Robert Poynton
A cartoony hand-drawn portrait of Robert Poynton

Applied Improvisation

I have been working with ideas, tools, and language drawn from improvisational theatre for over twenty-five years. 

We all improvise – no one has a script for their life (or their work) and we constantly have to deal with the unexpected and the uncertain. Life is a responsive, adaptive dance and yet we devote hardly any time to develop our improvisational skill or capacity. 

I have run experiential workshops and programmes for clients like Chanel, Nike, Airbus, and the BBC and at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. 

Through playful participation, you give people an experience of the simple ideas that improv is based on, quickly and easily, and then connect them to the fabric of everyday work and life. 

My original Do Lecture explains these ideas.

This all began some time near the end of the last century when I met Gary Hirsch and together we created On Your Feet. My own particular take on this (there are many people doing applied improvisation) has focused on the connections between improvisation and complexity, linking the arts and science through a playful experiential method.

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