Teaching Harold with Cameron D

You are welcome to take inspiration from these notes for personal use, but don't copy what I've written.
- Cameron D

A lot of the exercises mentioned here are described in my teaching organic group work.

Harold is a foundational long form improvisation. It normally takes about 25 to 30 minutes with a defined structure.

Notes from 2025-09-02 Session 6/8

Warmed up with repitition circle. Circle up. Player 1 makes a gesture and sound to player 2, player 2 replicates it to player 3. Continue around the circle. Speed is important.
Practiced Harold openings with small groups, 4 or 5. Three defined elements. E.g. We see8, independent film, vox pops.
Practiced Harold openings with small groups, 4 or 5. Three undefined elements. The group could do any three elements and had to perform them without discussion.
Practiced Harold openings with small groups, 4 or 5. Three undefined elements with secret missions. I gave some of the players a secret mission and instructed all players to look out for the secret missions and play along.
We practiced two full Harolds with full teams, 7 or 8 players.

Word association vs. Category. Word association is associating with the word before yours, e.g. dog cat. When associating we do not think of all the words that have come before. This is in contrast to being in the same category, or having the same game. In a category circle, the goal is to say words around the circle and all be in the same category, e.g. dog, cat, mouse, hamster, rabbit. We should notice what the category is and when it changes, e.g. lion is an animal but it is not a pet.
We practiced openings with smaller groups, 4 or 5 people. This forces players to make more decisions and contribute more.
I encouraged players to do their own thing while observing other players. Keep your own thing going AND contribute to others. E.g. I am climbing a ladder while being shot. Or, I am looking for my pony while yes-anding another player who is sailing the seven seas. We can keep both going.
We pushed for the opening to be thematic and conceptual instead of scenic. A scene has plot and characters change. The opening is pure, abstract ideas demonstrated through repeated behaviours. It does not have to be realistic, the repetition of behaviours has its own meaning.
We practiced two Harolds with teams of 7 and 8.

I set the goal of a spontaneous happy birthday.
Warm up was equilateral triangle. Circle up, each player secretly selects two other players. The goal is to make an equilateral triangle with your two chosen players.
Palm-to-face-following. In addition to the normal version where player A leads player B, we did an advanced version where any leader or follower can depart their partner and then lead or follow any other player. A player is not obliged to follow. This created its own game with its own rules.
Independent film. 5 minutes.
Circle soundscape. I provided a rythm and each player adds their own sound, one by one.
Independent film. 10 minutes.
Harold opening then first beat scenes. The opening game was an independent film. This worked well. We will work on the organic opening being more conceptual and thematic rather than secnic.
Harold opening then first beat scenes. I instructed the opening to be in three parts, an independent film, then campfire, then more independent film. This encouraged the coming together, then moving apart, then coming together.

Warm up was Knife, Gun, Baby, Selfie. Random walking with a knife being thrown from player to player. When hit with the knife, the player pulls it out and throws it at another player. Second level, any player can call "I have a gun", everyone cowers until that player has been knifed. Third level, any player can have a baby, everyone must come and see the cute baby. Fourth level, any player can take a selfie and everyone must get into the shot. Figth level, any player can call out anything and all players must respond, e.g. Dance party!
We practiced three group games in a row: Campfire, We See 8 and Vox Pops.
We used those three games together to create an opening that took about 3 minutes. The players self-directed their way through the games without my prompting.
We practiced two full Harolds using the 3-game opening. The players chose their own second and third group games.
We had extra time so we started scene painting with ideas from our real experience.

Warm up is 5 personal things. Player 1 stands in the middle of the circle and shares five things about themelf. The group counts the things after each thing.
We practiced 4 rounds of Harold.
The opening group game is a creative sprint. 100 small, quick steps achieves more than a couple of big leaps.
The 2nd and third group games are palette cleansers. They should not rely on the content of the show up to that point. Find something tangential.
Opening group game is We See 8. Get a one-word suggestion from the audience and we hear opinions/points-of-view from the players in any order. E.g. I am a flower. I grow in the sunshine. Weeds are taking my job. I got stung in the eye by a bee.
2nd beat group game is Group Object. Players enter the stage in quick succession. They become parts of a single object. They can look around and move position until they feel the object is clear. As a fun exercise, all players said what they think the object is at the same time.
3rd beat group game. One player becomes a tour guide giving a tour of a museum of something that has been mentioned in the show but not invesitgated. E.g. I'm your tour guide at this museum of yummy cakes. The challenge of this game is that there are two points-of-view on stage but lots of players. One point-of-view is that of the tour guide who thinks the museum is worthwhile, and the other point-of-view is the group of visitors. The group needs to express the same opinion and not talk over the tour guide.

Warm-up was Hep
Our goal is to perform Harold, so we practiced the form 4 times.
I conducted the games and scenes.
The scenes and Harold were not the full length, we shortened them to focus on the structure.
This worked well and made the structure understandable through experience.
Opening was campfire where players get a one-word suggestion, which inspires real stories and opinions. E.g. "fire". I put out a fire when I worked at the Hilton Hotel.
2nd beat group game is Vox Pops. One player interviews the man on the street, played by other players. They can pick one question to ask, or ask questions about a topic. Choose something that expands the world, something tangential. E.g. What do you think about penguins living amongst humans.
3rd beat group game. Everyone get in here. One players says "bears get in here" and discusses some topic with all the bears. E.g. We need to poop somewhere else, the woods aren't working. I need ideas.