Externalising Conversations (Michael White)

Actor 1 - The Subject: Shares a Problem
Actor 2 - The Problem: personified
Actor 3 - Investigative Journalist

Stage 1 - SHARING: In groups of three, Actor 1 shares a problem with the others. Actor 2 understands all the situations in which the problem affects Actor 1 - and those times when s/he has defeated the problem. Actor 3 only listens to this sharing not asking any questions at this stage.
My Comments: I see this last as very important. For the actor playing the Problem to really be able to get into character, s/he should not know what sorts of questions to expect from the Journalist(s). However, in retrospect, I do feel that Actor 3 [and 4 and 5] should have a list of questions ready - generic ones about successes and failures; other questions will occur when you are in the impro.


Stage 2 - IMPRO: The Investigative Journalist(s) asks questions to understand the Problem - how it

operates, all its Success stories and its Failure stories.
Actor 1, the Subject, observes the interaction.
My Comments: The way we positioned the chairs, the Problem could not see the Subject at all. The Subject could see only the back of the Problem. 
At one point of time, following an impulse, I put those of you in the audience in role as Investigative Journalists. It had all of you involved directly with questioning the Problem. Basically, I felt that the experience would become more enriched if all of you got involved directly. What did you think of this variation?
I think some of you fell back into the general hotseating technique we often use. You asked questions like, "How can you do that to him/her?" and "You can't do that!" You even took on the problem head on with threats - which was completely adorable!
It would be good if we could all contemplate on what Chaitanya, as Laziness, said about choices, when asked how the Subject could defeat him. He said, "He can overcome me by doing those things which he enjoys doing. To a large extent, I am able to affect him only because he chooses to allow me to dominate him."


Stage 3 - FEEDBACK: Actor 1, the Subject, shares with everyone the accuracies and inaccuracies in personifying the problem.


My Comments: I have to appreciate, once again, the manner in which all of you approached the exercise. First of all, it takes courage to share a problem which is big enough to dominate your life - if not all the time, but enough to make a difference. Second, my observation is that others in the group respected that it could be a problem for someone - we have had Anger, Exhaustion and Laziness thus far - and I appreciate how all of you were able to see these as life-affecting. Finally, it is difficult to become an Emotion or a Condition - or rather to bring it to life - so to all those who played the Problems, I have to say, "Hats off!"


Please write about your experience - a reflection on what you thought, felt, etc. - in ANY part of the exercise [i.e. since you played different roles, I leave you to decide which one you wish to write about].

In Others' Shoes

This impro exercise helps you to experience "being" someone else - known to you, and also to watch yourself as played by a fellow-actor.

In groups of three, you spend some time getting to know "everything about each other". It's better to ask questions to find out things rather than ask the others to tell you about themselves because the minute you do that they are likely to ask, "What do you want to know?" Specific questions are better than generic ones.

In the second part of the exercise, all three are asked to switch - i.e. become one of the others. A little ritual is attached to this: you could pass on an object - a pen, a pencil, pair of spectacles, etc. or something you are wearing like an ornament. Then the facilitator gives you a setting or a situation. Examples of situations are: it's the middle of the night and all three of you have just met at an auto stand - all of you have just come out of three different parties; all three of you have just crash landed and are the only three survivors.

As the other character, you are required not only to take on the mannerisms but also to tune in to their minds and ask yourself, "How would s/he react in this situation?"

The task now is to write about your thoughts and feelings when you went through it in class.

Certain Death

In this on-the-spot impro exercise, you have to establish all 5 Ws, and a strong motivation for a death to occur.

As we discussed, there are two broad categories for death - intentional and accidental.

There could be many reasons for an intentional death - the motivation could arise from a number of different circumstances.

For an accidental death, there would need to be events leading up to it.

What sort of death did you pick for your impro?

Write about your impro and what you learnt from it - what could have been done more effectively.

Going Solo

The mother of all frightening experiences, the Solo Performance can give you everything from terrible stomach cramps to migraines. Does it get better with experience, you ask. Hmm... not really. Perhaps the butterflies in the stomach don't flutter that violently anymore; in some instances you learn to turn those butterflies into something creative - turn them into an appropriate emotion - for example, the violent trembling of your hands could be converted to anger, desperation and of course, fear.

How do you handle that part, though, where the team you thought you were a part of has suddenly turned into an audience of critics? Friends who will give you the most honest feedback - when all you want is to feel reassured that you will manage to clear this hurdle? And how exactly do you remember, from one improvisation to the next what worked, what didn't, and what more can be done?

Each one of us has to discover these answers for ourselves. Most of us stumble across the answers because something you didn't intend to do but we improvised and it worked out well.

One technique which you have already learnt that may help is hotseating. However, this one comes with a twist - you have to hotseat yourself. There are many ways of doing this: you can put the mirror to better use than brushing your hair, if indeed you do brush your hair [OK, Chirag, I won't let out the family secrets :)]. Talk to your mirror image as though s/he is the character you are about to portray. Ask him/her searching questions. Another way to hotseat yourself as the character is to play 20 questions. Use a chair for this - whenever you're seated in the chair, you are the character; when you want to be yourself, stand in front of it. You should know the character down to the last hole in the socks.

Examine, closely, the motivation of the character - the larger motivating factors (career, life path, life choices, etc.) and the immediate motivations (for instance, in Aayesha's performance today, one could ask the character she played, "Why are you talking to your mother in this way? What exactly do you hope to achieve?"). You could've asked Chaitanya's character, "Why are you crying for Tom now? When he was alive, how much did you really care about his welfare?"

[By the way, I didn't quite agree that you can't kill another character off. All of you gave Tom eight kids and a "mental" wife! I am willing to bet that Raghav did not conceptualize either of those two "facts" about Tom!!! However, I was filled with admiration at what he did do with both - and adding the child who wants to go to school because of the drama teacher was delightful; thanks, RGV :).]

Sampriya's "Philosopher" could certainly have been asked, "Why did you choose to be a life coach - you don't really like dealing with other people's problems!" The answers to that would be very revealing - what really motivates that character into actively taking on people with problems and trying in some really warped way to help them find solutions. [By the way Sampriya, the character you created as the "client" was really delightful... extremely funny in a pathetic sort of way... someone who would indeed seek advice from a confused Philosopher.]
The only bit of advice I would like to put down here, quite reluctantly [because as you know I'm not a fan of advice!] is that you find a way to enjoy the experience. Think about it - is it really that different from being on stage with other people? It's more or less the same sort of stepping into another's shoes; the adrenalin rush comes in even with other performers there. The heat of the lights makes your eyes water, your skin heats up... and the audience, ah, don't forget the audience - it makes you nervous in either instance. And always remember, in a devised performance there is only belief and conviction that will pull you through: no one in the audience really knows what you had planned to do!

Mostly, though, it is a matter of practice. Just like any other muscle in the body, the Solo Performance muscle is one that works better and better the more you use it! So, go get it, gang!