KARACHI: Faris Khalid, previously working with improvisational comedy troupe BlackFish, held an improvisation acting workshop at The Second Floor on Sunday.

With no registration required and free entry for anyone interested in learning, the workshop had a small group of nervous but willing participants.

While interacting with the participants, Mr Khalid said: “With improv the idea is to be spontaneous and stumble across an interesting thought or sentence without feeling awkward because the basic premise of improv is to entertain.”

With a number of basic exercises such as looking for non-verbal cues, listening to what the person next to you is saying and responding to it accordingly, he introduced an exercise named “last word first”.

The idea was to start a conversation with the last word a person says at the end of a sentence. A married couple volunteered to go first.

The conversation that ensued between them eventually turned quite interesting. The couple began talking about holidays, but ended up with Mars and Miss India.

The improvisational theatre has come a long way but the longevity of the art form depends on exploring a variety of genres aligned with it.

“When we started off doing improv with Blackfish in 2002, there were not many people into it,” he said while speaking to Dawn during a five-minute break. “Over the years many people have joined in, but not many are doing it in long form. It’s not about being a funny guy. Much about improv is still left unexplored such as dealing with non-comedic areas, etc.”

Directed by Azfar Ali, ‘Light on Hai’ — which branched out from comedy troupe ‘Aisa Karoge Toh Kaun Ayega’ — was the first improvisational theatre troupe that made it to television. However, the programme eventually discontinued after running for just two seasons. “They did well initially. The National Academy of Performing Arts teaches and does improv theatre. Others are technically weak as they are not going forward with it, rather focusing just on being funny.”

Most members of BlackFish have carved a name for themselves — especially its founder Saad Haroon, who is internationally renowned for his stand-up performances — Khalid has also moved on, and is currently working on a documentary with the future of improvisational theatre as its premise.

Continuing with the exercises, the next group of participants were taught about using their voice “to learn not what to say, but how to say it”, as Khalid put it.

“It is pure instinct you are acting on,” he said after the exercise was over, “if you get the cues right, your job is done.”

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2014