Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.
Interpretation
Good improvisers create seamless performances by fully embracing every idea presented to them.
In this quote, Keith Johnstone highlights the extraordinary ability of skilled improvisers to make their performances appear effortless and cohesive. This phenomenon occurs because they remain open to every idea and suggestion, allowing for spontaneous creativity and collaboration that surpasses typical interactions, which often involve resistance to new ideas.
In practice
A theater workshop on the importance of acceptance in improvisation.
At school any spontaneous act was likely to get me into trouble. I learned never to act on impulse, and that whatever came into my mind first should be rejected in favour of better ideas. I learned that my imagination Wasn’t ‘good’ enough. I learned that the first idea was unsatisfactory because it was (1) psychotic; (2) obscene; (3) unoriginal. The truth is that the best ideas are often psychotic, obscene and unoriginal.
Music is the one part of the entertainment business where you can't fool anybody into buying a record.
The great thing about using the past is that it gives you the most colossal freedom to invent. The research is necessary, of course, but no one writes a novel to dramatically illustrate what everybody already knows.
The object of art is to give life shape.
First, I would find an object which I would think is suitable for my characters and stories, then write about it, and in the end, I ended up with a house full of thousands of objects.
When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.
My apartment is my stage, and my bedroom is my stage - they're just not stages you're allowed to see.
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