This short-form language game provides a helpful variation of the mainstay Alphabet Game (which you can find here).
The Basics
The team acquires a five-letter word from the audience – ideally, with five unique letters. For the duration of the scene, players move through the letters in sequence (repeatedly) to begin each sequential sentence. A traditional ask-for, such as a location or relationship, can also be used to ground the action.
Example
The word “amber” and the scenario of “loud chewing” are taken. Players A and B sit at a restaurant table….
Player A: “Another great meal awaits us at my favorite Greek restaurant!”
Player B: “My amazing best friend gets whatever they want for surviving their senior year of grad school!”
Player A: “Brad, you really are too kind to me!”
A member of the waitstaff provides a dish of pita and dips, and Player B braces for the symphony of chewing that is about to follow.
Player B: “Every hurdle life has thrown at you, you have ably leaped…”
B cringes at the first loud smacking and chomping.
Player A: “Random question: are you feeling alright tonight? You seem a little jumpy…”
Player B: (looking for the waiter) “All is well – I just want to get us fresh drinks…”
The Focus
Stay in the moment even as your brain scrambles to remember the next letter and use these somewhat random prompts to help you discover less well-worn paths and dialogue.
Traps and Tips
1.) Alternate speakers. There will always be exceptions discovered from the needs of the moment, but the game is easier to follow when each starting letter comes from a different player as it’ll tend to confuse everyone if you embed two or more letters in a row in what might appear to be one speech act. If there has been a significant action between sentences (such as the arrival off the waiter above), you are onstage alone for a significant period of time, or your scene partner is clearly at a loss, then ignore this guideline but hit the next letter with a little extra oomph so that everyone knows what you are doing.
2.) Monitor dialogue length. Related to the above observation, huge meandering monologues can prove problematic if they become the norm. If the distance between each featured starting letter becomes extensive, the players and audience will struggle to know what should come next. Obviously, a little of this complexity can be delightful when it’s strategic and appears in a scene that is thriving; but generally, the give and take feels less strained when each character’s dialogue defaults to one sentence or so. Odd pauses… within… a line… don’t help in this regard, either.
3.) Be wary of lazy recycling. Unlike Alphabet Game, characters need to craft dialogue with a much less varied array of starting letters. There can be comedic fun found from playfully repeating the launch word occasionally – in the restaurant premise, “Brad” might become intoned each time “B” rolls around. However, if every letter just cues an echo of an earlier choice, the finesse and challenge of the game will suffer in a way that’s unlikely to appeal to your spectators. So, whenever possible, attempt to grab at a new and unexpected starting point rather than just going to the same well again and again.
4.) Err toward physicality. This is standard advice for all frames with a verbal restriction as it’s easy for players to become talking heads while they consider what word that begins with an “E” hasn’t been used yet. Something as simple as getting a physical habit, a hobby, or activity can be enough to keep the potential for movement alive.
5.) Robots needn’t apply. Finally, as you invariably fumble with your words a little, don’t neglect subtext and nuanced delivery. In many ways, the more earnest and passionate you appear when you deliver those strained words necessitated by the language handle, the greater fun everyone will have. If every line begins to feel robotic or inhuman, the scene won’t develop meaningfully.
In Performance
The pointers for Alphabet Game certainly apply here, too, so give that entry a quick review if this is unfamiliar improv terrain for you.
Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
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Photo Credit: Gontran Durocher
© 2024 David Charles/ImprovDr
Game Library Expansion Pack I
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