Last Saturday’s improv class involved a good amount of scene work. I think the teacher wanted us to get used to creating really quickly based on each other’s offers. As a result, the activity seemed to be pretty rapid fire. Basically, she lined six of us up front and we were supposed to step forward two at a time to create a scene. As soon as the teacher was satisfied that we had established the answers to the questions of who, what, and where, she would end the scene.
The whole thing was a little bit chaotic. I mean, often someone would step forward and start to mime out some sort of action. The other five of us would be watching and figuring out how to interact with the other person. Often I’d end up with an idea and moments before I could jump in and join the action someone else would do something. Other times, the first person’s actions may have been less than obvious from behind such that I just couldn’t figure out what to do. One example that comes to mind is a moment where one guy sat on the ground and started rocking side to side. It wasn’t obvious from behind what he was up to, but I decided he was exercising. So, I jumped in with that in mind. You know how Monty Python often did scenes in drag with falsetto? No? They were referred to as “pepperpots.” Here, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imxb8IShtoc
So, I sat down next to the rocking guy and put on the irritating British old woman accent. “Hello now Mrs. Scum. Fancy meeting you here at the gym! I do so love doing calisthenics!” So I lay flat on the ground and started rolling left and right. The guy laughed and joined in. “Oh yes, it’s great for losing weight!” I replied, “Yes, I noticed you’re looking quite slim.” At that point the teacher ended the scene. I just laughed and went back to the line. I only found out later that the guy was originally trying to be a luger. Oh well. Hahah.
It seems like I have that pepperpot accent in my back pocket. I need to use it sparingly. I did use it one other time during the activity. Someone went up and started fussing with his hair. Not sure how I came up with this so easily, but I put on the pepperpot accent, went up next to him, and started to nag:
“You know your receding hairline is going to stay that way you know!”
“I bought some hair medicine.”
“It’s not going to work!”
“But I spent $80 on it!”
“That’s $80 wasted!”
“Well, at least that’s money that won’t go to one of your damn manicures!”
“AT LEAST I’M MAKING AN EFFORT!!!!”
At that point, the teacher ended the scene. The activity lasted for a good while. By the end of it I was on such a high. I told the teacher that it was better than drugs. Seriously, I felt great. I’m glad I’m enjoying improv. It’s definitely something I want to pursue a little bit more. We’ll see where it takes me.
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