"Yes And" The Fringe #CSZED2015

Hello from Edinburgh! We've already had one show and a great crowd and plenty more shows and slots lined up. The Fringe is a great opportunity to meet old friends, make new ones and have fun with audiences who have travelled from all over the world (though admittedly, not just to see us). For audiences it's a busy, hectic, vibrant place to see loads of great shows. Here's a few thoughts on how you can use the skills of improvisation to make the most of your fringe.

Audiences: Take risks.

The main principal of improvisation is “Yes, And”, the notion that you accept what is being offered to you (in Edinburgh terms this can mean something as simple as taking a flyer from a flagging, rain soaked act) and then building on it (again, in Edinburgh terms this means coming to a show and having fun). In Improv you're never sure what is going to happen. You take risks and you end up in places you never expected. Here's a terrible metaphor, the Fringe is the worlds largest all you can eat buffet so don't just have the chips!

If you're up in Edinburgh then say yes more (unless you're being offered something illegal or asked by a large Glaswegian if you're looking at his wife, obviously) and see shows you weren't expecting to see. Take a punt on that sketch act or that stand-up or that Improv group you've never heard of before - especially if it's a free show!

Don't feel you have to plan every show you're going to see. Just walk down the mile, take every flyer, grab a drink in City Cafe and see what you fancy. Join the half price tickets queue and not know what you want to see (though please have an idea by the time you reach the box office, because that queue gets long).

Performers: Help each other out.

Another fundamental principal of Improv is you make the other person look good even in a “competitive” Improv show such as ours. It would be nice to see more of this in others areas of performance especially Stand-Up. Make recommendations when you’re flyering or when you're on twitter. If you liked a show then tell people. Make recommendations for other shows like yours or acts that you enjoy. You make them look good (because they are) and they'll look after you (because you're good too).

Reviewers: Don't come in with pre-conceived ideas.

I'm not going to go off on some mad tirade about reviewers in Edinburgh but I will ask this of critics for all shows. Too often you read reviews of Edinburgh shows where the critic already seemed to have a pre-conceived notion of what the show was going to be or that they had already decided not to like it. In Improv there are no pre-conceived ideas, if there were then it wouldn't be improvised and it wouldn't be exciting or fun. We don't know what's going to happen but we're always pleasantly surprised by the results.

It's such an important part of Improv to be fully aware of your surroundings and the people around you. Pay attention to the audience around you, if they're laughing then they're giving you an offer, accept it.

Everyone: Have fun.

The joy of Improv is getting to play with other people. To start with nothing and end up with a story to tell. The Fringe is an opportunity to do that writ large, to try new things and make new connections. It's our festival. Let's play.

ComedySportz UK are at The Free Sisters (venue 272) 6^th-12^th August 7.30pm as part of Laughing Horse Free Festival. Follow our adventure on twitter @comedysportz_uk #cszed2015

A Little Light Reading

As it's World Book Day ComedySportz players share some of their favourite books on Improvisation.

Whilst most of the links provided are to Amazon please remember that other booksellers are available!

Ash Dunne recommends BOSSYPANTS by Tina Fey It's not technically an improv book, but I loved Tina Fey's autobiography, BossyPants. The way she talks about how improv infuses your whole outlook on life is very accurate. “To me YES, AND means don’t be afraid to contribute. It’s your responsibility to contribute. Always make sure you’re adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile." "In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag."


 Brainne Edge recommends IMPRO by Keith Johnstone As a teacher Impro by Keith Johnstone has been inspiring and invaluable. I think it should be compulsory for anyone wanting to go into teaching to read. Attending a seminar with Keith Johnstone one of the most valuable pieces of advice he gave was stop reading books about Improv and look at books about psychology – especially if you're looking at longform improvisation and engaging character work. So I'd also recommend Shyness by Christopher Lane.



John Cooper recommends Jill Bernard's Small Cute Book of Improv by Jill Bernard. I had Jill's book in the bottom of my kit bag for ages. Every now and then when I felt rusty I'd flick through it. She's very good at distilling stuff down and making it sound simple. Jill recently visited us and her insights into improv are joyous and inspiring.

