Erin’s bookshelf: Improvising Scenes from the Inside Out
Book: Improvising Scenes from the Inside Out
Author: Mick Napier
Pages: 144
Big take aways:
- Just do something.
“For God’s sake, do something. Anything. Something. At the top of an improv scene, do something. Please do it ofr yourself. Do yourself a favor and just do something.”
-Chapter 3
- Take care of yourself and you will take care of your partner.
“I’ve heard it for years: “Make your partner look good. “ But what the hell does it mean? Do you say nice things to them? Do you uber-agree, do you pat them on th head, offer them a chair , ru their shoulders? No, the must supportive thing you can do is to get over your pasty self and selfishly make a strong choice in the scene. Then you are supportin your partner with your power, and not your fear.
“…Two people making strong choices is nothing but supportive.”
-Chapter 4
Favorite Part: This book has an appendix of “Exercises to do at home.” Detailed instructions to work your improvising skill set, plus an explanation of what the exercise is for. [I photo-copied this and keep it in my car to do exercises while I’m driving around–mostly during the commute after work to the theatre.]
Recommendation: Yes. This is one of my favorite improv books so far. I read it about a year into taking classes right at the time when I hit my first “improv slump.” I no longer felt successful or safe or comfortable in scenes and “trying harder” wasn’t fixing it. This book, geared at intermediate and advanced improvisers, with it’s vocal distain for the rules was exactly what I needed to get out of my head and free myself to just play on stage.
I think it’s one of the most practical, relevent books out there, skipping directly to the reality of what’s being created on stage by modern improvisers.
Plus, the book is worth it just for the appendix.
August 19th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Wow, by coincidence I just started rereading this yesterday.
I really enjoy his conversational writing style, and his ‘let’s be honest about what improvisers are really like’ approach.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Not at all by coincidence I just started reading Guru last night.
I was surprised by the page-turner quality of the chapters (and was thus more tired than i should have been during my 10am meeting…)