Imagi-Nations Impro: When Worlds Connect
Three continents, two-person scenes, one group with visual impairments
The Zoom room is hushed and expectant, as Gladys in Lagos, Nigeria, says calmly, in a slow, mellifluous voice: “I am a beautiful garden.” We’re playing the improvisation game ‘We Go Together’, and the dozen or so participants and facilitators are captivated by her offer. The tiniest beat – then Steve, from London, UK, says, briskly and unapologetically: “I am a lawnmower!” The room erupts in laughter yet again as the two improvisers have a chat, in character, about their hopes, their bonds, their differences. The scene is warm, funny and satisfying – like they’ve known each other for years. They met one hour before and they’ve only ever met on Zoom.
Zoom improv comedy: a space to play and tell stories across Europe, Africa, India.
It’s September 2020 and this session is one of a trio of offerings called Imagi-Nations Impro, set up under the umbrella of the Global Play Brigade (GPB). Three continents (India, Africa, Europe) and 16 participants have come together to play, invent stories and have fun. After the endless, exhausting complexities of 2020 it’s a real tonic; a moment where we can all take time to relax, laugh and connect.
Imagi-Nations Impro was a collaboration between the UK’s Extant (the award-winning theatre company comprised of artists with visual impairments) and EnAble India (the award-winning social innovation NGO who create opportunities for persons with various types of disability). This trial project, which invited only participants with vision impairments (V.I.), was born from my prior connection with Extant founder Maria Oshodi. Add a new bond I made with Kavya Srinivasan, a Bangalore-based facilitator / story-teller whom I met, post-COVID, through the new online global improv networks that were springing up across the world.
Doors opened in 2020 that we simply weren’t expecting. Migration online due to the pandemic has spurred all coaches, facilitators and performers to create innovative online offerings, inevitably making deep global friendships that we’d have not known otherwise.
Our partners in this trial project were (and are) amazing. The Extant crew are exceptional theatre-makers: hilarious, professional, and incredibly witty and fast. And when I met Kavya online in June and I heard how she was working with women in India who were enthusiastic but brand-new to story, performance and play, we realised this was an exciting opportunity for some cross-cultural fun.
Kavya called her colleague, Shalini Jacob (a life / wellness coach and outreach officer for EnAble India) and they got in touch with their group of young women with sight impairments who live across a number of Indian states: Mizoram, Assam, Kerala and Karnataka.
“I was looking for a cross-cultural connect to hone the communication skills and confidence for my candidates”, shared Shalini. “These 22-35-year-olds all have vision impairment and are training to be medical tactile practitioners; their job will be to complete early breast-cancer detection by physical examination. English isn’t their first language, they’ve only just been introduced to theatre practice, and for most of them, this was their first time connecting with folks from a different country. This was a totally different experience for them – it was online, spontaneous; lots of learning and fun. It’s been amazing.”
Extant’s founder Maria Oshodi had a particular lightbulb moment in the early planning stages, realising that Nigeria is in the same time zone as London and keen to have three continents involved, invited her V.I. connections over in Lagos to join in.
“It unlocked the whole project for me, to find that we could be playing with people in the same hour even though they were on a different continent. It was thrilling to improvise with people in Nigeria and India in the same session. To open up creativity across borders with V.I. people on continents we haven’t engaged with before was awesome.”
Over the three sessions, the “rooms” merrily and adroitly surfed impro scenes, stories and games about aliens, flying saucers, champagne picnics, superheroes, jungle treks, music festivals, cockroaches, dinosaurs, dates and dinner parties. Did the participants enjoy it? Yes! Liz in the UK said, “It’s been great fun – and very exciting to meet people across the globe. As improvisers, it makes us listen more.” “I enjoyed talking in gibberish and switching roles and it was interesting meeting lots of people with different mindsets,” agrees Deeksha in India. “I was able to connect.” Kayode, over in Nigeria, sums it up: “It was actually beautiful! I’m looking forward to more.”
The Global Play Brigade provides free online play sessions on Zoom and WhatsApp. If you wish to volunteer, make a donation, or join one of our play sessions, please go to www.globalplaybrigade.org.
Extant: www.extant.org.uk
EnAble India: www.enableindia.org
Kavya Srinivasan: www.kavyasrinivasan.art
Victoria Hogg: www.theofferbank.co.uk