Here are a few exercises to help with the first Beat of an improvised play or scene.
The first beat of play in the moment is vital as you essentially discover what play you are in, what is your characters point of view and your relationship to your partner’s character. What follows are exercises, clues and cues to playing the first beat. Be aware these are exercises, and games and as such has rules, or formats. They are designed to help us discover what we need to know and offer what we need to give our partner. As exercise its worth following the rules and the format.  In time once we have understood and absorb the games, they become principles; then we get play with more subtlety because we know what we are looking for.
 
                       “Being a good stage partner is being a good improviser”
 
So when the lights come up and we Look at your partner; everything we need is there, try to interpret what it seems like they are feeling, what you see, invent nothing, discover everything.
 
Look at them, look into their eyes. Judge them
What are they feeling?
How do they make you feel?
What are they offering you?
Is there a kinaesthetic response?
Look at their shape.
 
Use the nine viewpoints, they are a guide to help you be a better observer.
Viewpoints of time: Tempo, duration, kinaesthetic response, repetition.
Viewpoints of space:  Shape, gesture, spatial relationship, architecture, topography.

Exercise 1:  Maybe
In this first moment of initially assessing your partner’s character’s emotional state, try employing the Maybe Exercise. Make judgements based on the way they are standing or sitting, the shape they are in, their gestures - which include facial expressions, notice their unconscious movements make a rapid list of assumptions. Meanwhile your partner will be doing the same analysis of you. Do nothing consciously, both of you should just keep your shape, if there is physical movement, they are unconscious kinaesthetic responses not purposeful offers.

Maybe he’s looking up to me
Maybe he’s expecting me to have an answer to something
Maybe he’s worried
Maybe he’s feeling sorry for himself
Maybe he’s confused
 
Initially you can speak these ‘maybe’ statements out loud, so your partner hears them, but we want to get to a place where you play them in your head. All these assessments are maybes, any of them are possible, each one is an assumption you have made based on what you see and how it’s made you feel. Commit to the one that you respond to most strongly, trust it, it’s not wrong, but it remains a maybe until it's spoken, then it’s the truth.
 
The next step is to express a point of view about what you your partner’s shape has inspired you to feel. If they look confused, don’t say “you look confused”, but rather say “you’re going to figure it out.”
 
“The way to be a good stage partner is to stay in the moment and respond honestly.”  
 
Exercise 2 - Repetition of the first exchange
You look at our partner, and in your head ascertain how they may be feeling. Your partner then creates a dynamic off your line; what we call ‘a push back’.
 
In the first part of this exercise both actors take a position on stage and hold their physical shape.  Initially choose beforehand who speaks first (A) and who responds (B). (A) looks at their partner (B) and assesses (B’s) emotional state. A then says a line that expresses their point of view. B responds a push back line, which is a point of view that creates a dynamic to (A’s) point of view.
 
Next A & B repeat their points of view dialogue three times, or more times, keeping their shape and the same tone and tempo.
 
A:     (Seeing B is looking helpless) “I can’t help you”      
B:     “You have to help me.”
A:     “I can’t help you.”
B:     “You have to help me.”
A:     “I can’t help you.”
B:     “You have to help me.”
A:     “I can’t help you.”
B:     “You have to help me.”
 
The objective, and the mindset, is to hold your shape and maintain you tone and tempo but give all your attention to looking at and listening to your partner.  With the repetition, be less aware of the words you are speaking and more aware of what is happening emotionally. The purpose here is to notice when and how the scene evolves.
       
Exercise 3 – The Bridge Line the Push Back Line and the Sister lines
When first person who speaks (A) has defined their point of view (B) needs to tell their partner (A) that they have heard their point of view and then add a response their pushback line.  For example:
 
A:     (Point of View) “I can’t help you.”
B:     (Bridging Line) “You can’t help me?” (Pushback line) “You have to help me”

Next, instead of repeating your point of view line exactly you reiterate your point of view by rephrasing it; repeating your point of view in different ways is what we call ‘the sister line’ In this sequence you are telling your partner you have heard what they have said to you by using a bridging line and repeating your point of view with a sister line, which does two things;  it helps you hold onto your point of view and make it more certain your partner knows it too.  
It looks something like this:
 
A:      “I can’t help you.” (Point of View)
B:     “You can’t help me? (Bridging Line) “You have to help me” (Pushback line)
A:     “I have to help you?” (Bridge Line) “I don’t know how to help you” (Sister line)
B:     “You don’t know how?” (Bridge Line) “You simply got to help me” (Sister Line)
A:      “I’ve got to help you? (Bridge Line) “No, I don’t” (Sister Line)
B:     “Now you’re saying you don’t have too?” (Bridge) “Friends must help one
         another”
A:     “Friends help one another” (Bridge Line) “Maybe they do, maybe that’s why I 
          won’t help  you.”
 
