
Book Review: Impro by Keith Johnstone - jger15
http://theoryengine.org/mental-health/book-review-impro-by-keith-johnstone/
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mbrock
It’s kind of funny and weird to think of everyday life as an improv. Some
corollaries:

1\. We all have a responsibility to keep it flowing, responsive, and fun.

2\. We need to stay coherent and not totally insane but without sticking
rigidly to boring cliched habitual scripts.

3\. There’s always opportunities to do or say something unexpected,
refreshing, lively.

4\. Sometimes you ought to play the straight character to let someone else do
their thing.

I wonder if there’s also some compelling arguments against thinking of life as
an improv theater. Maybe Alasdair MacIntyre’s virtue ethics would be an
example because it emphasizes continuity within a life of community, like your
character is much deeper than an act.

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StevenRayOrr
On the topic of everyday life and improv, you might be interested a TEDx talk
called, appropriately, _The Way of Improvisation_.[1]

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUO-
pWJ0riQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUO-pWJ0riQ)

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hollander
If you're doing Impro, I can recommend reading the book by Spolin -
Improvisation for the theater. The first (theoretical) part was the most
interesting as it showed to me something I hadn't figured out myself, doing
impro as a beginner.

In an impro game or play, you get a role and have a goal to fulfill. Your task
is to fulfill that goal, and not to bother with the goals other people have.
It's not to make things more "interesting" by making life for the others more
difficult. As a beginner I thought that creating conflicts would result in
more interesting plays, but it doesn't. It makes things messy, but not good
messy. The different goals create enough conflict. And you can actually help
eachother and make the play better by working together towards the goal of
ending the game. Understanding that was an eye opener.

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MattPalmer1086
I highly recommend this book, even if you have nothing to do with theatre.
I've given numerous copies to other people over the years. The observations on
creativity, spontaneity and how we block ourselves are excellent, and it's
written in a highly readable way.

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wpietri
Agreed. It's high on the list of books that changed the way I think. Between
his analysis of status transactions and reading de Waal's "Chimpanzee
Politics" so much of human behavior suddenly became explicable to me.

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jonahbenton
This is an outstanding book, can be a life impacting work for introvert tech
types.

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hellowhirl
I did improv in college and I remember this book and the impact its “status”
philosophy had on me. Its a wonderful way of bringing awareness to status
dynamics in everyday life, particularly in narcissistic families or other
status-conscious settings, where people respect “top” and disrespect “bottom.”
But thinking that all human dynamics involve this seems very lonely and sad.
Loving relationships should be between equals, there should not —- and need
not —- be constant dynamics of dominance and submission. Theres give and take,
sure, but to play that out through dominance and submission seems really bleak
and lonely, and doesnt reflect my experience of life among people who are not
obsessed with status. It would be a mistake for socially anxious people to see
it as a prescription, but its a wonderful tool for understanding those toxic
and competitive environments we were traumatized in, as well as much of human
interaction outside a loving and cooperative context.

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tomcam
Tangentially related: Towards a Poor Theatre by Jerzy Grotowski and Eugenio
Barba. I disagree with a lot of it but one cannot deny it is an eye-opening
book.

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genmon
Impro greatly improved my public speaking by making me more aware of "status"
(Johnstone's conception of it) and the dynamic relationships in the room.
Highly recommended.

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andy_ppp
Yes I was going to comment on this, the idea that acting doesn't appear real
unless one actor is playing a different status to another is quite insightful.
I suppose this is something to think about for interactions in the real world.

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mettamage
I read this book more than 10 years ago as a teenager. My big takeaway: try to
defer responsibility to something other than yourself or other people and you
suddenly have a lot of room to say things that you otherwise could not say.

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masonic
It's so nice to see a thorough, thoughtful review rather than the typical HN
submit of a ripped summary and affiliate links.

