Matt Little // IMPROV: No Questions (Out Loud)!

EDIT: Chris Scott brings up something I hadn’t mentioned below, but totally agree with:

I agree with all of this except for one caveat: When you don’t hear or understand something your scene partner just said.

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with that. My intent was to point out how we use questions to hide from making decisions on stage. Thanks Chris!

It’s a common thing to do - when we’re presented with an idea that’s foreign to us, we request clarification. We ask what the person meant. We ask if we can do a thing. We ask what the rules are. We ask we ask we ask. In life, an inquisitive nature is fantastic, even encouraged (sometimes it even gets you a million dollars).

But when we’re on stage, that’s not the time for questions OUT LOUD. It’s the time for assumptions.

I watch a lot of very talented performers stop scenes dead in their tracks to ask questions. In essence, what we are doing when we ask questions on stage is asking permission to present the idea we have in our heads. But here’s a secret - you already have permission to present that idea by the very fact that you are on stage.

An improv audience is great because they ASSUME that you know what you’re doing when you step up. As such, you should ASSUME that you have the answers to any question you are about to ask. You may sound a little more forceful on stage than in IRL, but hell, if you can be a bit of an asshole anywhere it’s on stage, right? Also, by making an assumption, congratulations! You’ve also made a DECISION.

Much like saying “no,” asking questions creates a stoppage in our momentum in a scene. As we ramp up and trade lines and ideas, a question makes us stop and discuss the idea, instead of making an assumption, saying it, and seeing what that says about our character. There are almost no ideas that can’t be expressed by question that cannot be expressed as a statement instead. And creating a statement, instead of a question, puts a LOT more personality in to your character.

For example: you’re in a scene, and you THINK your spouse is cheating on you. You could ASK “Did you fuck him/her?” However, what does that tell us about your character? Nothing really, except that you’re afraid to make an accusation. It doesn’t tell you anything either. If, however, you say “You fucked him/her!” well, we have a lot more places to go. If your partner says “no,” we already know you are CONVINCED it’s happened. Now we get to find out if you’re the unusual person in this relationship (who is always accusing your spouse of stuff) or the justified one (who has pictures of your spouse fucking on a rocking horse outside of a Cracker Barrel in Reading).

Asking a question on stage also does something to the audience as well. Again, an audience enters a show assuming that you, as a performer, know what you are doing walking this tightrope of in-the-moment theater. When you ask a question, you’re putting yourself in a place that says to the audience “I don’t really know what’s going on.” This can make an audience lose their trust in you as it now looks like no one is steering the ship.

Asking questions out loud doesn’t allow us to make decisions. Watch most scenes and see what happens to the scene as more questions are asked. Occasionally, it will work out. More often, though, it just leads to muddy characters who barely know anything about one another. How can you possibly know anything about your scene partner if you’re not allowing yourself to learn anything about your own character? Alternately, if you aren’t making assumptions, then how can you expect your scene partner to know anything more than the fact that you ask a lot of questions?

The old adeage goes “Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.” Well, good. Let yourself be the ass. Let yourself be made an ass. If someone isn’t an ass on stage, then no one’s having a good time.

Yes, I coach. If you need a sub or different perspective, let’s talk!

POSTED 1 year ago

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Tag(s): #improvnotes