Do Cats Do Improv?

This blog is intended to provide information, address concerns, and clear up fallacies about the art of improvisation. I welcome any and all questions.

Question from D.R.: “Do cats improv?”

Cats are spontaneous, but unfortunately, most cats do not follow the rules of improv: especially make your partner look good and say yes.

In fact, when it comes to partnering, most cats are notorious for doing what un-makes a scene: each wants to claim the whole stage, refusing to share it at all. This lack of generosity is very disappointing because a harmonious relationship between partners is a joy to witness. When both improvisers are tuned in to each other–paying attention to and taking their cue from what their partner is saying and doing–the resulting back-and-forth interaction can be as exciting as a well-played ping pong match.

What cats are capable of doing well is what is called “raising the stakes”– making strong choices in the action of the characters to alter the course of a scene, advancing it and making the events have greater consequences for the characters. However, while upping or raising the stakes usually enhances a scene, in the case of cats doing improv, it often leads to all out turf war after the initial advance.

Then there is the matter of “accepting” – saying “yes” to what is offered, so that anything said or done by your partner is a gift given to you that you receive with gratitude and delight and offer a piece of dialogue or action in return, thus building the scene. Again, for cats, receiving can be no trouble, indeed they seem to expect that they will be given gifts…attention, treats, toys. It’s just that when it comes to giving, how cats give is often based on a whim (theirs), and while they might reciprocate for a time, they might also suddenly refuse to continue the scene by lying down or exiting abruptly, or simply take all the focus by grooming ferociously.

I started out by saying that cats are generally remiss in following the rules of improv. However, there is an area in which cats excel: focus. We have all seen the unwavering attention cats direct to an object of interest. Unfortunately, the object is more “prey” than “partner,” but the level of commitment cats exhibit in this situation is awesomely impressive. Human improvisers seeking to become adept in this area could do no better than to study cats in performance of this skill and truly learn from the masters.