The spontaneity drain: the social pressures that shaped and then exiled Keith Johnstone's improvisation

McLaughlin, J. A. (2014) The spontaneity drain: the social pressures that shaped and then exiled Keith Johnstone's improvisation. Panel Presentation presented to: Comedy and Society Symposium, School of Drama, Music and Screen, University of Hull, 22-23 November, 2014. (Unpublished)

Presented version (648kB)

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Panel Presentation)
Abstract:	Keith Johnstone’s Improvisation had an oppositional relationship to the social and historical conditions of 1950s Britain under which it developed. Its structure and performative dynamic were protests against the normalising forces exerted by the social elite upon the broader population and by civilised society upon the individual. Within this context, the Royal Court Theatre acted as an incubator that allowed Johnstone to develop his subversive theories of performance, drawing on elements of professional wrestling to break down the regimented conventions of the theatre space and enliven the spectator-performer relationship. Eventually Johnstone entered a self-imposed exile from the society that shaped this form of performance and established The Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada. This paper will analyse three relationships vital to this narrative: The oppositional reaction of Johnstone's improvisation to the social pressures of 1950's Britain, the creative glasshouse that The Royal Court Theatre provided for Johnstone within this broader cultural context, and the effects that the new social situation of Calgary, Canada had on Johnstone's practice. At the conclusion of the paper I will draw out the consequences of these analyses for contemporary British society and attempt to identify the normalising forces at work within this context, how our arts institutions and creative incubators might foster novel reactions to these pressures, and how public policy might be shaped in order to encourage artists to remain in Britain so that we might benefit from their continued contribution to our cultural discourses.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Improv, comedy, Keith Johnstone, censorship, Lord Chamberlain, Royal Court Theatre, Incubators, Loose Moose
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2181 Modern P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2049 Theater and society. Applied drama P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2061 Art of acting > PN2071.15 Improvisation (Acting)
Creators:	McLaughlin, James A
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:	University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology
Date:	22 November 2014
Date Type:	Presentation
Page Range:	pp. 1-13
Event Title:	Comedy and Society Symposium
Event Dates:	22-23 November, 2014
Event Location:	School of Drama, Music and Screen, University of Hull
Event Type:	Conference
Language:	English
Status:	Unpublished
Refereed:	No
References:	Barthes, Roland. (1977). ‘The Death of the Author’, from Image, Music, Text. (trans. Stephen Heath). London: Harper Colins. Barthes, Roland. (1984). Mythologies (trans. Annette Lavers). London: Vintage. http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/Barthes-wrestling.htm. [Accessed 28 April 2014] Dudeck, Theresa Robbins. (2013). Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. Foucault, Michel. (1975). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. (trans. Alan Sheridan). New York: Vintage Books. Freshwater, Helen. (2009). Theatre Censorship in Britain: Silencing, Censure and Suppression. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Johnstone, Keith. (1979). Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre. London: Routledge. Johnstone, Keith. (1999). Impro for Storytellers: Theatresports and the Art of Making Things Happen. London: Faber and Faber. Leep, Jeanne. (2013). Theatrical Improvisation: Short Form, Long Form, and Sketch-Based Improv. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Nicholson, Steve. (2011). The Censorship of British Drama, 1900-1968, Volume Three: The Fifties. Exeter: Exeter University Press. Nicholson, Steve. (2014). The Censorship of British Drama, 1900-1968, Volume Four: The Sixties. Exeter: Exeter University Press. Wickstrom, Maurya. (2012). Performance in the Blockades of Neoliberalism: Thinking the Political Anew. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
URI:	http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7358

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