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Game Library: “Crime Endowment”

A common closer in my current home venue, Crime Endowment centers on an in-the-dark suspect confessing to a ludicrous crime that they must piece together in real time. Without a healthy respect for Specificity and calculated risk taking, the task-at-hand can easily fall flat.

The Basics

One player volunteers to serve as the endowee or “criminal” and leaves the space. While they are absent, an absurd crime is cobbled together from typically avowedly non-criminal elements, such as a common weekend activity, harmless object in your attic, recognizable landmark or destination, and the name of a celebrity. I don’t think we’re unique asking a random audience member to share their initials for this last component and then brainstorming a famous personality or fictitious character inspired by this pair of letters. These offers combine to form the “crime,” and when the endowee returns, their teammates must use leading questions to make the suspect confess (usually in a set amount of time). Crime features are usually endowed in the order they were obtained.

Example

The assembled crime consists of brewing coffee with a unicorn at the pyramids of Giza with Jacinda Ardern. Player A (the suspect) returns to the stage as two teammates pace in the interrogation room.

Player B: “Alright, take a seat. I’m required to tell you we’re recording this interview.”

Player A: “Look, I’m just happy to clear up this misunderstanding. I honestly didn’t even think it was a crime to park outside the library overnight.”

Player B: “You get that, Joe?”

Player C: “Sure did, boss. You must have had a real late night last night.”

Player A: “I don’t mind admitting I did enjoy a few glasses of red at the local wine bar…”

Player B: “And yet you look fresh as a daisy this morning… right, Joe?”

Player C: “Fresh as a daisy, and completely alert, boss, talking to us all sweet and low like that…”

The Focus

Close collaboration, active listening, and playful – often punny – volleys provide the necessary foundation of this endowment tour-de-force.

Traps and Tips

1.) Filter through character. Are you an over-confessor accidentally spilling the (coffee) beans at the slightest provocation, a hardened criminal who’s defiant and proud of your activities, or a self-proclaimed mastermind toying with your interrogators? Regardless of your persona, you’ll want to make sure you bravely offer up specifics even if you’re feigning a more withholding stance. Quickly establishing a strong point of view as the suspect can gloriously ignite the scenic fire. The same holds true for the interrogators: are they brusque, pleasant, or desperate? Played without finesse, the game will closely approximate a transaction scene; imbued with memorable characters, it will soon become much much more.

2.) Confess, don’t guess. All endowment scenes are essentially guessing games, but these mundane mechanics should be hidden from the casual observer. Even if your suspect persona clearly wants to please, each attempt should have the certitude of a confession rather than the hesitancy of a guess. (On a simple level, beware of a questioning inflection.) When you respond to the interrogators, offer something specific even if you’re confident you’re a hundred percent wrong. Even when you are wrong – and you will be often, especially during the opening moves of the scene – being strongly and specifically wrong is more likely to provide a new line of questioning for your teammates. Although I’d add one proviso, if the scene is getting truly stuck, take the risk of being wrong in a detailed new way rather than circling endlessly around the same worn-out idea.

3.) Compel, don’t tell. All the major components of the randomly assembled crime should be uttered first by the suspect. Ideally, even after a criminal element has been successfully named it’s good form for teammates to still avoid saying it so that the final confession still has some punch when all the pieces are finally put together and said aloud. Good endowing etiquette applies with players seeking to steer the suspect by unlocking potential clues in the endowee’s dialogue rather than playing charades or providing a series of “fill in the blanks.” While the suspect needs to bravely offer up detailed raw material, the endowers should lean into word play and leading or loaded questions. The more skillful and subtle your strategies, the more miraculous the results will appear.

4.) Recreate the tale. One of my favorite features of this game is the opportunity for the final grand confession – whether or not it ultimately ends up being “correct.” In addition to ticking off the various components on your mental list, enjoy the chance to weave them together in a climactic narrative that fills in any missing blanks or justifications. To help set up this climatic moment, it’s wise not to say the final puzzle piece when you think you have it but rather send a clue back of your own that hints at your solution for the interrogators to confirm. This inclination to find the story serves the game well as a whole, linking together established character traits, unique games discovered in the moment, and perhaps even some of the discarded specifics that were seemingly dead ends. The audience appreciates a closing recap even of the most rudimentary nature, but when the suspect owns this closing moment and paints a vivid picture of their misdeeds and motivations, the results can prove breathtaking.

