{"id":1391,"date":"2019-06-26T13:05:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T11:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speaktherainbow.com\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2020-08-24T10:42:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T08:42:44","slug":"keith-johnston-status-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speaktherainbow.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/26\/keith-johnston-status-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Johnstone & Status games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keith Johnstone & Status games<\/h2>\n\n\n

Our paths sometimes lead us back to sources of inspiration and creativity we ignored when they were right in front of us. I knew this would happen when I signed up for a workshop at the Paris Improvi’bar<\/a>\u00a0with Theresa Robbins Dudeck, the official biographer of the inventor of Theatresports\u2122 and key improv theories, Keith Johnstone<\/a>. I knew little about Keith’s work on status games, although I had heard people rave about Keith’s influence on improv.\u00a0 And I had performed with people who have taken or taught his workshops at the famous Loose Moose Theatre Company<\/a> in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.<\/p>\n

What’s striking is Calgary is my hometown. I studied arts at the University of Calgary while Keith taught there. Of course, I had heard about the Loose Moose Theatre from friends and family and worked on an underground culture magazine in Calgary with people who performed there. Yet, I had always avoided going there to discover what Keith was offering the world right in my backyard<\/p>\n

That’s why I thank Theresa Robbins Dudeck<\/a> for bringing Keith’s ideas to me in Paris, France. Theresa is the perfect relay for several reasons:<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 First<\/strong>, as a long-time friend and associate of Keith’s, she knows how Keith thinks and and communicates his approach to improv with joy and respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Secondly,<\/strong> she is a great teacher and director of drama and theatre skills too. As if to prove that point, a former student of hers, who has an important role in a Disney series, was at the workshop to learn and perfect her skills. What a joy to play scenes with such a talent!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Thirdly<\/strong>, Theresa’s introduction to her book\u00a0 Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography<\/a> sets out the core concepts of Keith’s work in a way which is easier to grasp than Keith’s own writings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Keith’s background story<\/h3>\n

Theresa’s book showed me how Keith’s childhood, youth, and troubles fitting in with the British education system influenced his approach to teaching. Keith’s anti-establishment mind spawned ideas which evolved as he searched for more creativity and liberation through play on stage.<\/p>\n

I was amazed to read about his friendship with Samual Beckett. And how Keith joined an ecelctic group of experimental misfits which included Harold Pinter at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square in the 1950s and 1960s.\u00a0 (I worked in Sloane Square in the mid-1980s and walked by this building everyday, so this was another fun personal connection to Keith’s work).<\/p>\n

Keith’s unique impact at the Royal Court profoundly changed the stage work developed there and transformed British theater and film. However, I was surprised to read that British law required the text of each play to be accepted by a censorship board at this time. As a result, unscripted improv shows, as we know them today, were forbidden. In fact, Keith had to wait to get to Canada to develop full audience involvement into shows like Theatresports\u2122 and the ones held at the Loose Moose Theatre during its early years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In spite of the censorship board, the work at the Royal Court was very anti-establishment and the concept of status played a large role in Keith’s work as well as other playwrights at the Royal Court like Harold Pinter. In fact, the concept of status is one of Keith’s legacies to the world of drama teaching, theater and screen writing, and professional acting today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is status and why speakers need to understand how it works<\/h3>\n

To show us how status works, Theresa directed two players in a very simple scene:<\/p>\n

One player sits on a chair, Another player enters the scene. The players say “Hello” and then the second player says “Been waiting long?” to which the first person answers “Yes, I have been waiting two hours”\u00a0<\/p>\n

We observed this scene several times with various players to see how body language, eye contact, and a few lines of dialogue could modify our impression of which person was in power or had “status” over the other person. This game and others that we played made it clear that as performers whenever we interact with another person or an audience we can take status or lose it in subtle ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We increase<\/strong> our status by….<\/h4>\n