Teaching Cameron’s Stupid, Simple Improv

• 3 hour workshop
• 6 to 16 participants

Sales pitch

You don’t have to be smart, fast or witty to be an effective improviser; you need to pay more attention to what your teammates are doing and less attention to what you are thinking. What they do tells you what to do next, so don’t miss it. Plus, the more time you spend watching them, the less time you spend judging your actions.

You don’t have to be unusually creative to improvise; you need to see what you have already done and do it again and again. Constant new ideas are not needed and do more harm than good. Do less but do it more often.

You’ll practice these two principles to develop habits that make you a reliable improviser, who other improvisers will want to play with.

1. Be stupid! Stop thinking and pay attention.
2. Be simple! Do fewer things but do them more often.

Warm-up

• Zip Zap Zop emphasises eye contact and attention.

Warm-up 2 Hep

This is a fun warm-up not related directly to this workshop’s content. The goal is speed and adding rules faster than players can keep up.

• Circle up.
• This is an energy passing game where one player has ‘it’ and passes it to the next player using the rules.
• First rule is HEP
  • P1 turns to P2, claps and says ‘Hep!’.
  • P2 turns to P3 and repeats.
  • It continues around the circle as fast as possible.
• Second rule is HA
  • When the energy comes to any player, they say HA with their hands up. The energy goes back to the player it came from.
• Third rule is DIPPITY.
  • When the energy comes to a player, the player says DIPPITY.
  • The energy will skip one player and go to the next.
• Fourth rule is DIP DIPPITY.
  • Same as DIPPITY but two people are skipped.
• Fourth rule is DIP DIPPITY DEE.
  • Same as DIPPITY but three people are skipped.
• Fifth rule is BANG.
  • The player can make a finger gun at anyone in the circle and say BANG.
  • The player who is pointed at then has the energy.
• Sixth rule is SCHLACK.
  • The player throws the energy into the middle of the circle while saying SCHLACK.
  • One and only one player says IT’S MINE and grabs the energy.
  • That player continues the game.
• This PUBISHMENT can be added at any time.
  • If a player takes too long, hesitates, or does something wrong, they throw their hands in the air and say ’I f*cked up.’ They do a lap of the circle and return to their spot and the game.
  • The game continues without them while they are running.
  • Any other player should restart the energy without hesitation after the mistake.
• Seventh rule us YOU.
  • The player swaps places with while high-fiving any other player.
  • The player that said YOU continues the game.
• Eighth rule is CELLOPHANE.
  • The player says CELLOPHANE and makes a rolling motion with their arms, the same as a basketball umpire’s travel motion.
  • The player then adds another rule, e.g. HEP, HA, SCHLACK. That action must be performed three times, e.g. HEP HEP HEP.
  • You cannot cellophane a cellophane.
• Ask the group to create a new rule, then play with it.

Replication circle

• Circle up.
• The teacher can be player 1 (P1).
• P1 turns to the player at their side, P2, and makes a sound and a movement.
• P2 replicates the sound and movement to P3.
• The replication continues around the circle for a couple of minutes.
• Each player should be replicating only what has just been done by the previous player.
• Ask thoughtful questions.
  • What can you replicate? E.g. sound, motion, body position, breath, attitude. We can never hope to fully replicate everything so there is always more to observe.
  • How much thought/effort is it to replicate the previous player?
  • Do you judge yourself while doing this? You are making silly sounds and movements but, hopefully, you aren’t judging yourself.
  • Is this fun to do?
• Repeat the exercise in the other direction.

Single word interview

• Maximum of 6 players in each group. More players takes too long.
• Each player chooses one word to be their word for the whole exercise. E.g. ‘hammer’.
• Their word can be a noun, adjective, adverb, verb, or any word. It cannot by a functional word, such as ‘the’, ‘if’, ‘any’.
• P1 will be asked questions, one at a time, by the other players. They will answer each question as it is asked.
• A player’s question can contain any words but must contain their own word. E.g. which hammer is best for roofing?
• A player’s answer can contain any words but must contain their own word. E.g. my best friend is a hammer.
• An answer does not have to make sense but it must contain their word.
• The most important part of this exercise is that the players always use their own word.
• A player does not have to include another player’s word but they can.
• When half the players have answered questions, ask thoughtful questions.
  • Is it easy or difficult to think of questions and answers?
  • Once you know what a player’s word is, do you give them an easy or hard question? When choosing a question, you can make it easy for them, hard for them or ignore their word.
• Complete the exercise by having the remaining players answer questions.
• To keep all players active when all but one group is finished, have all groups join the remaining group so all players can ask questions of the remaining players.

French Fry (Brian Uretta style)

• Circle up.
• P1 goes into the circle and embodies an object, e.g. french fry, and says “I am a french fry.”
• P2 joins them as something else that makes sense, e.g. “I am a bottle of water.”
• P3, P4 and all players do the same until all players are in the stage picture.
• The last player to enter stays in the picture and all other players return to the circle. This player repeats what they are and a new picture builds from this new starting object. This is the second stage picture.
• All players except the last player of the new picture return to the circle one last time and create one final stage picture.
• These three stage pictures are collectively called one round of this exercise.
• Round 2 is the same three stage pictures played by the same players portraying the same objects in the same order.
• Players can speak to help each other complete each picture. Emphasise they are helping each other, not arguing.
• Round 3 is the same three stage pictures with the same objects in the same order but players cannot play their own objects.
• Round 4 is the three stage pictures in reverse, starting with the last object of the last picture.

Make a cup of tea

• Groups of 3 or 4.
• Choose an activity, such as making a cup of tea, or doing the laundry.
• P1 will play a 1-minute scene for their other players showing that activity.
• P2 will then replicate that 1-minute scene in one minute.
• The next player will then replicate what they have just seen in 1 minute.
• All players in each group will do the scene twice, e.g. P1, P2, P3, P1, P2, P3. This gives P1 the chance to replicate P3’s scene, and emphasises that repetition is a foundation for entertainment.
• Ask thoughtful questions.
  • What is entertaining here?
  • What did you laugh at?
  • What can you replicate? Object work, attitude, object locations, sounds, mistakes.
• Choose a different activity and repeat the exercise.

Art critics

• 2 players are art critics.
• 2 players are art.
• The critics come to this gallery a lot. They have strong opinions about each piece of art. They have the same opinion about each piece of art.
• The critics enter the gallery and see the first piece of art. They have the same opinion as each other and they have a strong opinion about it.
• Encourage players to repeat each other’s words, opinions, attitudes and physicality.
• Encourage players to stay on their first idea and not to add new ideas.
• After a minute, the critics move to the next piece of art. They have a new opinion, but they have the same opinion as each other.
• The scene is finished after a few pieces of art have been observed.
• The two pieces of art become critics and two new pieces of art join the next scene.
• Once everyone has been an art critic then you can do more reps with 3 or 4 critics and pieces of art.