Improvisation: Fearless Factor
Gina Morley continues to explore the actor/director relationship, looking at improvisation tools that can produce fearless performances on screen.
BE BORING. This is the direction given to me in an improvisation class last year. Yes, be boring!
In my many years as an actor I have loved experimenting with improvisation, but had never actually learnt the formal mechanical skills of the craft , or the directional gems such as be boring. Over the past 12 months I have been learning and experimenting with the base skills of improvisation and applying them to my own personal acting process. It has changed the way I work and unlocked a playful fearlessness in my film performances. So I have been inspired to write about to give directors insight into how to use this exciting and simple craft.
The concept of being boring refers to the improvisational credo of doing the very first thing that comes to your mind, rather than second guessing yourself and trying to come up with something that is ‘clever’ and will ‘impress’. Actors, including myself in past performances, want to impress with their choices and feel their first thought is ‘too easy’ and they should come up with the ‘best’ idea possible. What improvisation embraces is that the very first thought is actually the best idea possible.
