The Format

Director and improviser Gerald Weber from Zürich came to the Netherlands to teach the weekend workshop The Format. 

The Friday evening workshop focused on acting for longforms in which both intermediate and advanced improvisers took part.

Gerald continued with a smaller group for a full weekend of exercises, training for longforms and developing an own longform. 

The participants started off with sharing one part of the home work they received: sharing their most embarrassing moment. This resulted in inspiring nicknames like 'Window Smasher' and 'Best of Nothing', that were used the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday Gerald took the participants along a number of longforms, including the Armando Diaz Experience and the Harold. The training focused on spontaneity, archetypes, stage directions, ensemble work and honesty on stage.

 

On Sunday Gerald and the participants discussed what inspired them in the different longforms, which lead to the making of the new format. This format included monologues, scenes that build on each other and unexpected story lines. Napoleon's Bagel was born and in the early evening presented to an audience. 

It was an intense weekend and a sparkling show. After the show, visitors told us about the references they saw to great philosophers, movies and the Ducktales.

But foremost, this weekend has enriched the participants in many ways. To quote one: "I have been looking for this for years". 

A big thank you to All Improv for making this happen.