In Performance

The mechanics of Crime Endowment closely resemble those of Naive Expert examined here, which offers further insights into skillful endowing and communication techniques. Both endowment games are crowd pleasers, but the potential for a dramatic final confession makes the current offering more clearly suited for that coveted closing spot on a short-form playlist.

Looking for an additional overlay? Boris adds an invisible interrogator (of the same name) that can be called upon by the interrogators to roughhouse the stubborn criminal, causing the stubborn criminal to react to the unseen actions with a series of athletic reactions. (This requires a particularly adept criminal and a careful framing as you want to make sure the “torture” remains silly and playful, or you’ll quickly enter the realm of the ick.) Over Confessor tweaks the central dynamic of the suspect, eschewing any sense of resistance and replacing it with an eagerness to confess to anything and everything with glee just to get the crime off their chest. (Here the trap is for the criminal to truly overload the scene with random offers and not let the interrogators get a word in edgewise).

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Specificity

“S” is for “Specificity”

Going beyond the ill-defined mundane to create particulars and nuance.

Questions to Unlock the Details…

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Related Entries: Ambiguity, Discovery, Extending, Offer Antonyms: Generalities, Vagueness Synonyms: Details, Nuance

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Crime Endowment

Game Library: “Narrator”

Narrator (also known as Dimestore Detective) places one player at the center of the action and empowers them to comment on the events and their own character’s feelings through the sporadic use of asides. Typically, these shared thoughts express the fictional point of view of the character, but they can also be used to directly communicate needs and choices to fellow players. Subsequently, the mechanics of the game provide a simple means for rehearsing Speaking Your Truth onstage.

The Basics

One player serves as the internal narrator which may take on a detective function or pursue a more “everyday” persona as is the case with classic series such as Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Hates Chris, or Clarissa Explains It All. This character periodically utilizes first-person narration through asides to contextualize the action. The remainder of the scene plays out in the traditional fashion through dialogue and action.

Example

Player A, the narrator, starts the scene by miming a downstage high-school bank of lockers. As they unload their school bag for the start of the day, they talk directly to the audience.

Player A: “It’s been three days since the mysterious unsigned Valentine’s Day card showed up in my locker. Now I’m certainly well liked at this high school, Mount Cooks, but I’ve been wrestling all weekend while working on my debate speech as to the unknown author. I was lost in a bit of a daydream when I heard their familiar voice from the other side of the locker door.”

Player B has entered and started using the locker beside the narrator.

Player B: “I hope you had a good weekend! Or were you thinking about that card the whole time?”

Player A slams their locker shut to talk directly to their friend.

Player A: “It was a little bit of both! Nicole, I’m just at a loss as to who it could be…”

Player A leans against their locker clinging to an oversized mathematics textbook, forlorn.

Player B: “You are the smartest person in this high school – smarter than half the teachers! You’re the captain of the debate team, after all! If anyone can figure this out…”

Player A: (narrating to the audience) “Nicole is my best friend, and she’s usually right, especially when it comes to assessments of my intelligence. I have Ms. Rosendahl’s pre-calculus first period, so we had to walk and talk…”

They both start down the hallway.

Player B: “And you know my theory anyway. That transfer student seems to be oddly interested in everything you do…”

As soon as this new character is mentioned, Player C assumes their identity and leans on the classroom door.

Player C: “I wondered if you were going to break your perfect attendance record…”

The Focus

The requisite skills for Narrator draw liberally from the canon of other well-loved short-form games. Make sure your featured character both shapes and enables the play of others. It’s a frightening part to explore if there’s any sense that your teammates expect you to make all the significant offers.

Traps and Tips

1.) Think Prologue. Much like the short-form game Prologue, the narrator function provides a great opportunity to establish the mood or style of the scene that can, in turn, set up the team for considerable success. It’s by no means necessary for this character to hit the stage first in order to provide such a preamble, although the game will feel a little odd if they don’t arrive on the scene reasonably quickly. As an omniscient character, it’s typical for this character to be privy to most, if not all, significant events. The narrator has the unique option of utilizing overt storytelling techniques, so don’t overlook this chance to really craft a playful stylistic landscape that the team can then reflect and populate.

