Improv: The Group Mind, Intuition & ESP

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“After an improviser learns to trust and follow his own inner voice, he begins to do the same with his fellow players’ inner voices. Once he puts his own ego out of the way, he stops judging the ideas” of others — instead, he considers them brilliant, and eagerly follows them! This is why there is no such thing as a “bad idea” in improv. Players take each other’s ideas — no matter what they are — and make them work. As we know, the actor’s business is to justify. One person’s idea becomes the collective idea of the group, and is therefore played brilliantly.

In the world outside of improv, the more minds that are involved in an undertaking, the lower the intelligence of the group — just look at the government (any government), or most TV and films that are created by committee! Too many cooks definitely spoil the broth.

The situation is very different with improvisation. We already know that people have incredible individual capabilities. Unlike the real world, however, when a number of players are on stage, their intelligence is actually increased. The group intelligence is much more than the sum of its parts.

When a team of improvisers pays close attention to each other, hearing and remembering everything, and respecting all that they hear, a group mind forms. The goal of this phenomenon is to connect the information created out of group ideas — and it’s easily capable of brilliance. People who have never experienced it may be skeptical, dismissing it as New Age nonsense, but the group mind is a very real phenomenon. This is not to say that each person can read the others’ minds or project specific thoughts; but when a group mind is achieved, its members have a very strong sense of the group as an entity of its own, and connects with its feelings and requirements. There is an empathy among the individuals involved, almost an instinct. The members exist to serve the needs of the group, much like the Innuit Indians who place themselves in a group trance to attack a polar bear or a whale. If everyone fails to do the right thing, they will die!

This “group mind” is not a phenomenon exclusive to insects and improvisers, though. As cited in the previous chapter, a football team is at its best when everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and other groups working closely toward a common goal may also achieve this state. Still, it is very difficult to describe, and not always achieved.

Many improvisers experience that feeling of amazement that comes from leaving the stage, saying to their fellow players, “How the hell did we do that?!” When they break it down and try to analyze it, they discover that the Harold is simply created by the group process — following each moment, step by step, never forgetting anything. They always accept the ideas of the other players without judging them to be “good” or “bad,” always thinking, “This is now our idea.”

The ImprovOlympic workshops constantly prove that a group can achieve powers greater than the individual human mind. Scenes created have turned out to be prophetic, and ESP has actually occurred on stage. Players are able to speak simultaneously, at a normal rate of speed, saying the exact same thing, word for word. Some teams became oracles on stage, answering the great questions of the universe, one word at a time, leaving audiences chilled and astonished.

Audiences have witnessed the group mind linking up to a universal intelligence, enabling them to perform fantastic, sometimes unbelievable feats. It only happens when the group members are finely attuned to each other, but it almost seems like they are tapping into the same universal consciousness that enables individuals with special abilities. Somehow, we are able to connect to it — and all improvisers know the value of connections!”

From ‘The Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation’, by Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim “Harold” Thomson

Philip Terry: The Penguin Book of Oulipo Gallery Philip Terry: The Penguin Book of Oulipo

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Philip Terry: The Penguin Book of Oulipo 22nd October 2019

Boris Groys 9th July 2019

Ben Okri: The Freedom Artist 24th February 2019