Be Prepared? In Impro?
Be Prepared? In Impro?
Sunday, 16 January 2011
One of the great things about impro is the way you can hit the stage and create magic with little or no preparation.
Of course, that's a lie. Good preparation can certainly help (but not guarantee) a good show. And the best shows are prepared for, but not drilled until the spontaneity has left them.
For instance, I recently watched "Fist of Fury", an Impromafia show - very entertaining, and with some really imaginative staging. They had stage hands come on to lift the characters for the action scenes, to simulate the extreme action scenes (as well as other cool staging bits).
I was reminded of a show at the Improvention where the exactly same technique was used during a fight scene - but it occurred completely spontaneously, no planning involved - even more impressive when you consider the performers were from around Australia and there had been no discussion or rehearsal beforehand.
Was the spontaneous staging of the Canberra show better than the planned Brisbane show? I couldn't say one way or the other. They were both good shows - the Canberra show was clearly spontaneous, while the Fury show was clearly planned.
For me, the spontaneous presentation is always more impressive, because if you can see that something has been planned, I have higher expectations of the staging. But of course, you need to take into consideration that it can be hard to tell when something is planned or not! Particularly when sometime things are planned.
I have seen "impro" shows where large sections have been planned out ahead of time. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, so long as it's entertaining!
Audience members will believe that something that's at a certain level of goodness has to be planned - they just can't accept that sometimes crazy, hilarious, moving, great theatre can be completely spontaneous.
Also, it depends on what and how you rehearse a show. If you're working on staging, setup and cues for the show, generally more or is better (or simpler is better). If you're working on knowing the format, that's great. If you're working on getting a better understanding of your teammates, that's outstanding (and that's what I like to concentrate on - and often practicing impro isn't necessarily the best way to go).
In the end, it's not necessarily better to do a lot of preparation than less. So long as the show is fresh and fun for both then performers and the audience, then it's good. I have been guilty of under-preparing for shows I have directed, and more rarely over-preparing.
The trick is to strike the right balance.
It Came From High School - little preparation, pretty good show.