A’s last line “Maybe they do, and that’s why I won’t help” has caused B to stumble. Something will have happened to B, He will have changed his shape for sure. But this is something that will have happened kinaesthetically. This moment marks the end of the first beat because the scene is no longer about A not helping B, this scene is now about a misunderstanding about their friendship B has a new point of view:
 
B: (Pause) um ...er… What?  We are friends. (Point of view)
A: You think we were friends? (Bridge Line) Maybe we were friends once (Pushback)
​

                "Live an interesting and observed life and brings it to the stage"
Play the game of observing people. When you see them in the street, if only for a moment, fill in all the unknowable blanks. Observe these people I saw on the tube.
Look at the picture with the woman and child. Has something just happened? How is she dealing with it emotionally? What is she thinking? What about the boy?  What about the gentleman on the left, is he  connected to the other two?  What’s he thinking about? ​

What if I told you they are together?
​What about the couple in the other picture? What is their relationship?  What is their status in relation to each other? Is he trustworthy? Is something bothering her? Most essentially ask about each one “What is he or she feeling? How do they make you feel?” If we lead an observant life we can bring that mindfulness to the stage in the service of our scene partner. An improviser needs to watch, listen, read… and think. Our responses and reactions are coloured by our thoughts, it benefits us to practise having some.
                        "Rules are things you have to do, Principles are things you get to do"
Play in the moment has no defined format and no rules it has certain principles  above about it's a mindset that says we are discovering an already occurring in the scene. The less you do, the more you will notice and the more it will seem like you are uncovering what is already happening, you are not writing your own story, it is happening to you. Through discovery you can stumble onto stuff that is more interesting than if you try to invent something new. The less you try to put stuff on the scene, or control the story and the more you listen to your partner the easier it becomes to follow the show. The understanding is that if you are following something pre-existing. Therefore, the scene must already exist. It isn’t a magical, creative process as is much a logical one of discovery. Play in the Moment is free form. The 'free' meaning no rules
In short-form and format shows like The Harold, Armando, La Ronde there are rules, Rules are specific things you must do for the game or the format to work.  The rule to establish “who, what and where” at the top of the scene may be essential in short form, but ultimately it is artificial. We just don’t speak in these expositions like “Sir I’ve been working in your baked bean canning factory for fifty years now, and as my employer I think it’s about time you gave me a promotion.” Expositions get in the way of creating scenes we want to be like real life. In free form Play in the Moment the answers to who what and where will reveal themselves in time, or may not, the where may not matter, nor the named relationship. If you simply improvise honest scenes an emotional relationship between two people will be emerge and that is what the scene is about. If we behave honestly, we don’t have to remember the rules. Our only task is to reveal what is already occurring, that’s why we pay attention to the scene and especially our scene partner.
Rules have come from noticing the characteristics that good scenes consistently tend to have. Keith Johnstone observed that scenes involving arguments often bombed; they went nowhere, whereas scenes in which people agreed moved forward. Thus terms like ‘blocking’ and “accepting” and the rule “Yes…and.” But if you were to literally saying “yes…and” at every exchange it would become irritating. Yes…and is a distillation that means you accept the reality of the scene. So in this form, to be helpful to your partner and the development of scenes you do need to fundamentally consider the principles of accepting the reality of the scene. We do however throw out the artificiality of the rules, forget them in a way and trust that your experience of playing them over the years means they are now instinctive. Replace them with the following mindset: Agree to the reality of the scene and don’t contradict the established reality. Play at the top of your intelligence and use all you senses to attend.
                                        Play with Honesty not for Laughs"
                     “Is what we’re doing comedy? Probably not. Is it funny? Probably yes”.                                                                                                                                             Del Close
It’s not our goal to be funny or even entertaining. Our goal is to be honest in the moment trusting that it’s the best tactic to produce something of quality. Will it be entertaining? Probably yes, if we stay honest.
There are a multitude of Impro games and formats that are set up to produce comic effect, the Armando certainly being one of the best. But with this improvisational form we’re not trying to be funny, neither are we trying to not be funny, we’re not even trying, we re just being human to produce something like life and genuine. Is real life funny? Yes often. Audiences certainly laugh at the familiar, things they recognise in themselves, things that are genuine and real. Observational comedy is the bread and butter of stand up. Audiences respond also to being surprised, what better way to surprise and audience than with genuine honesty?
The kind of impro we are attempting here isn’t so commonly played perhaps because fear is the hurdle to honesty is fear. You fear that an honest reaction won’t be enough, or fear that the evenings bombing if you’re not getting any laughs. Gags create laughter but improvisers also know they also kill stories; knowing that so many improvisers cannot resist making gags only because the audience reward them with laughter. If some audience will laugh at gags that destroy the scene, why even consider it. Don't think audience judgement is always right, nor that laughter is the first consideration when evaluating the success of a show. Of course we performing for an audience, there is no theatre without them. You will hear their laughter and their silence and someone leaving even only for the loo, but you mustn’t allow them to lead you, they are not in the scene you are trying to discover. They will be with you heart and soul only if you stay focused and true in the scene, It’s difficult to not to want to give them more of the same when they are laughing. It’s difficult not to imagine they are bored when they are silent. It will throw you the moment you make any assessment on how the audience is doing. This is all playing into your fears. Hopefully audiences encourage you by their attentiveness and interest, but your focus on the job in hand which is listening to you stage partner. But if something is funny because that’s the way the scene is going and it seems truthful then it's justified, so don’t run away from it; equally don’t shy away from something that’s making you feel uncomfortable.
You have to confront your fears head on to play honestly, don’t panic or bluff or doubt. It’s helpful to develop a calm, attentive openness to discover the scenes you’re in. Remember you find the scene in your partner so try and get out of the way yourself and not mess up the scene with your own inventions. Your only blueprint for a good show here is putting your energy into the moment with your partner. Think about what is the next thing to do which would be most useful and interesting and true to this moment.  

