In Monday night’s class we played a new game that I made up based on these 4 characters. I call this game “The 4 roles game”. In the game 4 players are each given one of the 4 different characters. Three scenes are played. The first scene is between the protagonist and the mentor. In this scene what the protagonist wants must be clearly defined. In the next scene the protagonist meets the contagonist, who tries to distract the protagonist from achieving his/her goal. In the last scene the protagonist faces the antagonist and must overcome him/her to get what he/she wants. Here is an example from last night’s class. Ruan played a dancer who wanted to win the Olympic dance medal. Luci played the mentor who taught him to dance from his heart. In the next scene Ruan is distracted by his girlfriend (contagonist) played by Minki who wants him to copy other dance styles in his dancing. In the last scene Ruan is faced with his arch nemesis (antagonist) Juan-Philip, 3 times dance world champion played by Olaf. In order to beat him Ruan remembers the words of his mentor, reminding him to dance from his heart. His own authentic dance style overwhelms Juan-Philip and he wins the Olympic dance medal. WOW, what a beautiful story, made up right there on the spot because everyone knew what role they had to play.

So what role are you playing in your own life? Are you the hero? Or are you your own antagonist, preventing yourself from getting what you really want? Or are you the hero but find yourself lured and occupied by the distractions of a contagonist in your life? Or don’t you know what you really want so you are not really living a good story? Are you experiencing life as a series of random events? (If you want to read more about knowing what you want read my previous blog “what do you really want?”)
You are the author of your own life story and you have the power to cast the other roles in your life. Think of someone who you have cast as an antagonist in your life. Maybe you want to quit your job and start your own business but your father or your husband doesn’t want you to for whatever reason. You can cast them as an antagonist who is preventing you from getting what you want. However you can cast them as a contagonist who is helping you to know if you are ready for this big step. Or you can even cast them as a mentor that is guiding you to make an informed decision. The way you cast them will determine how you will react towards them and the influence they will have on you. In this story the antagonist isn’t really your father or your husband. The real antagonist is being stuck in a job that is not allowing you to live out your passion.

Understanding that all 4 roles are essential for a good story will help you to recognize and accept conflict, temptation and support in your life so that you can be the hero of your own life story and get what you really want out of life.

If you want to know more about how to become the hero of your own life story attend our Personal Success Story workshop.

Click on the following links for a Personal success Story workshop in your area.
Western Cape
Gauteng
KZN

Want to take an improv class? click here

Click here to read previous blog posts.

So what is the application of this improv wisdom in real life? If you want a strong personal character know what you want. And how do you know what you want? Look at your behaviour and write down the activities that take up most of your time and then ask yourself why you do this until you get to the core value behind these activities. If your time is filled with activities that you really don’t like such as a job that you hate, ask yourself how you can be true to your core value by doing something different that you do like. Or if the activity is something that you really can’t change, knowing why you do it will help you change the way you feel about it. Like my sister and business partner, Petro, says “Know your values, know your value.”
PS This week practise launching yourself into your core being…but mind your back.

Want to take an improv class? click here

Click here to read previous blog posts.

Ruan and Naomi’s comments reminded me of two improv games so I combined them for the next exercise. The first is the Gifts game that I learned from Megan of Improvision. In this game a player hands an imaginary gift to the person next to them. The person receiving the gift, names the gift and over accepts it by saying how it is the one thing they’ve always wanted. In the other game an emotion is picked, such as anger. An imaginary box is then sent around the circle and every time the box is opened the player must react in the identified emotion but stronger than the previous person’s reaction. Until the reaction is so strong that the person dies or the box is completely destroyed. In my combined game we identified an emotion and then passed around gifts having a stronger and stronger reaction in the chosen emotion. The question that came up was, “how do I have a strong authentic reaction if what I receive really doesn’t matter to me?” The answer is simple; you play a character to who it would matter. For example, Mike received a gift that looked like a tray, so he made it a Wimbledon trophy and played a tennis player who won the tournament. In the example he also gave the object a specific characteristic that made it more valuable to his character. This is a great way to come up with strong characters in a scene – you pick any emotion and then react strongly in that emotion toward the opening line of your fellow player. Then you just play a character that justifies that reaction. Boom you have a strong character that has a strong motivation.

The application of this improv wisdom in real life is very valuable. Sometimes we have very strong reactions towards certain situations and offers from other people. These reactions may be positive or negative. A good way of becoming more self aware is to ask yourself, “why do I have such a strong reaction about this?” and “why does it matter to me?” These questions can lead you towards understanding what you value and really want in life – the theme for my next blog.

Want to take an improv class? click here

Click here to read previous blog posts.

