h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Theatre Improvisation. - A14590910
Author: Aximili - U4646274

This has been in the writing workshop. Can you please give me advice on this?

The history of this entry .....

EGWW thread: F5144782?thread=3508713

Fleamarket copy: A4052341
Previous PR thread: F2111153?thread=648484
Misc thread: F2111153?thread=648514


Well done, Aximilii, this is a good start. I know nothing about theatre so will leave commenting on the content to others.


W

Thanks Wilma. Was I supposed to post those other threads as well? I didn't know.

It's ok, Aximili, I've done it now. With Flea Market rescues, it is helpful to know the history of the entry - to see what has been commented in the past and how the entry has evolved. It saves us going over the same ground again - and helps the sub-editors do their jobs as well.


W

Thanks again, Wilma.

You are very welcome.

I understand from this that improvisation is used both as an acting practice technique, as well as being a performance in its own right. If so, I'd consider making this clear in the opening paragraph. If the latter, can you suggest where people might go to see these performances?

Are there any well-known exponents of improvisation? Has it been done on TV?

Oh, and you might want to rewrite one or both of these sentences, which look odd together:
"No-one wants to be on stage in complete silence ... (a little later) ... Silence can be amazing in an improv!"

The previous PR thread has some very useful comments about how the article could be fleshed out a little - I'd suggest revisiting some of those, as I think it needs just a little more to it.

Icy

I've added a little about professional drama groups. Sorry it took so long.

This is really great. Here a few things you could do to tidy it up a little:

Remove the period from the title

"get to know" change that to single quotes: ' '

encouage - encourage

Remove that extra tag. (I assume that's what you have in there.)

5-6 members - change the digits to words. (number 1-9 are supposed to be written in digits in EG Entries)

For the places capitalised: if you want emphasis (sp?), used tags around them.

No-one - No one

Instead of ** in the W list, try this:

Who
Where
What
Why
When

Non-stop - Nonstop

'improve games' - 'improv games:'

completey - completely

About the footnotes: budge them up right next to the word. Also, in footnote 3, add a period to the end of the sentence.



I know this is usually what Sub-editors do, but with new authors, it's good for them to learn these little details themselves.

Thank you for all the advice. I've made the alterations. It looks a lot better now.

Looks great, now. One more thing:

Actor 1: *Points* Look at that UFO up there.
Actor 2: Don't be stupid, there is nothing there.

That part might look better italicised and with the Blockquote.

'it's own right' > its own right.

And move the periods right next the bold words.

updated. Thanks for all the advice.

Is thereanything else I can do with this?

It looks good to me, Aximili.

The 'Hamster' thing sounds a bit like the 'Wooden Spoon' game, where everyone passes an imaginary wooden spoon around the circle, using it to do a different task each time, e.g. stirring soup, conducting an orchestra, hitting a ball.

I saw a 'definately' where you mean 'definitely'.

Wasn't there a fim which claimed to be improvised? I think it had Uma Thurman in it and took place in a hotel room. I haven't seen it and may be completely wrong!

Jules

Thanks, Jules. I've fixed 'definitely' and know nothing of that film. Also, with the game, I think I mentioned that there are different variants. I just put the one I always used to play.

Thanks for dropping by.

No worries.

I went and looked up the film and it wasn't actually improvised (my brain was telling me as much yesterday but I persisted in believing I'd heard that somewhere!)so that's that sorted out

Jules

Thanks for clearing that up .

Hi Aximili,

I'm quite into the theatre myself. Interesting piece, improvisation appears to be making a bit of a comback.

A typo I spotted

>groupss ten to veer< = >groups tend to veer<

I also noticed you say:

>When doing an improvisation you need to establish the 5 W's:<

followed by

>Why and When can often be missed out.<

not sure if you'd want to change this, it may just be me, but if you need to establish them in the first instance why can they then be left out?

There are also a couple of tv comedy shows past and present which feature improvisation. Whose Line Is It Anyway? hosted by Clive Anderson on C4 about 15+ years ago, and the name of the current one just escapes me at the moment.

Hope this helps