Sunday Worship

‘Take me to church,’ sings Hozier but I’d rather spend my Sabbath as a ComedySportz Sunday League player, writes Jennifer Banks

I’m not a religious person. I suppose I should say that’s despite my Catholic upbringing – but it’s because of my Catholic upbringing that I’m now a devout and profane heathen. But I do believe in the Improv Gods. And I have proof they exist. It happened whilst performing with the ComedySportz Sunday League at the Manchester Improv Tournament in 2014. There we were, playing Blind Line, picking bits of paper off the floor and reading out film, TV and song lines that the audience had supplied while we were out of the room. Somehow, these famous quotes fit perfectly with what was going on in the scene, much to the delight of the audience – and my own amazement. And so it came to pass, on that day, whilst holding a large mimed fish, that my spiritual conversion to the Church of Improv was complete. Amen. Or as we say in this particular sect, ‘Yes And’. That was my second performance with the Sunday League – a talented troupe of improvisers who are a bit like the kid brothers and sisters of ComedySportz Manchester’s main players. I found my way into this congregation of hilarious misfits after being a keen workshopper (notice the strange similarity between that and the word ‘worshipper’), starting with the foundation in improv then repeats of the intermediate course, which I still do… er… religiously.

Creating spontaneous moments of hilarity in front of an audience is joyous – and it’s thanks to Liz, Allyn, Vicki and the other wonderfully witty Sunday Leaguers I play with that it’s so much fun. And, of course, to the rambunctious Rachel Wareing – a founding member of ComedySportz Manchester and the Sunday League’s coach – our high priestess of funny. Now, you may consider it blasphemy for me to compare goofing around for laughs to an actual religion but improv has its own set of commandments – and they make more sense to me than all that ox coveting business.

Thou shalt listen to your fellow players. 

Thou shalt accept the ideas offered by your fellow players.

Thou shalt give and take

...these are just some of the tenets of improv that also double up as pretty good rules for life. And there’s no smiting, garrotting or burning in hell in the Sunday League either – unless it’s in a scene, of course. So, yes, I’d much rather spend my Sunday as part of the band of fools doing all that silly stuff – it’s my own little piece of heaven.

Woody's Words of Wisdom

Brainne Edge isn't just ComedySportz UK's founder and manager. She is also a lecturer in Performance and Improvisation at Salford University and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts where she recently attended an acting masterclass with Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson. Here's what he had to say about improvisation in acting...

LIPA gets a lot of interesting performers through their doors to chat to it's students and I was lucky enough to be present for the recent master class with Woody Harrelson. Something I'm always keen to learn about (or at least, to have reaffirmed) is the use of improv in the creation of Films. It's well documented about how much improvisation can be used in the formation or devising of theatre, but less is written or discussed about its use in film making (although it has gained more press in the last few years).

I was excited that I didn't even need to ask any questions about improv, Harrelson brought it up himself with no prompting – and as I was sat there with 100 of my improv students I was rather pleased he did. Here are some of the things he stressed.

"Don't play safe."

One of the first things he was keen to hammer home was to get out of your comfort zone as a performer. "Don't play safe." He went on to discuss how he would like to try things out on set. "It's always best to play larger at first and be brought back than to bring very little with you to start with". The idea of throwing so much at the wall and seeing what sticks and what new elements you can find. Not being afraid to put yourself out there and try things out. Play.

"Get to the point where you can improvise with the character."

In regards to the characters he plays and explores (his favourite he confessed to us was in a recent film: 'The Messenger' playing Captain Tony Stone) he stresses how important it is to get inside the character so much that you can improvise with the character and it feel true to the depth of that person.

"It's a critical part of acting. Relaxation and improv."

Do I need to add any more? It was great to hear a well established actor discuss how important relaxation is in creation, maintaining and delivery of a character. It's something I strive to do while teaching improv, I think being able to relax is key to a good embodiment of a character. Not to say if you're nervous you're not doing it right but relax enough that you can trust yourself to play and go with your gut.

So basically, even when you have a script in front of you improvisation is useful – even vital! We know this anyway. But for so many things not just the creation of narrative but the development of richer, more interesting characters. The training I provide at LIPA for their BA in Acting and Community Drama has already shown such great results. Improvisation is almost assumed in a lot of contexts, assumed in so much that it's expected for an actor to be ABLE to improvise. Most can of course, but the background training in ways to use these techniques is crucial, in my mind, to help the actor develop and relax into character.

Again, it was fantastic to sit amongst my students and feel validated in all the work we had done together and to help put it in more of a context. Cheers, Woody.

My name’s Jen and I’m an improv-aholic

ComedySportz Sunday League player and workshop stalwart Jen Banks explains why she’s hooked on improv…

There have been times in my life when I’ve drunk far too much wine, smoked far too many cigarettes and munched through far too many giant bags of Revels. I can proudly say I’m now over these habits. I can also proudly say I’ve whittled my addictions down to a number I can count on the fingers of just one hand, and only half of these – lattes and Facebook – are ones I need to kick into touch. The other two, I have no intention of ever giving up, ever – and they are yoga and improv.