The application of being affected by what you hear went through my thoughts the whole week. And then I decided to Google it and see what pops up. The article that drew my attention the most was about Autism. The one thing that struck me was that autistic children are not affected by what they hear. Often parents of autistic children will at first think that their child is deaf because they don’t react to their names or sounds such as a door closing. The child does hear but is just not affected by the sound. It is as if they hear but don’t register the sound because of some process in their brain that is not functioning properly. It sounds a lot like the statement that we’ve all heard so often from teachers, “you hear, but you don’t listen.” The article reports that, “Hearing without listening is useless to produce intelligent social interaction. The value of hearing is measured in the ability to listen and respond to auditory information. If an autistic child can not listen and respond intelligently their hearing is useless.” Isn’t it true that we all suffer from some form of autism? Hearing but not listening? Why is that? I believe it is because we are not present when we are listening to others. We are up in our heads, worrying, thinking about other things. This state of being up in our heads I believe is very similar to the autistic brain processes not functioning properly. The article about autism ends of with a form of treatment that can help autistic children to improve their malfunctioning brain process. It is called monaural speech development. The rest of us can also improve our semi autism by learning to be more present and less up in our heads. The treatment for this I call Improvisation.

Want to take an improv class? click here

Click here to read previous blog posts.

The theme for the first class was presence and awareness. I started the class with a relaxing exercise to help everyone get rid of all the thoughts of the day that held them captive from the present moment. An easy way to help you become present is to listen attentively to all the sounds that you can hear around you. Another way is to focus on your body by becoming aware of your breathing and the life inside of your body. For the most of the class we played a game I call Pattern circle, a very simple game with a lot of learning. I think we could have played that one game for a whole day. We ended the class with a game called Monster talk. In this game 3 players play one character and have to talk in unison. It’s exactly like the lyrics in that song by The Supremes that Phil Collins made famous, You can’t hurry love… it’s a game of give and take. You have to talk slowly and give and take the control. And of course you have to be present, aware and really listen to each other. Hmmm… sounds a lot like love doesn’t it? So yes doing improv can even help you in your relationships.

Last night was the second workshop of my level 2 improv class. Again we started with a relaxing exercise to get everyone present and aware. Being present, aware and in that state of stillness free from thought is crucial for improvisation, since creative ideas don’t come from thought. Recently I listened to a talk by Eckhard Tolle called “The Journey within”. In his talk he says that creativity doesn’t come from thought but from a place of stillness. I tested this theory by asking my wife, who is the most creative person I know ,what happens just before she gets a creative idea. After a brief moment of silence she said in her metaphoric way of speaking, “There is stillness. It’s like the wind dies down and there is this moment of utter quiet and then the creative ideas come like a cloud burst. First just one large drop falls into the dry sand then it is followed by this shower of creativity.” “What is the wind?” I asked. “Its thoughts” she replies. I concluded that Eckhard is right. A creative idea isn’t a thought that you manufacture in your mind by trying really hard. In last night’s class Liezel also commented that you need to trust your own creativity. That is also very true. All people are creative; we just lose it over time. The good news is we can reclaim it. The first step is to be still, and trust. Improv helps one to do this.

We also played Freeze tag last night. In this game 2 people start a scene. At any moment anyone else can say freeze and tap out one of the players. He/she then takes that player’s position and starts a new scene in a completely new context justifying the position. For a second round I said freeze and told them who should go in and replace another player. This way they didn’t have time to think about what they wanted to do. They just had to trust themselves and see what arises. Everyone commented that it was easier to come up with something good if they didn’t have time to think about it. I really enjoyed Olaf and Minki’s scene that went from a hair dresser to a convict sitting in an electric chair.

The next step is to trust the other player that they will take your creativity and do something with it – accept it and build on it (“yes and” it). I believe that the reason why we are afraid to trust our own creativity is because we are so use to other people rejecting our creativity and not accepting it. We all know how much rejection hurts. For most people it is not worth taking that risk anymore, so they label themselves as uncreative to protect themselves from rejection.

We ended the class with a game of “Whose line is it anyway?” In this game 2 players each get 2 random sentences written on a piece of paper. At anytime during the scene they have to read one of the sentences and incorporate it into the scene. Everyone played this game extraordinary well, accepting the offers and incorporating it. Each scene was worthy to be performed in front of a paying audience. Thanks for everyone’s participation, I enjoyed it tremendously.

Now it’s your turn. Become still. Focus on the sounds around you. Become aware of your breathing. Write down in a comment below what arises.

Now it’s your turn. Become still. Focus on the sounds around you. Become aware of your breathing. Write down in a comment below what arises.

Click here to read more about our improv classes.
Click here to read other improv class blog posts.

Next we played Freez tag. Everyone came up with very strong characters and Minki’s scene of the two people on either side of a wall was really beautiful. This game again showed how important it is to step up and let your body think for you. When you stand on the side and try to think of something clever you struggle. But if you step up without an idea, take the position and just see what happens you come up with much more creative ideas.

