How Do We “Support” A Scene Partner?
What do we mean by the often used phrase “support your scene partner”?
Do you ever find that some phrases in improv are said so often that they lose their meaning? Or that they get said often but are rarely explained? I feel like one such phrase is “support your scene partner”. On the surface, that sounds really good advice. Who wants to be deliberately unsupportive or obstructive?
Of course we want to support but what sort of support is useful? I feel that the more you dig into that question, the more tricky it is to explain.
A move that is designed as supportive might vary depending on the style you play in. For example, at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, you’re told to ‘take care of yourself first’. When I took classes there over 10 years ago, I was told by at least one of the teachers that this is a supportive move to your scene partner because they then have something to react to. Talk to someone else in Chicago and they might tell you that a supportive move is to look at your scene partner, notice what they are bringing and react to it. So which is it? It’s the top of the scene and I’m already conflicted!
However, Support doesn’t just happen at the top of a scene. Here is where I’m most interested in what we mean by support. I have encountered a lot of people who get in their head in a scene because they are trying to be supportive. They are watching their scene partner and trying to support the idea their scene partner is bringing. This might seem supportive to the other person but it can also de-rail the scene.
Your job isn’t to try to guess what your scene partner’s idea is. Your job is to pay attention and react to what’s happening. By paying attention, you might pick up on what they are bringing, or you might interpret it differently - that’s improv. As soon as you obsess about supporting what their idea is, I think you diminish yourself in the scene and, as a result, give your scene partner less to work with. This is because you’re trying to guess rather than doing your best to react to what has been presented. You can only deal with what just happened - you can’t accurately unpick the thoughts behind it.
So when we talk about supporting our scene partner, what do we mean? I suspect we mean a lot of different things. We can mean looking after their physical wellbeing on stage or reacting to what they have just done. However, what I’ve seen happen when people are told to “support” often ends up leaving people worried that they aren’t quite getting the other person’s intention for the scene.
An improv scene isn’t about guessing someone else’s idea, it’s about paying attention and building something together. I can never live inside your head, and luckily for you, you can never live inside mine, but we can both live inside the scene.
A Workshop Is Happening
In London? I’ve teamed up with improv legend Katy Schutte and improv musician extraordinaire Sam Marshall to teach a Musical Improv Weekender in March - and there are a couple of spots left. Day one is a Skills Camp that will go over some of the foundations of musical improv. Day two delves into specific areas and forms you can use as a musical improviser. You can book for one of the days or for the whole weekender. Interested? Step this way…
Have a great week,
Lloydie
PS: I’m on social media a lot less than I used to be, but I still occasionally Instagram - although a lot of my stories are just my cat…. @LloydieJL if you want to see Yoda the cat
Excellent point about not trying to guess what your scene partner's idea is! With physical improv, one issue players have is hesitating before coming into a scene because they can't "read" their partner's object work. They don't want to get it wrong. Better to make an assumption, or at least just come in so the partner can add more detail through dialogue, etc. Getting it "wrong" isn't a mistake - it's improv.
This will make a good discussion topic for my classes. Thank you!
I remember having my mind blown a little by the Annoyance Theatre note on 'taking care of yourself' first being the most supportive thing you can do. With a bit more time on stage, it made increasing sense.
A little different, I also mentally file it next to 'sometimes your character saying 'No' is a 'Yes, And' to your scene partner's choices'. And vice-versa, a blind 'Yes' can be majorly unhelpful!