                                                                       "Try Silence"
Very seldom do I hear silence in impro. Yet when you stop talking in can draw an audience in. All too often impro is people simply talking on stage when good impro is not so much about talking as listening. Listening is all there is. The more words we use the less they mean. Just stop talking and see what happens, or speak sparingly. You don’t always have to respond with words, respond with silence; thinking is a perfectly valid response. An audience will connect to scenes that have real life conversations. Fight through the fear that you are not doing enough; trust that you can find something quite beautiful in creating something from nothing and discovering moment by moment. This is about trying to represent real life on stage. Scenes need to move at the pace of real life, and than includes silence, pauses and time to reflect.

                                                               "Follow the Fear"
Fear based moves on stage are to blame for most of the missteps. Fear is an enemy but also a friend. Not only are improvisers better served by not succumbing to their fears, but also by actively pursuing them, tackling the seemingly scary topics, and making bold, committed moves. More often than not, brave efforts create great theatre. The whole point is to get out there with nothing but one’s wits and whatever confidence you can summon. Improvisers best meet their audience expectation by following what may be the less comfortable path, walking on stage without a plan. As a result, there is this interesting relationship with fear, as it is a route to all improvisational evils it is at the same time marking the way to interesting drama..
“Follow the fear” principal is aiming to follow the truth of a scene, even if it means breaching uncomfortable waters. Ignore the fear of not entertaining the audience and doubting your abilities in order to dedicate yourself to the frightening prospect of not knowing where the scene will lead.  The search for honesty requires us to quell the fight or flight response constantly threatening to put the kibosh on many good stage moments. Instead of fight or flight, we suggest you do neither. Neither battle more bolt from the fear, but pay attention and see where it leads. Problems arise when we forget to pay attention, look at our stage partner, or listen with our whole selves. Forget the fear and to just do the next little thing. And the major reason we forget his fear. It’s natural to feel fear on stage but the audience doesn’t want to see the player suffer. The characters yes but not the players.

                                              "Performance and Audience Time Keep it Short"
Remember that stage time and audience time a different. Time on stage seems much shorter to the performer than it does to the audience. On stage if you feel you’ve done ten minutes in reality more likely to have been about 15 minutes. We have all experienced occasions when we get absorbed in something and after what you think is an hour, look up at the clock and see been two. It’s same thing here, the form demands total absorption. For a 40 minute show, when players think they have done 25 minutes it's probably time to stop.

