Book reviews: Acting Games for Improv - A Pocketful of Drama

Anyone who read Sam Marsdens' excellent 100 Acting Exercises for 8-18 Year Olds will know that that this particular collection is an essential part of any department ‘games’ section, to be added to Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors and Jessica Swales' excellent NHB collection of various drama game books.

Marsden is back with a collection of books to supplement her original title, starting with ‘Acting Games for Improv.’ While we have Keith Johnstone's seminal work Improv and various exercise books to fall back on, here is a book that can physically and metaphorically ‘warm’ participants up so that they are ready to tackle an area of acting that, for some, can be very tricky. This is a really useful book in the way that it is structured, as Marsden has written it with the notion of setting up a ‘safe space’ in a way that will encourage improvisation rather than make it feel like something to be afraid of.