BOOK REVIEW

IMPRO IMPROVISATION
AND THE THEATRE
by Kieth
Published
Price:
Reviewed
Many
unimaginative,
that.they
entalls
education

Johnstone
by Faber
Approx.
by Hilary
Blecher
'well adjusted'

and Faber, London,

and rather hostile

frightened,
Instead of assuming
were born that way, or that that's what being an adult
we might
and their upbringing.

them as people damaged by their

Represented
by Macmill an SA

are bitter,

uncreative,

consider

people.

adults

RIG.55

1979

in South Africa

the central
effects
a specialised

and to re-stimulate

thesis of his book.
programme

and encourage
of improvisations,

In order

While most of these have originated
are valued.

they are relevant
and spontaneity

to any teaching

out of his work
theory and

influenced

by censoring
and acceptance

by his own youthful

experiences
his own natural responses
for success.

necessary

by the fear of appearing

risk and inhibited

systems

the.parameters

clever,
to be concerned

responsible

of good taste

to write elegant
with presentation

for en-
verse,
rather

with

social and educational
to operate within
- to be self-consciously
paintings;
effects
deadens
and he is reduced
personal
mission
and induce

and results.

Instead of extending

individual

growth and cuts the adult off from all
to conformity
is to introduce

and stereotype.
techniques

which will allow
from cliche' behaviour

that the oreatest

to free themselves
them to rediscover
freely,

value and
He urges them not to try to control the
or manipulate
stimuli
he is most involved,

and interactions
that arise.
those of theatre and creative

openly and imaginatively

progress

but allow themselves

to

and status
and the uninspired

and his approach:

he relies on improvisation,

transactions
to that of original

to challenge

discovery

the work
and

Johnstone
gives practical
co-operation,
to allow him the freedom

trust and the development

advice on how to handle.improv!sations,

to follow his own creative

of the partlcipant

s
act and

or being ostracised.

in which

expreSSes

is clearly

was a decided

Theatre,
creativity

and techniques.
the Royal
Court

Johnstone
negative
these
he has developed

failing
the existing
the students
conventional
this svstem

Thus Keith
to eradicate
creativity
games
with
practice
book
Mr Johnstone's
and the disadvantages
he suffered
in an attempt
to win the approval
Originality
stupid,
He holds
couraging
ans acceptability
to paint
than content,
potential
spontaneity
Johnstone's
the participants
and thinking
arises
delight
situations
not to aim for success
result,
to operate
dynamics,
The fields
writing,
define
lIask and trance
beyond
experieDce.
In his book
stressing
confidence
develop

and relationships.
off actual
in which

in his classes
they respond

his vocabulary
techniques,

the improvisation

the mundane

when

76

develop the improvisation.
His mask work is perh~ps the most controversial aspect of his teaching.
each actor is required
He w~rks off a shamanlstic concept of possession:
to dlscover t~e exact spirit which inhabits the mask through the induction
of a ~rance:llk~ sta~e.
He argues that this results in a duality analagous
that ln actlng In.whlch the actor becomes the character he is playing and
yet at the same tlme maintains a controlling consciousness.
His description of the events and situations that arose in his mask classes
seems to depend too heavily on his personal suggestion and interpretation:
he has a strong belief in the immutable power of the mask to assume form
and control the actions of the person wearing it.
While mask work is of
great benefit in freeing the individual and allowing the development of
unique responses in the actor, Johnstone seems to have blurred the technical
advantages and to have become too concerned with the experimental novelty.
A useful concept which he introduces is that of STATUS.
For Johnstone all
actions. movements and inflections imply an awareness of status:
person defines himself through the discrepancies in the status between him-
self and others.
For example, a man who plays a low-status to his employer
who plays high-status towards him, but who in turn may play low-status to
a domineering wife.
Status relationships also operate in regard to space.
In one's own home one usually plays high status - an a cathedral or magis-
trate's office one plays a low status.
Johnstone suggests that all comedy ~s dependent on characters lowering and
raising
The main ad-
vantage of status games and exercises is that they allow the actor a tech-
nique for structuring improvisations -
"The status exercises are really
crutches to support the actor so that instinctual systems can operate.
Once again, however, Johnstone seems to overstate the case and thus weaken
•
a truly useful and insightful concept.
"that a good play is
one which ingeniously displays and reverses the sta~u~ between the characters.
He severely limits the potency of a play such as Waltl~g for Godo~ when he
claims that "If you observe the status, then the play lS fascinatlng:
If
you ignore it the play is tedious".
While all Johnstone's theories and descriptions of his practical work are
invigorating and fascinating, one feels t~at som: of it depends on his
particular personality and/or pSYChe for ltS ultlmate success.

