Improv Beyond Rules by Adam Meggido

Author:Adam Meggido [Meggido, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788502849
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

‘My character wouldn’t do that’

How many of us can truly say we completely understand our own character, let alone someone else’s?

As an actor, rehearsing a play, you are following instructions from a manual called The Script. The actor who says: ‘My character wouldn’t do that’ is really saying: ‘I don’t want to do that’ or ‘I don’t feel comfortable doing that.’ In working with actors for many years I have observed that the lines causing them the most discomfort are vitally significant because these are the moments when the actor feels most different from the character they are playing. Embracing that difference can be revelatory.

In narrative improvisation you don’t even have a character until the whole thing is over. I didn’t know I was undercover agent Philip Smythe until the very end of the story. My character was a gift given to me by another player. Usually, if an improviser insists their character wouldn’t act in a certain way, it’s an indication of that performer’s rigidity, of them resisting change and closing down avenues of exploration. The moment you feel yourself resisting offers from your group because you don’t think they fit your character, remind yourself that you can never know all the details of your character until the final seconds of the performance. You are what you agree to. The choices you make under pressure will determine what sort of character you become.

In traditional text-based acting the actor is cast in a role, spends time getting familiar with that role, goes to rehearsals, discovers more about the mechanics and psychology of the play as a whole, makes choices, experiments, hones in advance of an opening night, adds costume, set, lights, sound and finally… arrives at the first performance. In improvisation, however, the actor begins with the opening night and a complete performance, working backwards, so that by the time they have finished the show they discover what the story was and what they had been playing.

In improv you cannot decide what kind of character you are going to play before a scene starts because your character will be revealed over time through a series of actions. You can only decide where to begin your journey. You can, however, make choices about your characteristics.

Jill Bernard’s delightful Small Cute Book of Improv offers an acronym for instant characteristics. ‘VAPAPO’ stands for:

• Voice – Use a different accent or register of your voice.

• Attitude (or Emotion) – Start a scene with a strong emotional choice.

• Posture/Physicality – Change to a higher- or lower-status physical position. Move at a different tempo.

• Animal – Let any animal inspire your mood and movement.

• Prop – Use a real or mimed prop, such as a walking stick or basketball.

• Obsession – Fixate on something so that it has real importance to you.

Jump into a scene having made a strong choice on any of the above and you will appear and behave differently.

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