Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: Amazon.co.uk: Keith Johnstone: Books

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Keith Johnstone Page

Product Description

Review

'For insight into a truly creative mind, read Impro.'
--Psychologies (February 2010) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Reviews Gate (August 2007)

'If you don't have this book - get it quick... Johnstone's insights are as powerfully clear as ever... It's a treasure trove of ideas and methods; it will ease and enrich work and studies... An invigorating read.' --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence
As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

improvisation(8)

impro(7)

improv(7)

nosy neighbour letters from the village ...(1)

patti stiles(1)

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

22 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a brilliant guide for actors and teachers, 14 Jan 2000

By

williamst@isb.be (Brussels) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (Paperback)

one of those very few books that can change how you work in fundamental ways... Brilliantly funny, thoughtful and perceptive about the ways that teachers deal with their students and the games they unintentionally or unconsciously play with each other in classrooms; highly practical in its sections on mask, narratives, spontaneity, and improvisation; subversive and constructive at the same time. Sadly, very much better than his follow-up 'Impro in storytelling 'which recycles many of the ideas from this. As it says above - buy it, share it...

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Human interaction masterclass for everyone, not just improvisers, 4 Jun 2007

By

Mr. S. Miettinen "Improver" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (Paperback)

Keith Johnstone is a visionary in the field of improvisation theatre. His concepts of status hierarchies are ground-breaking. They show that humans, like animals, are at ease with each other when the underlying status hierarchy is understood and undisputed.

However, all kinds of interesting tensions are created when the status hierarchy IS disputed. For actors, this concept from Keith's book is golden:
1) If you want to be seen as a natural performer, you need to know your status in relation to the other humans, and even things around you.
2) If you want to create interesting drama, you and your co-actors need to manipulate your statuses in interesting ways. These dynamic movements and challenges are interesting and funny for the audience.

Keith describes this and much, much more in his fascinating book. The generous use of actual improvisation situations makes the book very hands-on, funny and analytical.

Impro also expands from improvisation acting to such areas as creative writing, teaching and mask and trance work. Even the bits one does not agree with are superbly constructed and offer an insightful view on the sometimes weird and wonderful world of creative minds at work.

The improvisation actors in such shows as "Whose line is it anyway?" or London's Comedy Store borrow many of their techniques from Keith.

This book is one to read, whether you are an actor, spectator or just plain interested in smooth, congruent human interactions. Pure genius.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unleash your imagination..., 28 Aug 2001

By

NT "NT" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (Paperback)

not a very creative summary, but it's true. I've owned this book for a number of years and have kept going back to it for creative impetus. I'm in no way associated with theatre (though I did go once), in fact my career is very humdrum and involves maths, computers and finance! The point is that I've used the books techniques in each of these areas to help boost my creativity. It contains some great techniques and I found the writing very clear, precise and (of course)original. Most books on creativity tend to be very 'uncreative' and keep repeating the same ideas. I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to kick start their imagination in any area.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 22 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Would you like to see more reviews about this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 40 reviews 4.7 out of 5 stars

Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and fascinating
Was recommended to me by a friend who re-reads it every year. The first part of the book was the most interesting for me. Read more

Published 4 months ago by G Colborne