their own status and that of the other characters.

each

He suggests

TEACHING TELEVISION

Approx. R14.2D

By Len Masterman
Published by Macmillan, London, 1980
Price:
Reviewed by Keyan Tomaselli
Gene Youngblood (1970) has written that "The world's not a stage, ~t;s • it
TV documentary.

John van ZYl (1977) argues, "We don"t watch telev son,

77

watches a~d guides us", and Kingsley Widmer (1973) warns "We may not choose
Johan Grove(1977), who was
to comm~nlcate b~t we shall be communicated with~
responslble for 1ntroducing media studies into six Transvaal schools laments:

While teachers are parsimoniously prepared to use a film only
when it suits their limited needs, to show the pupils the film
version of their prescribed Shakespeare play, and then wax en-
thusiastic about how it helped them in their understanding of
the play, they remain unaware of the rich potential of literary
experience and teaching material that they are trampling under-
foot.
Through the teaching of film they could unlock and sys.
tematise for many of their pupils, and for themselves, many of
those vistas shared with the masters of the printed medium by
only a few readers.

particu1uarly

as little resource material or text books

Of significance then, is the publication of Len Masterman's

In 1975, the Transvaal Education Department introduced a Matriculation
qualifying course to begin in Standard eight, entitled "Media Studies".
A
sub-section of the English syllabus, the course was introduced initially on
a trial basis in six high schools.
Since, apparently, little cooperation
was forthcoming from SABC-TV, the curriculum development department of the
TED concentrated
initially on full length features and, when these proved
~oo demanding for the pupils, short films and featurettes.
The Department
1tse1f developed study guides under the guidence of Johan Grove; a former
English teacher.
Since media studies were a relatively new phenomenon,
even at South African universities, teachers of this course started at a
disadvantage,
were available.
book. Teaching about Television.
Some of the results of the TED media studies project are reported in Christie
(1979), while two MA theses are in progress:
"The Theory and Practice of Film
A Study of Film Language and the
Film Study at Secondary Schools Level.
of Plot, Character, Space and Time" by Johan Grove'
Filmic Presentation
through the Wits School of Dramatic Art'and Willem van der Walt's "The
principles and Practice of Screen Education in High School English" being
done through the Dept. of Education at Cape Town University.
While the direction of media studiesin Transvaal schools is couched in the
mode of literarv criticism, this is in itself a disadvantage for it only
introduces the media pupil to a small segment of media understanding.
It
perpetuates the traditions of a print oriented educational system and re-
stricts film or television criticism to within the literary mode.
Master-
man's book, however, offers a more comprehensive paradigm which would be
of benefit to those teachers
involved in the media studies prooramme.
TeachinQ
About TeleviSion has been written against the background that
children spend more time watching television than they spend at,school.
The book offers a detailed guide, in both theoretical a~d.pract1cal terms,
to the development of a critical awareness of how televlSlon works and
communicated.
Considerable attention is given
to the clarification of current theore~ical
debates in media education and a conceptual framework for the schoolchlld
_
Is developed.
The traditional argument that s~h?Ol ~ime would be wasted
In the study of a trivial medium such as te1evls1on 1S countered by Master
man in his argument that what is said on television is less impor~nt
than
how it is said.
Stuart Hood's introduction makes this point clear:

to the SChoolchild.

78

actual news broadcasts.

announcer 1S ~ressed, the way the studio is furnished.

