we have this narrow focus and this prevents us seeing that that things do connect. One thing does merge into another. Our narrow focus though demands that it doesn’t. In this purist sense then, impro is only about impro, as theatre is only about theatre, and film is only about film. Put another way, we do not see that life is a whole, and that if we are going to tune up one area, like say the performance area, we do need to carry that through and tune up all the other areas. Like for example, we can become a better improviser, and still be terrible at relationships. For these are two different things, quite unconnected, and we have decided we want to be better at impro, for we have performance ambitions in that area, but we are not too bothered about relationships, for we feel that that’s just how we are. Or that this is not our preference, for something to work with. Now what I have spoken about here is something which it is very difficult for the rational mind to grasp. This is a truth you cannot flatten out and explain. Consequently I’ll begin this exposé of the shocking truth about impro, by saying that it doesn’t matter if cannot grasp what I am saying here. SHOCK! HORROR! Try to let go of that desire to analytically understand everything, at least in this context. And then try to just flow with your feelings. So in the end, if all this article does, should you get to the end of it, is just to annoy you, then that in a way is good. It is how you feel. And that is the right place to start. And if you can do this and keep doing this whilst suspending judgement, understanding will arrive, sooner or later.
The shocking truth: The Beginning!
So, to begin with, in the first instance, no matter what the deeper truths of the impro scene are, I would encourage everyone to do it. Working with our blocks and inhibitions in a creative way, can only be a good thing. This holds good even if your interest in impro is purely a performers interest, and not a therapeutic one. Now, moving on to the deeper truths, when people first come to impro they are to different degrees blocked and inhibited, lacking trust and technique, and through doing impro, they are taught a set of rules, which greatly facilitate being un-blocked and spontaneous. And this really facilitates performance, helping the performer’s gifts to really shine through. You internalise the right response to situations, those which allow space, development, and general positive characteristics, and this leads to more satisfying performances. This is the blueprint Keith Johnson, who wrote the book on it, has given us. So job done! People are now free spontaneous improvisers! So what’s the problem?
The problem is, and this is a truth we’d all, in our mad scramble for fame and glory, much rather ignore, is that impro shows are entertaining and funny, and audiences are amazed to see people working without a script, and yet these same shows are also predictable, and a bit stereotypical, with obvious plots and obvious characters. To recap, you create a comedy product, but it lacks authenticity, or any deeper level. What you get is the appearance of spontaneity, but not spontaneity itself. You don’t get anything new, quirky, left field or original. Now if we just want bland X-factor type entertainment this is fine. But if we want, like Oliver, a little more, then this a problem. And if that the case we must identify where problem stems from. Now. I always felt uncomfortable in impro classes because people would insist on me following the rules. And I knew, the rules do work. I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH RULES!!! I am not proposing anarchy. Society needs its rules and laws to function effectively. So why was I uncomfortable? And then I realised this was because a part of me knew to be spontaneous, you can’t really follow rules, no matter how well they work! The one doesn’t jibe with the other. The definition of spontaneity is something beyond rules, not in their moral sense, but in sense of what kind of behaviour is allowed. If I push a custard pie in a vicar’s face at a Fete, it would go against the rules of polite behaviour, and yet it would be spontaneous! No question. Pie. Face. Spontaneous. This makes me think of course of Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice In Wonderland, a situation with a lot of rules about polite behaviour, the English Tea Party, which the Hatter and Hare do not subvert, but simply ignore, thus making an outrageous scene.
Now I’m well aware that most people are happy with the bland predict-able safe comfortable option. They don’t want to be challenged, and neither do they think it is necessary to be challenged. Why bother to think deeply about things, when you have another champagne party instead????? No. This not an easy option. It is very much the ‘unknown’. And that is frightening and difficult. But still. Think. If we hadn’t embraced the ‘unknown’, we wouldn’t have air travel. The internet. Seinfeld. And do you really want to live in a world without those things???
Lecture over. AND NOW IT’S…
The shocking truth!
