It takes an agile mind (and body) to make it gracefully through this scenic gauntlet, but the audience will likely applaud your efforts regardless of the outcome if you keep your spirits and attack high.
The Basics
A caller deploys an imaginary remote that has the power to change the direction of the scene from forward to reverse and back again (as well as perhaps any other functions you might apply to your television set). Players must create and then recreate their scenic content accordingly, closely following the caller’s instructions.
Example
Player A begins the scene by pushing a lawnmower through dense grass. They pause for a moment to catch their breath and dab a towel over their sweating brow. They bend over to turn off the idling lawnmower, and the sound booth cuts the sound effect.
Caller: “Reverse.”
Player A rewinds their action, so now the lawnmower is turned back on (with the suitable sound cue from the booth), they take out their wet towel and remoisten their forehead, and start to pull the mower as they retrace their steps…
Caller: “Forward.”
The mower is pushed back into position, the towel deployed, and the machine silenced as Player B emerges from the house with a tray.
Player B: “You’ve been working so hard. I thought you might need a lemonade.”
Player A: (turns and smiles) “You read my mind. That would be lovely.”
Player A crosses the stoop to accept the glass in B’s outstretched hand.
Caller: “Reverse.”
Player A walks backward to their mower as B retracts their offered hand.
Player A: “That would be lovely. You read my mind.” (They smile before turning back to the mower.)
Player B: “I thought you might need a lemonade… You’ve been working so hard…”
The Focus
Retain your cool despite the pressure, do your best to honor the caller’s prompts, and be wary of sacrificing any semblance of a scene to the “bit” that will easily take control.
Traps and Tips
1.) It’s sorta about the movement… A conventional wisdom when teaching this game is to emphasize the importance of large and specific stage action and gestures. Yes, you’ll want to generally avoid an esoteric discussion devoid of any memorable staging, but I’m not a huge fan of starting the scene with that “needlessly weird character walk” you love to perform just so you can then do it in reverse again. Consider the curve of absurdity and give yourself some room for the silliness to develop. I prefer watching movements gradually becoming absurd through the multiple replays rather than being subjected to improvisers pandering to the audience and central device. Be real people in a real situation first. But perhaps at least select a situation or begin with an activity that’s likely to expand and build.
2.) It’s sorta about the dialogue… I love the risk of starting this game as I would any other scene as this can get you into delightful trouble. If you’re new to the format, however, there are some strategies you can deploy to avoid an early scenic implosion! Be wary of talking in paragraphs or overly convoluted sentences as these can be a beast to rewind. Generally, you’ll be best served if you think of your speech acts in the same way as your staging – you don’t need to leap to where you were previously standing but should rather take the appropriate number of steps. Similarly, break down larger chunks of dialogue into their constituent elements or phrases. It’s a small thing, but also listen closely to the caller. If you just spoke before the call, then you should now be the next speaker repeating your prior line.
3.) It’s sorta about the torture… Everyone will likely have a slightly different preference for the way the caller is utilized, and there is certainly a built-in torturous function that the game essentially demands. And yet, the caller can also do a lot of good, especially in the opening moments of the scene. Judicious calls can be used to “burn in” discrete choices and units, thereby helping the players remember these moments. Contrarily, rehashing the same few choices again and again (especially before much of anything has been established) will make it difficult for the scene to amount to much. Give the onstage players some room to breathe and offer a few nuanced ideas as the game takes shape, vary the frequency and duration of your calls, and make sure no one is put into any actual physical or emotional peril.
4.) It’s sorta about the tempo… Building on my above observations, also consider the overall rhythms of the scene. If actors are whacky right out of the gate, initial dialogue already has a frenzied quality, or the caller focuses on the first ten seconds of material relentlessly, then it’ll be difficult to ramp up the energy later in a pleasing way. Even with adept calling, players might only get eight to ten lines of dialogue combined in the whole scene, so give each choice its due or there won’t be anything resembling an earned story climax. As the scene builds, calls can and should compress the air out of the action a little each tone with movements and lines becoming a little polished or possibly even truncated. This adds nicely to the attack. Frankly, the scene is likely to end somewhat chaotically – especially if the caller cues a reverse all the way back to the start of the story. That doesn’t mean, however, that this should also be the starting tempo.
In Performance
This game doesn’t need any more than the two titular instructions to succeed, but there are many other dynamics a careful caller can use to the scene’s advantage. Current favorites include a slow motion or frame-by-frame advance (usually with players also lowering and slowing their speaking voices), alternate camera angles (with players having to quickly shift their onstage positions), switching into a different language (ideally something that challenges the actors rather than mocks a sector of your community), and adding a director’s commentary (where the action continues but an offstage voice offers behind the scenes factoids and gossip).
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Cheers, David Charles.
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Photo Credit: Kalani Senior
© 2024 David Charles/ImprovDr
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