The next game we played was One Word Interview. In this game an interviewer interviews a two headed expert who is played by two other players who has to answer all the questions one word at a time. Luci (interviewer), Liezel and Franz’s scene about Pinokio was hilarious. They accepted each other’s offers so beautifully and picked strong interesting characters.

The last game for the night was Party game. In this game one player is hosting a party. 3 Other players each get an interesting characteristic such as a movie or theatre style, famous person or kitchen appliance. The host doesn’t know what the characteristics are and must try to figure it out through his interaction with his guests. I thought it was hilarious when Nolan thought that Ruan was an Oriental Opera singer.

Thanks again for everyone’s committed and enthusiastic participation. I really enjoyed teaching this class.

I would really appreciate it if everyone who participated in the class would answer the following feedback questions as a comment here on the blog.

1. In what why did the class have an influence on your life?
2. Would you recommend the class to others? Why?
3. What do you think could prevent others from participating in an improvisation class?
4. What exercise or game did you like the most?
5. What exercise or game did you like the least?

Thanks yall. hope to see you 27 July in my level 2 class.

Physicalization is the method used by improv players to create imaginary locations, objects, and events. The best way to help the audience and your fellow players see the objects and environments that you create is if you see it yourself.

We started the class with a guided fantasy into our imaginations. The adventure began on the beach, moved to a second-hand store, into a forest, into a castle with a table with delicious food, into a room with photos of significant events, into a room with a person on a thrown and finally into a garden. It is amazing to see how your imagination and your past experiences work together to create this dream like experience. It was interesting to hear who everyone saw on the thrown. Luci saw Richard Branson and Nolan saw an old friend who asked him if he liked his place.

In the following exercise we passed imaginary objects to each other. It was funny to see how the snoek turned into a tray with a half eaten sandwich, the prickly worm turned into a fox and the hot bowl of soup turned into a meatball. Or was it the worm that turned into a meatball and the ancient vase that turned into a fox?

For the next exercise everyone had to reach under their chairs and pull out an object without thinking beforehand what it was going to be. They had to discover something and then explore it until they got an emotional reaction from it. It is difficult not to think ahead and just discover something. However when you allow yourself just to discover, your discovery is much more interesting and your emotional reaction much more authentic.

Next we played an environment exercise. For this exercise a location is determined and then one by one each character must enter the location and use all the objects that all the previous players used and then add another object. It is important to remember where each object was placed. A good way to practice your physicalization is to notice in everyday life how you hold different objects. Doing this will help you to be more present in your day to day actions. We picked a library for our location. I really enjoyed the characters that everyone used in the environment. When you do it in a character you find a lot more interesting things to do with the object. Choosing a character and acting and reacting from that character are probably one of the most important improv practices. For me it is also one of the best applications of improv in everyday life. Who you are, is more important than what you do, because who you are determines what you do. Therefore it is more important to figure out who you are than what it is that you are suppose to do.

For the final exercise we played two person scenes where the first player had to establish an environment through physicalization (the where of the scene). The second player had to establish the relationship between the characters (the who of the scene). The scenes were lovely, thanks for everyone’s participation.

Our one word proverb of the class was: Bafana het almal geskok met voortreflikheid.

Comments?

This Tuesday’s class was all about breaking routines.  And I’m going to break the routine by writing the rest of the blog in Afrikaans.

HierdieDinsdag inplaas daarvan om klas te hê, het ons almal by Basic bymekaar gekom vir ‘n glasie wyn.  Die rede daarvoor was omdat daar ‘n double booking op die saal was waar ons gewoonlik bymekaar kom.  Ruan, wat die vorige klas gemis het, het gevra waaroor verlede week se klas gegaan het.  Ek het hom toe vertel dat dit gegaan oor storie en dat dit basies daaroor gaan dat ‘n mense goeie storie skep deur ‘n roetine te skep en dan die roetine te breek.  ‘n Vinnige voorbeeld is:  “Een dag lank gelede was daar ‘n dorpie waarniemand ooit gelag et nie (‘n roetine word geskep).  Toe eendag kom daar ‘n bose towenaar na die dorp (roetine word gebreek) en omdat niemand ooit gelag het nie het hy mag oor die mense gehad en hulle sy slawe gemaak (nuwe roetine word geskep).  ‘n Jong seun in die dorp ontdek toe ‘n antieke boek met grappies in sy ouma se huis en begin dit lees en vir die ander mense grappies te vertel.  Vir die eerste keer begin die mense weer lag ontdek (roetine word gebreek).  Al die mense begin toe vir mekaar die grappies oor vertel en soos die mense meer en meer begin lag het die bose towenaar sy mag oor die mense verloor en weg gevlug uit vrees dat hulle hom sal dood lag.  En so het die dorpie bekend geraak as die dorpie waar almal baie lag (‘n nuwe roetine word geskep.  Maar hierdie slag is die roetine beter as die roetine waarmee die storie begin het).  Liezel sê toe dat  ons eintlik ook net besig was om ‘n roetine te breek deur nie klas te hê nie maar ‘n glasie wyn te drink.  Nolan vertel toe dat hy besig is om ‘n roetine te breek deur op te hou rook.  As ons wil hê ons lewens moet beter stories wees is dit nodig dat ons roetines in ons lewens breek.  Baie mense is vasgevang in seker roetines wat hulle verhoed om die lewe voluit te lewe.

