Keith Johnstone

Suppose Mozart had tried to be original? It would have been like a man at the North Pole trying to walk north,…

— Keith Johnstone

An artist who is inspired is being obvious. He’s not making any decisions, he’s not weighing one idea against another. He’s accepting…

— Keith Johnstone

I was crazy about silent comedy - in the old days, and crazy about Japanese movies.

— Keith Johnstone

The problem's always been to deal with the fear.Cos the fear is pretty . . . it ruins everybody really.

— Keith Johnstone

None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public.

— Keith Johnstone

Wherever you go it's the same fear. And the same protective devices. There is one big error I think and partly my…

— Keith Johnstone

Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.

— Keith Johnstone

I left my theatre the Loose Moose almost twenty years ago, and I hardly ever go back. Sometimes I go back to…

— Keith Johnstone

There are people who prefer to say ‘Yes’, and there are people who prefer to say ‘No’. Those who say ‘Yes’ are…

— Keith Johnstone

I don't even think you should tell the audience you're improvising. It's like an apology in case it's bad : 'we're just…

— Keith Johnstone

You can sort of trick people into being really good. Even if they didn't know anything.

— Keith Johnstone

The best laughs are on the recognition of truth.

— Keith Johnstone

If you have a good idea, open your mouth and say something else.

— Keith Johnstone

Enjoy things even when you’re screwing up.

— Keith Johnstone

My feeling is the moment the theatre is not full you have to do something else. But most people somehow think 'If…

— Keith Johnstone

Light entertainment means it mustn't teach you anything.

— Keith Johnstone

Very hard to get an audience. So if you're going to fill the theatre, you can't just rely on old stuff.

— Keith Johnstone

I see a great lack of stories around. I bought six literary magazines and looked through them to see what people were…

— Keith Johnstone

Every theatre worth anything has somebody in the middle of it who is driving it; like Joan Littlewood with her theatre.

— Keith Johnstone

Trying to do better is trying to be better than you actually are, and I don't think you can do that.

— Keith Johnstone

If people had no fear, you'd hardly need to have to teach them. It's the fear that screws everything up.

— Keith Johnstone

Most people I meet are secretly convinced that they’re a little crazier than the average person. People understand the energy necessary to…

— Keith Johnstone

Every time you go the way the audience expects, they'll think you're original. People laugh with pleasure at the obvious.

— Keith Johnstone

“Sanity is actually a pretence, a way we learn to behave. We keep this pretence up because we don't want to be…

— Keith Johnstone

In a normal education everything is designed to suppress spontaneity, but I wanted to develop it.

— Keith Johnstone