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…

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

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…

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

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

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

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 situates 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 likable 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.

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

Connected Concept: Sidecoaching

“S” is for “Sidecoaching”

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

Coaching Considerations…

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

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

Connected Game: Bad Extra

Game Library: “In A, With A, While A…”

Combining three disparate elements, In A, With A, While A… has somewhat of an improvised “madlibs” feel. It requires hearty justification and a tendency towards Showing as the scene culminates with all three audience ask-fors visually in play.

The Basics

The audience fills in the required blanks, providing an in a… [location] with a… [prop or occupation] while a… [situation unfolds]. By the end of the resulting scene, all three of these unrelated ideas should playfully coexist on the stage.

Example

The audience provides “in a… submarine, with an… Elvis impersonator, while an… intervention takes place.” The scene begins with two naval officers in the command room.

Player A: “Nothing peculiar to report from the night watch, Captain. It’s been plain sailing since we entered the Arctic Circle.”

Player B: (clearly a little preoccupied) “Thank you for your excellent and thorough work, as always, Lieutenant.”

Player A: “Permission to speak freely, Captain?”

Player B: (slumping melancholically in their chair) “Of course, Lieutenant Wienstein. We’ve known each other for nearly a decade now.”

Player A: “It’s just the crew and I, well, we’ve all noticed you’ve seemed a little out of sorts…”

Player B: “Permission to speak freely, Lieutenant?”

Player A: “Of course…”

Player B: “I just didn’t expect to be spending my fiftieth birthday out here in the Arctic Circle…”

Player A: (feigning surprise) “Today is your fiftieth birthday, Captain…?”

Several other crew members, one dressed conspicuously in an Elvis costume, quietly slink into the room behind B’s back…

Player B: “I know it’s silly, and I shouldn’t be expecting a big deal or anything…”

The Focus

Earn each suggestion rather than rushing them clumsily to the stage. Developing a coherent story in spite of the randomness of your incongruous ingredients elevates the scene beyond a mere party game.

Traps and Tips

1.) Pursue the logic. In less able hands, it’s possible that the three required pieces of the puzzle will just inexplicably “show up.” On rare occasions, a charm offensive can sell such an attitude, but generally you, the scene, and the audience will be better served by a more patient and deliberate approach. If you can creatively justify or create the need for the peculiar scenic addition beforehand, this tends to enable a stronger story arc rather than just throwing in the ingredients to the scenic stew without any sense of a recipe. There’s a fine line between foreboding or gently justifying a new piece of the puzzle and robbing it of any dramatic impact: this is where the concept of showing serves better than telling or telescoping the needed item so that it has no power when it predictably arrives.

2.) Consider the order. There is no explicit rule or expectation that the three suggestions will hit the stage in the order of their elicitation. Whether by design or happenstance, however, this order usually works in your favor. If you don’t start with the location, it can be challenging to effectively move the scene there within a timely fashion, especially if such a move requires a major reset of the stage. So, while I’m generally all about not succumbing to the pressure of immediately or obviously using an audience suggestion, quickly establishing the location in this particular game strikes me as a worthwhile exception to such a stylistic rule. The object or occupation, as it’s generally portable, makes for a strong second addition as your story can be focused on why this offer is present rather than solving the less interesting mechanics of how to move it to a later locale. And the event, especially if it’s innately climactic in nature, can prove challenging to sustain for the duration of the whole scene in an interesting fashion, but will usually provide a great spike of energy to go out on.

3.) Share the work. It’s good collaborative form not to place the burden of assembling all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle on the shoulders of one player (either self-selected in a manner reminiscent of a bulldozer or fearfully put in the hot seat by the rest of a panicking team.) Most scenes benefit from patient entrances rather than an “everyone all at once” launch. If the first imitators establish the basic premise and probably the location, other teammates are well positioned to introduce and hopefully justify the remaining aspects. There is also a calmness and ability to assess the greater whole of the scene that accompanies a generously waiting stance in the wings. And if you find you’re not physically needed as the scene wraps up, that selflessness is an awesome gift for your fellow players, too.

4.) Enjoy the contradictions. The inspiring suggestions shouldn’t clearly connect so the scene will invariably move into unfamiliar and probably quirky territory. Commenting on the oddness of it all, or standing cynically or critically apart from the action, will do little to aid your teammates in crossing the obscure finish line. Such choices are likely to deflate any building momentum as they essentially and unkindly “name the game.” Commit. The more you emotionally invest in the bizarre scenic circumstances, the more delightful the emerging process becomes, and the more likely that finally embodying the three elements with gusto will craft an ending worth celebrating. It doesn’t take much to poke thwarting holes in the reality of the topsy-turvy world; bravely shore up any scenic inconsistencies instead.

