In November 2021, I attended an improvisation taster session at Nottingham Playhouse, run by Lloydie. I already knew Lloydie from taking part in a “Rhymes Against Humanity” course in 2019, and was keen to give improv another try. I’ve always felt like improv is something that doesn’t necessarily come naturally to me – I prefer to have time to think about a character and a storyline before attempting to bring it to life.
Having enjoyed the taster session, I signed up for a 10 week course running from January 2022. The course, run by Lloydie and Liam Webber, started from the basics of improv – in fact, it sort of began by teaching us how to socialise and have conversations, finding common interests and topics that would allow us to create scenes.
One of the main things I learnt from this course was how much characters can drive a story. Instead of feeling the need to add plot points all the time to move the story forward, sometimes taking a step back and working out “why” characters behave in certain ways can lead to more interesting scenes, and help you feel more comfortable with the character that you’re portraying.
Since taking part in this course, I have completed two further terms, and acted in a variety of different improv shows, opening the Playhouse’s Late Night Comedy in October, supporting The Clones and performing multiple times as part of the ‘Gaggle’ at Loose Goose Improv events. One of the main things I enjoy about improv is how supportive everyone is – often it doesn’t matter if I am acting with experienced improvisers or complete novices, the willingness to succeed is always there, no one is trying to trip you up or make a fool of you. There is a great community spirit in these events as well. People seem to pass the baton easily between scenes, with no one feeling like they are “taking over” or becoming “the star of the show”. Everyone is given their own time to shine.
By the time I was in my third term of the Improv course, I was concerned that there wasn’t much more Lloydie could teach me – but boy, was I wrong. The third term was the most technical yet, exploring different ways of “editing” scenes (how to decide when one scene ends and another begins). Previously, we had just experimented with “wiping” a scene, but Lloydie introduced us to swarm edits, object edits and tag outs. Not all edits are suitable for every show, but it’s good to be able to have a lot of additional tools in the back pocket (I particularly like swarm edits – if done correctly, they can look really professional!).
Something else that has stuck with me was Lloydie’s insistence to “play past the whistle”. Often in rehearsals, Lloydie would be the one to call the end of a scene. This meant that sometimes you might reach a punchline or a reveal that could feel like the end of a scene, but you were forced to continue playing. The result often led to a more nuanced, emotional scene – it allowed us to expand on relationships, and left us with characters that could easily be revisited in future scenes because we “knew” them a little better. This is something that I would like to explore a bit more whilst writing – what happens to characters after a scene finishes? What do they do next?
Improv shows are always a bit hit-and-miss. You never know if you’re going to have a good show until the show is over. The easiest way to avoid a “bad” show is to keep trying to move the show on and not get stuck on something. A show that we did about vaccinations was difficult because we got stuck on the theme and the scenes started to feel repetitive and boring. Although I did make a nice joke about Phillip Schofield jumping the queue to get vaccinated.
The best show I was in told the story of a man born with crab hands who became a celebrity and released a Christmas album called “Merry Crabmas”. It might not have technically been the best show I’ve done, but it was the most fun – and Sam even attempted beatboxing, so what’s not to love?
I’m excited to take part in lots more improv in 2023, and looking forward to participating in a musical improv weekend at the end of January. I’m very glad that I pushed myself outside my comfort zone and gave improv a go – here’s to another year of Makin’ It Up!
Tom Morley, January 2023
Broken Legs Blog 