Tag: status

The Backline E159: The Johnstonian Dictionary

Here are some notes and interpretations I took while listening to Toronto improv podcast The Backline. This is from Episode 159: The Johnstonian Dictionary. Click the links on the times to be taken to an audio version of the note.

8:40 – “When you introduce a new term, or a term that is different, or different way of looking at improv, often people take it as a criticism of a deeply held belief that they have. And I think that’s a mistake. So you know, we may say something like “oh you know, here’s game of the scene, it replaces this part of Johnstonian improv.” And people go “Why trying to replace that, that’s awesome, we need that!” And no-one in improv is trying to erase section of improv history. Like the concepts that are valuable to you are still valuable, but this is just another tool, this is another way to look at it, and they exist, they can exist both in your toolbelt.”

9:48 – “I think the goal is always, is this clearer? Or does this help anybody? And I think that’s what renaming something or finding an alternate phrase to discuss a certain topic, anybody who talks about that, their goal is hopefully, “does this make more sense then what we previously held?” or “does this help clear up something you had a hard time you a hard time digging your nails into?”

11:34 – Relationship vs Dynamic:

  • Relationship (Johnstonian): How you and the other person you are on stage with someone, e.g. customer and barista. Often goes hand in hand with the “no stranger” rule.
  • Dynamic (Modern): How you are treating someone, e.g. bully and victim.

14:54 – “If you feel a certain way towards someone and you’re treating them in a certain way, we actually have enough meat to make a scene out of it. And the thing that a relationship doesn’t actually give us, it doesn’t give us reproducible results.”

16:27 – Relationships can result in players acting out stereotypes, where as dynamics can provide playable feelings towards each other.

19:47 – Who/What/Where vs The Behavior: Both of these are considered the labelled context of the scene.

  • Who/What/Where (Johnstonian): Things that the audience will never see, e.g a forest.
  • The Behavior (Modern): The labelled dynamic between the two people in the scene that can live anywhere.

21:44 – In modern longform, we’re taking characters from one location and putting them in a different context. Taking large amounts of time setting up who/what/where is wasted time, as it’s unlikely to be reused in later beats. Instead, paying attention to the behavior allows us to bring something in that the audience has already identified with and can heighten.

23:40 – “If the location is the star of your scene, it’s not going to be a great scene to play or to watch.” The transition from neutral exposition (e.g. about the environment) to passionate emotion is hard!

25:48: Playing Status vs Playing Game of the Scene: Surprisingly similar!

  • Playing Status (Johnstonian): The belief that all characters exist in hierarchy. Relates to how you character is treated, how you are seen by other characters, and how much weight your words have. e.g. the president (high status) over a homeless person (low status).
  • Playing Game of the Scene (Modern): Involves dynamics. Finding situations to affect the characters in the scene in a certain way. Status can be apart of a scenic game.

29:34: Surrender vs The Right to Play:

  • Surrender (Johnstonian): The idea that someone in the scene has to win or lose, e.g. a fight. Solves the problem of conflict in scenes.
  • The Right to Play (Modern): “You get to choose one thing. And the one thing is, what do you step into the scene with? What’s your first emotion, the first object work, your first line of dialogue. Whatever that first thing is, you are entitled to pursuit that for the rest of the scene. And anything that I [the improviser] do that helps you pursuit that more is good for the scene, it benefits us it creates laughter. And anything that I do that stops you from pursuing that behavior is a a bad thing.”

31:48 – Surrendering and Moving On vs Surrendering and Reinvesting:

  • Surrendering and Moving On: Giving up on conflict and moving to something else in the scene.
  • Surrendering and Reinvesting: Taking a break from that conflict and coming back to it with more intensity.

32:57 – Conflict doesn’t need to be solved. Sit in it. “The business is experiencing feelings on stage in front of people for no money.” By solving conflict, you’ve removed the dynamic established in the scene and need to find something new to play with.

35:20 – There’s a big difference between stopping someone’s play (e.g. the medicine you’re giving these kids is poison, stop giving it to them) and having a feeling towards someone’s play (e.g. I hate kids and you giving them medicine makes them better, therefore I hate you).

39:01 – Establishing a Character vs Establishing a Deal:

  • Character (Johnstonian): Who you are, your name, how you move, your job.
  • A Deal (Modern): The one thing you bring into the scene (see the right to play).  The emotion, line of dialogue, object work.
  • A deal is a thing that you’re doing in this moment. It is something that you are present for. Your character is how your deal is received by your partner.

41:36 – “Who we are ultimately is something we discover by what we’re doing in the scene.” If we’re coming in with a pre-established character, we’re expecting a certain reaction from the other characters in the scene.

42:50 – “When I step on stage with a full character that’s pre-established, I turn the person I’m playing with into my puppet. Either they do what I say and do what my psyche demands of them, or we get into a conflict. And that’s a bummer of a feeling. It’s a bummer of a feeling to either go “okay I’m just doing what you want me to do here.” It’s also a bummer to be like “I don’t want to drop my deal ’cause this is who I am but you won’t let me play the thing I stepped on stage with because it interferes with how the scene is supposed to go with your fuckin’ Jorje the Spanish waiter, you know?”

Anything’s Possible! (with protection)→

mily believes that you can do an improvised scene about anything, and find ways to make it empowering, provided that you employ protection.

