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.

There is also a fantastically helpful section on ‘Tips for Teaching Improv’, which again offers simple useful pieces of advice that help to build a positive and open environment where participants feel able to take risks with their performance.

The book is split into sections of games and exercises with Large Group Improv, Pair Improv, Solo Improv and Small Group Improv.

I found this particularly effective in giving me a quick ‘go to’ if I knew I was looking for something to use in an upcoming lesson or workshop. The other beauty of this book is the range of techniques offered, with everything from the crowd pleasing ‘Yes, Lets!’ to the more mature exploration of Uta Hagen's work in the exercise, ‘If I were.’ There are a variety of games that need no resources, just a space and some willing participants and again, for those working with constraints to their budget and time, these could be incredibly useful.

The book is described as a ‘Pocketful of Drama’ and to coin a phrase: ‘it does what it says on the tin.’ I would have liked perhaps to have more games than the 30-40 on offer here, though with each of the exercises there are variations/alternatives suggested. An element that I really found helpful was the interactive QR codes that took me to Spotify playlists and PDF printouts to accompany various exercises.