Moving forward in an improv scene can be easy, a struggle or impossible.
Two players stand on stage. They have been talking for under 1 minute. They have slipped into gossip.
[Gossip: Talking about someone else, someplace else or some other time. Sometimes all three. The feeling of gossip can be quite misleading. You can display lots of ‘gritty’ emotions while in gossip and this can lead the actors into thinking that something is happening… but the audience wants some relationship developed between the characters on stage… not a discussion about other people, places or time.]
One or both of the actors recognizes the danger. What does s/he do? What would you do?
Here is part one of a two part series exploring techniques for moving a scene forward.
Moving Forward Technique: Narration
Narration is when an actor speaks to the audience to reveal motives, actions, feelings or plot. Improv actors can use narration as a story device to end confusion and/or move the action forward.
Example
Man: This is a pretty park.
Woman: Yes, I remember this park when it was a parking lot. Back then nobody would want to be near this area of town.
Man: I remember that too… I remember reading that people were getting robbed here.
Woman: I had a friend, Marcie, and her boy friend was robbed here.
[All Gossip* – Now enter narration.]
Man: (Stands and faces the audience.) I sat on the bench watching her talk to me about the park, but my mind was full of possibilities. I could see us on our first date. (Or if we wanted to reincorporate, he could say, “I had gained her trust and almost felt guilty… knowing that I was going to rob her in the next few minutes.)
(He sits back down and resumes talking to the woman.)
Now the scene has some dramatic tension and both players have something to play.
Here is a short list of Narration techniques
- Internal narration: A player in the scene turns to the audience to reveal a story element. The actor is the story teller and the narrator will refer to his or her character in the third person. [Actors turns to the audience, “The man and woman had never met.”]
- External narration: A player, not in the scene, enters the stage, addresses the audience and interjects information to eliminate confusion and move the scene forward. This might also be done from off stage on a microphone. [“The man and woman had just met, but later that day when they were just finishing dinner at a local Italian restaurant…”]
- Internal monologue: All the players may (at different time) stand and reveal their inner state to the audience. [Man, “I liked her. I sensed in her a kindness that made me trust her.” Woman, “I don’t usually talk to strangers in the park, but there was something about this man, perhaps his soft eyes that made me interested in him.”]
*Gossip: Talking about people who are not present. Talking about a time different than the present.
[—Part 2: Transitions –coming soon—]