Story Robot

This mind-blowing exercise I learnt from Patti Stiles at last years NZ Improv Festival.
Again I think this ties in well with the other exercises I’ve been talking about, but I might not play them in this sequence, I might do this one, then the others, then this one again to see if it helps.

Here’s how it works;
Everyone in pairs, find yourselves a space in the room. Person A is going to play the role of the worst improviser imaginable. Person B is going to play the role of the best improviser imaginable. A, try and make the scene fail. B, try and make the scene succeed. Go!
After a few minutes I’ll swap them over without discussion.
Then we talk about successful strategies for both roles. Then we try it again, encouraging each side to try different approaches, and pointing out that if they can succeed when someone is actively working against them then improv will be easy for the rest of their lives.

It’s impossible to describe all the possible ways this game can go, but I assure you, the first time you see the good improviser flip things on the bad improviser so that it looks like they’re both working together (and making them both look brilliant) you’ll be hooked.

It’s a great proof of the fact that No one can block you but yourself (As Jeff Wirth said in this wonderful but long lost article), and that if you treat your partner like a genius and a poet then they will become one.

Following on from stop at the same time, I enjoy ‘leave for the same reason’. This is an exercise I’ve read in Impro for Storytellers many times, but never tried until recently. Turns out it was just what I was looking for.

How I play it,
Four chairs in a line. Four people up. The aim of the game is, everyone must leave for the same reason. But! No talking.
Some groups will get this first time, others will struggle a bit. Once they’ve succeeded a few times, usually as a result of very strong mime offers from one person (miming a bus timetable, checking watch, everyone gets on the bus) we add in another rule.
Now, just like with stop at the same time, you’ve got to make it so I can’t guess who’s idea it was.
This is where things get really interesting. The players have to totally focus on what the others are doing if they want to succeed. If they’re struggling I’ll either either side coach a little (”Dan just yawned.” “Emma just scratched her arm”), or we might stop and ask the audience what possibilities they saw. I’ll also rewind them if I can tell one person is leading. After a while we start to see players amazingly in sync with one another, picking up and amplifying offers made by others (one of my students very astutely compared it speak in one voice). An exciting discovery we might make at this point is that other players are always making offers, even if they don’t realize it, we just have to look for them.

I sometimes teach this along with the Sandy Carroll games from the Improv Handbook (also known as ‘Yes, Sounds good to me, I’ll go along with that’).

I like this warm-up/exercise. Not sure where it came from, though I learnt the variations from the excellent Dan Allan.

Everyone walk around the room, if you see an open space walk into the space.
Now when any person in the group stops, I want everyone to stop. When anyone starts walking again, everyone starts walking.
(for young students I’ll first have them start and stop when I start/stop. I’ll also ask them only to the be the leader once each).
Good. Now try and make it so that I can’t guess who’s idea it was to stop or start.
Same thing, but let’s move faster!

Extra for experts. When you’re stopped you also have the option of all jumping at the same time, or all lying down at the same time.

I’ve been revising my introductory lesson plans.*

Generally, after introducing the concept of yesand, I’ll get the students to work on it using Yesand experts

Quick description:
The students pretend to be experts on a topic. They take turns making statements about the topic and must agree completely with any statements made by the other player. Traditionally this is done by starting each sentence with ‘yes! and…’

As an exercise it can be a little hit and miss so I’ve started substituting a slightly different exercise that hasn’t failed me yet.

It’s called Good Times**.
Two students are both recounting an experience that they shared together. They take turns remembering something that happened, and must agree completely with what the other player said. Sentences start with ‘yesand’ or I high energy ‘yeah yeah yeah…and!’
The more enthusiasm this is played with the better.

The fact that it is more story based makes it more intuitive, and more useful.

After this I sometimes use some tricks I stole from Emma Brittenden. Where the students pretend to be two old ladies who start every sentence with ‘oooh, I know…’, or two robots that start every sentence with ‘affirmative…’ or any other pair of characters that inspires the students.

*Of course I change depending on how the class is going, but these are the exercises I tend to hit early on.
**I learnt this game from noted improviser and card manipulator Javier Jarquin.

Here’s a game that worked really well for some High School juniors I was teaching. It’s my variation on ‘Emotional Rollercoaster’.

Emotional Hero

-Pick one actor, they are the hero of the story.
-Start a scene.
-Every once in a while the tutor will call out a different emotion. The other players must cause the hero to experience that emotion (while at the same time continuing the scene).
-etc

Why I like it
A good way to think about stories is that they’re about a character going through some changes. In order to play this game you have to do that.
It’s silly enough that the kids don’t mind playing a bunch of different emotions.
Get’s the kids used to being changed by each other. If the tutor calls out ’sadness’ it’s not enough for the hero to just start crying, one of the other players has to steal her puppy or remind her that she’s an orphan.

 I got an e-mail from David Wahl (Creative Creativity) a while ago, which mentioned this activity from The Art of Comedy.

 Reclaiming Your Charm

This exercise helps you discover your true, inner personal charm. One thing that’s important in acting is likeability. Tapping into one’s authenticity is vital in your comedy acting. This charm exercise allows people to embrace the power of agreement, that is, to agree with the other person and to see the magic in the other person.

Sometimes, in comedy, people tend to leave out their unique personality and likeability. They sometimes forget how to be charming and can be rather robotic in their acting. Although comedy certainly uses exaggeration, it has to be based on a layer of truth. The actor has to be real and likeable. As simple as this exercise may seem, it can be challenging, because sometimes people want to lock their personalities away.

People Needed: 2 or more

Scene: Two actors onstage

Directions: One actor is onstage when the other actor enters. The goal of the scene is for the two actors to be as charming as they can. They have a coversation with each other and aren’t concerned about being funny. They focus on tapping their own personal charm and talk with each other in great depth. They compliment each other, express kindness toward one another and notice everything about the other person in a most flattering way.

I haven’t had a chance to try this one yet, but I am intrigued.  As far as I can tell it is trying to teach charisma.  Teaching charisma?  Can it be done?  Isn’t it one of those things that you either have or you don’t?

Does anyone have any hot ideas for teaching charisma?

I’d love to run a workshop on charisma.  Some status work, some body language, the beep beep game*, the presentation minus trick game*…

*as found in impro for storytellers.

Last week I had the pleasure of tutoring some High School Theatre Sports teams.

I never know quite what I’m going to teach but I always prepare a list of exercises that I think might be useful that I can glance at when I’m stuck.

My stand out performer this week was definitely ‘make an object, say a line‘.

Make an object, Say a line

How it works: Standard open scene, but players can’t speak unless they have created an object through mime (one object earns you one line).

What it does: mime skills, less talking, less worrying about story, less talking about what you are doing*.

Origin: unknown.

*Players will hopefully work out that if they mime a cup and say ‘I just got a cup’ then they have put themselves back to square one (needing to mime a new object).

Here’s a great warm up that I just learned. I’m going to call it Delayed Mirror (because once again, I don’t know the real name).

-Get into pairs. Someone claps out a regular beat.

-Person A tells a story, saying a word on each beat.

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