Impro without cock jokes

Convener(s): Roses Urquhart www.rosesurquhart.net

Participants: Kika, Clare Barrett, Jules, Alan, Guleraana, ‘Skylark’, two other women-sorry, I didn’t get your names before you left.

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

I love the practice and principles of impro but have been disappointed when I’ve seen it performed live; lots of machismo and going for gags.  I was interested in meeting people who related to this and perhaps finding a new community.

Discussion centred firstly on where good impro was happening. The group agreed on certain groups having a deeply entrenched culture of machismo, although others were now on an equal male/female ratio. It seemed like the group shared a sense of what ‘good’ impro was ie openness, honesty and a willingness to ‘fall in love, get into trouble, have adventures’.

The gender split in terms of impro practice was interesting.

The female members of the group either used impro exclusively as a devising tool, or no longer improvised because of an unwillingness to engage with the perceived ‘macho’ culture of performance impro.

All three of the men present were experienced performance improvisers- two in the trad performance impro troupe sense, one in a performance art sense.

In so much as the group drawn from D & D can be representative of theatre at large, it seems like performance impro could do with some more women.