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Many of the groups are working on long forms as well as short forms.  There was mention of La Ronde and Harold type performances as well as Micetro, Gorilla an Theatresports and other experiments with formats. There was an interest in "games" in much of their performance work

10:00 in the morning start with a 1:00 lunch break and a few rests in the middle.  The group had a variety of desires based on their specific needs.  The skill range and age range was vast.  You don't get a chance to work with many 'time enhanced improvisers' (over 65) but there were a few wonderful seniors in this group.  Workshop flew by and ended at 5:00. Robert makes a GREAT veggie chilli - the secret is in the balance of chilli, Tabasco, tomato and crème fraiche.

THE WORKSHOP

*highlights and brief notes

A group with this variety in skill levels calls for a brief touching of the basics.*** We discovered quickly the theme here was on emotional reaction and being present. Introduced a Columbian warm up exercise.  Had a few moments with gibberish and discovering the "language" is not so important but how you react to it.

Status work was big on the agenda with Pecking orders and status transitions.  Other emotional based work occurred in wall paper drama. Touched on a little mime and ended the time together with a 1/2 hour intro to the Loose Moose format - MORE or LESS. (two brave directors took a shot at that.  Sorry we didn't get to finish the second one)

One specific highlight was watching  Jeb on stage in a status transition scene.  He brought a strong character to the scene and as an older improviser had a great calm presence.

Enjoyed very much the twinkle in everyone's eyes after they played "Do You Remember When..."  Wonderful to hear the discussions and laughter when the exercise was over and the mirroring of body positions and WIDE eyes while the exercise was occurring.

CHALLENGES

***What I found interesting was how many experienced improvisers said that they were interested in how we touched on the "basics in greater depth".  It lead me to believe they were introduced to the basics in a much too shallow way. 

Really it was far too short of a workshop to go into great depth about anything and as I got to know them as individuals and their work (and strengths and weaknesses) it was already 1/2 way through our time.  I was realising that many of them need ongoing positive instruction from teachers who will take them deeper.  And not just on specific elements  like relationship and character (although that would be good), but on things like format and philosophy. And it's not just teacher's fault.  Ohhhh No.  We performers have to take the responsibility once and a while to work above the easy laugh.

Some of them had been through many formats and games and were looking for different ones.  Few realised that many of the games were created not for performance but to correct problems in actors. And the formats played as they were created make strong environments for good shows and strong performers.

I encouraged the group to consider long term - in depth workshops like the loose moose summer school in August of every year .  (Petra - who was at this workshop was there many years ago).  I would further suggest they look at other workshops around Europe and Scandanavia and bring back the info and share it amongst the groups in  Göteborg    . There's a danger I think of the individuals and groups being satisfied with a 'superficial' quality of their work and like some of them have realised, being trained by their audience to do work that will eventually no longer interest them as performers. Even the strongest groups (yes even Loose Moose) will often take the easy route and offer only FASTFOOD performances that won't sustain any audience for a very long while. Keep reminding each other to create good stories once and a while.

The other danger is they WON'T be satisfied with the 'superficial' work and they will toss away improvisation as a form because it does not offer them  anything as  performers.

The challenge is to grow and see it differently.  Very interesting variety of people to and a little trivia, Robert who organized the event translates very popular animated movies for dubbing into Swedish including Sinbad and THE INCREDIBLES.

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