Keith Johnstone – författare

IMPRO är en handbok om improvisationsteater som teaterkonst, pedagogik och livsstil. Den är indelad i fyra delar ? »status«, »spontanitet«, »att berätta med teater« och »mask och trans«. Keith Johnstone beskriver ett stort antal användbara och stimulerande övningar och tekniker. Resultatet är en idébok som på ett fascinerande sätt utforskar den spontana kreativa processen. »IMPRO är en nyckelknippa. Och det är genialt och ickemoraliserande att beskriva det som sker inom människan som nödvändiga funktioner och försvar, och samtidigt förlösa vår kreativitet när vi öppnar med dessa nycklar.« ur Suzanne Ostens förord »Med stor respekt läser jag nu om IMPRO och förundras över hur unikt och före sin tid han lägger fram sina tankar om den skapande människans vedermödor. Han är en av få teatergurus som verkligen påverkat teatern, först i västvärlden och numera över hela klotet.« ur Martin Geijers förord? »IMPRO är en så rik och stark bok att den nästan känns outtömlig. Man kan komma tillbaka till den gång på gång och ständigt hitta nya infallsvinklar.« Kent Hägglund, kulturskribent och lektor i drama Keith Johnstone, född 1933, är en brittisk regissör, dramatiker och pedagog. Efter några år som lärare och dramatiker tog han över manusavdelningen på Royal Court Theatre i London i slutet på 1950-talet. Där kom han att spela en avgörande roll för den nya framväxande dramatiken ? som blev en viktig del av de anti-auktoritära och kreativa kulturella strömningarna som dominerade under kommande decennier. Johnstone började då också skapa en mängd olika övningar och ?games? på Royal Courts teaterstudio för att bejaka spontanitet och historieberättande improvisationer hos både dramatiker och skådespelare. På 1960-talet grundade han teatergruppen The Theatre Machine, som gav improviserade föreställningar och turnerade runtom i Europa. På 1970-talet flyttade Keith Johnstone till Kanada där han arbetade som var teater- och dramalärare på University of Calgary och grundade the Loose Moose Theatre. Johnstone har publicerat två böcker om improvisationsteater: Impro från 1979 och Impro for Storytellers från 1999. Även om hans namn främst förknippas med Teatersport är hans inflytande på dramatiker, skådespelare och pedagoger, inte minst i Sverige, närmast oöverskådligt. IMPROVISATIONSSTUDION Improvisationsstudion Förlag ger ut böcker om improvisationsteater ? både svenska och internationella i svensk översättning. Impro - improvisation and the theatre av Keith Johnstone är förlagets första publikation. Förlaget är en del av Improvisationsstudion, som ger underhållning och utbildning inom teater och improvisationsteater. Studion utgår från teaterns arbetsmetoder med skådespelarträning, sceniskt berättande och improvisationsteater.

Since the sixties, Keith Johnstone has led the work on improvisation in theatre, schools and universities. His unique ideas, set out in the classic text, Impro, have now been taken up by practitioners the world over. Impro for Storytellers builds on and extends the seminal earlier work.Keith's techniques specialize in releasing an individual's potential within the context of group work. He became notorious as the acting coach who would shout 'Be more boring!' and 'Don't concentrate!'.Keith Johnstone is an inspirational teacher and writer, and Impro for Storytellers will encourage a life-long study of human interaction.

""Impro" ought to be required reading not only for theatre people generally but also for teachers, educators, and students of all kinds and persuasions. Full of excellent good sense, actual observations and inspired assertions.--"CHOICE: Books for College Libraries."

A leading figure in the theatre, Keith Johnstone lays bare his techniques and exercises to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors'' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, "Status", "Spontaneity", "Narrative Skills" and "Masks and Trance", arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. "If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the ''writers'' theatre . . . " Irving Wardle

A leading figure in the theatre, Keith Johnstone lays bare his techniques and exercises to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors'' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, "Status", "Spontaneity", "Narrative Skills" and "Masks and Trance", arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. "If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the ''writers'' theatre . . . " Irving Wardle

In this landmark work Keith Johnstone provides a revelatory guide to rediscovering and unlocking the imagination. Admired for its clarity and zest, Impro lays bare the techniques and exercises used to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, 'Status', 'Spontaneity', 'Narrative Skills' and 'Masks and Trance', arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. 'If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the 'writers' theatre.' Irving Wardle

In this landmark work Keith Johnstone provides a revelatory guide to rediscovering and unlocking the imagination. Admired for its clarity and zest, Impro lays bare the techniques and exercises used to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors'' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, ''Status'', ''Spontaneity'', ''Narrative Skills'' and ''Masks and Trance'', arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. ''If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the ''writers'' theatre.'' Irving Wardle

In this landmark work Keith Johnstone provides a revelatory guide to rediscovering and unlocking the imagination. Admired for its clarity and zest, Impro lays bare the techniques and exercises used to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors'' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, ''Status'', ''Spontaneity'', ''Narrative Skills'' and ''Masks and Trance'', arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. ''If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the ''writers'' theatre.'' Irving Wardle