Theatre - The Spontaneous Combustion of Improv
Improv is a high-risk enterprise; the extreme sport of theatre practice. Two very different groups – The Improvisors and the Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) – practise the art in Wellington.
Improv’s best-known manifestation, theatre sports, was developed by director Keith Johnstone in Canada in 1977. It took another decade to take root in New Zealand, but the first seeds were sown in Wellington in the summer of 1968/69, thanks to Ian Mune. And I was there.
Home from Sydney’s National Institute for Dramatic Art for the summer holidays, I joined the actor workshops for a Downstage production of Jean-Claude van Itallie’s America Hurrah. The workshops were run by Ian Mune, who had recently returned from a stint with the Welsh Theatre Company, where Johnstone had been developing an improv concept called Yes Games, which we played:
“No preconceptions. Go with the flow.”
An actor enters the empty space
“What are you doing?”
“Scratching my ear.” (It has been unconscious until that moment)
“Develop it.”
A random scenario evolves … and ends
Another actor enters
… “Find a reason to leave.”
Knowing that something can always start from nothing and that we can easily end it, we move on to two- and three-hander improvs, and we get the hang of the basic principles: whatever happens, accept it and build on it, with alacrity; no wimping, no blocking; keep it open-ended; avoid prescribing; join in when you’re needed, leave when you’re surplus to requirements. It’s scary, but when individual egos disappear, a magical alchemy generates extraordinary scenarios that no one person has invented yet all participants have created.
Theatre critic Bruce Mason described America Hurrah as “the most important and, potentially, the farthest reaching production yet seen at Downstage”, noting how splendidly the cast worked together as a team. In a public presentation of Yes Games – probably the first time improv was performed for an audience in New Zealand – Bruce saw “the genesis of a young company” working according to these principles.
It would take 20 years for that to happen in Wellington. In 1989, Tim Gordon was part of the cast of Suspect, an improvised murder mystery show at Circa, directed by Grant Tilly. This spawned the formation in 1990 of The Improvisors, of which Tim remains an artistic director.
The Improvisors work to a commercial model, marketing themselves as a corporate entertainment company, ready, willing and very able to meet client requirements for celebration, education and/or facilitation. Team-building looms large in their quiver of skills.
They continue to run an annual theatre sports season, usually staged at Circa Two. Their productions cover a range of formats and styles: Improv – The Musical/Rock Opera/Secondary School Musical, Talk to the Hand – An Improv Puppet Show, Garry Trotter and the Philosopher's Whatchamacallit, Shakespeare – the Musical and Improv Cage Match. Their kids’ shows include The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Gnome on the Roam, Pirates, The Mild Wild West and A Knight to Remember.
WIT was formed in 2003 and is New Zealand’s only not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre group, dedicated to telling stories, teamwork and having fun. Their open competition-style show is called Micetro; they pioneered New Zealand’s first all-female improv troupe, The Improv Divas; and their other formats include The All-New Old-Time Radio Show, The Wishing Tree, Improvathon, Gods and Heroes – Improvised Myths, Love Possibly and their long-running soap opera, The Young and the Witless. They usually perform at the Fringe Bar.
The key to these shows is that the audience is in on the game, helping ignite the sparks to create a result that really is spontaneously combusted. As well as valuable training for actors, improv stands as an entertainment form in its own right.