Protection means tackling a taboo or difficult subject by A) ensuring that the right character has the power in a scene, and B) displaying to the audience that the players are in control and comfortable. This makes the scene palatable for the audience and safe for the players. It can be the difference between a scene we think is OK and a scene we find inappropriate.

Small Lil’ Exercise on Playing Status

The awesome Anna Renz taught this one to me. It might have been from Keith Johnstone’s Impro? I can’t remember. It also has the great benefit of being fun as hell to watch.

  1. Four people up.
  2. Number four slips of paper from one to four.
  3. Hand out the slips to each person. Ask them to look at the slip but not show the other performers.
  4. Ask the four to play out a scene.  If it helps, give them a scenario such as a family sitting in a car or employees having post-work drinks.

Why This Is Awesome: Status Dynamics! Each performer knows their own status and can communicate it. A player with a status of 2 might show unwavering support to 1, while putting down 3 and 4. When that is combined with character (such as a family where the kids have higher status than the parents) or point-of-view (3 might mirror the POV of 2), the scenes come to life and are both realistic yet funny. Then add status stifts, where a player might try and raise or lower their status depending on what has previously happened in the scene and you have something that is vibrant to watch.

How To Use This Outside of the Exercise:  When we are aware of status, we can respond appropriately, either by adjusting our status or adjusting how we respond to that status (be it through dialogue, movement, body shape, etc). We can mirror that status too, although you want to be careful playing even higher status, as that may just start argumentative scenes (boring). If we’re on the backline, we can add side-support by complementing the status that already exists in the scene, as opposed to adding something new too. Lots of fun to be had!

David Razowsky: Improvising as an Actor Workshop – Day 1

Long-time Second City cast member, director, and teacher David Razowsky visited Australia in July 2015, and I was lucky enough to be apart of a three day workshop focused on his various techniques and approaches to improvisation. Here are my notes and lessons from that weekend:

  • Once you define it [in a scene], it exists – you can’t take it back. You can’t stop defining it.
  • You have to have mindfulness, awareness when improvising.
  • “All improv is acting”
  • It’s all about the moment. Beling deliberate, listening for the physical.
  • Your scene partner can affect your physical change.
  • “Be eager to respond, not eager to talk”
  • “You [your scene partner, not me] are the most important person on stage”
  • The process of improv is the product of improv. We shouldn’t be ashamed of that.

Viewpoint Techniques

  1. Shape – Body use dictates what the first line of the scene is. “My partner tells me how to breathe.” Once you have your body shape, it’s not yours to change.
  2. Duration – how long behavior happens for before it has a need to change.
  3. Gesture – behaviour (real-world movement) and expressive (movement based on internal feelings).
  4. Kinesthetic response – how you respond to my action, not necessarily with words.
  5. Spacial relationship – When something in the space has changed, we are changed. “Let yourself be in wonder.”
  6. Repetition – movement that is sequenced over and over again. Not redundancy.
  7. Topography – how you move on the floor. What has came before you in the scene dictates whether you have a comfortable stroll, a cocky strut, or a scared step.
  8. Architecture – anything you have a relationship with. We add value to it – it’s either truthful (this is my backpack) or factual (this explains who i am). Smell, light, sound.
  9. Tempo – how fast or slow the scene moves.
  • Zero point: We start scenes at zero. Once we add things, we are taking inventory.
  • Soft focus: Receiving with our entire body. Not seeing with eyes or hearing with our ears.
  • Listening in six directions: top, bottom, front, back, left, right.
  • Exercise: Soft Focus Exercise: Feeling energised and inspired by the movement of others. Only moving when we feel inspired to.
  • If there’s one shape, there’s no scene. All scenes feature pressure, tension, and dynamic.
  • “All improv is ‘I’m not touching you!!'”
  • At every point in a scene, you need to surrender the top of the scene (the initiation). You don’t have to honour everything that came before. The focus has changed, and you should honour that focus.
  • Play with what inspires and what comes before – the last thing!
  • Use your body, your heart, your soul – not just your brain.
  • Compulsion is a straight line – get to the point and just say it. Compulsion trumps what’s come before, but it’s not impulse or instinct.
  • You feel the relationship in the actor’s being, not how they deliver the lines.
  • You have a contract to keep doing what you’re doing so you scene partner can follow. Don’t pull the rug out from under your partner.
  • Say what you feel that you need to say. Don’t dance around it! (no need to add extra dialogue to give the scene more tension. Being direct will get you results.)
  • “If you’re moved by what your partner says, don’t hold on to it!” (react damnit!)
  • “We love a status shift.”
  • “Don’t be a victim. Don’t be passive-aggressive, don’t be polite. Be aggressive, own up, be bold. It adds excitement.” (This changed me as an improviser. I don’t need to worry about the other actor in the scene. They can look after themselves. Because if I’m worrying about them, I’m not focusing myself in the scene.)
  • “We want to see the scene that we’ve never seen!” (another big one for me.)
  • Always have internal soft focus when playing.
  • “You put on a bunch of clothes to take them off. Take off the fucking clothes!”
  • Improvise like a crow, not like a train. Crowds fly to where the shiny objects are. Trains follow tracks.
  • Playing low status has no equality with self.
  • “When you say something cool, shut the fuck up. Or if you feel the need to talk, say the same thing.”
  • Dare to be dull.
  • “Everything I need is in my partner”

I think the stupidest thing you can do is feel like there is status about improv. It’s like made up, it’s all made up!
Karin Louise Hammerberg on UCB Long-Form Conversations