Beijing Improv is a local English-language performing group that first started out two and a half years ago. It has since then attracted a lot of attention from the public and has become increasingly popular, both amongst the local Chinese and expatriates in Beijing.  

Beijing Improv has added vibrancy to the Beijing performing arts scene by injecting a new form of art in it - improvised theatre. Improvised theatre is a form of theatre in which actors use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Actors get suggestions from the audience and try to work out a typically funny scene with them.  

Lottie Dowling, group leader of the Beijing Improv English Actors tells us more about how Beijing Improv came about and the difficulties faced in the process. We had a chat with other members of Beijing Improv as well and found out more about their experiences with Improv.

Lottie Dowling, Group leader of Beijing Improv English Actors: "I'm Lottie, and I came to Beijing 4 years ago. I started doing some workshops in a group called Beijing Actors workshop. I met up with some other people in the workshop that were really interested in Improv theatre. We all got together and decided to start a little troupe and we started Beijing Improv!" 

Reporter:"Talk about some of the difficulties you faced when you first started Beijing Improv."

Lottie: "First of all, we had a group of people with a lot of enthusiasm. However, there were only a few who actually had Improv experience. So those people who had experience had to really support those who didn't, and those who didn't have the experience brought other skills. So it was a real team-building venture. Then we decided we wanted to start doing shows. However nobody we knew had heard about Improv before. So the first few shows were just lots of our friends and their friends and slowly over the last two and a half years, our shows have become more popular. And now, we sell out in all our shows." 

Reporter: "Do you always find the energy and time to give to Beijing Improv?"

Lottie: 'Yea, it's a lot of work. However, we have a phrase called A Labor of Love. So we all love to spend a lot of time with each other and practicing and it's a lot of that goes behind the scenes, a lot of administration, a lot of emails, a lot of work. But it's really worth it!"

Vincent Ng, One of the founders of Beijing Improv. "My name is Vinny Ng and I've been in Beijing for the last 4 years." 

Reporter: "What are the difficulties of doing a play without a script?"

Vinny: "Not knowing what's coming next? I would say in a lot of ways it's un-training what most people are typically brought up to do.  Improv theatre is really about un-training that instinct, and saying ok, what is your gut reaction, what is your initial feeling and letting that come out, and that's really where the creative process really begins."

Reporter: "Have you faced a situation whereby you had a mental block and didn't know what to do next?"

Vinny: "Every scene? No, just kidding. Of course you experience situations where you're not sure what's going to come next. And quite often, those are the moments in which if you trust your intuition and also deal with the flow in terms of what the other actors on stage are coming up with, that's quite often where the humor of the scene comes from. What makes things interesting is that the challenge for improvisers is to be able to justify what the audience said. So yes, they may come up with ridiculous suggestions, but how do you take that idea and make it make sense within the scene."

As Beijing Improv grew steadily, they recruited new members to join their family. Jack and Merriden are the newest members of Beijing Improv and have been part of the group for 6 months now. 

Jack Smith, Actor of Beijing Improv."My name is Jack and I've been in Bejing for eight months now, in China for a year and a half. I'm a fashion magazine editor.  

Merriden Varrall, Actress of Beijing Improv. "Hi, my name is Merriden and I've been in Beijing for 6 months. I'm doing research for a PhD."

Reporter: "What makes you want to stay on in Improv?"

Jack: "I would say the people definitely. The feeling when you walk out on stage with a group of people that you really know and trust, and that you can work with, and that rush you get when you come off stage and know that you've done a good performance, and everyone is supportive. It's just a lovely thing to spend the Saturday evening doing."

Merriden: "And that's a propaganda line. That's what they want you the think. The truth is Lottie and Jonathan would kill us if we left."

Jack: "Yea, and they pay us an awful lot of money to stay in the group and to make it look better."

Merriden: "And lots of people want to be our friends because it sounds cool. Those are the reasons, really."

Reporter: "Can you talk about some of the experience you had in Beijing Improv, like the worst experience or the weirdest suggestions by audience?"

Merriden: "The audience's suggestions tend to be pretty rude, they like to dig into the depths of their minds and pull out the most disgusting ideas and try to challenge us to see what we will do with these horrible ideas that they give us. So sometimes they're sexual, sometimes they're just disgusting. And we have to go, ok, that's what you want, we have to do it. So that can be very hard, especially for us new people. I mean, for me anyway."

Beijing Improv holds their monthly performances in Dong Mian Hua Hutong of Nan Luo Gu Xiang, an exotic area with a mix of old and new. The traditional Hutongs now boost of apparel stores and quaint cafeterias. It is a very popular hangout among tourists.  

I am now at Dong Mian Hua Hutong in Beijing. It used to be a traditional Chinese living quarter, but is now buzzing with life, occupied with bars and shops, bringing a whole new outlook to the area.  

Right down this alley is Penghao Theatre. Every 4-6 weeks, Beijing Improv attracts a large crowd here to watch their performances. Those who didn't reserve their tickets beforehand, might not even be able to catch their show!  

Weekly bilingual workshops are held at Jiang Jin Music Bar and approximately 30 to 50 people participate each week. The workshops include playing a few games that trigger the mind to think quickly and train one's storytelling skills. Most Chinese who attended the workshops found it very rewarding.  

Hu Xin, One of the initiatives of the Improv bilingual workshop "Actually I saw the Improv performance notice in Beijing two years ago. And I was thinking why do we only have the expats doing the performances, why don't we do something like a workshop, where many Chinese people can join in and practice and bring the Improv culture to China"

Jane, Participant of Improv bilingual workshop. "(I've learnt) a lot of things like how to start to think, how to perform onstage without preparation."

ZuoWei, Participant of Improv bilingual workshop. "I feel very happy participating in the workshops and it's a good training for the brain.

Look out for Beijing Improv's next show, have an exhilarating night with them. There's no better way to spend a Saturday evening! 

Beijing Improv in a word? 

Vinny: Yes! It's one of the fundamental lectures in Improv, it's about saying yes and not blocking an idea when it comes.

Jack: Fabulous. In every which way, it's just completely fabulous. It's easily the most fabulous thing I've done in Beijing!

Merriden: Mind-altering. I come from a very academic, boring, thinking background. And this is a real opportunity to open your mind to new spontaneous ways of thinking and doing and being.

Lottie: Crazy!  

For CRI English, this is Flora Man.