Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing a few of my reflections on Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madsen. I picked it up after a glowing recommendation from the legend Steven Pressfield, and it hasn’t disappointed.
I also have a soft spot for improv. When I was 13, it gave me my first taste of the theatre, and helped me discover a self-confidence I didn’t know was there.
People usually put improv in the “I could never do that” or “Hell no, I don’t wanna look like an egg” category. Mostly, it just means very few have tried it.
This is where the first, and most important, rule of improv comes in: to say “yes!”
For example, if one of the actors in your troupe opens a scene with, “Watch out, there’s a bucking bronco running straight at us!”
You don’t say, “No there isn’t…”
That’s called blocking.
Instead, you say something like, “Yikes! Grab the saddle, let’s ride!”
You may not know where your fellow thespian is going. They may throw you a ridiculous, off-piste suggestion, but your responsibility is to go with it. Together, you’ll discover the story waiting to be told.
There is a lesson in there too for how we approach new opportunities, friendships, and the unknown. A “yes”, rather than a “no”, can take us to some weird and wonderful places.