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Excerpts from the doctoral dissertation “Tehnici de dezvoltare și antrenare a creativității specifice Artei Actorului” (Techniques for Developing and Training Creativity Specific to the Art of Acting), completed at the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest, in 2018.
Translated from the original Romanian text. Omissions from the dissertation are indicated by […].
3.1. Precontextual Improvisation
Given that the attributes of creativity are similar to those of improvisational theatre, I propose precontextual improvisation as a technique for developing actors’ creativity when working on roles based on pre-written dramatic texts.
When I chose the term “pre-con-textual”, I had in mind both the meanings of the prefixes pre- and con- (“before the text” and “together with the text”, respectively), as well as the meaning derived from the word pretext (a false reason).
The initial term I considered was pretextual improvisation, which described scenic improvisation before actors began working with the playwright’s text, a period similar to the études used in Action Analysis. However, during the final stage of my doctoral research, after conducting the experiments and while developing and attempting to organise the material written over four years into a coherent whole, I realised that scenic improvisation needed to be not only pretextual but also contextual.
The concept of periodisation in sports training allowed me to distinguish two stages in theatrical rehearsals that make use of precontextual improvisation:
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- the pretextual stage (the stage corresponding to the discovery of personal creative material within the playwright’s dramatic material, similar to action analysis); and
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- the contextual stage (the stage that takes place alongside work on the role, once the playwright’s text has been assimilated).
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Returning to the two stages the actor goes through before the premiere, namely pretextual and contextual improvisation, the approach I propose is based on principles, exercises and structures borrowed from improvisational theatre, with the aim that all the material used in improvisation should originate from and be grounded in the play itself.
From this point of view, precontextual improvisation resembles Stanislavski’s well-known études, although the structures used are specific to improvisational theatre. The emphasis is not at all on the value of the text invented through improvisation, or on the story, but solely on stimulating the actor’s creativity in order to achieve the final product: a role based on a pre-written text.
As a conceptual approach, I propose Viola Spolin’s perspective (improvisation as a process), training models and methodologies borrowed from elite sports (periodisation of training, peak performance, recovery and the competition period), and techniques, exercises and principles drawn from the improvisational theatre of Keith Johnstone and Del Close.
The novelty of the approach lies in applying the principles and exercises of improvisational theatre not for their own sake, nor simply to develop dramatic material (as in the case of the Second City school), nor with the final aim of producing an improvisational theatre performance in a particular format (for example, Del Close’s “Harold” format or Keith Johnstone’s Theatresports), but in consciously, deliberately and pragmatically seeking to develop an actor’s role in a theatre production based on a pre-written text through precontextual improvisation.
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3.3. Objectives of Precontextual Improvisation
The main objective is to provide support during rehearsals for a theatre production with a written text and a director. Precontextual improvisation can be used either as a primary approach or as a complementary one. In the case of a complementary approach, the director may continue to use their own approach as the main method, while drawing on precontextual improvisation whenever necessary. The two approaches are neither mutually exclusive nor do they negatively affect one another.
One of the advantages of working through improvisation is its unrepeatability. Every improvisation is unique and unrepeatable. The actors’ attention is real, and their words are real, created spontaneously, here and now. Because the improviser must respond to the partner’s unplanned actions, there is no time to prepare or pretend.
Freed from the grip of a “character” that might distance the improviser from their own self, the improviser focuses only on the specific rules of the game, having neither the time nor the resources to observe themselves from the outside or to censor themselves.
As a training method, games borrowed from improvisational theatre can bring freshness where working on a role has become a chore, bring discoveries where there are only things already known, and enrich situations previously explored only through the playwright’s text.
Entering the unknown territory of improvisation, with attention constantly alert to the partner’s unpredictable actions and to the specific rules of the game, the actor forgets how to “act”, thus giving themselves the chance to respond in a lively, spontaneous and unpredictable way.
Unlike improvisational theatre, where suggestions are provided by the audience, in precontextual improvisation all suggestions for the games are drawn from the text itself.
For example, if a scene is being rehearsed normally and the “trainer” (the director or teacher) says to an actor after a line, “let me think”, the actor who has just spoken must take a step forward and verbalise the inner monologue of the situation they are experiencing. Once they have finished, they return to their relationship with the partner, and the scene continues.
Breaking down the text into improvisational games, a process the actors do not know about beforehand but discover during rehearsals, results in a higher degree of adaptability, reduces rational self-censorship and encourages thinking through action.
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Source: Dumitrescu, Bogdan-Mihail (2018). Tehnici de dezvoltare și antrenare a creativității specifice Artei Actorului (Techniques for Developing and Training Creativity Specific to the Art of Acting). Doctoral dissertation, National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest, Part III, Chapter 3, Sections 3.1 and 3.3, pp. 172–175.
Partially republished on RetroDag, October 2026. Translated from Romanian.