Wha~ pupils who ~re taught about television should be come aware
of 1S that telev1sion has a language of its OWn with which values
are.suggested. a~titudes reinforced and statements conveyed about
soc1ety, the fam1l~, ~ale-female relationships.
The language is
a complex one cons1st1ng not only of words but of gestures. the
way a shot is fra~ed, the way the opening titles are designed, the
wayan
In
short, he sees telev1sion as a conveyor of ideology - an ideology
w~ich i~ the ID?reeffective. the less easy to challenge. if the
v1ewer 1~ ~onv1nced that the medium is tranparent.
For ideology
on t~lev1s10n depends to a large degree on the impression that
it~ ~mages are as apparently unmediated as water, gas or elec-
tr1c1ty appear to be when we turn on a tap or switch on a light.
Aga in~~.this backg~ound, the author sets out to demystify the process of
telev's10n:
Q~est10n~ of classroom organ~sation and teaching methodology
are
examined 1n deta1l. I The author prov1des a series of introductory
exce:cis~s in perception and decoding designed to prepare students for an
exam1nat10n of the complex set of images which constitute television pro-
granmes.
The chapter on Television News offer ways and means of producing
~.news programme in the classroom, and then of decoding bias and distortion
1n
This section sets out to debunk the notion that
"television news items are delivered to the public by a neutral observer who
passes on the news items with no factual distortion at all" (p.77).
Other
chapters deal with the study of various programmes ranging from football,
Excercises in programme
Tomorrow's World to Mastermind and Porridge.
planning are suggested. first for a single station, and later for three
competing stations.
Through such simulations, operating under differing
constraints,
the student will learn the significance of specific schedules
- commercial, social and political.
Approaches to the production and stuQy
of "The Interview", "Television Documentary", "Television COIII11entary"and
"Serials" are offered in a comprehensive chapter entitled Aspects of Tele-
vision.
Throuqh Television underlies the
act that teaching is both a social and
political activity.
are moulded and guided by television, from the News to the situation comedy.
If
this process is not identified by both teacher and pupil, the real rel-
evanceof television will be miSsed.
Although this book deals primarily with British originated programme material,
much of which is denied South African audiences through the Equity ban, the
underlying principles in television analysis an~ practical ~ele~ision work
can easily be adapted to the study of South Afr1can televis10n ~n.the class-
room.
Whether such analysis is desirable in terms o! the preva1l1~g ideology
is a moot point, but at least a start has been made 1n the TED med1a studies
course, if only in a literary mode.
A perusal of current media research will show. in South Africa at leas~,
that the intellectual moment for media studies at school level has arr1ved
not to mention the study of communication at university leve~.
Many of ~e
latter are purely service courseS, and would do well to.exa~1ne Has~erson s
book.
recommended to teachers in television and media stud1es.
References
Christie, J. 1979:

Teachinq About Television is a significant co~tr1but10n and 1S

The final chapter, social~ Political and Aesthetic Education

Transvaal Educational News, Vol.1

The social, aesthetic and political attitudes of children are

Grove, J. 1977:

"The Communication Media and the Curriculum~
Bulletin, Vol. XXI, No. I, pp.4-22.

Education

"The Film as Set-Work~
lXXVI,

n.& 12. pp.9-1f.

79

Van Zyl. J. 1977:
J. and Tomaselli, K.G. (eds.):
W'~r,
"Sensibility
of Processed Communications.
Prentice-Hall,
t~e New Media.
Yc~n9blood, G. 1970:

K. 1973:

"Towards a Socio-Semiology

of Performance" in van Zyl.

Media and Change.
under Technocracy:
Englewood Cliffs, pp.28-41.

in Schwartz, B. (ed.):

McGraw-Hill, Johannesburg.
Reflections on the Culture

Human Connection and

Expanded Cinema.

Studio Vista, london.

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED
(co, U. 1976:
A Theory of Semiotics.
The Glasgow University Media Group:
london.

Macmillan, london.

Bad News.

Routledge and Kegan Paul,

Dept. of Sociology, University of Cape Town

.Sociological aspects of

"Analysis, interpretation and evaluation of German Missionary

MA thesis, Univ. of Wits. In

in South Africa, 1930-1950~

GENERAL continued
"The human stock of knowledge";

PESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS:
Jubber, K.:
cultural creation~
K~tner, U.:
Literature
progress 1979.
Quangule, 2.5.:
of Sekln Mghayi.
Tomaselli, K.G •.1980:
Art~
Wainright, A.T.:' "The praises of the Xhosa mineworkers.
University of South Africa.

"A study of the theme and technique in the creative works
Phd thesis.

University of Cape Town.

~outh African National Gallery Quarterly Bulletin, No.2,

.Semiotics and Semi~logy - Their Implications for
pp. 1-5.

MA thesis.