It is well know that theatre is a game. This is the first rule in any theatre training. The "theatre game", "don't let the game go down," who dares to say that they never heard those words?

So the idea of "game" refers to something that is not predictable. To reach the goal a football player has to improvise, according to situations created at the right moment of his action and reaction to others. Sometimes he reaches the goal, sometimes he doesn't, but the emotion and the unpredictability in the game makes the show.

Improvisation is the leading word for an actor/actress. An actor improvises at the moment of the creation of a character, with the support of direction, lighting, text, and what we see is the interaction of all those creative languages. And it could be very interesting (maybe worth more than some actor's training workshops) to find what the game stands for. The company Teatro do Nada (something like Theatre of Nothing)  in Rio de Janeiro has brought the chance.

The audience is received by the cast dressed in black. The Master of Ceremonies (M.C.) starts the game conducting the performance, the mediator, stimulating the participation of the audience. On the entrance of the M.C., the stage space reveals an arena of theatrical competition in which two teams will compete. The teams will be chosen by the audience randomly. After this definition of teams, the judges are invited; the game is about to start.

This is basically the beginning of a Teatro do Nada performance, which  works with a method called Theatresports developed by the Canadian director Keith Johnstone, one of the most internationally recognized creators in the field of improvisation forms that includes also Micetro Impro (or Maestro Impro), Gorilla Theatre, and The Life Game.

Johnstone wished to have among the spectators the same exaltation as he saw at football or any sport's match. He leads master classes in improvisation for a variety of groups from Stage Performers, to Clinic Clowns, to Psychotherapists. In one of those given in London, the Brazilian actress Gabriela Duvivier  met the technique and brought it to some of her friends that today are the Teatro do Nada. 

Theatresports, one of the forms of the Impro technique, is defined by Keith Johnstone in his website as "a fast paced, action packed, competitive game which combines wit, humor and performance skill." 

But how does group of "cariocas" actors and actresses defines it? How do they feel about it?

I met Patricia Pinho, an actress who has been in the group since the beginning, in 2003. Patricia talked about how it started and something more about the Nada/ Nothing in Theatre.

How did it all begin?
We started with no pretension, no costume, no setting, it was a friend's happy meeting – and that was the relation between the group and the audience as well, we were all friends. And surprisingly – without any press promotion because we had no money to hire a publicist - we got an audience from mouth to mouth that went to our performances, came back and grew each week. So we had to leave the Casa da Matriz, our first venue, where 30 people could be placed, but we put there 60.
I am very fond of that  that beginning at Casa da Matriz, it was truly important that moment. But we worked a lot! We arrived early to clean the house, we sell the tickets, the Judge was chosen at the moment of the performance, the audience drinking and smoking, a delicious mess!

How did the group get involved with the technique? It doesn't seem an easy task.
In the beginning, our training was a party. We enjoyed a lot. Although it was hard to understand the technique. "But how to  go to stage with any idea? In the blank? How do you mean it? To throw away a good idea? Why we can't have a free joke? Was the dramatic action the interactivity among actors? We are going to respect the rules of platform, routine, and then break at all?" Afterwards we had a moment that we were so cold, so technical and it was very difficult to get back that cool mood we had at the beginning, the original spontaneity. Today we know that we still have a  lot to learn, there are many games to be introduced in the performance. And the audience today want to participate more straightly. 

Is this the same group from the beginning?
Some of the group as Luca de Castro, Mario Hermeto, Eliza Pragana and Vini Messias had worked for 5 years at the Terror Theatre – which had another proposal to the audience. The audience threw foam slippers at the actors... and it was an incredible success. It attracted a young audience that "hated theater" even without being a theatergoer. Several actors took part on the training of Impro (it was like an open workshop). As we were falling in love to the technique, we were calling our friends to join. At a certain moment we noticed  that we were a group of 10 that was together in the work since the beginning and we agreed to start a Company. Only one actress is not in the group anymore: Marta Barcelos that moved to Germany. We alternated ourselves in the role of the  M.C. Today we have Cleber Tolini who trains us but participates only as the conductor and the director of the performance.

Who created that wonderful name Teatro do Nada?
You know, I don't remember exactly who was. But it was a unanimous decision. This is a popular form to express when something spontaneous happens. Simple, popular and good humored... We've done Nada for almost three years. 

How does the Keith Johnstone technique work? 
The technique is called Impro. It creates a base for the author that is on stage. Through a simple narrative structure, we (the group) decide about  the PLATFORM (that is, the initial situation in which the character is), the ROUTINE (actions that determine the profile and the life of the character; as a presentation), DISRUPTING A ROUTINE  (the unexpected thing, what transforms the character) and the FINAL (bring the character again to a stable situation). We use also others elements as REINCORPORATION (the initial elements for the story line), PROMISE (element that should be a conductor in the story), MYSTERY (the blind offerings, given elements in the scene where the own author that created does not know their sense – which is given afterwards by the group). At the same time, there is training for the actor that is on stage, so he/she can trust him/herself and get totally involved in the story. In that technique there is no hierarchy, the actor should be open to "listen" and incorporate every and any idea suggested for the scene. The "good idea" is not to his/hers, but the reaction of his/her partners, that creates another reaction, creating a collective story in front of the audience (that inevitably prays  to happen something wrong and vibrates when the mysteries are solved). We work basically with the concept of ACCEPTANCE (the empty, everything that comes from your partner will be a salvation) but not the BLOCKADE (where an actor/actress refuses the other's idea; he/she stops the story or imposes its own idea). And if we have a  monotonous scene, the actor/actress can ABANDON the ship, that is, simply sit down. 