                                             "Step into a scene already in progress"
Following from the first moment you move from one small step to the next, the first line spoken to the next, The whole thing is just following, following, following. If you miss anything at the beginning you miss the opportunity to discover the scene. If you behave as though the scene exists already, you find yourself in the right frame of mind to improvise better. Stepping into a scene already in progress relieves you of the pressure to provide exposition. You do not invent and bring stuff in from the outside; everything you need is in your partner.“
                             The lights come up, you notice that your partner is standing, holding on to the back of a chair, he looks anxiously pensive. You need to express what you see, but not too directly, instead of saying “I see you are looking pensive” but something like “the world’s hard, you can’t keeping carrying it on your shoulders”.  Your partner looks a little more anxious, (he's feels this character is  always anxious) He says, “Yep it is – I can’t help myself”. You say, “Worrying won’t sort it?” Your partner responds in a slightly irritated tone, “always the one with the advice”. You are both uncovering a shared feeling that you know each other well, that your behaviour towards each other is one of concern and affection, and  it seems this ‘close’ long-term relationship could now be that of brothers, so you say “Then talk to Mum about it.” So you move on from one moment of discovery to another; one step at a time. These discoveries that you are  ‘brother’, the anxiety, the slight irritation of the one, and the advisory role of the other is enough to carry through a one-hour show. Everything thing you need is here in your partner.
                "Trust the scene will reveal itself, plan nothing, discover everything"
Starting with a prepared opening line or a character isn’t useful. Come on with nothing, but don’t think you’re starting with nothing, just believe that when the lights come up everything you need is waiting for you to be discovered. Let go of working or leading the scene, or of coming up with good ideas. Discovery is not about force and producing good ideas, it’s about receptiveness and response. It’s not about a leap from A to B (knowing where this leads) it’s only about the leap from A, the rest is an act of faith in the communication and trust between you and your partner.
                                         "Discover by Elimination"
When the lights go up  look at the information that’s immediately available to you. The only place you will find information is in you stage partner; anything not appropriate to your partner is invention. Look in their eyes, notice their body language, the shape they are standing or sitting in, their proximity to you. Does the person feel familiar to you or more like a relative stranger? Notice their perceived sense of status to you and the space they are in.Commit to what you think you know and respond. As the things you know increase, by process of elimination you will both discover who are, and how you feel.
                        The lights come up you see your partner is standing, holding her hands in front of her, her thumb stroking her knuckle, she's looking up and slightly to the side. She is pensive, is she anxious?  Maybe slightly. It is likely at that moment that she’s a threat? Not really. Instantly, that eliminates tons of other possibilities about the dynamic of this relationship. The way She is standing suggests she is female that’s, 51% of the population eliminated. She is behaving in a way that she's comfortable  being silent in your presence, she's no stranger, someone you know must eliminate at least 98% of the population,  
Michelangelo described carving the statue of David as chipping away the fragments of stone that didn't belong to the figure; it is as if David was already present waiting  to be released. The top of the scene is the same process, we begin narrowing down to reveal the play we are and the people we are playing a chip at a time.  We pay close attention so we can keep eliminating possibilities until it appears we have always been these people in this space, doing this thing.
                          So I sense that my partner is maybe playing a close friend from the way she is standing, that's how it makes me feel, and most important of all, there is nothing to suggested she is not. I also feel my character’s status is higher than my partner's , she's relying on me in some way, contemplating something I've just told her. what I've just told her is important, it just confirms that we also have a long-term personal friendship. Enough to commit because this all only remain a 'maybe until I do. I say, "Come on Susan, trust my advice". 
                        Eventually we will find a particular relationship, which has started as a more general one. My partner's character has become anxious, she says "I really don'y think I can" and I get a sense she’s done something wrong. I’ve discovered this from how she responded to me, and I'm also awareness of my own body language, I stepped back from her for some reason. This all sounds so slow (that's ok) and intellectualised (It isn't)  We all have this inborn skill to recognise the feeling we have that something is wrong, that some unspoken undercurrent of feeling is going on.
                      "If you Tell the Truth you don't have to remember anything"
                                                                                                                     Mark Twain
This concentrated attention to detail means there is a lot to remember. I have a shocking memory myself and learning lines is a real problem for me, but I find remembering less of a problem here because listening makes you better at remembering. People tend to stop listening when they believe they know what’s going to happen next – or when they know what they want to happen next. Pure improvisation is about not knowing what is going to happen at any point. Memory improves when you pay attention and care about what is being said.
                                                         "Finding the Heat and Weight"
The first things we are most likely to find at the top of the scene is the heat and weight of the relationship.  Weight refers to what is already in the room; what is going on and what is the level of tension? For example: Imagine the look of your closest loved one, if she or he are concerned that you have 'been seeing someone else" – there would be a  fair amount of tension in the room. Now imagine the look of the same loved one – thinking you are overdue for a haircut, the weight here would be much less..
                    Heat is the intimacy and intensity of the relationship – anything from complete strangers standing next to each other on a train to life long soul mates. You will eventually discover the associated relationship.  Don’t mistake the heat of the relationship for the named relationship  such as husband and wife, teacher and pupil, client and hairdresser. Father-son relationships could have the heat of casual drinking buddies or distant strangers. Likewise pupil-teacher relationships could be bully.