What has happened is this. The improviser has replaced a bad set of rules, with a good set of rules, but he still in many ways no better off, for he still following a set of rules!!!!!!!!!!!! The point being that our inhibition was never the problem. The problem was what created the inhibition,in the first place, which was rules themselves! So if we continue to adhere to systems that use rules, we are continuing to inhibit ourselves at some deeper level!!! Another way we could put this is to say that in applying the rules and standards that apply to life, society, human conduct, too impro, we are ignoring the fact that impro isn’t life. It is fantasy. Invented. An imaginative realm. So the problem is one of discrimination. We do not discriminate between life, and not-life!!! So that’s all it is. A very simple truth. And yet, one that it is extremely difficult to grasp, as it is really to do with the heart, and not with the head.
Finally, you may think, but this negative truth does not empower me! But think. We automatically see the negative as being something bad and undesirable. And yet in truth, it is just a different type of energy. Positive energy. Negative energy. In physics they wouldn’t say negative energy bad. That would be ridiculous, even for scientists!!! And this is just social conditioning, that has always insisted that we must avoid the dark side. And so we discriminate against, and not between. Bad. Doh! But finally, my last appeal, I would also encourage you to look at successful comedy people like Spike Milligan, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, and many more. These marvellous people who have done so much to change our awareness of things, and ask yourself, do these people follow the rules???????????? The answer is no. What they have in common is a disregard for rules in general. Look at Cleese goose-stepping in front of the german tourists. Is this following the rules???????????????????Is it???? (Don’t mention the war!!!)
Thursday 5 August 2010
EVERYMAN & FELLOWSHIP
(A modern version of scene from ‘Everyman’ the medieval miracle play.)
(Enter John Everyman. He addresses audience.)
JOHN. Hi. John Everyman. I run a creative design digital media network. We’re at the sharp end of the information highway. (Sighs.) Yadda, yadda, yadda. But having just met ‘ Death’, who informed me, I have to go on a long journey to meet ..(Looks up.) that doesn’t seem quite so important anymore. (Pause.) What am I going to miss most? Golf? Ascot? A private view with Tracey Emin? (Tenderly.) My two boys, Josh and Sebastian. And Belinda of course. Although we have been going through a bit of a rocky patch lately. We did consider counselling, but then we had a row and went off the idea. What can you do? She wants me to go to one of those Tantric sex weekend things. But I find all that new age stuff, too touchy feely. Anyway. All that’s behind me now. Must get moving.
(Pause.) Look! I’ll be honest! The thing I fear most is going alone. Always was the sociable type. If only I could get someone to come with.
(Enter Tony Fellowship.)
Hello! It’s Tony Fellowship! I know him from golf, openings, racing. Just about everything, come to think of it. Tony!
(Tony saunters over.)
TONY. John! Fancy meeting you here? In this busy street in a modern city.
JOHN. Yes. Co-in, or what? Walk?
(They walk and chat.)
So. How’s Biz?
TONY. Oh. Mustn’t grumble. We got the Fairchild contract.
JOHN. Oh well done! Mountains of moolah.
TONY. Yes. Mountains! (Pause.) But money isn’t everything.
JOHN. (Shaking head.) No.
TONY. (Shaking head.) No.
(They walk. John lowers head.)
TONY. You seem a bit despond old boy.
JOHN. Am I?
TONY. Yes. Got a prob?
JOHN. Yes. I’m in trouble.
TONY. Look John. Whatever it is. You can depend on me. I’m your friend.
JOHN. I appreciate that Tony. You’re a brick.
TONY. So. Come on. Out with it. If some bastards done you over I’ll…
JOHN. No. It’s nothing like that. But I am worried. It is bad. Very bad. And if I unload on you, and it’s like too much, then I’ll feel ten times worse. I know I will.
TONY. (Open arms.) John! I won’t let you down!
JOHN. You won’t?
TONY. (Firm.) No.
JOHN. Yeah. You always were there for me.
TONY. (Conviction.) And I always will be! Why. If you were in Hell, not that it exists, I’d go right down there, and get you right out!
JOHN. You would, wouldn’t you.
TONY. Yes. Indubitably. Without doubt.
JOHN. It’s only as much as I deserve, considering.
TONY. Don’t talk about deserving. I’m not doing this because you’re deserving. But if a chap can’t back his words up with actions, what is he? A worm.
