Gregor Ruttner: G’scheitern

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Gregor Ruttner: Hello everybody, I'm really
excited to be here today

as this is not only my first congress as a
speaker but also a visitor

so I'm really stunned by what I've seen in
the last couple of days

So, I will talk about the art of failure taught
by improv theatre

and before I do that I will talk about theate
in general

First, you heard a bit about my profession

I work as a youth theatre leader,

so everyday I meet young people from the age
of 5 to 20, young adult,

and together we create a piece of theatre

And when you work with young people in the field of youth theatre

you borrow loads of methods of the improv theatre

and improv theatre give you a very special mindset

about how to fuse certain things in life

and about how to handle mistakes.

But as I said first, what is theatre?

So, theatre is, of course, like this.

So, it's loads of impressions, loads of expressions, loads of emotion,

it's very dramatic.

This is also where the word dramatic comes from: drama, theatre.

But when you look behind the curtain, theatre is sometimes like this:

So, you come to rehearsal,
best prepared, and you're full of energy

and you want to give your best

and then there're all the others in the rehearsal and you think like:

why are they not here, 100%? Where is the energy?

Why didn't they learn the text? And, am I
the only one in here, who wants to work seriously?

What I can tell you is that the others in
your theatre group think the same, and also

about you

So, this is something in theatre that sometimes,
or most of the times, is because of this:

So, theatre is loads about text and memorizing lines

and I can talk about myself when I have acting jobs

So, it's quite easy to remember the lines
at home

when you're on your own and all all alone

and you know when to stop and then you know
that another person will say something

but you don't remember what the person will say

So, you don't know where to start again and
then your partner thinks, like,

he's not prepared.
Like I'm waiting for you, where is your line?

So, you gonna have a bad time.

And theatre is about collaboration, about
cooperation

about doing something together

and this is very important and we will come
back to that in a few minutes again.

But first the last picture, because this is
like the most important rule in theatre,

don't ever argue with the director.

Directors are... let's say, very special kind of people

They have a certain idea of what it should
look like on stage in their head

and they want you to put that on the stage

and of course you're not inside the head of
the director

so you cannot ever succeed.

So, if the director says,
you have to stand there, just stand there.

And don't say:
but here I think it would be better.

Just don't do it.

But, this is a very strict image of theatre
and this is of course traditional theatre

So, in the 20th century people came up with
the idea of improv theatre.

And this cannot happen to you when you do
improv theatre

So you cannot forget your lines, because improv
theatre is about doing something spontaneously,

create something great out of something that
hasn't been there a few seconds ago.

And, Improvtheatre is trained and not rehearsed

so, you call it an improv training and not
an improv rehearsal

because you have some games that you get to
know and then you train them with your partners

and later you will present them on the stage.

And, to giv you a short example of improv
theatre, I will play a video of an improv group

and they will play a game called
"I am a tree"

and the game is called "I am a tree", because
at the start the person enters the stage and says:

I'm a tree, and becomes the tree with the
whole body

and then a second person enters the stage
immediately after that

so with the first thought he or she has, and
says for example:

I'm an apple, becomes the apple

and then a third person enters the stage with,
like, I'm a worm.

So we have tree, apple, worm. And then the
tree person chooses one other person and says,

I take it.

So for example, says: I take the worm.

And then the tree and the worm leave the stage
and the apple is all alone on the stage

and again repeats it: I'm an apple.

And then some people in the improv group,
when they think of apple they don't think

of the fruit, but of the computer company

so they say, like, I'm an iPhone, and make
themselves very thin

and then a third person comes and says, I'm
a bad battery life,

and is dying

Thank you for that (laughs)

Okay, but now let's have a look onto the video.

Applause

- Hi everybody, where gonna do some improv for you

it's completely unscripted created on the spot,

never to be seen again and never seen before.

- I am a tree
makes dinging sound

Audience: Laughter

- I'm a tree!
- I'm a butterfly

- I'm a tyre swing

- I'll take the tyre swing!