                                                  "Your Emotional Point of View"
There are apocryphal stories of how actors find a character; Alec Guinness would allegedly almost stalk people he thought had an appropriate walk for the character he was rehearsing until he could imitate it exactly. One physical attribute can stimulate all the rest, from gestures and stance to finding the voice, even the accent. If you want to adopt low status, turn your feet in and your body and mind automatically fill in the rest, you unconsciously get smaller in stature, your shoulders hunch, you walk with smaller steps, you stare at the ground and stop looking in other people’s eyes; you even start peppering your sentences with “ers” and “ums, and If people adopt a low status accent it’s commonly working class. This is the technique of working outside in. But is this a character? ` The manner is which people move or speak, play physically old or young is not essentially a character, it’s nothing more than a frame to hang a character on. It’s a characterisation and often an archetypal caricature. You have the skin but not the heart. You may know who or more accurately what you are playing but you probably can’t articulate it.
It’s more useful to discover an emotional point of view. Look at your partner and think about how they makes you feel about everything they are doing and saying; are you bored; suspicious, feel enmity, love, or think them funny. Attach an emotional quality. Ask if there’s anywhere else you feel that feeling and you may begin to discover who you both are and where. Perhaps you’d felt put down at work by a colleague, or by a teacher at school – there, already, is a feeling and two possible settings for your scene.
Because we start with nothing at the top of the scene we can only begin with being ourselves, if we don’t we are inventing and not discovering off of our partner. We might respond and adjust in the immediate millisecond when we look at our partner but the change isn’t generally huge as we are only moving a small step at a time. This means we tend to play close to ourselves, which is my personal preference anyway. It’s also useful not to play big external characterisations because there are occasions when we may have to play our stage partner’s character and if they have an impossible accent and complex walk and gestures it’s nigh on impossible to be convincing.

Our first public performance of what we are temporarily calling Speed of Life, a free form that dispenses with rules relying  on principles and 'being in the moment, this means no format to give you scaffolding for a scene, no rules to help you find comedic opportunities; it's high wire improvisation without a net. without a net. We began The club nights, a monthly free performance to try new work on an audience and they are proving very useful, and whilst audience and performers perspectives are different there is general consensus about the success and learning of the evening.  Club nights are open workshops that give us the opportunity and permission to fail in things we are not yet fully practiced in. From the first few minutes of a scene we were discovering, rather than inventing although there we recognised falling back on old habits, ‘blocking’, 'gags' and trying to be original.  Having an audience present very quickly tempts players into pleasing them by trying to be ‘funny’ or ‘more interesting’. This leads us into inventing rather than discovering. The moment that happens the scenes became extreme, and less real and actually less interesting. In post performance feedback the audience, pretty well unanimously, said they were more interested in the relationships between the three men than the ‘murder’. We must learn to trust staying in the moment. The fact is, if we can retain our interest in the ‘other character’ so will the audience, or at least they are more likely too. It also takes the focus away from ourselves and any concern about the audience, both of which make us act and create rather than just ‘be’ and discover.  The discussion with the audience was very informative, as is watching the video. Obviously our first performance has its faults, flaws and failures, it where we and how we learn, being an audience member of your own performance you more easily recognise the flaws. We shall hang onto the video and watch them gain, maybe a year on to see how we have advanced. Seeing and naming the good and bad habits allows us to develop the one and iron out the other. During performance I find myself assessing what I’m doing and getting ahead of the moment  to control the stories direction. "No Jon, you must be in the moment."  If we want to be truthful we must trust in the moment and allow the story to happen to us.
 This is by far the most challenging improvisation form I know, so we should be somewhat pleased we gave it a shot and all feel prepared to keep working at it and doing it again soon. And doing it again and again and again. I feel there may be no end point, it's all journey, and that a good thing.

Post category:Improvisation Pointers / Performance Notes

The Armando is a long form improvisation format, as such it has rules; elements that must be followed to enable the form to work and your team partners to read your 'offers'.  There are long and short improvisation forms. Short form improv consists of scenes based on ‘games’ that have their own predetermined rules. An example of a game with fixed rules would be Bingo. Here two players start a scene. Possibly based on a suggestion from the audience but they incorporate the rule that when either one of them mentions a number they swap roles. The point is players go into these scenes knowing the game they are going to play. With an ‘Armando’ there is no set game, the players  find or create a game and 'frame it' so their fellow players can identify the game and exploit comedic value.
Lets start at the beginning.

                                                      The Sequence of the Armando Form
The Armando is a five stage sequence.. Sometimes a stage may be omitted, and there is a choice of optional stages; but let's say for now that this is the basic order and number:

Audience Suggestion: The MC asks the audience for a word or phrase, place or occupation. 
Monologues A monologist talks about the subject suggested by the audience 
The Base Reality The players establish a scene with the what, where and who. This section is sometimes skipped when a player initiates a scene with a Premise, which names the game
Find the Game - after you have firmly fixed an agreed your base reality a player introduces an 'unusual thing' sometimes called a tilt and 'frames it so the other players recognise it as 'the game'  
Playing the Game -is making the game the comic or dramatic spine of the scene which involves a sequence of heightening and justifying the action incrementally.

