“Storytelling is frightening (and exhilarating), because it involves a journey into the unknown. Abandon the struggle to tell stories and improvised comedy will be just another form of gutless light entertainment (gravy without meat), and your best players will drift away in search of something more stimulating than the endless repetition of the same games”
Keith Johnstone, Impro for Storytellers. New York: Routledge, 1999. p.75
Definition
Predictability can quickly become the enemy of spontaneity. As we strive to accept the obvious choices emerging in our path, it can become easy to fall into unproductive (or wimping) ruts where the same inputs invariably result in the same (or only marginally adjusted) outputs. If you’re fortunate enough to perform regularly – especially in the short-form tradition as Johnstone references above – these unhelpful performance ruts can become deep indeed. Why forge new connections when your audience (seemingly) enjoys the familiar and comfortable?
Generally speaking, routines are often most helpful and dynamic in our storytelling when they are broken or interrupted. After all, a day that just stumbles along as it has always stumbled along won’t usually develop into anything particularly stage worthy. While I stand by this perennial advice, there are situations in which digging into the routine itself can actually help your scene and character work. Let me introduce you to the latent power of one simple word that you’ve already guessed as it’s the title of this entry: Again. Used shrewdly, this technique can milk new nourishment from an otherwise dry situation.
Example
Player A: (setting down their briefcase beside the kitchen door) “I know. I know, honey. I’m late for dinner. Work ran late.”
Player B: “Again.”
OR
Player C: (cracking open the bedroom door and whispering) “Sorry that I missed your recital tonight, sweetie. I couldn’t get away from the office.”
Player D: “Again.”
OR
Player E: (stepping into the seedy restaurant backroom with a nervous look) “Look, Tony, I don’t think I can come up with this week’s payment.”
Player F: “Again.”
OR
Player G: (frantically going through their backpack atop the library table) “I’ve got my notes here somewhere. I didn’t quite finish my part of the assignment, though.”
Player H: “Again.”
Let Me Say It Again…
1.) Add history. When an offer is made that isn’t a part of a more significant pattern, it can tend to create a need for heavy (and perhaps cumbersome) worldbuilding. In these cases, a simple “Again” points at a previous move and uses it to define a key facet of a relationship or dynamic. Rather than A’s late entrance adding little of value, now it shows a trend which helps to define the couple’s status quo. Admittedly, if Player A is never late home, their initiation also provides a powerful move in the form of a tilt. In many ways, the key is to avoid the generic and anticlimactic middle ground where A’s tardiness is occasional and, therefore, largely inconsequential.
2.) Add emotion. If the emotional temperature of the scene is feeling a little tepid, a well-placed “Again” can intensify the passions at play. A huge reaction on D’s part if their parent is late just this one time could certainly do the trick but may also strike the audience as potentially insincere or inorganic. (I love leaping to a big emotion, but if you want it to ring true, it helps if its reacting to something noteworthy.) A parent who is always or routinely late to everything their child holds dear, opens up powerful (and probably real) pathways to emotional honesty and connection where the responding player may not have to look hard to find a heartfelt response.
3.) Add stakes. Similarly, an expertly delivered “Again” can propel your scene out of stasis and deep (high?) into the rising action. Player E’s inability to meet F’s demands for the umpteenth time automatically makes the scenes vastly more important and likely to sizzle. Such a move also invites both techniques above as now E has endowed interesting backstory between the pair (has F been reluctantly letting the debt slide until now, and if so, why?), while encouraging both performers to dig into emotional truths (what has specifically happened to E that has prevented them from gathering this week’s payment, and how has that influenced their greater story arc and development?) And increased stakes will also invariably…
4.) Add consequences. A cleverly timed “Again” can also push a scene into bold next moves. With the added stakes of joining a pattern already in motion, the consequences are also likely to heighten, if not explode. Player H might have been inclined to give their classmate a break if this was a first strike against them, but if the poor behavior is now well established, H becomes empowered to release the scenic throttle. Perhaps they’ve already communicated with the professor and G has been removed from the group (and issued a failing grade), or an elaborate intervention has been set up, or Player H has arranged for Player G’s parents to join the study group. Regardless of the specific choice, there is the potential for something more dynamic than mere complaining and discussing.
Final Thought
One simple word. Endless opportunities.
A brief warning: if “Again” is thrown around but never really heard, accepted, or felt (with a good old fashioned gut check), then there is very little chance it will provide much help at all.
Related Entries: Freshness, Obvious, Stakes Antonyms: Breaking Routines Synonyms: Importance, Routines
Cheers, David Charles.
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