MORGANIMPROV

shortmikeshort:

One the subject of things that are not agreement but are also not outright denials: Occasionally performers may find themselves initiating at the same time. This usually happens with object work: Steve starts miming using a beer tap while Tess mimes planting flowers. We’ve just created a conflicting space. Why, Steve must be in a bar and Tess is in a garden! 

But like with all things that might seem like Denials, we can deal with them as long as we don’t panic. There’s no need to justify straight away. Why? Because the straight away justification is usually not that interesting. Besides, the scene’s going to be about the characters in it anyway. So if we listen to those characters, we’ll find a stronger justification for our conflicting spaces.

Or we won’t. And we’ll just quietly nod and accept that we’re in a bit of a surreal world this one time and not worry about it too much.

I really, really disagree. Maybe because my brain is UCB-icized? If I was organically handed two pieces of conflicting information like that, I’d immediately ask myself one of two questions:

A. What’s a fun reason for Tess to be planting flowers in a bar?

or

B. What’s a fun reason for Steve to have a beer tap installed in a garden?

My answers would be influenced by my perception of my partner’s attitude, body language, etc., and hopefully by my own natural reaction to their activity. And maybe how all that jibed with the suggestion and/or opening.

But off the top of my head, a couple of answers for A:

• Tess owns the bar, and was upset by a yelp.com review calling it “dark and gloomy.”
• Hollow-Leg Pete drank himself to death on that very spot, and this is a memorial.

And for B:

• Steve promised Tess he’d spend more time with her, but damn it, a man has got to drink. There’s a tap installed in the breakfast nook, too, for when they do jigsaw puzzles.
• In Steve’s section of the garden, he’s planted nothing but awesome plants. Such as this beer tree he’s tapped.

Note: None of these are games yet. But add some “if this is true, what else is true,” and a healthy dose of reaction/opinion/relationship, and I propose you’d have fun, playable games.

In my experience, the “straight away justification” is our window into the performer’s comedic mind. I love seeing how different people’s brains and comic sensibilities make sense of chaos. Sure, absolutely, don’t panic if a justification doesn’t occur to you spontaneously. Definitely probe the relationship for some clues. But then, after that show, maybe work on justifications a little harder in rehearsals?

Maybe it’s just me, but I won’t care about the relationship as much if I’m seeing it played out in an unexplained, surreal garden-bar world.

(Source: joestanton)