- I'm a butterfly
- I'm a branch

- I'm a falling leaf
- I'll take the falling leaf

- I'm a branch
- I'm a banker

- I'm a bowl of mints

- I'll take the banker!
- I'm a bowl of mints

- I'm a mint spoon
- I'm an awkward silence

- I'll take the mint spoon

- I'm an awkward silence
- I'm a boyfriend

- I'm a racoon

- I'll take the racoon

- I'm a boyfriend
- I'm a girlfriend

- I'm an engagement ring on the floor

- (laughs) I'll take the engagement
ring

- I'm a girlfriend
- I'm a little extra pounded

- I'm a tote bag
- I'll take the tote bag

- I'm a little extra pounded
- I'm a Nascar fan

Laughter

- I'm arthritis
- I take the Nascar fan

- I'm arthritis
- I'm an aspirin

- I'm a person with a mouth

- I'll take the aspirin
- I'm a person with a mouth

- I'm a person with an ear
- I'm a person with neither of these things

- I take the person with the ear

- I'm a person with neiter of these things
- I am a giant bag of money

- I'm a burglar

- I take the bag of money
- I'm a burglar

- I'm an open window
- I'm a priceless antiquity

- I take the priceleyy antiquity
- I'm an open window

- I'm an escaping teen
- I'm a curtain blowing in the wind

- I take the curtain
- I'm an escaping teen

- I'm a tree
Laughter

Cheering

Applause

Ruttner: So we see the game ends where there's
the tree again

so shouldn't last for more than 3 minutes
as we've seen here

but, why this also is a good example is, because
we've seen at some points

that 2 or even more people wanted to enter
the stage at the same time

but they managed that just one person did.

And this is very important, as I said.

Theatre is about collaboration, about team work

so, this is what you train in improv training.

At this point of the talk there will be a
quote, so there it is.

It's a quote from Keith Johnston

Keith Johnstone is like the godfather of improv theatre

He created the format of theatre sports

which is when 2 improv theatre groups come together

and play some special kinds of games against each other

and then the audience decides which group
did a better job and then the winner wins a small price

And he also invented most of the games that
are played in todays improve scene

For eample this "I am a Tree" game

So, and he says: "Good improvisors seem telepathic;

everything looks pre-arranged,

this is because they accept all offers made
--

which is something no 'normal' person would do."

So, and this is like the basic idea of improv theatre:

take every change you get, take all offers made.

Now we see another short video

This is a Google Tech Talk where Tina Fey
was invited by Eric Schmidt

who was at that time the CEO of Google, now
is the CEO of Alphabet, you know the stories

and he talks with Tina Fey, she's a very famous
American actress, writer, director and comedian

I'm sure most of you know her

And she explains in a very good way the basic
rules of improv

So let's have a look!

Eric Schmidt: It has a lot of lessons in it.
So for example,

Stop! I've got a gun!

Tina Fey: The gun, the gun I gave you for
our wedding anniversary, Eric?

How could you?

Schmidt: We're not married!
Fey: Aha! We're not married is a denial,

we've learned our first improv lesson

Laughter

Fey: It's very hard, it takes a long time
to learn

Schmidt: This is the problem with an engineer
trying to learn

Fey: laughs

Fey: It takes a long time to learn those basic
rules of improv

Schmidt: So why don't you take us
through them, they're in the book

Fey: Sure, they're in the book, cause I have
visited improviser at Second City, and a place

called Improv Olympic in Chicago

and I talk in the book about improv having
really kind of changed my professional life

and even sort of my world view a bit

There're some basic rules of improvisation
when you're creating something out of nothing

The first rule is to agree, which is to say yes

which we didn't do that successfully

You said the phrase, I have a gun. And I didn't
say: That's not a gun, that's your finger

Laughter

Schmidt: Which is what a Google person would
say

Fey: Yeah, well I don't know
Laughter

Fey: And we agreed. And next rule is: Yes, and...

Which is to add-on to what you have already
agreed upon

So: The gun, the gun I gave you for our wedding
anniversary?

How could you?

And then we hit a brick wall, Eric

Laughter

But it's a very, you know... it's funny, because
some very famous comedians have...

there is an old story about Joan Rivers was
a The Second City briefly in 1959 ... 1960

and they used this in class at Second City all the time

that there was someone came in. you know

"I want a divorce" was the beginning of the scene

She said: I want a divorce. And whoever was
with her would say: But what about the children?

And she said: We don't have any children

Which in the moment got a big laugh

Schmidt: Which stops it.
Fey: but killed the scene.

And so that's a... It's a very...
Schmidt: My response would be...

Fey: Human Instinct
Schmidt: Yes, we have children, I just didn't tell you

that's why we're getting divorced
Fey: Yes, yes!

Fey: I have some other children...
Schmidt: Yes

Fey: This is exactly what, yeah

Ruttner: So at least Eric Schmidt learned
very fast

Okay, let's have a look onto the 4 rules she said

So, the first one is to agree, to say yes

So, when I say, for example:
Look what I've got here, it's the brand new iPhone 7

It has an astonishing battery life.
It finally lasts for a whole day

then please don't say:
That's never possible, that must be a Samsung Galaxy

Don't say that, just say:
Oh cool

And then add something, this is the 2nd rule

Not only say "yes", say "yes, and...".

So, for example:
Oh cool, but I see you had to buy now this

fancy apple leather backpack to carry it with you

because now it is four times thicker than
before and it just cost, what did you say,

a 1000 Euros?

