As the director of Extreme Improv, I have worked with performers of all experience levels in shows, at auditions and in workshops. One observation I picked up early was that some of my favourite improv games to play would often times be intimidating to new players. That is because some of my favourite improv games were the more challenging ones, and part of the reason I enjoy them so much is because I enjoy the challenge involved.
I really want more people to enjoy improv, and having fun with a challenging game can be great for an audience to watch, but it’s important not to create a sense of improv being ‘hard’ or intimidating when first starting out, and so I’ve compiled a list of what I consider the top five short form improv games to play with beginners to the world of improv.
These games all still have a rule or aspect to them that gives them some challenge, but they’re not so challenging that most players wouldn’t be able to pick them up within a workshop or two. I also think it’s important to play with the idea of challenge early on to teach the lesson that it’s ok to ‘go wrong’ and that if you embrace “failing” that will be an asset rather than a hindrance.
So without further ado, here’s my list of the top five improv games for beginners.
5: Gibberish scene
A gibberish scene is where two performers speak in a made up nonsense language, and another two players will be assigned to translate what the gibberish speaking players are saying. If you have players who feel they don’t know what to say in a scene assign them the role of saying the gibberish words. Some may just repeat the same one or two nonsense words over again and some may do their own elaborate version of Klingon. Both of these are fine, because you can put slightly more confident players in the roles of the people translating the gibberish.
Ideally all players should contribute to the scene equally, the gibberish speakers should lead the scene with their actions and emotions whilst the translators should push the story forward with their words. If you have a player who you think is good with ideas or confident at speaking, but perhaps doesn’t demonstrate strong emotions or physicality you could have the more confident player speaking gibberish and responding to the ideas the less confident player says to translate them.
4: Number of words
A great scene for 3-5 players, number of words is a scene where each player has to make their lines of dialogue a set number of words long. So if a player has the number 4, every time they speak their line has to be 4 words long, no more and no less, and another player isn’t allowed to speak until they have said their 4 word line. Likewise they cannot speak again after their 4 word line until another player has said their number of words.
This game is great for players who lack confidence as the restriction means they know what is expected of them. 2 words, 4 words, 1 word – whatever they’re challenged with is all they have to do. Also if you are working with a new player who you feel dominates a scene or speaks too much without listening to others give them a limit or 1 or 2 words, and this will push them to listen to others and hold back from leading the scene too much.
3: Film and theatre styles
A favourite for many players, film and theatre styles sees the players perform a scene, but periodically change the style of the scene to another film, theatre or TV genre. The same story continues throughout and the players still continue as the same characters, but they just have to adapt what they’re doing to incorporate things we associate with that genre or style into the scene.
This can be challenging if the players are given a style they don’t know. Audience who know this game are notorious for calling out ‘Film Noir’ without really knowing what that means. However, you can take it almost as a given that most players will have at least some idea of what an action film is, or a horror, or a soap opera, and will be able to do something to mimic those styles.
Have fun practicing the different styles, and use rehearsals to brain storm what to do for some of the trickier styles and work out which styles each player may need to work on to feel comfortable with it. New players will frequently love the opportunity to play lots of styles like science fiction or documentary and get a sense of achievement for coming up with examples of their favourite genres.
2: One Word Story
A One Word Story is a group game where the players work together to tell a story one word a time. This promotes team work, listening to each other and also the concept that you can’t be too precious about your ideas and the collective effort is more important. A One Word Story also take a lot of pressure off new players as all they need to contribute is literally just one word at a time.
1: Freeze Tag
Freeze Tag is a game enjoyed by players of all ages. It’s just as fun and accessible for adults as it is for children. Two players start a scene based on a physical pose, and once they’ve had at least a few seconds for the audience to get an idea of their scene another player who is not actively in the scene can call freeze and tag a player out. Then based on the physical pose the previous player froze in they start a new scene.
This is an excellent game that encourages all players to watch carefully and listen to each other, and is excellent for building up new players confidence as they will only be in a scene for a short time before someone is tagged out again. This removes a lot of pressure to carry a scene for any length of time, and encourages them to be creative to keep spotting new opportunities for scenes.
The one warning is that newer players may hold off from calling freeze to enter scenes, so a director or workshop leader can step in to call in newer players and even give them quick ideas to get started with.