                                            1. THE AUDIENCE SUGGESTION
You may have a host or one of the players may lead this section. They introduce themselves, the players and explain the format of the evening. They may say something like:
“Good evening. Tonight we are playing an Improvisation game called Armando. First we will ask you, the audience for a word, and then the players up here will do some monologues around the word and what reminds us of, these may be personal stories, or single ideas. We will then play a number of short scenes inspired by the word and the content or ideas produced in monologues. These scenes may or may not link together to form a narrative, or they may simply be a series of sketches, we will have to wait and see what happens. This is all made up. Now can someone please give us a word”

The Host then may ask for a key word or three words, or a more specific question.  You try and accept the first suggestions unless it’s so obscure; nobody knows what it means. You may want to block obscenity. Audiences can unwittingly give the players suggestions to make things challenging or difficult. The Host needs to refuse a suggestion sometimes, knowing they are not only protecting the players but the audience, we want an entertaining evening.  To get a better chance of a popular idea you can take three suggestions and ask the audience to cheer for their favourite; it’s a good interactive warm up.
Before you move onto the next stage be sure you tell the players and the audience the word or idea. The players can repeat it just to ensure it’s heard, locked away and remembered. All too often an audience member calls it out and the host is the only one who hears it. It must be ‘framed’.
                                                             2.THE MONOLOGUE
You can choose to have a single monologist, either a guest or one of the players, Whoever you get to do it they must be familiar with the game, understand they are presenting a broad base of material and be interesting speakers. You need to give this part some time, between three and six minutes
So what’s in a monologue? Ideally the word triggers some personal story. Something directly from your life will sound more truthful and have a much stronger chance of being interesting. Personal stories are also generally remembered because some routine pattern in your life was broken and that’s always a good starting point for a scene; it gives the players a clear tilt, and unusual ‘thing’. Be as detailed and as colourful with your story as possible. The scenes the players do will not be a re-enactment so you’re not robbing them of material by being specific or observational. There is nothing you can’t talk about in a monologue but the purpose is to inspire comic improvisation so if your subjects are too dark, or sad you may be making a rod for your own back. That said you don’t have to be funny, don’t put yourself under that pressure – but being light and relaxed is helpful.
You don’t have to stick totally to the word given – think of it as a trigger. You can use associated ideas. Suppose the word give is ‘balloon” – you may mention types of balloons: “When I think of balloons I think of party balloons, modeling balloons Hot air balloons, weather balloons, ballooning out- getting fat or pregnant, speech balloons and bubbles.” Just running though a list of associated ideas will help prompt a memory. It’s important to give yourself time, don’t rush. If you then go into a story about a children’s party the audience won’t complain it’s not directly about balloons as long as they get the association. Finally be clear when you’ve finished. Perhaps by saying the key word, “Balloon”, or whatever it is, and stepping back.
                                      Meanwhile the players are listening for a premise.
                                              These are a few of my unusual things"
What you are listening for in the monologue are ‘Unusual things”. If the monologist is telling a story it’s most certainly about a broken routine or pattern in their life, hence it was remembered; so that’s the first. It might be they were ejected from a restaurant, were mistaken for someone else, trapped in a lift, got the giggles at a funeral – these are all routines broken – unusual events in their normal routine. There may be details within the story that have potential, “The waiter didn’t speak English and I don’t speak French.” “I pushed the wrong button in the lift or there was a power cut” “ The woman in front of us at the funeral was wearing a hearing aide and it started whistling” – These causes are also unusual things and have the potential for comic development.

                                                                 Interviews
Instead of a suggestion from the audience and a monologue you may interview a celebrity or someone you know has led an interesting life and is a great story teller. The same advice applies as with the monologue. It’s helpful if the interviewer has done some research into the life of the interviewee, even meeting beforehand. They interviewer should be independent of the players and should not prepare the ground by sharing what they know about their subject with them beforehand. Play fair.

