Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Physical Theater	Customer Rating:
Very good, I am from México and can read it and apply it in my teachings. I specialize in physiscal theater and I still can grab allot of exercises from it.

The gold standard ...	Customer Rating:
A good student must always seek a master, and Viola Spolin is a master of improvisational theatre. The book is filled with powerful games and information to support not only improvisational theatre, but truthful acting and being "in the moment", a hallmark not only of improvisational theatre, but acting.

Very dry, like a boring textbook ... odd, stilted language.

Customer Rating:

There's something strange about the way this book is written ... I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's MEANT to be a TEXTBOOK, but ... it's just strange. It's like, you would think that the subject matter (improvisation) would be associated with a lot of excitement and energy, lots of enthusiasm ... instead, it's just a dry, boring textbook. Very cold and impersonal. The other books I've been reading, including Keith Johnstone's IMPRO, Chalma Halpern's TRUTH IN COMEDY, and Mick Napier's IMPROVISE, are written with enthusiasm and what seems like genuine joy ... the way you'd think a book on improv should be. Another thing that was odd - one of the co-authors is Paul Sills, who is apparently Viola Spolin's son ... yet in his "Foreward" (or maybe it's the introduction), he refers to her only as "Viola Spolin" this and "Viola Spolin" that ... again it just seemed so impersonal, like he was giving an academic speech before a bunch of old professors. No warmth at all. And all through the book, Viola Spolin uses the same cold, impersonal language to talk about what should be fun, amusing memories - like, instead of saying "Once in one of my classes there was etc. etc." she'll say "In a class taught by this author, an incident occured at which etc etc" ... These are minor things, I guess ... maybe I'm asking too much but I guess the bottom line is that, for me, this book (unlike the other books I've mentioned) failed to convey any sense of the thrill and delight that improv is.

Spolin Is Better Than NyQuil !

Customer Rating:

After reading the first page of Spolin's first chapter I was intrigued. Several pages later, I was sound asleep. I attribute this to the fact that Viola Solin, when she's theorizing, writes like Immanuel Kant tripping on acid. This was especially discouraging, since I had just finished reading Audition by Michael Shurtleff, which is the most clearly written and insightful book on acting anyone could ever ask for. Skimming the exercise descriptions, I found some of them tedious ("Play a salesman with only your calves!") and some of them risible ("Scream with your elbow!"). Also, her chapter on Emotion seems to contradict the entire Method acting tradition, which, thankfully, she is in no danger of overthrowing. I'm sure that there are some useful points that this book makes, or might make through its exercises, if I cared to try them. But thanks to Spolin's soporific word-salad, her points are a pleasure to miss.

If you can only buy one book.

Customer Rating:

In fact any other book you may buy will have most of spolins ideas. If you are guiding any one in an improvisational education. this is the best. It is very important for improvisers to learn about comedic improv through spolins techniques. all other forms of improv is about the joke which lets face it is only funny because you know the performers. but spolin allows you to discover the scene not the joke. and if you are naturally a funny person chances are your scene will be funny. this is not to say that the funniest guy wont have a serious scene .some times when an improv is a true improv you have to let it be what it is whatever it is. great book. great book .fun book. gauranteed to give you guru status if you follow her instruction. after all you will be giving the most wonderful gift to all your students. your students will develope as improvisers the correct way and will be able to work with anyone.