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This established text explores the history, theory and practice of improvisation within the rapidly changing field of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. New material includes improvisation in film, stand-up comedy, LARPing, applied theatre and theatre sports. It contains a wealth of new exercises and examples from contemporary practitioners.

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Improvisation is a tool for many things: performance training, rehearsal practice, playwriting, therapeutic interaction and somatic discovery. This book opens up the significance of improvisation across cultures, histories and ways of performing our life, offering key insights into the what, the how and the why of performance.
It traces the origins of improvisation and its influences, both as a social and political phenomenon and its position in performance training. Including history, theory and practice, this new edition encompasses Theatre and Performance Studies as well as Drama, acknowledging the rapid reconfiguration of these fields in recent years. Its coverage also now extends to improvisation in the USA, cinema, LARPing, street events and the improvising audience, while also looking at improv´s relationship to stand-up comedy, jazz, poetry and free movement practices. With an index of exercises and an extensive bibliography, this book is indispensable to students of improvisation.

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Acknowledgements.- Introduction and Preface to the Third Edition.- PART I: WHO? MAJOR PRACTITIONERS OF IMPROVISATION.- Improvisation in training, rehearsal practice and writing (Europe and the UK).- The improv scene (USA).- Improvisation in the creation of new modes of performance.- Improvisations for change: ´Paratheatre´, participation and performance work beyond the stage.- PART II: WHAT? THE PRACTICE OF IMPROVISATION: IMPROVISATION EXERCISES.- Preparation.- Working together.- Moving towards performance.- Improvisation for Scene-Building.- PART III: WHY? THE MEANINGS OF IMPROVISATION: TOWARDS A POETICS.- Enriching the communication of meaning.- Meaning and performance.- Notes.- Bibliography.- Index.

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´A much more wide-ranging and inclusive book than any I have used in teaching improvisation.´ - Dr Barbara McKean, University of Arizona, USA

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