Johnstone is in Norway to teach Norwegian actors to take risks. The Samvirkelaget theater troupe improvises scenes in the Studentersamfunnet theater hall in Oslo, according to Johnstone’s instructions.

Johnstone developed theatrical sports and improvised theater in Canada in the 1970s. Today, he is a professor in Canada and well known in the theater community.

Dare to fail

But he is not content with traditional theater.

– Most actors are afraid and have high stress levels. And this is due to the lack of training in the West, Johnstone believes.

Johnstone believes that theater is about risk.

– Much of the training in the West is aimed at ensuring that actors don’t make mistakes, but theater is precisely about risk, says Johnstone.

Eia: – A guru

Harald Eia is one of the actors inspired by Keith Johnstone.

– A lot of the comedy I do on television is based on improvisation, although I don’t use a lot of techniques directly there. But when you practice improvisation, you discover, for example, that people laugh a lot at lightning-fast mood changes.

– When I was doing a news report in Åpen Post, I was a crazy journalist who alternated between being crazy, laughing and crying. An improv technique is for someone to stand aside and bring up new emotions, which you move on to quickly.

Eia describes Johnstone as the great guru of improvisational theater.

– After developing theatrical sport, it spread throughout the Western world. He wrote a book called “Improv” which is a bible for anyone who wants to do this.

Not stupid

Eia now describes Johnstone as a rather grumpy old man, very tired of bad improvisations.

– He has little patience with all the mistakes people make a million times. A rule of improv is to say the first thing that comes to mind, but Keith Johnstone adds: “As long as it’s not something stupid!”

Kulturnytt, NRK P2, September 14, 2005

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