Deffo agree re difficulty relating to audiences if you don’t share much of their life experience.
I go a few ways on your ‘same players doing shows’ though. It’s definitely true! But a big reason is that they’re the players who have done the reps and purposeful practice, and therefore the most capable performers. Now, obviously that’s self fulfilling and crowds out newer performers from getting that experience, but in a field like improv which has a poor reputation for professionalism, I can see how it happens that ‘proven’ performers get the stage time.
That’s mainly only a problem if those same performers are also the gatekeepers/decision makers on who gets stage time and on what basis. That feels like too big a conflict of interest and recipe for exclusion, deliberate or otherwise.
But then most improv theatres only really exist thanks to exploiting hundreds of hours of free labour and goodwill from people, so I can also see why stage time is treated as a reward for that.
Good post. Art imitates life, and if you haven’t lived you have nothing to give.
I think that’s why I find most improv utterly boring and same-old. Especially at one of London’s top theatre’s, you see the same old players.
How could you possibly relate to non-improv audiences if you don’t have a life outside of improv?
Deffo agree re difficulty relating to audiences if you don’t share much of their life experience.
I go a few ways on your ‘same players doing shows’ though. It’s definitely true! But a big reason is that they’re the players who have done the reps and purposeful practice, and therefore the most capable performers. Now, obviously that’s self fulfilling and crowds out newer performers from getting that experience, but in a field like improv which has a poor reputation for professionalism, I can see how it happens that ‘proven’ performers get the stage time.
That’s mainly only a problem if those same performers are also the gatekeepers/decision makers on who gets stage time and on what basis. That feels like too big a conflict of interest and recipe for exclusion, deliberate or otherwise.
But then most improv theatres only really exist thanks to exploiting hundreds of hours of free labour and goodwill from people, so I can also see why stage time is treated as a reward for that.