Category Archives: MissImp Blog
Occasional updates from the frontier of comedy in Nottingham. These are the assorted ramblings of MissImp players, jammers and dudes who enjoy improv. You’ll get improv theory, show reviews, jam accounts and some personal stuff too.
Rules Suck
I took my first improv class more than twenty years ago. I was taught the “rules” the same way you probably were. The “rules” were drilled into me and I followed them for years. The “rules” were what made improv work. When a scene or show wasn’t going well, I looked to the “rules.” When I felt stuck in my development as an improviser I looked at the “rules.” For the first 10 years of my teaching I taught the “rules,” used games to drill them, used notes to enforce them, and side coached help my students hone them.
Rules Suck - ImprovMantra
MissImp Podcast Episode 6: Character Choices
Hello fine and dear listeners to the MissImp podcast. Episode 6 is now up and ready to feed into your ears via iTunes, this doohickey down here or your podcast listening thing of choice.
Listen to MissImpCast 6 here:
Or grab the RSS feed or download it from iTunes. We dazzle you with options!
This episode is the culmination of many conversations and thought spurts about how characters arise and get developed in improvised scenes. As ever Lloydie and Nick have different approaches and talk about how we think of character, and when (if ever) we make conscious choices on stage.
You’ll probably note much chatter is in the context of having just done the November Glee show – yep, this is yet another epically delayed upload. There’s also some talk of Lloydie’s January character workshop, which was lots of fun, but you can’t now come to unless you time travel.
Really, we ought to be talking about the giant funbag of shows and mini shows coming up for us – check out the Shows page for more details.
If you’d like to contribute thoughts, comments or ideas to the podcast, please comment wherever you read this or send us an email at missimpnottingham@gmail.com. You can send it in audio format if you like and we’ll play it and pretend we’re having a conversation.
The Way Of Improv – New Ted independent talk
A new video of Dave Morris, a Canadian improviser, talking about the “Way of Improv” in an independent Ted talk. A great intro to improv for newbies and a brilliant reminder of the foundation of what we do for experienced improvisers.
Like this:
Tina Fey’s Rules For Improv…And Your Career
As ever, the fabulous Tina Fey spices up the most tedious of topics: some guy in business who read her book BossyPants and liked her improv rules.
Read ‘em here on The Savvy Intern (seriously): Tina Fey’s Rules For Improv…And Your Career.
We know them, and they’re an excellent summary. Well worth bearing in mind for all improvisors. Plus it’s from Tina Fey, and who but an idiot doubts her wisdom?
I’ve always considered improv a life skill, especially if you work with other people. Agreement and creativity are wonderfully enriching throughout life. Plus there’s the enormous satisfaction of never being left speechless. This is good for dealing with bullies, bosses and smug bastards. There is nothing quite as splendid as providing a snappy retort after each punch to your face. The punches will stop, but your mocking responses will wound them forever. I’d commend improv (especially the comic elements) to anyone in need of a creative outlet, or indeed a creative influx. Knowing you can create and develop something with others is a great confidence boost, and if you can make people laugh intentionally – well, what else do you need?
I know this is a film and not improv, but it’s a really good film. And it’s Fey:
Learning Improv the MissImp way
MissImp has been part of the Nottingham comedy scene since 1998. The group has had instruction and influence from some top international improvisers, has a group of incredible improvisers both longstanding and new, and have an increasing and incredibly awesome audience.
Over time, many people have come along to MissImp’s regular drop-in jams and this has built the number of people we have to play with both on stage and off. We’ve always been committed to building the improv scene in Nottingham and now we’re offering classes to new comers and the more experienced alike.
From now, if you’ve not encountered much improv before, you can sign up to our Improv Beginners course. If you’re a bit more experienced, we’re also offering an Improv Intermediate course. These courses will all be taught by performers who take to the stage regularly as part of our residency at The Glee Club in Nottingham. These first two will be taught by me, Lloydie in March/April time.
MissImp’s style is a fusion of several sensibilities that have entertained audiences in Nottingham over the last few years and based on trainings we’ve had from a variety of great improvisers from around the globe. For improv nerds out there, it combines scene-based shortform games with more “open scenes” and the Chicago style of improv. We emphasise comedy and fun.
We really want to encourage more people to learn improv for their own reasons. You might want to be a future performer in one of our shows – to that we say “GREAT”! Equally, you might want to use improv to help your personal, social, work, business or associative thinking skills – and we’re equally excited about you using it for that too. Whether you’re looking for an exciting new skill for 2012, to enhance your acting / improv skills or want to be the next big thing- you’re very welcome to sign up and enjoy yourself.