- Yes, now I can spend 2000 Euros for my phone,
isn't this amazing?

So, something like this.

The 3rd rule is: Make statements, so give
something to play with

Don't say: Look what I've got here!

Then this person can just say: Wow. What is it.

Laughter

And number 4 is: There are no mistakes,
only opportunities,

which brings us back to the topic of this talk

So, when I say, look what I've got here, brand
new iPhone 7, astonishing battery life...

don't say, no, that must be a Samsung Galaxy,
as I just said.

But the person did. So what to do now?

Then, you can help, you see there was a mistake,
take it as an opportunity and say:

Oh, they are really good now at copying Apple's
design, even put an apple on the backside.

Something like this.

So, these are the four rules of improv by
Tine Fey and the last one, there are no mistakes,

only opportunities

So, what does that say to us?

Has it something to do with this very infamous
quote, "It's not a bug, it's a feature"?

Well, let's see

Important thing is to take every chance you
get, this is important

So, when you play improv theatre with another
person, then really take every chance you get

So, I give the person loads of stuff, like
it's the iPhone 7, it's brand new,

astonishing battery life and so on

So this person has many choices to play with now

Second, if something goes wrong, try to make
the best out of it, without pretend that it

didn't happen at all

So, everybody would figure out that he made
a mistake when he said, no, this must be a

samsung galaxy, oh, ah, I mean... yeah, nice iPhone

So, this is bad he wanted to pretend that
it didn't happen

So when we look onto it's not a bug, it's
a feature, we could rather say, like,

Yeah, it's a bug, and we even implemented
10 bugs and the person who finds all 10 of

them gets a very fancy price

So, something like this would be out of the
mind of improv theatre

And, the last point, most of the times there
is somebody to support you

I say most of the times, in improv theatre
always there is someone to support you

In life, yeah we know there are situations
where there isn't somebody to support you

But, if we have a closer look, in many situations
there would be somebody.

So in improv theatre, that means, like, when
I say: no, this is a Samsung Galaxy

And then this person stays, like, oh, what
to do now?

Then, a third person could enter the stage
of the improv group and says, like,

I'm a very fancy patent lawyer, I know all
the stuff about Samsung and Apple, so let

me have a look

So then it would be 3 people and at that time
the other 2 could think about it

Now we have a look onto Del Close's 11 Commandments

So he has not 4 rules, but 11

Del Close was a very famous and very popular
coach on improv for actors and for comedians

And he had these 11 commandments

So let us have a look onto number 1, it's:

"You are all supporting actors"

Again, theatre is about collaboration, it's
team work based

So, when you work in a team don't try to be
the best in the team, because then you are

not a team, then you are against each other

So, when you work in a team, do it a a team,
you are all supporting actors, this is number 1

Number 2: Always check your impulses

So, when you want to take every chance you
get, you have to look out for them, so, where

could be a chance to get?

So be aware all the time.

Number 3: Never enter a scene unless you are
needed.

This is very important, especially for example
for me, when I work with young people every day

So, of course there will be some situations
where we think:

Yeah, the young people won't manage to do
it,

I have to step in now and help them,
but most of the times that's not necessary

and as we heard, at Jugend Hackt today, like,
of course they do mistakes, but they learn

somethings of the mistakes

So, really, just enter the scene when you
are needed

and not few seconds before

And this is very hard to manage and you have
to train that also

because when you're doing improv theatre you
always want to be on the stage of course

so, be sure to just enter the stage when you're needed

Number 4: Save your fellow actor, don't worry
about the piece

This is also important, when you work in a
team, and somebody needs help,

or struggles a bit around

like this no, this must be Samsung Galaxy,
don't think, oh, you have ruined the scene,

what can we do now?

Just do something to help your partner and
the piece will be good again

Number 5: Your prime responsibility is to
support

As we just heard, so you all work in a team

so don't play against each other, play together

support each other and then the outcome will
be much more nicer

Number 6: Work at the top of your brains at
all times

This is the important thing, act out your
first thought

So when we look back on this I am a Tree thing,
like, the person first enters the stage

I am a Tree

and the other is like, hm, tree, this could
be in a forest,

this could be garden

oh, it's christmas at the moment, I could
do something about christmas trees...