Given the blog we’re on, you won’t be hearing about the benefits of the downward dog, the tree and the plough from me. Although, let’s say that for a reformed hedonist seeking more natural highs, both yoga and improv fill the gap my previous less-than-healthy pursuits have left behind.

Until volunteering to write this blog, I’d never actually sat down and pondered why I get my kicks from improv. But now I have, and I’m ready to propound a thorough, evidence-based, peer-reviewed hypothesis. Well, I’ve just done a bit of googling about laughing. And, according to a random website I’ve found, “laughter can help release endorphins and may also reduce the production of the stress hormone cortisol.” So that’s the science bit, which I’m sure any boffin reading this will corroborate. But who needs a dork in a lab coat to prove that laughing makes you feel good?

Although cracking up at the buffoonery of fellow improvisers can be habit forming, it’s not just the passive act of laughter that’s got me hooked. If it was just laughter I was after, I could plonk myself down in front of an episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys – although it’s open to debate whether I’d find it there. So, what is it then if it isn’t laughter alone? It’s stepping into the unknown, standing before an audience but having no clue what happens next. It’s like bungee jumping or sky diving – an extreme sport without the risk of actual death. And the thrill, the exhilaration, comes in the moment you and your fellow players start ‘freefalling’ into the scene – characters pop out of nowhere, a situation, a story, a game emerges – and when it all comes together and gives the audience pleasure, it’s the best feeling in the world – it’s the kind of buzz you’ll never get from chocolate confectionery with assorted centres.

Being around improv people is pretty addictive too. The fun, the laughter and the supportive mind set inevitably spill over into the social stuff. So two hours of workshops is often followed by more hilarity socialising after. You get asked questions like, “If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you wish for?” My response was the ability to eat, drink and consume anything I wanted and never have any ill health effects. Once a hedonist, always a hedonist, I guess. So thank god I’ve found a healthy way to get my kicks – improv might just be keeping me alive!

Since The Dawn of Time...

LOYAL FANZ

Ella Littlewood, niece of one of our Sunday League players Jen Banks, shares her favourite things about ComedySportz UK and why the show is so popular with people of all ages!

Why I like ComedySportz by Ella Littlewood, aged 10

ComedySportz is a family friendly improvisation show and it is super funny. There are different types of shows you can attend, such as Sunday League, which is a show on a Sunday evening where two teams go head to head for your laughs. The main show is basically the same but the audience is bigger as the show is held in a bigger place and the players are more experienced. ComedySportz also hold a tournament every year with lots of different comedy teams from around the UK, so you won’t see them in the Sunday League or main show but both the Sunday League and the main players competed in the tournament, and the winners in 2014………. were The Discount Comedy Checkout from Leeds! Well done :)

The way I found out about ComedySportz is because my auntie does the Sunday League so we go to watch her and we also go to the main show just because we enjoy watching comedy. There are lots of really funny players but my favourite boy player is Lukas Kirkby because he is very funny and he is only 20!!!! But everyone else is hilarious as well, and Maggie is my favourite girl player, and my auntie Jen, of course!

The games are super funny and amazing to play at home or with friends at school. Here are some games I like to watch and play.

* Situation Navigation

* Top That

* My Sitcom

* Back in My Day

(If you want to know how to play these games and see them for yourself then come to the next ComedySportz show!) The reason I like these games is because they make it very easy for you to be funny but with some games it is harder to make people laugh.

It is great being in the audience at a ComedySportz show because you can get involved in the games and give suggestions. The first show I went to, to decide which team went first, they played ‘What did Ella have for breakfast?’ but they didn’t get it right - they guessed Coco Pops and toast but I’d had a bacon sandwich, lol. Do you love laughing with your friends? Because Comedy Sportz is great for birthday parties too. How cool is that? There were kids celebrating birthdays last time I went to a show – and the players sang them a special song! Hope to see you at the next one ;) x Ella

THREE QUOTES

Our new batch of workshops start this Saturday and we have our first ComedySportz match of the year at Sale Waterside Arts Centre (New year! New games! New players!) so with that in mind Sean Mason shares three quotes to remember when improvising on stage or off. Well. Four quotes really but let's not be picky, just stop, collaborate and listen.