Who creates the proposals of the games?
The structure of the games were created by Keith Johnstone. For example: we have the game of the beach tennis story, where two actors will tell  a story as an only person but each can speak one word at a time.
Then we have many stories created by the improvisers, that is, actors, actress and technical staff. There is nothing pre-established besides that.
So we started the challenge of the night. For example: a group challenges another to make "the best story inside the human body." The group challenge creates the story, afterwards the other group creates by its own, under that subject. The audience "vote" for the better.

What kind of actor employs this kind of technique? A presenter, a game player, a performer?
He/she approaches the performer. He/she is the author of a discourse  produced at that moment, but at the same time is redressed with the mask of the character. It is a different work from everything that I have done. Because you can be a skillful actor and improvise easily but what matters to us is not individual talent. We are a group that create stories spontaneously.

For me, it is a great exercise of generosity and exchange. We are at risk all time. We should be open to the proposals fearless. When we work with improvisation there is 50 percent of chance to get wrong and to be boring to the audience. The training is to prepare us to that risky task, but if we worry about that, we got frightened and we block ourselves. The training is indeed to make us to take the risk, and be free at the collective. The audience likes to see the actor in risk, quarrel to the judge when disagree, and when the team scores, it is party in the audience! But for us is not important to score but to make worthy the value paid for the ticket. Keith Johnstone returned the value of the ticket when the audience did not like the performance and the audience insist on paying. When after training this technique of theatresports you go to work with a text, a director, oh my! It is wonderful! That technique helps us in the creation, in the understanding and mainly in the relations, or better in the interaction with the stage elements. 

In this technique of Impro is there a "director"?
The coach, the director and the presenter are same person, according to the technique. But this is not so, in our group we alternate ourselves in those functions. The general director of the Company is Luca de Castro. Everybody decides and suggests and we alternate ourselves in the function of the coach. We  invited recognized actors, directors, light designers that is going to give his/her opinion and judge the performance. We had  already had as Judges: Carol Castro, Heloisa Perissé, Geraldinho Carneiro, Bosco Brasil, Aurélio de Simoni, Alexandra Richter, Antonio Pedro, Ricardo Petraglia, Alexandre Régis, Maria Clara Gueiros, Alice Borges, Claudia Borioni, Roberto Alvim, Cláudio Torres Gonzaga, Luiz Salém, Gabriel Moura, Flavio Bauraqui, Buza Ferraz, Caíque Botkai, Claudia Rodrigues, Marcius Melhem, Leandro Hassum, Karen Aciolly, Clarisse Niskier, Eduardo Wotzikc, Ricardo Kosovski, Lady Francisco, Aluízio de Abreu, Nizo Neto, Danny Carlos, , Henrique Tavares, Jaqueline Laurence, Cristina Bittencourt, Marcio Libar, Sura Berditchevsky, and the cast from the plays  "Z.E.", "Surto", "Suburbanos"

Who are the groups who work with the Keith Johnstone Impro technique? Is there a certain exchange between them?
There are the Sociedade Pro-Projeto Teatral Dano -Brasileiro(www.teatroesporte.com.br). We had already tried to contact Vera Achatkin , the director. We are interested to meet them. In Curitiba, we have Companhia Curitibana de Comédias. We do not have their contact. Now in Rio, the Companhia de Teatro Contemporâneo is bringing Ricardo Behrens, an Argentine that is part of the Professional League of Improvisation, to train professional actors. Occasionally there is an exchange of experiences through a forum at Yahoo-groups. But is still difficult to take part of that. We are still starting all that, but we know there are competitions among groups from different countries. Beyond that Latin-American league, there are groups of improvisation worldwide.

Is everyone in the group a college graduate?
Almost everyone. We are all 7 actors/  actresses graduated in Drama at UNIRIO "against" 2 that had a training school at Casa de Artes de Laranjeiras. Cléber is from São Paulo, had trained at FUNDARTE. 

Are you working only as an actress in the Nada?
We all participate on the organization and on the disorganization also. We all have  established function, and we change it once in a while. I had started selling tickets and working as administrator, besides being an actress. I used to sell the tickets, close the door, go to the stage and after pay the debts. So I got tired to pay debts and then Vini assumed the administration since then. Today I am part of the publicist and production staff. We all work in other projects also. Éber, Ivan and I are part of the Movimento Nova Dramaturgia Brasileira.

Are you giving workshops on theatresports?
Yes, we have several formats of workshops. We are giving them at different places for young, adult and for actors. We want to have a workshop for children. We have the intention to have, in a near future, varied teams of Impro and we could compete together, creating a Brazilian League.

What are the Nada's future projects?
After a season at Teatro Leblom and the Hipodromo, we are going to perform at Teatro do Jockey, from April to May 2006. At this moment, we are preparing a second performance, called Nada Contra. We will bring other kinds of games and rules. The team is the same.

Images - Eduardo Pereira

COMPANHIA TEATRO DO NADA
www.teatrodonada.com.br
contato@teatrodonada.com.br

Artistic Direction - Luca de Castro
Production - Cia Teatro do Nada
Executive Producer - Vini Messias
Production Assistant - Juliana Pamplona
Lighting Improviser - Apolo Pinto e Aurora dos Campos.
Sound Improviser - Ivan Fernandes.
Improvisers - Ana Ribeiro, Ana Paula Novellino, Cláudio Amado, Éber Inácio, Elisa Pragana, Luca de Castro, Mario Hermeto, Patrícia Pinho, Vinicius Messias, Cleber Tollini

TAKE NOTE
Teatro do Nada
Every Tuesday, 9PM
From April 3 to May 30 2006
Teatro do Jóckey - Centro de Referência do Teatro Infantil
Rua Mario Ribeiro, 410 – Lagoa  - Rio de Janeiro - RJ