Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre

Yet read Johnstone's first chapter - a memoir of his early teaching career, in which he discovered the process by which children learn to be uncreative as a tragic coping skill. This is not a theatre book. Theatre classes were the arena, but this is a book about teaching! This is about opening doors that have been slammed shut, and acquainting people with the creativity and exuberance that is everybody's birthright. The exercises, and analyses of his students' work with improvisation, along with Johnstone's unflagging faith in every person's imagination, have much to show us even on repeated readings and practice.


Possibly the most important book in theatre education . . .   May 13, 1996
28 out of 28 found this review helpful

Keith Johnstone is a maverick educator and theatrical innovator. This book, first published in 1979, remains the most important book on improvisation written in English. Johnstone divides the world of improvising into four categories:Spontenaity, Narrative, Status and Masks. The stories about his own loss of creativity through the demands of public education set the frame for his illuminating description of what it takes to return us all to our creative selves. This book is a must read for anyone involved in the creative process, for all teachers of the arts and anyone who has ever wondered where his creativity has gone. Patricia Ryan, Head of Acting Stanford University


The bible of creativity! Buy this book!   December 28, 2000
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

This book is the absolute bible of improv and acting. Keith Johnstone takes you step by step through his approach to teaching. The exercises he uses really work to get our intellects out of the way of our creativity.

The section on status is extremely useful. As a testament, I used some of them in my beginning improv class and amazing things happened. The class understood and became more aware of how we use status in every moment of our lives. Scenes immediately became more interesting and real. I look forward to the mask activities. The only negative comment I can make is that a few of the exercises were not clearly explained. Johnstone's descriptions, at times, assume previous knowledge of the game being described. This is a book every actor and improver should read. It will expand your creativity and improve your physical awareness onstage. Enjoy it!


This isn't a theatre book: it's THE theatre book   April 26, 2002
Alan Bates (Springfield, OR United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I first came actoss this book when I first got interested in theatre in the early 80s in England, and I couldn't believe what I was reading. If theatre is a search for truth, then Johnstone exemplifies this with a fundamentalist's zeal.

Eschewing formula and "how to" guides, he presents improvisation on the stage as less of a craft and more a state of mind. His "bookending" of his practical advice with an angry account of his time spent as a teacher at the beginning of the book and his work on masks and trance in the last section underlines this.

Johnstone's book is a must for anybody wanting to improvise effectively on a stage, anyone wanting to use drama as a teaching or therapeutic tool, and an essential for anybody interested in the practical exploration of the subconscious mind and its workings.

It's a manual for creativity. It's an essential for an artist in any discipline. No: scrub the majority of that sentence. It's an essential, period.


entertaining and inspiring   January 20, 2006
Sparks (United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I read most of this in one sitting! It's that engrossing. Mr. Johnstone's writing is very lucid and the anecdotes he provides are illuminating, concise and memorable. The best chapter was about narrative ... it taught me what a story is and isn't. That lesson alone is worth the price of this book.

I'm a novelist, but found this to be a better stimulus than most of the "how to write fiction" manuals or writing classes out there. It describes a lot of games one could play to get the creative juices flowing. I //highly// recommend buying this if you are interested in any form of art or creativity.