2.) Think Typewriter. In Typewriter, the author usually sits at the side of the stage; Narrator brings this presence (and all their tools) into the action proper. While there may not be time to deploy all of the typist’s “tricks,” look for chances to provide backstory details, add environmental influences, or embellish the location through descriptive scene painting. By telling the audience your history with a featured character, intensifying the mood with weather features, or strategically placing a pertinent prop within arm’s reach, you can do much to raise the stakes and interest of the scene. And you also have the power to facilitate quick shifts in time or location as they’re needed just by announcing them: “An hour later, I was sitting in the cafeteria…”

3.) Think They Said, They Said. The role of the narrator also shares some of the staging devices that are central to They Said, They Said. It’s important that fellow players retain agency and are not treated merely as empty-headed puppets, but gentle adjustments or options can also be pitched from the narrator position. These may be purely dramatic in nature, seeking to reinforce current traits and games, or can take on a little bit more of a diagnostic vibe. In the first category, the narrator could encourage a character to double down on their own choice that may have inadvertently fallen by the wayside: “Nicole is the most relentlessly positive person I know.” In the second, the narrator can gently address staging problems such as a crowded stage, uninspired stage pictures, or cajole activity in a scene that has devolved into talking heads: “She waked over to the chalkboard and started to diagram the possibilities.”

4.) Think Asides. The physical gimmick of the game draws very much from the theatrical tradition (and improv game of the same name) Asides. The narrator should quickly establish the rules of this game that help the audience and fellow players discern when they are taking a private moment with their thoughts as opposed to engaging in public dialogue. Often, a simple but clear change in stature and tonality will suffice: turning flat to the audience and assuming a slightly more confidential air. Other players should continue gentle activity and avoid eye contact with the narrator in these moments, and although the improvisers should very much hear, process, and apply any offers from the aside, it’s important that their characters don’t gag by commenting on this theatrical conceit or it’ll lose its agency: “Who were you just talking to…?”

5.) Think Conscience. And just as the game Conscience plays with the concept of text and subtext, so too can the narrator on multiple levels. Contrasts and contradictions provide rich gifts on the improv stage, and the narrator is uniquely situated to endow and reveal lies and tensions. In their own dialogue, they can share their truth before or after providing its antithesis in the dialogue: “Ms. Rosendahl isn’t just going to let me leave class early, so Nicole and I came up with a ruse.” Similarly, narrators can contextualize another character’s words by elucidating juicy prior actions or motivations that they have discovered. If your scene partner is treating you with treacle-like affection, noting to the audience that they always do this when they want something will encourage new games and tactics from your fellow player.

In Performance

The intersections this game shares with so many others reveal the numerous potentials and challenges that await the improviser who assumes the central role. While they might have more tools at their disposal than their scene partners, there is little that these tools can do without exciting and rich materials. Non-narrating players should enter bravely and with purpose, trusting in their own instincts and the narrator’s ability to adjust the direction as needed. Speaking Your Truth informs each of the above strategies as it is through an honest exchange of needs that the narration and narrator can best serve the scene.

If you’re not familiar with some of the referenced games above, you can track them down in the Game Library index here.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Speaking Your Truth

“S” is for “Speaking Your Truth”

Speaking Your Truth is a safety valve mechanism committed to maintaining the beauty and inclusiveness of our collaborative storytelling. The concept is synonymous with “calling it onstage” and I tend to use both terms interchangeably. To speak your truth is to momentarily conflate character and player (if this is not already your stylistic norm) so as to provide timely feedback to your teammates.

How to Fully Accept a Fellow Player Speaking Their Truth…

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Related Entries: Commenting, Consent, Mugging, Postmortem, Trust Antonyms: Obfuscating, Suffering Synonyms: Calling It Onstage

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Narrator

Game Library: “Many Objects”

This is a devilishly challenging scenic game; subsequently, I tend to use it more as a way of developing awareness and skills than as a performance frame in its own right. Many Objects requires players to more consciously pay heed to their Space Object work and encourages creating robust mimed environments in the process.

