I was teaching the Maydays Drop in class recently and two of the students who are recent converts to improv and now completely obsessed with the form (you know who you are you two!) cornered me afterwards and asked me,

 “How do we get to be good?!”

I gave them my best answer but came away thinking about it; How does one get good at improv? (barr experience and time) and here’s what I came up with.

Heather’s top 10 tips for how to be a better improviser

1. Do a lot – There can be no denying that experience is everything. I’m not saying new improvisers can’t be good but everyone experiences those wobble moments on stage and the more you do, the more you learn how to navigate your way out of them. Consistently the best show I’ve ever seen is the Armando in Chicago. Almost every player is 40 plus and the weight of experience is palpable. The audience knows they’re going to have a great time because they know they’re in safe hands. I think improvising is a bit like muscle memory in dance training so I’m sure the act of practising as much as you can helps you improve faster.

2. See a lot – Go and see as many shows as you can. Good and Bad. When you’re doing bad improv, you don’t necessarily know it. When you’re watching it, you do. Seeing those sticky moments from the outside is massively helpful in identifying how you can improve your own practice. Watching good improv is equally helpful, thrilling and inspiring. Like Katy and Rach say – like watching people fly.

3. Get a director – I absolutely believe that no matter how much improv you do, you’ll never get significantly better without someone kicking your arse. Without feedback you’re likely to keep the same bad habits all your improv life. A good director should identify your strengths and develop your weaknesses, like being a human top trump. Maybe your speed (let’s call that object work in this scenario) is 100 but your stamina (character work) is only 40. Your director should be working to get everything to 100.

4. Improvise with the same people a lot – Group mind is invaluable in improv. When there is trust on stage you can do magical things. A crude example of this is being physical. Us English lot aren’t very good at getting in each other’s personal space so when you’re working with a group you know really well it’s easier to do things like make people fly, become one being, play an intimate love or sex scene. It shouldn’t matter if you’re with strangers but it really helps when there’s an unspoken level of communication between your whole troupe.

5. Improvise with different people a lot – Equally, it’s great to get out of your comfort zone and improvise with people whose behaviour patterns you don’t know. Maybe you’re the dominant player in your troupe – go to an open workshop and maybe you’ll be forced into the role of supporter or any other role you don’t normally fall into.

6. Be authentic – Whole heartedly bring your life into your improv. There are two ways of doing this practically. One is to see the world as a scene, if someone calls out “Butcher” – don’t be generic, be your local Butcher Stan or a guy you were standing next to at the bus stop that day. Notice everything, use the real language of whichever profession you’re portraying in that show, do some research. “5 things a _____ would say” is a great game for this and you can play it on your own. Alternatively – experiment with putting yourself into the scene, if you’re feeling scared bring it into your character. If you’re feeling randy – hump everyone! It’s great to be imaginative but if you can start from a place of being real it can add a whole new level to your performance.

7. Learn stagecraft – I know some amazing amazing improvisers who are not so hot when it comes to performing. Get an outside eye or take an acting class if you need to. If people can’t hear you, people can’t hear you or your stage pictures look dull and sloppy, it doesn’t matter how good your scene idea was or how naturally hilarious you are.

8. Serve the scene and not yourself – Speaks for itself. Don’t plough into scenes or bulldoze other people. Make it your mission to make everyone else look good and you’ll look good. As Charna Halpern says “ Treat others as if they are geniuses, artists and poets and they will be.”

9. Read some improv books or blogs and talk about it exhaustively and obsessively – Well it can’t hurt.

10.Have a secret – This is my favourite thing to do. Pick something just for you to take into a scene, that no-one needs to know about. Have happy hands, be a lizard if a lizard was a human, decide to always stay 2 feet away from whoever you’re onstage with. Whatever you do, bring something to the table. It might never come out, it might get toned down and you should always be prepared to drop it if there’s a cross initiation but aswell as adding some depth – it’s fun!

So this week has seen the start of a (hopefully) beautiful relationship with improv for some, and the new chapter of improv for others.

On Wednesday, I waited patiently to meet my new Beginner Improvisers at the Evolution Arts building. I have lost count of how many courses I have taught in the main studio, how many unsuspecting people have become addicted to improv here or met great friends in this space. Indeed, later in July of this year the first Maydays-related wedding will take place. Now, for a course that condones listening, saying yes and committing, you can't get much more committed than that!

Once the formalities were over (i.e. me gabbing on about shows and course content) we got down to the serious business of trying to remember each other's names as latecomers arrived and had to be incorporated into the alliterative name game (Andy Arab, Melly Belly...see it works!). After a few group warm ups and John Cremer's favourite, 3-line scenes, I introduced them to Spelling machines and Park Bench. Maydays afficionado's will grin knowingly at this point but for the rest of you, you'll have to come and do the next Beginners course to find out more.....!

A good night, lots of laughing and creativity, followed by pub discussions. A great group and I'm looking forward to more of the same next week.

Meanwhile in Mayday land, the company got together today to iron out a few bits of our new show, Confessions! The format revolves around scenes and songs inspired by audience members. Discussions ensued about how we persuade the audience to share their sins with us, how to open the show and, of course, how to close it. This may sound a bit un-improv-y to the un-initiated but essentially it's nigh on impossible to have NO structure to your improv show. I think Katie and Rach is probably the improv show with the least formalised structure but even they have time constraints. I subscribe to 'limitation is stimulation', i.e. it's easier to be creative within a structure - even if the cast know when a show should end, it doesn't mean the tech does, or the audience - so best to signal these things so everyone knows where they stand.

Anyway, we came out of rehearsal with an opening and closing structure and, even more exciting, a new song style soon to be unveiled at this years Brighton May Festival. It now feels like we're ready to take on the sins of Brighton and, with the power of improv, absolve them.

Posted by: Jen Rowe