"Only he who is well prepared has any opportunity to improvise."
- Ingmar Bergman, The Magic Lantern

How can you prepare for improv? It's all made up right? Preparation for improv is workshopping. Learning to play, exploring styles, formats and ideas. Learning to remove the inhibitions and allow yourself to be vulnerable. Because if you are vulnerable you are open to ideas. Preparation for improv is playing and having fun. Preparation for improv is exploring all the different styles of performance that will be thrown at you. But that's all the technical stuff. Preparation for improv is, most vitally, knowing the people you are working with. Their strengths, their weaknesses. Developing trust and knowing what the other person is thinking.

"With Improv it's a combination of listening and not trying to be funny."
- Kristen Wiig

One of the first things we say in our workshops is don't try to be funny. Trying hurts. It's painful to do and it's painful to watch. Trying can unbalance the scene and wreck the game. To quote the great philosopher Homer Simpson, the lesson is Never Try. Trust in the scene, in your partners and yourself. Listen to the great offers your partners are making. The funny will come. The joy of improvisation is watching all the puzzle pieces fall into place, that moment when a perfect joke, emotional beat or response happens so completely in the moment. That "you couldn't write it" moment. Trying to be funny is bringing a fully built house instead of a brick. Trying to be funny is scripting. If you're on stage with people you know and trust then you never have to try because their job is to make you look awesome and your job is to make them look awesome.

“THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities.”
- Tina Fey
“Fall, then figure out what to do on the way down.”
– Del Close

It is impossible to fail in improv. I am not a master of Japanese Noh theatre but it's fun to watch me do it. Not everyone is the best at improvising a song with a complete rhyming structure, but conviction is just as powerful as accuracy. We are human, we make mistakes. If you mishear your scene partner you have created an opportunity to go off on a whole new tangent. If you drop something in a scene then you make it part of the scene. Everything that happens on stage is a gift and an offer to build from and create something unique and exciting. Trust in the audience. Trust in your scene partner. Trust in yourself.

Sean Mason 14/01/2015

MINDFULNESS AND THE IMPROVISER

ComedySportz UK Regular and Stand Up Comedian John Cooper on how awareness and the immediacy of improvisation is vital both on stage and off.

I’ve been reading up a lot on mindfulness recently. Partly for personal development, but also it’s a bit of a buzzword that comes up a lot in corporate speak when employers discuss the qualities of good employees. To be mindful is to be in the moment, aware of the present, the ‘here and now’. Observing what goes on around you in a way that’s not judgemental, but takes a moment to absorb as much as sensory information possible, while at the same time acknowledging how you feel within yourself. It’s an activity that facilitates good decision making skills.

Being in the moment is what improvisers do on stage all the time. Back when I started doing improv I thought I was using the same parts of my brain for improv as I was for my stand up. Over time I realised this wasn't actually true. With stand up I think as fast as I can and plan ahead, my brain gets three of four gags ahead of my mouth, assessing material based on the taste of the audience that night, and knowing what I’m going to say. Improv is very different. It requires me to be in the 'now' all the time, no planning ahead, no looking for gags, just finding them. There's an old improv proverb which says something like; “don't bring the house, just a brick will do”.

Mindfulness is nothing new, it goes all the way back to Buddhist practices and is a form of meditation. Imagine you’re driving on a quiet road late at night or if you don’t drive, washing the dishes. These tasks don’t require your whole attention span, you can comfortably put your actions into ‘automatic pilot’ and allow yourself to focus on other things. What if you just thought about what you were doing in that moment and took time to notice all the small things you don’t normally experience, the feel of the steering wheel, or the clean plate in your hands, the sounds and the temperature around you. By practising awareness of noticing small things we are nurturing our attention span and allowing more information to come in through all our senses and in turn we become more alert and aware.

As a working stand up comic I'm passionate about how improv feeds into my night job and vice-versa. Written material delivered word for word is very different from going into the ‘now’ moment and each have their place. For every well written gag there’s also a ‘one time only’ ad-lib, or turn of phrase that is exclusive to that show and that audience on that night and has payoff laughter that cannot be recaptured at any other time.

For me one of main strengths of improv is how it translates so well to other areas of life, you really can take it with you. There's no arguing that doing stand up comedy, even for a short while makes a person more confident. With improv I'd argue the rewards to the individual are even greater.

With so many online social networking distractions, text messaging and screens invading our attention span everyday it’s hard to be mindful, and easy to be removed from the moment, how we feel, how we react, and how more emotionally detached we can become. By being mindful, and embracing our inner improviser we can make more use of the now, the real verbal and non-verbal communication that help us create stronger relationships and live happier lives. Improvisers know this, and you should too.

John Cooper 04/01/2015

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