The Basics

A location provides a helpful launching point. In the scene that follows, every line of dialogue can only occur after the speaking player has mimed a new prop.

Example

A weekly family meeting sets the stage for the scene. Player A assumes the role of a parent and, after a few moments of eating, stands with their glass and a spoon in their hand.

Player A: (clinking their spoon on the glass) “If I could have everyone’s attention for just one moment, as we welcome Seth as a new addition to the family…”

Player B: (squirming a little while pulling their napkin off their lap and patting their lips) “Okay, I thought we were all in agreement that we weren’t going to put my fiancé through any awkward speeches…”

Player C has discreetly excused themselves from the table and now returned with a wrapped box.

Player C: (presenting the box) “You have to forgive your parents one little tradition.”

Player A has acquired a video camera that they are now directing at the young couple.

Player A: (filming) “Don’t mind me – just recording this moment for posterity…”

Player D (Seth) accepts the gift and retrieves his glasses out of his shirt pocket.

Player D: “This is really too kind of you…!”

The Focus

I’d caution against becoming too much of a stickler for the rules but look out for clever fear-based strategies designed to undermine the central premise of the game. For example, producing a box of tissues and then pulling one out after another to enable new speech acts is a bit of a cheat, albeit a rather delightful one if it’s found by accident rather than imposed as a work-around solution.

Traps and Tips

1.) Avoid making your dialogue about your props. Faced with the pressure to come up with and justify a litany of props, it’s easy to feel obliged to then use your dialogue to just explain away your creation. Perhaps a little of this is unavoidable, and the arrival of more opaque objects such as the parents’ wrapped gift might warrant a little contextualizing; but if every line serves as a description of your physical choice, you’ll struggle to craft nuanced relationships and stories. Allow your activity to frame and enrich your dialogue rather than restrain or define it. Talking about your props usually results in laborious run-on sentences too, as players realize they’ve just used their permissible sentence to describe their object so then try to jam on an additional thought or two that’ll better serve the needs of the story.

2.) Avoid going back to the same prop well time and again. Another less-than-helpful tendency consists of almost exclusively using similar or parallel props to enable communication. When Player A begins by introducing a glass at the family table, it’s extremely likely that everyone has that same prop at their disposal. Everyone raising their own glass and toasting in unison could be a lovely organic discovery, but this is quite different in tone and playfulness than now each character touching their own glass in a perfunctory fashion just so they can speak. The scene benefits greatly from at least a tacit agreement that new props need to generally be new to everyone and not just a bland replication. It’s also problematic if a great deal of time passes between your mimed creation and your next line of dialogue: strictly speaking, our first speaker created a glass and spoon, but they shouldn’t “bank” the second item as an excuse to speak much later in the story.

3.) Avoid considering others’ creations as your own. Just as would be the case in any other scene, watching the bowl of mashed potatoes move from hand to hand around the table adds a lovely level of collaboration and world building. Feel free to continue such best practices in this format, but when you reuse someone else’s creation, this generally doesn’t release you to speak. For this reason, Seth doesn’t get to talk just because he accepted the previously established gift, and so he mimes eyeglasses instead to allow a new line of dialogue. Once the gift is opened, however, the contents are a new creation in their own right. Again, I wouldn’t stop the scene for this type of “infraction,” but it probably is worth at least recognizing missed opportunities after the fact during your postmortem.

4.) Avoid getting stuck at the proverbial dinner table. It’s a good and understandable strategy to at least initially begin the scene manifesting mimed props within obvious reach. In our dinner example, using glassware, tableware, decorations, and foodstuffs are all great first moves that get the scene (bread) rolling while also effectively defining the major features of the where. Much of the devious fun of the game emerges, though, when you step away from the run-of-the-mill objects and let your creativity run free. These moves also tend to explode the frame of the scene by more imaginatively defining the greater environment and given circumstances. What other furniture pieces are in the dining room? What props can be rustled up from the nearby rooms or hallways? Are unexpected items stowed in a character’s pocket or purse?

