A workshop called 'Improv' teaches students to crack silly jokes, tell stories and create funny scenes... all out of thin air
A workshop called 'Improv' teaches students to crack silly jokes, tell stories andu00a0 create funny scenes... all out of thin air
It's a contest between four people, where the jokes keep coming and the "points don't matter".
Comedian Drew Carey along with now household names like Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady and Greg Proops made it famous in India in the show Whose Line Is It Anyway. Improvisation is now getting closer home by jumping out of the television and onto the stage.
At the P L Deshpande hall in Prabhadevi recently, 18 participants got together for an improvisation workshop, to laugh, crack silly jokes, practice teamwork based on trust and generally indulge in a "twot" (total waste of time). For four straight hours every evening, from Monday to Saturday, it was not just fun but gritty hard work as well for the contestants who paid Rs 3,500 for 24 hours of training.
The group assembled under the watchful grin of improviser-trainer Adam Dow of the Seattle Theatersports, people ranging across ages, from 20-somethings to 45 plus. Many of them actors from the world of cinema, theatre, television others from diverse professions construction, banking, human resources and telecom.
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Dow made it clear that the workshop Improv was not about comedy, though the two have by and large become synonymous. "Due to the nature of improvisation, it lends itself well to the comic form." he said. "When people set out to be 'funny', quite often it reads to an audience as being fake or contrived. That is why I push my student to be honest, real and let the comedy naturally flow from that."u00a0
The workshop would seem a logical step in the changing dimensions of comedy in the city. There have been a series of stand-up acts in Mumbai over the last few years, including several foreign performers like Jonathan Atherton through the International Stand-Up Comedy Circuit. Britain's famous Comedy Store is set to open at Phoenix Mills soon.
Cyrus Broacha's Cyrusitis The One-And-A-Half Man Show has been running to full houses for several weeks. Vir Das, one of the few stand-up comedians in the country, a few months ago conducted a Hamateur Night to dig out fresh talent. Across board, the intention of promoters of comedy has been to discover local talent.
Some of the participants at the Improv workshop are already in similar lines of work. Adnan Nalwala, whose day job is in a family construction business, has done a few small stand-up shows. Sister-in-law Kaneez Nalwala is part of a comedy show The Week That Wasn't with Broacha on an English news channel.
Dow said he covered concepts like listening, teamwork, character development, spontaneity and story telling. "Most of the course curriculum was focused on active stage time for the students. Although improvisation has a lot of theory that goes behind it, the truth of the matter is that the only way to become good at improvisation is to get a whole lot of stage time performing it."
On one of the days, mid-week, as the class warmed up in the dimly-lit, sparsely furnished room at the Deshpande hall, Dow encouraged everyone to get physical and move about with energy. Students formed groups of two to exchange short repartees in a given fictional situation, jumping, running, squatting or even lying down, which also explained why most were dressed in shorts or track pants.
"This gives me confidence," said Ruslan Mumtaz, who has done films like MP3 and Teree Sang. "Have to be confident in this craft. I have to be shameless, not worry about what's right or wrong."
Another participant Mukul Chadda said it helps develop spontaneity. "It is difficult to find something tangible from workshops. There is some method to it and a whole lot of practice," added the theatre-ad film actor.
"How does it feel?" asks Dow after a hectic session of exchanges between students in a frenetically changing scenario of characters and situations. "Disastrous," someone quips from the crowd. "You need to impress people with an ability to tell stories that are instantly made up without falling into the pressure of creating a funny scene," adds Dow.
The workshop, conducted by Theatre Professionals, had other agendas for people not merely interested in creating a chuckle in a bar.
Like Yatin Borkar, who does neuro-linguistic programming blended with theatrics and Sanjay Bajaj, who trains in attitudinal behaviour, the workshop is meant to further their aptitude in work. Or for RBS-employee Freddy Shalatwalla, it was just a means to chase a passion for which he never had the time. It could simply be the joy of being surrounded by talented people, like it was for Adnan Nalwalla.
"Building things on the spur of the moment is difficult, unlike actors who read out from a script," says Shaun Williams, a compere who felt the need to "increase his knowledge".
Dow related comedy with improvisation by quoting Del Close, "one of the most famous improvisational teachers, who wrote a book called The Truth in Comedy. He offers the concept that the funniest moments in life are often our most true and honest moments, in which the audience naturally relates to the character, the experience, or the situation".
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