By Tanya Steele
Improv has come to the hills and a newly trained set of students have bonded over the vulnerable yet delightful art form.
Celebrating the art of improv or improvisation, a group of Olinda community house student graduates performed to a live audience on Friday 27 September.
Over the course of a few months, the students stepped up to ask each other ‘ yes – and?’ while learning the basics of improvisation with local actor Roy Barker as their teacher.
Roy said he wanted to see if I could connect with people in the community and improv was a good way to start.
“I really enjoyed it. It was thrilling because there were some people that were a bit shy and a little bit nervous or a bit unsure about how they might go,” he said.
The actor has previously run improv classes and said he thought he should just start and see who was interested.
“I got a really good response – 14 people signed up.” he said.
Roy taught the group some basics, teaching a series of short-form exercises which eventually lead to longer and larger scene work with more players.
The team learned to step forward and connect with the flow of improv and often surprised themselves with the funny, heartwarming and sometimes a little chaotic results.
Roy said he felt really proud that he was able to encourage the students and provide an environment that people felt safe in.
“I felt really great – I thought I achieved something, I wanted people to feel comfortable in the scenario and to be able to improvise,” he said.
The group was also welcomed by Roy’s partner Louise who was a supportive cheerleader to the class environment.
“Louise was was so helpful to make that course successful.” said Roy.
Some of the more quiet students flourished in the class and Roy said it was wonderful to see them blossom.
“They were some of the great improvisers of the class,” he said.
Mother and daughter Julie and Lauren did the course together.
Julie said that improv is not something she had ever thought about doing, but when her daughter suggested it, she thought, ‘Why not?’.
“I had no idea what to expect and I was really relieved that it was not as scary as I thought it would be,” she said.
“I surprised myself with how silly and loose I could be in public.”
“Each week, I extended myself more and more until the final ‘performance’ night in front of family and friends – I walked away after the performance on a high, having gained confidence and conquered performance fears.”
“I’d highly recommend improv to anyone anxious about social situations and overthinking to give it a try.”
Seasoned improv performer Meg from Kilsyth said the class was supportive and enjoyable.
“Roy’s knowledge and the supportive environment he created made for a truly wonderful class,” she said.
“I’ve been doing improv for about ten years because it’s so freeing and exciting – I am so glad someone in the East is finally bringing the art form out this way.”
Marg said she was curious at the offset about improv even was and wondered if she could do it without looking a bit silly.
“Tucked away on my bucket list I would love to have a go at stand-up comedy or a one-woman show,” she said.
”The class opened up my eyes, with fun you can have a go at most things/”
“Our group embraced each other – with lots of laughs and acceptance. Everyone should do improv.”
Roy said performance art can be learning to be comfortable with discomfort and he thought it was a satisfying conclusion to the class that everybody could actually perform in front of an audience.
“It was a great thing, took great courage, and was like the payoff at the end,” he said.
“My highlights were being absolutely thrilled with what people came up to in their storytelling, in their improvisation, and where they went.”
“We weren’t trying to make people laugh – we were trying to discover what was happening in the story.”
The actor hopes to run the class again at Olinda Community Centre down the track and has encouraged his graduates to stay in touch and keep improvising.
