BOOK REVIEW: Impro

Keith Johnstone's two improv books (Impro and Impro for Storytellers) are a bit headier than the straight-forward Truth in Comedy. It's what you might expect from a man who wrote a play called Moby Dick, in which a sperm cell grows millions of times its size and escapes a fish bowl to wreck havoc on the highs seas. In Impro, Johnstone is chiefly concerned with bringing imagination back to the adult actor's mind.

He does this focusing on only four main points: 1) Status 2) Spontaneity 3) Narrative Skills 4) Masks. While a long book for only four chapters, Johnstone's copious examples and exercises create a rich understanding of each topic and can really go a long way to opening up your mind onstage. Here's the rough break down of each:

1. Status - Johnstone explains how knowing your character's place on the "pecking order" can generate ideas. Whether you are Master, Servant, or seesawing up and down the status ladder, being aware of how others affect you (and allowing yourself to be affected) can make creating characters and stories much easier.
2. Spontaneity - Knowing that there are no correct choices in improv. We spend way too much time in real life struggling against our imaginations, so when it comes to the stage, break free. Be obscene, be psychotic, and strangely enough...be obvious!
3. Narrative Skills - How a story isn't just a random collection of events, but a collection of ideas that reincorporate what has already been created. Johnstone also illustrates the principle that most stories are merely routines broken.
4. Masks - Usually the most derided chapter, Johnstone gives examples of how he uses masks to open up actors and make them make larger choices.

Impro is a philosophical book, but there are plenty of handy exercises within and copious food for thought. The chapter on Masks will seem irrelevant and 99% of you will never really get a chance to explore the ideas within, but I can tell you it's all true. While not as direct as Johnstone's examples, playing the puppeteer in "Bored Morticians" is pretty darn close to mask work. Having even that slight barrier between the character and myself has caused some insane ideas, so don't assume this chapter is completely worthless. Impro is a good next step book after you think you've gotten the "rules" down.