Part 3: Story

The second thing that compels an audience’s attention is Story. Story is how a character gets from point A to point B, it’s how a situation changes. So for it to be a story something has to change from the beginning to the end, whether it’s a shift in power, status, money, love, happiness, value or self-esteem. A story in which nothing happens is not a story; it’s a situation, a portrait or a houseplant. Sure, they may have their merits, they may even entertain, but they cannot satisfy an audience the way a well told story can. The audience’s expectations vary according to the genre and length of the scene, a minute scene can end with one neat tilt or punchline while a long form game requires a major reversal of fortune for a character. A lot of people have opinions about what an audience really wants, but there is one thing we can agree that they don’t want. They don’t want to be bored. And even surprises can become boring if they don’t having meaning. Which leads me to the improviser’s dilemma, how can we work together to create a story and make something surprising and satisfying?

Most of the performers I’ve played with love stories from many different media. They watch plays, movies and TV shows and read books and comics. They know the component parts of a story, from the basic structures to the various tropes of different genres. In this sense every proposal they make is drawing on this wealth of experience while being reinvented by their unique voice and the electric sparks between their fellow players. It is this sensitivity to the currents of narrative that cannot really be taught, only nurtured. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I don’t know how to explain it. That magic moment on stage when all the performers suddenly know what’s going to happen? I don’t know how we leap from shared pop-culture experiences and ‘say Yes’ principles to that. But here are my thoughts on some of thing that do go into that leap.

So – back to Yes and No. As we make and accept offers we create settings, relationships, wants and needs, opposition, status and stakes – all the aspects that build a story. When a performer first stands up and makes an offer anything can happen but as more offers are made the possibilities become fewer. This is what Keith Johnstone refers to as ‘the circle of possibility’, as the story progresses the circle becomes smaller. So we have, in a sense, a field to select actions from; which actions we select are based on a performer’s thinking, not a character’s. An improviser must balance being ‘in the moment’ with seeing several moves ahead and setting up a sort of ‘collapsing field’ of possibility whose outcome is a compelling story. A performer who is too much in their character will not advance the story; will instead dwell on conversations and minute actions. A performer who is floating just out of character is able to build tilts and jokes out of the circle of possibility, but they are thinking of their egos, not of advancing the story. It’s this middle ground of performer that is often the most frustrating to work with, though clearly talented and often funny, their scenes are dogged by pointless originality and never quite find the ending.

The most experienced players though have mastered thinking long term while keeping the moment alive. This was my revelation watching some great scenes being built – they trust that humour and character will happen, but they work on the story. Not on character, not on setting up gags, they are thinking about what will change the status/situation/location/dynamic and how to move toward that. They are thinking about where the other performers are trying to take the scene and they throw their lot in to getting it there. All the terminology I’ve discussed and the strategies I’ve glanced over in part 1 and 2 are tools to communicate on stage through choices and actions. All are there to create story.

Postscript:

I think story is one of the most complicated issues of all in improvisation. I’ll be wrestling with it at a topic a lot I think. Also, I should put more pictures in these posts. Maybe satirical cartoons.

I have been a performer of TheatreSports since 2005 with ImproGuise (formerly Improvision) and owe a lot of my ideas and understanding to the members of the company, past and present, especially Megan Furniss. And of course to Keith Johnstone and the ITI.