Circle of Expectation / Circles of Expectation
Johnstone's name for the cultural assumptions an audience brings to a scene — the narrative world's implied boundaries, which the improviser tilts just beyond.
Known for
- Audiences enjoy being led just outside their expectations; too far out and they disengage.
- Informs Johnstone's tilt theory: effective tilts change the platform without shattering the established world.
- Most thoroughly developed in Impro for Storytellers (1999).
Connected to
People
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Forms