Die res van die aand het ons net lekker gekuier.  Luci en Minki het gesels oor skaapvleis verkoop. Ruan het vertel van sy partytjie wat hy vir volgende jaar wil beplan.  En Liezel het ons die storie van die tweeling vertel. Dankie aan almal, dit was ‘n lekker kuiertjie

After that we played a Word association game. This game illustrated how our minds automatically make links between random words. In the next game everyone paired up with one other person. The one had to come up with 4 unrelated sentences that the other had to connect together to create a story. Relating random events together is what makes a story.

Then we played Automatic Story. In this game one player has to ask yes/no questions about the storyline of an unknown story that the other player has in mind. What the questioning player doesn’t know is that the person answering the questions is only saying yes to questions starting with a vowel and no to questions starting with a consonant. The person asking the questions is therefore making up the story without knowing it. This game illustrates how easy it is to make up our own stories. Isn’t it interesting how in life we also often think that someone else is in control of our stories, while we are actually the authors of our own life stories?

The next game that we played was what happens next? In this game Franz was an old man whose hip broke in 7 places and then he was healed by a Native American who let him smoke his peace pipe. Nolan and Minki where 2 Xhosa woman and Minki didn’t want Nolan to visit her home town where there was a big event happening. The routine of the story was broken when Nolan blew up a giant balloon from the gum that fell out of Minki’s grocery bags. Luci then reincorporated the town where the big event was happening by letting Nolan fly there with the balloon.

Key concepts:

Reincorporation: Recycling or re-using ideas or situations from earlier in the story.

Platform: The who, what and where of a scene. Success of a scene often depends on a solid and clear platform.

Breaking routine: Interesting twitch to advance a scene, or to cause status change.

One word proverb: Swart mense hou van eet en drinka

Please share your thoughts.

We started the class with stretches, followed by a name game called George. What I love about this game is how the clapping is like the principles of improv. At first it is really difficult to get the clap sequence right, but after some practice you don’t even think about it anymore. It becomes a structure around which you can just improvise. After George we played “What are you doing?”. This game really stretches your mind and shows how much you actually think with your body.

For the first status exercise I stuck a number on each person’s forehead representing their status, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest and told them to play a scene in a hospital. The aim of the game is to discover your own status by the way others react towards you. It was interesting to see how those with low status were pushed into the corners of the room, a lot like we do with people with low status in society.

In the next exercise I gave everyone a number that only they could see and told them to play a gibberish scene in a prison. They had to show their own status and try to figure out the status of the other players. It was interesting to note that how much you speak has no influence on your status. Someone who speaks a lot can be a blabbering fool or a one who orders everyone else. Someone who is silent can feel they don’t have anything worth saying or command the attention of others. It all depends on how you talk or stay silent.

Juan made a very valuable comment about positional status and influential status. In the prison the Chief Warden had the most positional status, but the gang leader definitely had the most influential status. Juan also said that he decided to play the chief warden rather than the gang leader because it was easier to take the positional status than the influential status. He commented that in life it is also easier just to ride on your positional status than to have influential status.

For the last part of the class we played 2 person scenes in gibberish, silent or in 1 word sentences using different statuses. The silent, gibberish and one word scenes forces players to show and not tell. It also helps players to pay more attention to what the other player is doing and react more truthfully. For the last round of scenes, one character started with high and the other with low status and during the scene they had to gradually switch their status. This made really interesting scenes.

More thoughts on status:

In all human interaction there is some form of status interaction taking place. In everything you are saying or doing you are either higher or lowering your status, how subtle it might be. People usually have a natural preferred status that they play. Whether it is high or low it is usually a form of defence mechanism. People who prefer high status wants to keep others at a distance while those who play low status are people pleasers. High or low status isn’t inherently good or bad, but understanding how to use status in your interactions with people is a very useful social skill.

Please share some of your thoughts on status.

One word proverb: Wysheid is die beste opsie na dronkverdriet. (ek het dit wragtag weer nie neer geskryf nie en is nie nou seker of dit reg is nie)