On stage, improvisation adds to the authenticity of a performance. Off stage,
it helps with public speaking and connecting with other people, says Lorella Fava.

Being put on the spot is something we’ve all experienced at some embarrassing point or another – it’s that moment where every head in the room turns towards you and everyone awaits your action or reaction.

Such a situation causes the average person to panic and experience some level of anxiety. The level of undesirability that is attached to this setting is directly linked to the idea of spontaneity, the pressure of creating a response – be it verbal or physical – without having any time to think it over or overindulge in our self-portrayal.

And we are not built for it – as Keith Johnstone, writer of Improvisation and the Theatre, suggests: “In a normal education everything is designed to suppress spontaneity.”

Yet when this very situation is placed in a theatrical context, it can be quite entertaining. This field of the arts is referred to as the theatre of improvisation and consists of a theatrical setting in which the plot, characters and dialogue of a game, scene or story are made up in the moment. Often improvisers will take a suggestion from the audience or draw on some other source of inspiration to get started.

Over the centuries, there have been many different improvisational styles. The most direct ancestor to modern improvisation is the Commedia Dell’Arte, a movement popular throughout Europe in the mid-1500s. Performers would travel from town to town, presenting shows in public squares and on makeshift stages. They would improvise all their own dialogue within a framework provided by a set scenario.

After the Commedia died off, improvisation theatre somewhat faded into obscurity until it was reinvented and reshaped by Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin.

Although this specific type of theatre has set its feet on the planks again, locally, the idea is still quite alien.

In improvisation, the script is missing and it’s all coming from your head

Joelle Merheb, director of the Malta Improv Group and Andrew Bonello, one of the performers of the same company, admit that Malta does indeed have a long way to go in starting to consider this type of theatre as a norm. That said, they do hope that, through their work, this will change.

“People really do enjoy the shows. We’ve had a big turnout in the last two performances we put up and hope that it’ll continue throughout the summer performances we have planned,” says Merheb, who moved here from Lebanon a year-an-a-half ago and is actually a professional engineer.

“Despite my professional life, I was always interested in the arts. I danced for years and then started taking acting workshops and improvisation workshops. When I came here I realised there is nothing related to improvisation in Malta, so I was motivated to create the group, which is now a year old.”

Merheb admits that this field of performance art comes with many challenges. Whereas in a traditional theatre performance, the director would have control on everything, from lights to sound and music, in this medium the director is more involved in the preparation for the night rather than the actual event. That lack of control, she attests, is perhaps the most challenging thing a director can experience.

“If, for instance, I don’t read the chemistry between two actors, it could all go terribly wrong,” she points out.

Speaking about the actors involved, Bonello, one of the improvisers of Malta Improv Group, explains how different working in improvisation is to a more traditional- based theatre.

“When you have a script, there’s a process of learning the lines and beats and then translating that into a character and a performance. In improvisation, the script is missing and it’s all coming from your head – it’s quite difficult,” he says.

Still, Bonello insists that various actors go to improvisation classes to improve their acting skills. He believes that being an actor does not necessarily mean you can be a good improviser but being an improviser gives you the key ingredients to be a good actor.

“An improviser is immensely comfortable switching from one character to another and is able to transform whatever the character is feeling to really show this emotion,” he adds.

Despite speaking from opposite sides of the coin, both Merheb and Bonello agree that the most important aspect needed in this type of artistic expression is trust, both in yourself and in the other person who’s doing the scene with you. 

“You have to really accept yourself and the other person and you need to build with that other person. The more you open up, the better the scene will be. Even though it might appear random, it takes a lot of buildingfor two actors to reach that state where they can bounce off of each other to that degree,” says Merheb.

The idea of opening up and the self-confidence that improvisers develop are characteristics needed in day-to-day life. In fact, Bonello and Merhab say that many companies are sending their employees to improvisation workshops.

“It helps with public speaking, confidence, connecting with other people and so on. The golden rule is to not say ‘no’,” says Bonello, who jokingly admits, “it’s also great for control freaks like me.”

All in all, in a society that constantly focuses on the need to be in control and self-contained, Bonello remarks that improvisation teaches us to let go and just appreciate the moment. In this way, it encompasses not only comedy but also a humanistic depth that, as Merheb asserts, is “refreshingly honest”.

Malta Improv Group will be putting on a show, entitled Theatre-On-Tap, tonight at 8pm at Deporres Hall, Sliema. For more information about the group and upcoming events visit www.facebook.com/MaltaImprovGroup.