XI - Surfing the heatwave
Surviving a London heatwave while gearing up for U.S. adventures and sharing improv and playback theatre insights!
Hello everyone, we’ve been surviving a heat wave in London last week and it seems we’ll have to endure it a bit more.
I’m getting ready to go to the United States next week, not without being a bit anxious due the current state of things there. However I’m quite excited and looking forward to meet with dear improv friends and gaze at the Colorado mountains.
On a personal note, I just got an agent to, hopefuly, boost my acting gigs. 🤞
🧠 The Improv tip
If you are reading this, you likely know the minimum rules for improvisation: 'yes, and...', make your partner look good, work in favor of the scene, etc… Following the bare minimum rules makes you a good improviser, a perfect and reliable canvas to start painting. Now, bring your colours.
In our pencil box we keep the emotional, cultural, and socio-political baggage that makes us the improvisers that we are. Our notebook is filled with tons of life experiences, movies we’ve watched, books we’ve read, music we’ve listened, and games we’ve played. We are always leaving a brush of our personality in every scene we are.
Every single thing we do and consume adds up to our improv. So, read, watch, play, and, yes, go outside and touch grass as well. The most brilliant improvisers that I know have a lot of cultural baggage and/or are creators of culture as well, outside of impro.
Now, I will undermine this theory by saying that everything I just said is useless without emotional intelligence. But I’m saving expanding on that for another time. 😛
🪑 The Playback Theatre (PT) reflection
Playback Theatre is funny. Literally. It might not be its main goal, but it can be funny and enjoyable. Humour is inherent to the human condition and, of course, it is present in every session.
One of the must genuinelly funny PT sessions I’ve ever been in was for AVAPACE, the Valencian association for cerebral palsy aid. I was nervous. I only was barely a couple of years into playback back then, it was my first time on a performance like this, and I wanted to make justice to their stories. I’m kind of ashamed to recognize that those thoughts, looking back from where I am now, might be quite condescending.
We went there expecting deep stories about dealing with the condition, instead, the tellers’ stories were about the things they enjoy. Not a single teller brought up their condition but their normalcy. We reenacted stories about going to the football game or their experiences on a little town during holidays. All the reenactments were light and funny, and all the attendees had a great time.
People need fun and silly every now and then. I’m happy that PT can be a tool for that as well.
🎭 The Theatre bit
While I was doing my postgraduate degree in theatre in education, I could observe there were two main types of attendees: teachers wanting to learn more about theatre, and those from theatre backgrounds who wished to develop pedagogic skills, there I fit.
Many of the teachers used theatre within their high school curriculum, developing and sometimes devising alongside their teenage students to create plays relevant to them and their problems. It was very compelling to witness their work.
I’m saying all of this because it is complicated to find theatre appealing to that group. Demà Podries Morir (Tomorrow you could die) is a play written by Pasqual Alapont that tackles the different dynamics you could find in a high school. There are nine characters, teenagers, and each of them has its own thing going on.
It's usually a recipe for cringe when adults write teenage characters and try to use their slang. Paradoxically, Alapont's dialogues sound very naturalistic. The suspension of disbelief you'll need isn't for the dialogue, but for the characters themselves, who are quite clichéd. Although it’s easy to understand that these clichés are needed to serve the play's goal.
Overall, it’s a needed play about teenagers, and for teenagers, that deals with sexuality, bullying, parental expectations and other minor topics. I really enjoyed reading the third act where, only two actors portray the father and mother of each of the characters on a skilful way clearly and ingeniously written in the stage directions.
📆 What’s on my scope
ACAPROV: July’s improvised a capela musical is near. You can get your ticket now.
International Playback Theatre Camp: Attend a lovely retreat in Georgia, this August, where I will one of the guest teachers. You still can register.
2nd Ukranian Playback Theatre Festival: This festival looks great and I will also be teaching there. It will take place in Poznan, Poland. All the information is here.
📚 🎮 🎥 📺 The geeky dessert
Last week I finished Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding and it was all an experience. The world of Death Stranding is a post-apocalyptic one. Grim, weird, vast, dangerous and lonely. But, like in all good stories, there’s room for hope.
A phylosophical take on death, afterlife, patriotism and existence where you are constantly delivering parcels. This is not everyone’s cup of tea. Yet it’s beautiful see how other people interacts with each other asynchronously, cheering, warning, and leaving helpful cargo or structures, without other incentive than just being thoughtful and kind. It keeps you thinking after the credits roll.
The cast is remarkable, having in it actors like Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Margaret Qualley, Troy Baker, and notable cameos like Guillermo del Toro, Edgar Wright, Junji Ito or Conan O’Brien.
The sequel comes out this week, but I rather wait a year or two before jumping in. I’m still digesting.
✨ That’s all folks ✨
Thanks for reading Playing Back an Improvised Life, a newsletter by Ferran Luengo.
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Ferran Luengo