In Performance

This format can work as an expositional exercise, starting with everything in play, only to then develop the rationale for their coexistence. However, through the lens of showing, this variation tends to minimize the potential for action in favor of a more intellectual and cerebral telling energy. For this reason alone, I strongly prefer the approach described above.

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

Connected Concept: Showing

“S” is for “Showing”

The opposite of Telling, Showing consists of using our whole bodies to illustrate and communicate a choice. Most improv schools strongly prefer this approach to creativity.

Show Your Choice By…

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Related Entries: Acting, Ambiguity, Love, Subtext Antonyms: Cartooning, Telling, Wearing Your Character Lightly Synonyms: Emotional Truth

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

Connected Game: In A, With A, While A…

Game Library: “Famous Last Words”

Many of the games and exercises contained in this series represent a Short-Form improv sensibility, so for this companion piece, I’ve returned to a classic format from my earliest days as a player: Famous Last Words.

The Basics

In this typically “shorter” short-form game, players obtain a random line of dialogue, slogan, or platitude. A timed scene follows – often just a minute – which must culminate with a character dying after uttering this given phrase as their famous last words (and as the closing words of the scene as a whole.)

Example

“I can’t believe it’s not butter” provides the scenic inspiration. The lights come up on Players A and B as sweethearts driving in their car.

Player A: “It’s just a little farther ahead. I know you’re going to love it…”

Player B: “To think it’s already been four years together!”

Player A: “The best four years of my life…”

Approximately 50 seconds later, Player A lies reeling on the ground after having a fatal margarine allergy attack…

Player A: “…I can’t believe it’s not butter…”

Blackout.

The Focus

This petite game offers a masterclass in reverse engineering. Make sure the death is fully supported and realized as it’s anticlimactic and unhelpful to quietly die apologetically in the background of the main action. I often teach this with the similar game, Death in a Minute (linked here), but it’s important to observe that this frame has a much less flexible outcome in that someone must die at the end of the scene just after saying the specific target line. Death in a Minute is much more porous in how it honors the contract stated in its title.

Traps and Tips

1.) Take a step back. It’s tempting to disarm or quickly bring to stage all the required elements included or inferred in the obtained phrase. Avoid this temptation! If the audience can see the ending coming a mile (or kilometer) away, the risk of the game is greatly diminished. If the phrase contains the word “oranges” and your first move is to walk onstage selling… oranges… the scene will feel remedial. Avoid accepting an extremely vague phrase as the prompt – there’s little innate challenge in “I’m sorry” or “Thank you.” In addition to deliberately starting away from the end (perhaps with a third thought approach) you can further raise the stakes by also acquiring a location or occupation that doesn’t obviously connect at first blush with the famous last words, especially if the phrase feels a little too manageable as is.

2.) Take an unexpected angle. For those of you attracted to word play and homonyms, this game blossoms when the phrase is deconstructed and reassembled in a novel way. Does “just do it” become the dying request of a high school music teacher, “just duet…” (I acknowledge that this particular kiwi homonym may not strike your ear as a close substitution!) It’s difficult to build to a more nuanced “solution” collaboratively in real time if team members are rushing to just get the obvious elements to the stage as quickly as possible. Make sure you’re giving a little room to fellow players who elect to deploy an opaquer approach. It may seem a little antithetical to the common improv adage of “embracing the obvious,” but this is a game that definitely benefits from a quirkier launch and payoff.

3.) Take your swan song. This scene necessities a dramatic final moment with a central character reaching towards the light as they utter the line that will become seared into the history books for time immemorial. If you are not this character, exert extra vigilance when the death is looming not to inadvertently create split focus or undermine the likely speaker. The death serves as the scenic climax by design. If you are the featured victim, use every second at your disposal to energetically build to your glorious last line. I strongly encourage utilizing a caller to announce strategic time updates for this reason as it further elevates this epic moment. Finally, beware of throw-away lines or “additional” buttons after this dynamic moment. The challenge is to make this elicited phrase the powerful epitaph of the character and scene; quickly making a droll statement after the fact will usually read as a bit of a cop out or gag.

In Performance

Though this format might not easily house subtler or softer hues due to its brief nature and extreme outcome, there is something enticing about watching players gladly hurtling into the unknown toward certain oblivion. Embrace the final moments, enjoy the tragic fate, and sell those famous last words as if they were the climax to end all climaxes.

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

Connected Concept: Short-Form

“S” is for “Short-Form”

An only partially useful distinction that most improvisers use to describe performances that feature discrete or stand-alone scenes or games often – though not exclusively – housed in a greater competitive frame.

Common Short-Form Features…

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

Related Entries: Game of the Scene, Improvisation, Long-Form, Shape of Show

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

Connected Game: Famous Last Words