5.) Avoid hurried or poorly defined props. When your focus is on getting to speak any way you can, it’s foreseeable that your space object work will become rather sloppy. You can view this game solely as a language restriction game – which it certainly is in part – but when you really savor the opportunity to make detailed props, furniture, and costume pieces (all of which are fair translations of the titular conceit) you’ll find the onstage action so much more enticing. If you’ve not stumbled into my prior discussion on good space object techniques, go here for a refresher. Yet another layer of finesse to seek is not only creating a wide array of unique and specific items but then keeping as many of them alive and relevant as possible as the scene races forward.

In Performance

I would love to see more scene work infused by the general staging principles encouraged in Many Objects. Even if you relax the defining rules, this level of commitment to environment building – and the resulting de-emphasis on language – truly holds the potential to lay groundwork for highly imaginative play.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Space Objects

“S” is for “Space Objects”

A slightly odd but ubiquitous term used to describe spontaneous mime work.

Mining Your Mime Work…

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Related Entries: Environment, Where Antonyms: Real Props! Synonyms: Mime, Object Work, Props

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Many Objects

Game Library: “From an Object’s Point of View”

Selfless Side Support enables the unique storytelling required for From an Object’s Point of View where the ensemble elevates a prop to the role of star.

The Basics

A real or imaginary prop is provided by the audience. This item holds the place of the protagonist for the scene that follows, with the players facilitating its journey through brief vignettes and side support. If the scene were filmed, it’s helpful to think of the prop as the camera’s eye moving from moment to moment, with the resulting dramatic arc tracing its movements, struggles, and contributions.

Example

A teddy bear serves as the star. The scene begins with a young child clinging onto the prop as their family crowds into an Uber.

Player A: (to the bear) “Now I know you’re nervous taking your first big trip in an airplane, but mummy says there’s nothing to worry about.”

Player B: (as a parent) “Alright Snuggly, hold on tight to my little girl there. We’re running late!”

The driver has finished packing up the car and everyone takes their seats.

Player C: “It was gate 64, right? Let’s hope we don’t hit traffic.”

They are now all in the car. Player A sings with the teddy while B and C can be seen negotiating the directions in the background.

The car pulls into a sneaky spot in the terminal.

Player B: “We’re going to have to leap out here and carry our own bags, sweetie, as this isn’t a proper drop off spot…”

A little flustered, Player A leaves the teddy on the back seat as she and Player B grab their luggage and dart off into the terminal. Player C has already pulled away before they notice their unexpected passenger in the rear-view mirror…

Player C: “Oh, hey, little fella. I didn’t see you there. Did you get separated from your human?”

Player C suddenly slams on the brakes as a clearly distraught pedestrian has tried to flag them down. Player D has already whipped open the backseat door before C can react.

Player D: (absent-mindedly) “Move over buddy, I’ve gotta get out of this place.”

Player C: (a bit thrown) “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to officially book me. I’m on my way to another passenger. “

Player D: (to the teddy) “You don’t mind sharing, do you? You’ve got kind, sad eyes…”

The Focus

Don’t overwhelm your “star” with a crowded stage or assault of offers. Make sure they have time to “respond” and be affected as, in many ways, they should actually serve as a surrogate for the audience’s own journey. If you forget them or relegate them to the background for too long, they will cease to serve as a viable character so keep them strongly as the focus.

Traps and Tips

1.) Keep the object central. The conceit of this frame is tricky and will likely require some workshopping and tinkering to find the approach that best serves you and your venue. If the object becomes too incidental – a pen just sitting in someone’s pocket that is largely irrelevant to the action – the results will quickly resemble other character-based scene work. Part of the challenge and finesse of the piece is finding ways to make the object’s presence central, if not pivotal. Just as you would for any other predetermined protagonist, offer endowments and next steps that push the object forward and into dynamic circumstances. Yes, much like a thematic ensemble movie, in the process of following the star we’ll probably also learn of the trials and tribulations of other characters in its orbit, but this should ideally remain a secondary goal. By the end of a strong game, we should care most about the object’s fate. Will our teddy bear ever make it back to its little girl or find a new happy home?

