Mick Napier. Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out. Heinemann, 2004.
A practitioner's guide that deliberately challenges conventional improv rules. Napier's core thesis: most improv teaching creates analysis paralysis by giving students too many rules to follow simultaneously. His alternative: "do something" — act first, assess second, commit third.
Key concepts drawn from here:
- "It is far more important that you DO something than WHAT it is you actually do" — the foundational case for Be Brave
- The three-step initiation method: do something, notice what you did, commit to it
- "Enter with a deal" — arrive on stage already in motion, not neutral
- Critique of traditional improv rules as bandwidth-consuming overhead
- The distinction between supporting your partner through clear choices vs. through deference: "If you want to support your partner in an improv scene, give them the gift of your choice"
Referenced by atoms: be-brave, initiation, commitment, hesitation, internal-computation