Give your Foley artist or sound technician a break with this highly interactive structure that places one or more audience members in the hot seat.
The Basics
Variation One: An individual audience member is selected (perhaps through a brief audition process – see below). A suitable location or premise is obtained, and the volunteer provides both solicited and unsolicited sound effects that must then be incorporated and justified by the onstage players as they construct a scene. This variant strongly benefits from the use of a microphone and suitable sound system.
Variation Two: The entire audience is invited to provide the necessary sound effects for the improvised action, responding to clear cues and offers from the stage (and also, likely, introducing some of their own mayhem along the way).
Example
Player A hails a taxi from a street corner as Player B quickly assembles four chairs for the purpose, and the lights rise.
Player A: (calling) “Taxi!”
Player B slams on their breaks and waits for the audience volunteer who makes a suitable screeching sound. As the taxi driver mimes lowering their window, another noise is offered and acknowledged.
Player B: (leaning out their window) “It’s the end of my shift. Where are you going?”
Player A: (frantically) “I just need to get downtown. I’ll give you a twenty dollar tip.”
Player A retrieves a small coin purse for which the volunteer provides a “click.” Player B reluctantly gestures to the back of their cab.
Player B: “OK. Get in.”
As Player A reaches for the rear door, the volunteer provides a loud police siren instead. Both players take a second to process the choice before Player A, now a bank robber, mimes picking up a heavy duffle bag…
Player A: “There’s plenty more where that twenty came from if you can shake the coppers…”
The Focus
Set the audience up to shine and revel in the justification frenzy and struggle that generally ensues.
Traps and Tips
1.) Model the gimmick. Regardless of which version you’re exploring, it’s beneficial to demonstrate for the audience the give and take you’d ideally like to occur in the scene proper. In version one, a quick audition of two or three audience members can quickly determine who is game and has some basic requisite skills: for some unknown reason, my home venue always asks contenders to demonstrate their best cow sound and then the rest of the crowd selects their favorite. In either version, it’s helpful to offer a few obvious scenic beats prior to the game for the Foley artists to embellish. “If I open a creaky door, it’d sound like this…,” “If my alarm clock wakes me up, it might sound something like this…” Avoid burning your best or cleverest material here, but this strategy gives you a chance to measure the temperature of your new collaborator(s) so that you can adjust your expectations and coaching accordingly. I’d recommend eliciting your ask-for after this demonstration so that you don’t inadvertently use sounds that are likely to be needed later.
2.) Ground yourself. It may be a little unavoidable for the scene to devolve into a bit of a scramble, but this will certainly become the result if the scene starts with one panicked cue for an offstage sound effect after another. A scene that doesn’t begin with calmness and clarity won’t develop these crucial qualities further down the improv road. Endeavor to establish a helpful CROW quickly and efficiently so that you have these anchors to return to as needed. Yes, you don’t want the volunteers to feel superfluous, so you’ll want to invite them to play reasonably swiftly, but this needn’t consist of providing a cartooning string of prompts devoid of any subtext or emotional weight. Pace the game, trusting that greater mischief awaits and will land more triumphantly when it’s patiently earned.
3.) Give a little. It’s a common trap to become so anxious for your offstage collaborators that you might overwhelm them with well-intended but ultimately unhelpful directions. If you’ve made a call for an element with a likely sound, provide enough space for a response, remembering that a lack of a sound is also an offer, even if it isn’t what you might have wanted or expected. It’s difficult to really justify a delightfully unique (or aptly obvious) sound effect if you haven’t given it sufficient room to gestate. Overeager volunteers might require a little judicious editing, but their timid counterparts will generally vanish into the scenery if they feel stomped on in any way. Also, strive to respond to what you actually heard as opposed to what you might have requested or imagined. Much of the justification fun derives from embracing the odd approximation of a cued effect (although be cautious of not just making the scene one long commenting fest).
4.) Give a little more. Finally, remember that you’re not exclusively playing with the Foley volunteer(s). As the predictable and unpredictable offstage noises will usually have a mind and a tempo of their own, make sure you’re sharing the work and joy with your onstage scene partners. If you’ve a more aggressive improviser, it can become a trap to feel the need to always be the character to offer and justify everything, especially if you have an idea at the ready; but, such a style of play will quickly marginalize your teammates. If you’re a less aggressive improviser, make sure you are performing with sufficient stakes and energy so that you are more likely to be reactive and affected. In both instances, it’s good to keep front of mind that justifications need not always be rambling verbal choices but can be an expression, look, or physical adjustment as well.
In Performance
I like both of these variants for different reasons. Version one tends to enable a more reasonably paced and focused scene as you only have to wrangle the instincts of one guest. Version two, alternatively, often invites a little more chaos (and requires more deliberate pitches on the part of the players), but there is also something quite magical about experiencing an entire audience happily playing along.
Cheers, David Charles.
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Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
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