2.) Keep the object moving. One of the major benefits of acquiring a smaller object (a costume or stage prop in traditional theatre terms) is that it can easily pass from one character or location to the next. A large piece of furniture – a refrigerator, car, or wardrobe – can work but tends to restrict the action to one location or necessitates leaping the story forward in time to justify new interactions with other scene partners. This is a fine use of the central idea, often resembling a more long-form aesthetic, but it doesn’t allow for more spontaneous discovered pass-offs which are one of my favorite features of the game. Performing the scene in true uninterrupted real time is an admirable goal but can similarly lower the stakes, so look for opportunities to edit between the most consequential story beats. Our trip to the airport, for example, was consciously condensed and edited.

3.) Keep the object evolving. This may be pushing the limits of the game a little, but just as we’d want a human character to change during and because of their journey, the same holds true for our nonhuman star. For this reason, acquiring an object that has (or could have) some emotional significance will set you up for greater adventures than an ordinary or mundane prop unless everyone commits to generous weighty endowments quickly – the disposable pen is actually the only reminder of an absent parent. As the game requires rapidly shifting scene partners, there should be numerous opportunities to change up the object’s current given circumstances and therefore, hopefully, its own perceived emotional truth. Anthropomorphic endowments – ascribing human attributes – provide a huge help to this end.

4.) Keep changing the object’s co-star. Again, it’s possible to construct a successful arc for the object while keeping the same human companion by its side, but generally assuming a La Ronde feel (see here) helps greatly and prevents you from getting stuck in one relationship or scenario. Shuffle partners regularly. As is the case with La Ronde, the default player to leave is the character that has already had the most stage time. In this particular case, the leaving player shouldn’t take the hero prop with them but rather help engineer an exchange that keeps the item encountering new scene partners and potentials. In our above example, the teddy started with the child, Player A, then passed into the possession of the Uber driver, Player C, and so is now likely to leave with the distraught rider, Player D. By all means, find opportune moments to break an established pattern, but a somewhat predictable approach, at least initially, guarantees that teammates aren’t working at cross purposes. If the prop inadvertently gets stuck with the same partner, or in the same location time and again, it drastically reduces the scope of its journey.

In Performance

To reiterate, it’s a fine alternative for the teddy to continue with Player A through check in, security, the boarding gate, and onto the plane, meeting an array of other people and perhaps objects along the way: this would serve as a strong example of the companion approach described above. This path allows the prop to almost serve as a doppelganger for a character, such as the young girl, who might not otherwise have an easy or dynamic way to reveal their subtext. When the object quickly changes hands, though, the resulting scene can have a more epic feel that requires some fast-thinking and faster-doing on the part of the team in their efforts to craft an interesting adventure for the object star.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2022 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Side Support

“S” is for “Side Support”

Elevating or embellishing the work of others through brief and generous additions (that are often followed by a swift exit back into the wings).

Putting Side Support Front and Center…

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Related Entries: Canadian Cross, Environment, Heighten, Scene Painting Antonyms: Shining Synonyms: Assists, Second Support

Connected Game: From an Object’s Point of View

Game Library: “Bad Extra”

This tongue-in-cheek parody of a movie set quickly became a mainstay with my Gorilla Theatre company. It has a sketch energy, and I’ve seen several sitcoms deploy variants of this fish out of water dynamic since I became familiar with the formula. If you’re new to the tradition of Sidecoaching, Bad Extra offers a light-hearted point of entry.

The Basics

Players obtain an original movie title, usually something on the dramatic side. A couple of players serve as the featured stars, another as the hands-on director, and finally, a company member assumes the role of the “bad extra.” The director sets the scene and cameras roll as the starring actors dig deep into their dramatic portrayals. Before they have uttered more than a handful of lines, however, the bad extra wanders into shot and engages in some “unintentionally” distracting behavior. The director stops the action, coaches the extra with new instructions, and the scene resets. Several such interruptions occur with escalating mischief – each with accompanying directorial intervention – until filming is ultimately abandoned or another fitting conclusion emerges.

Example

The audience suggests “The Long Road” as the movie title.

Player A: (as the director) “Alright everyone, it’s the final day of shooting and we’ve left the juiciest scene for last! Samantha, you’re finally reunited in the retirement home with the love of your life, and you can’t believe fate has brought you together. Places everyone!”