                                                      3. BUILD THE BASE REALITY
If you haven’t managed to squeeze a potential comedic idea out of the monologue, or identify ‘an unusual thing’ or can’t think of a way to set up a premise efficiently. Then you will have to start simply by setting up a base reality. There is a strong argument anyway that this is often the best way to start a scene so it’s far from being a compromise and most certainly not a failure to start this way. The base reality depends on the very basics of improvisation – saying “Yes…and” to your partner. You need to set up a scene that has some connection with the monologist’s story. Take the ‘Balloon” key word and maybe a story they told about a children’s party. You don’t want to re-enact the same story but you can start your scene by saying:

A MOTHER: "Ah you must be the entertainer, where would you like to set up? The children are in the garden.”
This establishes WHO you are, endows your partner as the entertainer and tells us WHERE you are” there is already a lot of information about WHAT the scene is about. You want to establish the scene quickly. Your partner should say something like:

MR JOLLY: “Hello I’m Mr Jolly (“Yes”) I’d like to set up in the sitting room. (“and”) I think I’ll start with the modelling balloons I’ve got in this suitcase”. (Adding new information.)

He’s incidentally said 'balloon" the key word- all good. The Base Reality is an acceptable logical world within the environment you have presented. You keep “yes…anding” until you find “the first unusual thing. You want to keep it as blank a canvas as possible so you will recognise the first unusual thing.

                                                         4. FIND THE GAME
If you have set up a base reality scene and now know WHO you are, WHAT you are doing and WHERE. It’s time to throw in a ‘tilt’ – that is break the routine is someway. In our children’s party example the Entertainer has arrived, the children have been brought in from the garden and he is entertaining them with balloon making. Then…

ENTERTAINER: “And hey presto I’ve made a swan…”
MOTHER: Good God it’s growing feathers.”
If the Entertainer continues fails to be emotionally unaffected by the Mother’s remark it remains a routine because it then appears to be part of his usual act… or he may not have reacted because he’s not heard. It needs to be framed – that is clearly recognised by both before a comedic game can be played.

                                              Pay Attention. Listening is everything
Nothing more important than listening, you can’t say “Yes and..” without hearing the previous offer. The last thing said onstage is either going to make the base reality more detailed and specific or it will be the first unusual thing and the start of the game so you must pay total attention. The next step in a scene can only be found in your partner.


                   Make sure your partners hear the 'first unusual thing' by framing it
It’s really important that give emphasis to the “first unusual thing so that you both know you have recognised it. Don’t assume your partner understands. 

ENTERTAINER “And hey presto I’ve made a swan…”
MOTHER (Emphasised with terrified surprise) Good God it’s growing feathers.”
ENTERTAINER: (Framed with similar surprise) Feathers! That’s no supposed to happen (literally stating this is unusual).

If the Entertainer doesn’t react on the Mother’s first offer of something unusual she needs to push it harder. So it might go like this:

ENTERTAINER “And hey presto I’ve made a swan…”
MOTHER (Emphasised with terrified surprise) Good God it’s growing feathers.”
ENTERTAINER “ Marvellous isn’t it, this always goes down well.”
MOTHER: (now in heightened panic pulling the children away) Oh no I don’t like the look of those claws – children come away.

Hopefully the Entertainer is seeing the emotional shift is the Mother and now see’s its a tilt and time to ‘play the game’. The first unusual thing is a tilt and it should cause the players to ‘change’ emotionally. If you remain neutral you’re not acknowledging it as an unusual thing; it’s as if you haven’t heard.
                                                             Offering a Premise
To cut to the chase you may find a game directly from the monologue without having to search for a game through building a base. However you still want the information of a base reality of WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU’RE DOING & WHERE YOU ARE, otherwise you will have nothing but confusion. So in your opening offer you try to express all or as much of it as possible plus your game in your opening line. We call this the Premise. From the initial offer (the monologue of audience suggestion)

ENTERTAINER: Hey presto a swan…Oh my God my balloon swan doesn’t usually sprout feathers
MOTHER: (In terror) I don’t like the look of those claws. Children come away, come here.

Other premise lines around the key word balloon:

Mr Shakespeare, Miss Nightingale, Mr Mandela, this balloon is sinking fast someone has to jump out and it can’t be me I’m the pilot.
 Miss Smith I’m sorry to have to tell you, that you are not pregnant you have clearly swallowed a balloon
      "Once everyone in the scene has identified the first unusual thing the games afoot"

                                                       5. PLAYING THE GAME
Creating a base reality you play “Yes…and” the fundamental game of improvisation. But now, once you have found the first unusual thing and to play for comedic effect then it is not simply "yes.. and.  You are now playing:

                                      If this is True…. Then this must be be True?

