I used to describe improv shows as “the most fun you can have with your clothes on that doesn’t involve chocolate”. 15 years later, which is how long I have been involved with Improguise, that remains true.
This Cape Town team of improv actors, responsible for playing TheatreSports shows for years, is Cape Town’s longest running show and arguably its best kept secret. Now they perform a variety of weekly shows ranging from a full length soapie to a musical to a TheatreSports show to a ‘Superscene’ (which is like Survivor: Improv where directors direct short scenes that the audience vote out until one remains as the Superscene) and much much more.
It began in a similar vein to the British and American Whose Line Is It Anyway? television shows that focused on short three minute games where everything was completely improvised on the spot.
Suggestions from the audience on style, accent, emotion, and location helped to prove that what you were watching was completely unrehearsed (although often it is still so impressive you only half believe that).
It really has been a long, surprising, crazy, roller-coaster of fun.
THE “YES, LET’S”
It’s not only about fun though: being part of this particular improv team (one of a growing number around the country and of course, the world) has taught me some crucial life lessons that I want to share today.
Rule number one when we started playing shows was that you always had to say “yes!” to an offer that was given you.
Example:
Player one runs on to stage and says to player two: Let’s go to the beach.
Player two responds with: No, I don’t like the beach, it is boring.
The End. A “no!” definitively declares the story over and both players have to now work so much harder to get a new story going.
Even if player two thought that the beach was the most boring location in the world to go to, imagine if she had responded with: “That is an amazing idea, I heard they are judging the finalists of the sandcastle-building competition.” Or: “Yes, let’s. I heard that an old submarine washed up there during the night.” Suddenly, a story is born and the rest of the scene will follow the actors as they explore and further this story.
TWO IMPORTANT LIFE LESSONS
The “Yes, let’s” is a technique that gives the loudest resounding “yes!” possible to a story that is introduced and says, “I am going to join you on this thing and we are going to make it great.”
The “Yes, and…” is a technique that takes an existing idea (the beach) and adds another element (the sandcastles or submarine) that makes it even more exciting and gives it more specific places to travel.
My own country, South Africa, really feels like it could use more “Yes, let’s” and “Yes, and…” don’t you think? Barraged by a series of “Must falls” almost every time we open our eyes, there has been a growing number of people and organisations that are changing their tune to a “Must rise”.
We can see that in the latest issue of The Big Issue magazine, which employs hundreds of vendors throughout the country to sell a magazine that really benefits them. The latest issue is the photography one titled Hope.
We observe it in the pictures of the Phoenix made out of the colours of the South African flag with the Hashtag #SouthAfricansMustRise that are flying around on social media platforms.
WHICH WILL YOU FEED?
I love this story of an old Cherokee legend:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
As we are all hoping to be part of a better country, no matter where in the world we live, the question comes to us about which wolf we are choosing to feed: Is it the wolf of “Must fall” or it is the improv-inspired more-creative-and-perhaps-more-challenging wolves of “Must rise” and “Yes, let’s” and “Yes, and…’?
Which one are you going to feed?