Player B places themselves at a card table with C (Samantha) standing behind them.

Player A: “And… action!”

Player B gently chuckles at the card table. Player C who has been looking away, experiences a profound moment of recognition. She slowly turns…

Player C: “I’ll never forget that laugh. It couldn’t be…”

Player B freezes at the card table upon hearing Samantha’s voice.

Player B: (without turning) “That voice… that voice is the soundtrack of my dreams…”

Player C: (gently placing her trembling hand on B’s shoulder) “I’m not a dream. I’m your Samantha. Turn around my love…”

Just as Player B starts to turn, Player D (the bad extra) loudly enters pushing a trolley.

Player D: “Who wants a cuppa tea?!!”

Player A: (who has been enthralled on the edge of their seat) “Cut! Cut! I’m terribly sorry, but who are you…?”

The Focus

The demands and rewards of each role are quite distinct. Be wary of wandering out of your “lane,” or the scene can lose its effectiveness. If in doubt, defer to the director and let their sidecoaching inform or shape the next beat.

Traps and Tips

1.) For the director. This character tends to provide most of the heavy lifting in terms of pacing and momentum. Fight for the director’s want, namely a brilliant piece of cinematic art, but make sure you don’t hold the reins too tightly or there won’t be room for the mischief to take hold. For example, if you’re too controlling or too angry too quickly, you may not have much of a character arc. Starting with some good-natured sugar can make the later salt even more effective. Give the bad extra enough room to get into further trouble, but don’t shy away from providing “honest feedback” as to how they’re ruining your work. The more specific ambiguity you deploy in your sidecoaching in terms of adjustments, the more likely you are to inspire the next round of interruptions.

2.) For the bad extra. I wouldn’t be so bold to say there’s one angle for this role that guarantees success but, from experience, the more likeable you are, the more the audience roots for you and enjoys the resulting struggle. Just as the director should seek an arc, so too should the extra avoid hitting the stage with their most abhorrent behavior right out of the gate. An out-of-their-depth quality serves as a promising foundation, whether this manifests itself in blustering over-compensation, cloying niceness, or the unbridled wonderment of an enamored first-timer (amongst countless other possibilities). The curve of absurdity is the bad extra’s best friend, with initial slightly out-of-the-ordinary choices gradually building into complete ridiculousness in spite of the director’s best efforts to the contrary.

3.) For the stars. These roles assume the “straight” characters to the madness that is usually embodied by the extra and then wrangled – successfully or otherwise – by the director. In many instances, their scenic function resembles a replay format as they’ll tend to dramatically repeat the same few lines again and again each time the director restarts the action (although it’s also a fine choice for the director to skip ahead if they see fit). There is great fun to be had exploring the contrast between the performers and their film personae; although, as I’ve relearnt on several occasions, you’ll want to be careful that your whimsy doesn’t detract from or upstage the bad extra or the scene can become cluttered and unfocused. At first glance, these roles might seem less joyful but I’ll openly confess I enjoy playing in this capacity most of all as there’s a delightful challenge in trying to hold it all together in the face of the extra’s mayhem.

In Performance

There’s no magic number of bad extra interruptions, although less than three doesn’t typically give enough room for the scenic dynamic to organically grow and peak. I’ve had the good fortune to see many improvisers shine in this format although I think it would be fair to say that in my own circles few could orchestrate the fun as effortlessly and successfully as Greg Yates.

This is certainly a performative version of sidecoaching that places this figure more front and center than would prove helpful in more traditional workshop situations. And the game requires true pauses and resets as the coach reshapes expectations that, most would agree, is a more invasive sidecoaching tactic than typically warranted or helpful. But beneath the whimsy resides many core skills, such as developing a diagnostic eye, offering open possibilities rather than dictating monolithic solutions, and reading the needs and instincts of the onstage players

Connected Concept: Sidecoaching

“S” is for “Sidecoaching”

Providing players helpful (and ideally, concise) feedback in real time as the scene takes place.

Coaching Considerations…

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: Caller, Deviser, Ensemble, Hosting Antonyms: Bulldozing, Judging Synonyms: Directing, Mentoring, Teaching

Connected Game: Bad Extra