This language dynamic can serve as a fun individual character handle or provide the basis for a whole scene where everyone gets to play. This description assumes the latter conditions.
The Basics
Players explore a premise in which they are not allowed to complete their own… sandwiches.
Example
The action takes place in a large industrial kitchen where players are bustling to complete an important catering job that could make or break their company and careers.
Player A: (gathering together their team to review progress) “Okay, everyone, the guests should be arriving in…”
Player B: “… helicopters on the roof. These celebrities sure know how to…”
Player C: “…leave a carbon footprint.”
Player C turns to A, the head chef.
Player C: “Look, are we ever going to talk about…”
Player A: “The truffles? I don’t know how many times I can apologize for…”
Player C: “…binge eating them all on the floor of the walk-in refrigerator last night. You say you want us to succeed, Colin, and yet you always…”
The Focus
Relish the struggle and the delightful surprises that will keep you on your toes as the scene lurches playfully on and off the tracks.
Traps and Tips
1.) Throw the ball. The scene will tend to become ponderous and fizzle out a little if the incomplete sentences just dangle lifelessly in the air waiting to be justified. A little struggle adds to the charm, but generally, the flow will be helped if players clearly give the next moment to a specific scene partner. This also prevents the trap of having multiple justification attempts all hitting the stage at the same time. Again, a little of this will add risk and joy, but if overtalking becomes the norm, you won’t be able to craft much of a story. I find it helpful to explicitly have the player who completed the prior thought set up the next one for someone else. as such a tactic guarantees that one voice doesn’t monopolize.
2.) Embrace the unexpected. Most improv traditions are rightfully leery of needless originality as this approach to collaborative creativity tends to puncture nuance and suffocate more honest and connected story threads. This scenic dynamic contrarily demands a little playful eschewing of the obvious as completing sentences with the intended ending will quickly fall flat. Consider deploying a third thought technique or similar to jolt yourself out of the mundane. You’ll want to honor the rules of grammar and construct logical structures, but the contents should probably upend intentions at least a little.
3.) Honor the non sequiturs. Accept other’s amendments as factually true (unless they’re delivered with a clear sense of sarcasm or irony). It’s more delightful for the players and audience when each new idea is treated with an air of “of course that was exactly how I was going to finish my own thought had I been given the chance.” When every offer becomes contested, you’ll sail into the waters of action-draining conflict. Yes, the anticipated diners are arriving by helicopter. Yes, they are all celebrities. Yes, they are all oblivious about their carbon footprints…
4.) Heighten the action. As this is clearly a language game, players can tend to unhelpfully make the scene almost exclusively about the dialogue (which can easily become dominated by negotiations, discussions, and cerebral justifications). Establish a clear and powerful objective early and be sure to actively chase it. Make physical and emotional choices. Use silences and pauses to build tension and suspense. If the game only involves completing each other’s thoughts, the work will quickly start to feel frantic.
In Performance
As noted above, I’ve also explored this with a single character (usually the protagonist) who is responsible for leaving all their sentences unfinished for their fellow improvisers to complete. (This variant also offers the opportunity for a little more wiggle room between justifications which can give the story some space to grow.) An incomplete sentences gimmick could certainly be discovered organically in any open scene; however, it doesn’t take much for a well-intentioned but ill-informed scene partner to name or puncture the game, so there’s certainly a value in knowing (and practicing) the rules and best practices beforehand.
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Cheers, David Charles.
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