Improvisation In Drama Book

Acknowledgements     x
Introduction     1
Definitions and attitudes     3
Early history: shamans, clowns and actors     5
Who? Major Practitioners of Improvisation
Introduction     15
Improvisation in Traditional Drama     17
The principle of improvisation     17
Precursors: Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and Chekov     20
France     25
Jacques Copeau and Suzanne Bing     25
Improvisation and 'traditional' theatre training     35
Britain     39
Mike Leigh     39
USA     44
New York Giants     44
Lee Strasberg     47
Chicago Bears     49
Audience-led impro     58
Improvising musical theatre     60
Improvisation in Non-Western Drama     63
Japan, China and Bali     63
Proto-drama: the Gimi of Papua New Guinea     66
Orta oyunu and ru-howzi: improvisation in the context of Islam     69
West African 'concert party' and South African theatre     74
Improvisation in Alternative Drama     80
Roddy Maude-Roxby/Theatre Machine     80
Jacques Lecoq and the semiotics of clowning     84
Le Theatre du Soleil     93
Dario Fo and Franca Rame     95
Beyond Drama - 'Paratheatre'     103
Jerzy Grotowski     103
Jakob Moreno: Stegreiftheater and psychodrama     110
Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas: Playback Theatre     114
Augusto Boal     115
What? The Practice of Improvisation: Improvisation Exercises
Introduction     121
Preparation     123
Relaxation     123
Games     124
Balance and 'body/think'     126
Space and movement     129
Concentration and attention     130
Impulses and directions     132
Working Together     137
Trust and respect     137
Making a machine     138
Showing and telling     140
Entrances and exits     141
Meetings and greetings     142
Blocking     143
Moving towards Performance     146
Senses     146
Tenses     148
Status     152
Masks     154
Applied Improvisation Work     167
Who/where/what     167
Objectives and resistances      169
Point of concentration (focus)     170
Memory     172
'Set'     173
Character     174
Narrative as generative structure     176
Sample sequences     179
Why? The Meaning(s) of Improvisation: Towards a Poetics
Introduction     187
Enriching the Communication of Meaning     189
Implications of psychodramatic and paratheatrical approaches     189
The censor's nightmare     191
La disponibilite     196
Transformation and the plural self     198
Meaning and Performance     207
Meaning as performance (or vice versa): the place of the improvisatory     207
Texts, signs and meaning     209
Improvisation and writing     211
Co-creativity     217
New combinations; saying 'yes', hearing 'no'     219
Notes     222
Bibliography     231
Index of Selected Games and Exercises     255
General Index     257