The Game is what is funny about your scene. In the Monty Python Parrot sketch a pets hop owner refuses to accept there is anything wrong with the parrot the customer is returning even though it’s died. The game of this sketch is “refusal to believe irrefutable facts”. (THIS IS THE RULE). The game can be described without any specific mention of pet shop or dead parrot; that is the plot not the game rule. “Refusal to believe in irrefutable facts’ is a game that could be players in other situations such as Bank robber caught in the act, or a husband catching his wife in bed with another man. Comedy Impro is not achieved by creating a story but by finding and then playing a game. The WHAT WHO and WHERE are the elements that makes up the plot. To find out the comedic RULE of what’s funny you strip away the plot elements

                                              Breaking Down a the Game of the Scene

Let's start with an example:

A1:  Miss Smith I’m sorry to have to tell you, looking at this X Ray that you are not pregnant you have clearly swallowed a balloon (FIRST UNUSUAL THING)
B1:  That’s ridiculous I’ve never heard anything so stupid in my life. I’m six months pregnant. (FRAMING)
A2:  Who is the gynaecologist here you Miss Smith, your GP I know a pregnant woman  when I see one and I’m telling you, that’s a balloon (JUSTIFYING)
B2:  How could I have possibly swallowed a balloon – I would have noticed. (SEEKING JUSTIFICATION)
A3:  Have you been at a children’s party in the last few months? (OFFER)
B3:  Yes. (ACCEPTING– She’s trusting this is leading somewhere so hasn’t added)
A4: Well there we go see. It’s very common that deflated balloons get swallowed at    children’s parties, some pass through. Some wrap themselves round the colon.   Yours has inflated. (JUSTIFYING)
B4   So what do you suggest? (EXPLORING)
A5:  We burst it with a Javelin (HEIGHTENING)
B5:  A Javelin. (HEIGHTENING)
A6:  It’s a medical instrument, Miss Smith, very common. (JUSTIFYING)
B6:  (Laughing) Oh I thought you meant a Javelin like in sports. (EXPLORING)
A7:  Yes, that’s right – the very same.
B7:  (Dismay) Oh My God. Isn’t that dangerous? (HEIGHTENING and EXPLORING)
A8:  We disinfect it, It’s a procedure I’ve done many times (JUSTIFYING)
B8:  I should hope so
A9:  I’m a very good shot (HEIGHTENING)
B9:  You’re going to throw a javelin at me? (HEIGHTENING)
A10:It’s a Javelin Miss Smith, what would you expect? (JUSTIFYING)
B10: I don’t understand (EXPLORING)
A11: I’m going to burst the balloon you’ve swallowed by throwing a javelin into it. (Clarifying with a summary)
B11: (Terrified) Won’t that kill me? (EXPLORING)
A12: If the balloon expands any further, you could die of asphyxiation, and we don’t want that do we? (JUSTIFYING)….
                            …and so on

The plot is a Woman visiting a Gynecologist and discovering she’s not pregnant but has an inflated balloon inside her. We can describe the game as “Eccentric medical practice.”

This scene started with a premise by A1: “Miss Smith I’m sorry to have to tell you, that you are not pregnant you have clearly swallowed a balloon” defines the WHO, WHAT and WHERE and put forward an unusual thing. Miss Smith (B) Frames is with B1:“That’s ridiculous… I’m six months pregnant” The more shocked, the bigger the emotional change, the clearer is the message that she’s got the first unusual thing; the games on.
From this first unusual behavior Miss Smith keeps asking the Gynecologist to justify his unusual behavior. Miss Smith plays it straight man but the Gynecologist player is in another reality, though his justification is in relation to the real world.
These comic scenes generally have absurd characters but at least one should be in the real world, the same world as the audience and should react as a ‘real’ person might react to the absurdity and seek justification, question, challenge, resist.

                                          Heightening, Exploring and Justifying
You play the game by a series of moves involving heightening, exploring, and justifying to support the reality.
To heighten the game you ask, “If this thing is true what else could be true?”This question helps the scene move forward. Each heightening is offering something more absurd than- anything that’s preceded it. Good improvisers will make marginal jumps not giant leaps. A big leap would be like a gag and would inevitably end the scene, so you could use it deliberately for that purpose, Heightening is most commonly done by the absurdist character, the one who is in a world of their own.

To explore the game you ask, “If this is true why is it true?” This doesn’t so much advance the scene but importantly appeals for and provides logic, philosophy, or rationale behind the absurd behavior. Exploring is generally done by the character that is in the real world; the same world of the audience.

To Justify you ask: “If this is true then what is my point of view? The character in the real world is resisting, asking questions seeking justification. The absurd character whilst displaying absurd behaviour needs to reacting at the top of their intelligence by supporting the reality of the scene. Any line that doesn’t heighten or explore the Game should be doing this.
I have marked the scene above where characters heighten, explore and justify. The scene is a balancing act of heightening and advancing the scene, exploring and holding back the scene to enquire and seek and receive justification. Emotionally it heats up and cools down, but increasingly but gradually increases tensions, emotions and absurdity as the scene progresses. The best scenes are a gradual step-by-step rise in all these elements until it can go no further.