JOHN. A louse.
TONY. A worthless fellow. So John. Tell me what it is. And I, rest assured, will stand by you.
(Long pause. I mean long. There is a long pause. John overcomes his inner conflict and then speaks. After a pause.)
JOHN. I met someone or ‘something’and it informed me, and there is no argument about this, I must, I must, I have to go on a long journey, right away, to meet… (Looks up.) And, big and, I need someone to ‘come with’.
(Long pause.)
TONY. Right. (Pause.) Now let’s consider this like rational human beings.
JOHN. Yes. Let’s.
TONY. I have said I won’t let you down. That’s taken as read, isn’t it?
JOHN. Yes.
TONY. Even though, anyone in his right mind, would be just a little scared out of his wits, at such a prospect, I said, I would.
JOHN. You said you would, even go to hell! Not that it exists, and get me right out, should that be the case.
TONY. Yes. I did ‘say’ that. You’re not wrong there. Those words. Yes. I spoke them. (Pause.) But all that aside, important as it is, if we go on this journey, when will we be coming back?
JOHN. Well, never.
TONY. What never?
JOHN. No. Never.
TONY. Just what was this someone or something you met?
JOHN. It was Death.
TONY. DEATH! Well that means then you’re asking me to go on a journey to my certain death! Me! Tony Rupert Fellowship!
Who never had a day off sick in his life! Me! Dead! Gone! (Pause.) I’m not fucking going!
JOHN. But you promised!
TONY. Promised. Promised. That’s putting it a bit strongly. Promised.(Pause.) Look. Ask me anything else. Drugs. Money laundering. Even to go on one of those touchy feely Tantric sex things, but don’t ask me this. I just can’t die. Not today, thank you very much. (Pause.) I’d even go as far as murder.
(John grabs him by the shoulders.)
JOHN. LOOK! I don’t need a murder! I need someone to come with me on that long last road to see … (Looks up.) Remember. Remember all we’ve shared together. When we won the Cup. When we had sex with those 2 girls at Uni. in a field under the stars. Our men’s group vision quest when we all got naked and roared at the moon!!!! For God sakes REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!
(Pause.)
TONY. Good times, bad times. But death is death.
JOHN. (Deflated.) Yes. Out brief can…Yes. You’re right. Well at least walk me to the tube. I must be off.
TONY. I would. Honestly. But I’m due at the Office.
(Tony begins to leave.)
JOHN. (Bitter.) Go on then. Go to your office!
(Tony comes back. Gives John a look.)
JOHN. Don’t worry. I forgive you. Go on. Go and live. Have a long life. I give you my blessing.
TONY. Thanks.
(They hug. Tony exits.)
JOHN. O false and fickle world, my fate is set, I am everything, and nothing yet.
CURTAIN
(Enter John Everyman. He addresses audience.)
JOHN. Hi. John Everyman. I run a creative design digital media network. We’re at the sharp end of the information highway. (Sighs.) Yadda, yadda, yadda. But having just met ‘ Death’, who informed me, I have to go on a long journey to meet ..(Looks up.) that doesn’t seem quite so important anymore. (Pause.) What am I going to miss most? Golf? Ascot? A private view with Tracey Emin? (Tenderly.) My two boys, Josh and Sebastian. And Belinda of course. Although we have been going through a bit of a rocky patch lately. We did consider counselling, but then we had a row and went off the idea. What can you do? She wants me to go to one of those Tantric sex weekend things. But I find all that new age stuff, too touchy feely. Anyway. All that’s behind me now. Must get moving.
(Pause.) Look! I’ll be honest! The thing I fear most is going alone. Always was the sociable type. If only I could get someone to come with.
(Enter Tony Fellowship.)
Hello! It’s Tony Fellowship! I know him from golf, openings, racing. Just about everything, come to think of it. Tony!
(Tony saunters over.)
TONY. John! Fancy meeting you here? In this busy street in a modern city.
JOHN. Yes. Co-in, or what? Walk?
(They walk and chat.)
So. How’s Biz?
TONY. Oh. Mustn’t grumble. We got the Fairchild contract.
