Clear and Concise

There are few poisons as deadly or as devious to improv as lack of clarity. A confusing scene is worse than a dull scene, and sadly in avoiding dull scenes we create them.

Let’s say a scene is happening, and the audience is quiet. Not murmuring or booing, but they’re simply not throwing any fish to the seals.

So you think….why not throw in a different game, or a character makes a bold unexpected choice. You got more energy, but the audience is still not on board. Another character, try shouting more. Maybe a nice Jaws reference will work here? A small titter of recognition! Perfect, we should all be attacked by a shark? The audience has stopped tittering. What if the shark was German? What if the shark was German AND Hitler? Make it an an advert, for being a jerk. Have a voice over. Make the voice over a walk on character. Walk off again with an embarrassed shrug because it didn’t work immediately. One of you half halfheartedly explains the voice as an angel, the other will pretend it didn’t happen. You continue the scene from the last physical action you remember, but drop the context and emotion. Take a bow and accept your standing ovation.

Pick a simple song, and sing it clear. Sing it clear. Sing it clear.

Theatre can be received any which way, but it needs to be received. Without clarity, a show is nought but a mass of sound and gestures. Improv is a team sport with the audience, and confusion does not bred collusion. A furrowed brow leaves no room for a laughing mouth.

But fear not, you can fix the problem almost immediately.

1. If you find gold, repeat it. Double your gold.
2. In improv you can be unsure where your going, but you should know where you are. You should know what is happening in the scene right now. If you (the character) are lost, don’t panic, but also don’t try to fake it haphazard.
3. In your partner lies the answers in your scene. But your partner themselves doesn’t have all the answers. They’re making it up too. Letting their moves go by unremarked isn’t supportive, it’s the opposite.
4. In a montage/ scenic long form, if a scene is find/never got started cut it. If you thought of a funnier scene, great, cut to that. If you didn’t, wipe. I know walk-on’s feel good, but good scenes will pull you on; you don’t need to walk. Another baby will not save the marriage.
5. In a narrative longform, if you don’t know why a scene is happening (after 15 seconds) cut to another. Ideally without one of the characters in this format. We will cut back later if we have a reason, if we don’t we’ll be grateful. ‘where is this scene going’ is not the right question, its ‘why aren’t I interested right now’.
6. Each scene should tell a story. After only a few lines, this story should be clear. The story can be poor, or poorly told, but it should exist. It is okay if that story changes, because we saw it change. What the scene was (and what it became) should be as obvious and flesh as the the actors that inhabited it. Compared to the other tips I grant you this is easier said then done, but done it must be. You wouldn’t start a sentence with gibberish and hope it turns to Shakespeare by the end. If you can’t think of something real interesting, we’ll start with the real part.
7. If you find gold, repeat it. Quadruple your gold.
8. If you don’t have an idea, take someone else’s. It’ll become your idea soon enough, and its idea every step of the way. The best way to do a horror scene is to start doing a horror scene, instead of hoping you end up there by the grace of God. Nothing relaxes an audience, and sets them up to laugh, like the familiar.
9. Know your genre. This includes both dystopian early 90’s cyberpunk and getting ready for primary school. Both have a mood, a flow, it’s cliches and its stakes. Pick your genre, tell the audience, and stick to it unless something better comes along. Not potentially better, better. Play your genre directly and confidently, and let the comedy come from either that accuracy or natural deviations. Give everyone (you, your team, the audience) that clear path, that clear thesis statement. What are we watching, and why.
10. You can’t just shove the details of your good scene into a shit scene. Sorry. But its never too early to use a shit scene as an excuse to go into a better scene. Once you’ve done that, sprinkle in that gold from before! Squillion times your gold.

Bottom line, each scene should be something recognisable, not idle talking because of ‘yes and’ and because people are looking at us. We all know improv involves a lot of writing checks you can’t yet cash, and building the plane in free fall. But it’s not bullshitting. You’re not selling smoke, you’re building a fire. You want your plane to land so you give it a real engine and wings and a pilot. You want your scene to work, so you make real offers and commitment and a clear relationship.

None of these notes are ‘make the lines funnier/characters better/show more good’; that we can work on later. Yet these tips WILL make the lines funnier/characters better/show more good.

That much is clear.