The audience doesn't get your thoughts, they
just see what you do

So, in reality nothing would happen in this
10 seconds while the person thinks

So when your first thought is tree, forest,
then do something in a forest and don't think

too much about it

Number 7: Never underestimate or condescend
to your audience

So, when you have an idea, just do it

you can think later, when the piece is over,

did the audience get
what I wanted to tell them

Because of course at least one person will get

what you want to show
and most of the times everybody got it

Number 8: No jokes unless it is tipped in
front that it is a joke

So, if you want to be funny, it's always good
not to try to be funny

So, the most funniest situations on the stage
come out

when you don't prepare a joke
and want to do something

just act in the moment and then

the most funniest situations will come up

and of course when you enter the stage:
"Do you want to hear a joke?"

and the other person says yes,

then don't say, no, I'm not allowed,

but then tell your damn joke
but then continue the scene

Number 9: Trust is very important

Trust your fellow actors to support you,
trust them to come through

if you lay something heavy on them

and trust yourself is also important

To be able to trust my partners I have to
trust myself at the very beginning

then we can trust each other as a group and
we can rely on each other

So, again, team work.

When we do something as a team,

everybody in the team has to be sure
that what will come out

will come out in a very good way
because we're a very good team

and this is why we are a team, because we
help each other and support each other

Number 10: Avoid judging what is going down

This is very important. Don't be on the stage
and think all the time,

no, he broke one of these rules
this is very bad

Just do something, because when you start
looking for mistakes, you will find them

and this is something I'm sure everybody of
you have seen that in your own life

when you start to look for mistakes you will
find them

So in improv theatre this is the rule, don't
look for mistakes, then you won't find any

because every mistake is an opportunity,
don't look for mistakes, but for opportunities

And the last commandment is: Listen

So again, when you work in a team,
you have to listen to each other

It's like spot every chance you get,
listen to each other

when I do something,
the other has to know about that.

Whichs brings us to a second quote:

Again, one of Keith Johnstone's quotes

"There are people you prefer to say 'yes'
and there are people who prefer to say 'no'.

Those you say 'yes' are rewarded
by the adventures they have.

Those who say 'no' are rewarded
by the safety they attain."

And this brings us to the motto of this congress,
Gated Communities.

Of course you can stay in your community
and maybe, or for sure,

this is very comfortable
and nothing will happen to you

and you are protected in your community

but you will miss so many things
that are out there

when you step out of your community

So, say Yes and then you get new adventures

So, this is what I want to end with because
this is also the motto of this congress,

break the borders, break the rules,
stay hungry

Thank you very much

Applause

Herald: Thanks very much for the talk

So if you have any questions, please line
up at the microphones

and we will get you answers to that

No questions from the internet...

Oh there is a questions over there
at mic number 7

Q: Do you practice your talk
or do you improvise?

Ruttner: Very good question, I'm sure you
heard it, I'm not a native english speaker

so I said in the beginning when we had a quick
chat before, like, when I would have done

the talk in German I would have improvised

As it is in English, I improvised it once,
tried to remember it, this was 3 days ago,

at home

and then yesterday and today I repeated it
again

so, like again, not a rehearsal, I didn't
have notes or anything, I just tried to repeat

it and to train it

so, yeah, kind of

Engel: Okay, mic number 2

Q: I once had an improv course and I definitely
want to do it again

especially after just seeing your talk, so
thanks for the opportunity

Ruttner: Thank you

Q: What I wondered about, I have another friend
at another conference or so,

and he also did improv theatre and during
the conference they actually just played with

each other a bit

Do you know about these real life, like...
you know there is the improv theatre thing,

where you just are in some room

and you meet for the games and all that stuff

but the interaction like in reality

like even up to a game where you go like,
okay let's go to the hotel and try to get

a booked room, or something, you know?

Ruttner: Yeah, this is more like a training
for improv, it is like one of those shows

so it is a very good training of course, let's
try something out in the real world

so, this is called the hidden theatre

This could be improvised, because you don't
know what will happen when you are in a public space

what will the other people say, when you don't
tell them the hidden theatre

so of course you have to train improv for
that

but this genre is called hidden theatre

Q: But it is also part of the improve theme, basically

Ruttner: Yeah, you can train improv by doing it

Q: Okay, thanks

Ruttner: You're welcome

Engel: Next question from mic number 1 please

Q: I don't know anything about improv until now

but I'm very excited about that I am a Tree
game, and want to play it later

can you also maybe recommend another improv
game for noobs?

Ruttner: Yeah, I can definitely send you some
written down, so we can meet afterwards

I also wrote into the talk describtion that
there will be a workshop

this was very optimistic because I wanted
to do the talk first and then want to know

who would be interested in a workshop

so, if you find me after this talk and we are more
than 3 people who say I want to do the workshop

we can do something together tomorrow

Applause

Ruttner: (laughing) More than 3 but
not more than 20 please

Engel: Okay, so thanks very much for attending
the talk

Thanks very much for giving the talk

If you have any more questions to Gregor,
please find him in the foyer in front of the

Hall 2. Thank you

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