JOHN. Oh well done! Mountains of moolah.
TONY. Yes. Mountains! (Pause.) But money isn’t everything.
JOHN. (Shaking head.) No.
TONY. (Shaking head.) No.
(They walk. John lowers head.)
TONY. You seem a bit despond old boy.
JOHN. Am I?
TONY. Yes. Got a prob?
JOHN. Yes. I’m in trouble.
TONY. Look John. Whatever it is. You can depend on me. I’m your friend.
JOHN. I appreciate that Tony. You’re a brick.
TONY. So. Come on. Out with it. If some bastards done you over I’ll…
JOHN. No. It’s nothing like that. But I am worried. It is bad. Very bad. And if I unload on you, and it’s like too much, then I’ll feel ten times worse. I know I will.
TONY. (Open arms.) John! I won’t let you down!
JOHN. You won’t?
TONY. (Firm.) No.
JOHN. Yeah. You always were there for me.
TONY. (Conviction.) And I always will be! Why. If you were in Hell, not that it exists, I’d go right down there, and get you right out!
JOHN. You would, wouldn’t you.
TONY. Yes. Indubitably. Without doubt.
JOHN. It’s only as much as I deserve, considering.
TONY. Don’t talk about deserving. I’m not doing this because you’re deserving. But if a chap can’t back his words up with actions, what is he? A worm.
JOHN. A louse.
TONY. A worthless fellow. So John. Tell me what it is. And I, rest assured, will stand by you.
(Long pause. I mean long. There is a long pause. John overcomes his inner conflict and then speaks. After a pause.)
JOHN. I met someone or ‘something’and it informed me, and there is no argument about this, I must, I must, I have to go on a long journey, right away, to meet… (Looks up.) And, big and, I need someone to ‘come with’.
(Long pause.)
TONY. Right. (Pause.) Now let’s consider this like rational human beings.
JOHN. Yes. Let’s.
TONY. I have said I won’t let you down. That’s taken as read, isn’t it?
JOHN. Yes.
TONY. Even though, anyone in his right mind, would be just a little scared out of his wits, at such a prospect, I said, I would.
JOHN. You said you would, even go to hell! Not that it exists, and get me right out, should that be the case.
TONY. Yes. I did ‘say’ that. You’re not wrong there. Those words. Yes. I spoke them. (Pause.) But all that aside, important as it is, if we go on this journey, when will we be coming back?
JOHN. Well, never.
TONY. What never?
JOHN. No. Never.
TONY. Just what was this someone or something you met?
JOHN. It was Death.
TONY. DEATH! Well that means then you’re asking me to go on a journey to my certain death! Me! Tony Rupert Fellowship!
Who never had a day off sick in his life! Me! Dead! Gone! (Pause.) I’m not fucking going!
JOHN. But you promised!
TONY. Promised. Promised. That’s putting it a bit strongly. Promised.(Pause.) Look. Ask me anything else. Drugs. Money laundering. Even to go on one of those touchy feely Tantric sex things, but don’t ask me this. I just can’t die. Not today, thank you very much. (Pause.) I’d even go as far as murder.
(John grabs him by the shoulders.)
JOHN. LOOK! I don’t need a murder! I need someone to come with me on that long last road to see … (Looks up.) Remember. Remember all we’ve shared together. When we won the Cup. When we had sex with those 2 girls at Uni. in a field under the stars. Our men’s group vision quest when we all got naked and roared at the moon!!!! For God sakes REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!
(Pause.)
TONY. Good times, bad times. But death is death.
JOHN. (Deflated.) Yes. Out brief can…Yes. You’re right. Well at least walk me to the tube. I must be off.
TONY. I would. Honestly. But I’m due at the Office.
(Tony begins to leave.)
JOHN. (Bitter.) Go on then. Go to your office!
(Tony comes back. Gives John a look.)
JOHN. Don’t worry. I forgive you. Go on. Go and live. Have a long life. I give you my blessing.
TONY. Thanks.
(They hug. Tony exits.)
JOHN. O false and fickle world, my fate is set, I am everything, and nothing yet.
CURTAIN
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