There are few guaranteed hits in improv, but this rather intoxicatingly silly game might come awfully close to claiming that title!
The Basics
Players explore a typical scenic premise utilizing traditional dialogue and staging, with the one notable exception that characters cannot make even brief eye contact with each other. Upon the technical improviser’s whim (or perhaps in response to a pre-established signal, such as a bell, from a caller or director), a music track plays during which players must now unflinchingly hold eye contact with each other until the soundtrack ends with similar abruptness. Typically, dialogue halts during these interludes and is replaced instead with intense stares and rich subtext.
Example
Two nervous-looking characters on a first date awkwardly shuffle the food around their respective plates, unable to look at each other all the while.
Player A: (apologetically) “I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been very good company.”
Player B: (agreeing, though kindly) “You seemed so… excited… when you asked me out at the photocopier. I’ve been waiting a long time for you to do that.”
Player A pauses playing with their cooling food, but still can’t find the courage to look up.
Player A: “You have?”
Player B: “I’m surprised you’re so surprised. Have I done something – said something – wrong?”
Player A: “No, on the contrary…”
The technical improviser introduces a lush soundtrack, cuing the two characters to lock eyes. The energy flows and builds between them as the music swells only to equally as swiftly stop which has the couple nervously returning to their meals.
Player B: (shaken, but pleasantly so) “Then I’m not imagining things…”
Player A: (anxiously clinking their fork on their plate) “I’ve thought about this moment for so long, and all the things I wanted to share and say…”
Player C, an inattentive waiter, enters without looking at either customer.
Player C: “Would either of you like to hear our dessert specials…?”
The technical improviser prepares to reintroduce the music…
The Focus
Play each moment, earn the musical connections, and mine the harsh transitions for subtextual and story discoveries.
Traps and Tips
1.) Seek contrast. I’ve erred on the side of an initial relationship with deep unspoken subtext for my example, and this tends to help the launch. That being said, the music typically pushes players towards romance (at least in my experience), so it can be nice to start a little further away from that energy, at least initially. Subsequently, there’s some wisdom in starting away from deep passions (while retaining strong foundational specifics) just to maximize the shifts in tone when the music starts and stops. Furthermore, the more grounded and real you are to start, the more fun it is for the audience when the silliness takes hold.
2.) Seek sharpness. There can be a tendency to ease into the transitions so that they feel a little more organic. While I’d usually consider such an instinct toward subtlety admirable, this game benefits from sharper shifts. Snap into holding eye contact when the music plays and then justify the rationale for the choice, allowing the music to inform this discovery as well. Similarly, be sure to break the connection the second the music stops. These crisp transitions provide much of the joy (and humor) of the scene.
3.) Seek pacing. It’s good form to start the scene with just a pair of characters as this allows you to model the central conceit while also establishing the initial relationship. While adding characters – such as the waiter above – certainly offers up fun new potentials, new entrances invariably add to the delightful chaos too when characters try to maintain strong eye contact with more than one scene partner. Don’t rush to a full stage of players as once that madness takes hold, there’s no easy going back!
4.) Seek a library. This is one of those frames that even if you have a gifted musician in your company, you’ll probably be better served by music coming from the booth as there’s something bracing about that wall of highly produced sound suddenly filling the performance space. In Gorilla Theatre, it became a norm for us to use the same song for the duration of the scene (“Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls here was a favorite). With my campus troupe, we have a collection of different songs and moods on hand and will usually switch between different choices. Both approaches work well – you’ll just want to make sure you’ve given some thought to how you can easily access your soundtracks in the heat of the improvisatory moment.
In Performance
My professional improv home is fortunate enough to have a robust stable of musicians, and so most shows include a sampling of musical improv games. If we’re down our musical director for the night (or if you play in a venue without such a collaborator), Musical Eye Contact is a great option for adding in a little music-adjacent scene work (assuming you have an adept sound technician and system at your disposal)!
Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: James Berkley
© 2024 David Charles/ImprovDr
Game Library Expansion Pack I
ImprovDr.com 