Saturday 24 March 2018

Date:24/03/2018 - 24/03/2018 13:00-16:00

Love And Anger: Loving and “Fighting” in Improv Comedy

$30.00

Sunday, March 24th, 1-4 p.m.

“Take away the love and the anger 
And a little piece of hope holding us together
….Take away the stone and the timber
And a little piece of rope won’t hold it together…”
                                    — Kate Bush, “Love and Anger”

Let’s face it, conflict is funny. It’s what drives most narratives, and is the source of both drama and comedy. And we see a lot of it in improv scenes: Lovers, partners, husbands, wives, quarreling and bickering, with no physical contact. Friends or co-workers either being passive-aggressive or overtly aggressive, with scenes crescendoing into outright anger. And sure, it’s fun to take that journey. But what we are seeing is the middle of the envelope: when the origin story of the two people who love each other has long been forgotten, or the covert warfare of the two friends who’ve grown to dislike each other is close to spilling out into the open, but stops short of outright physical contact.

This workshop is going to deal with the outside edges of that envelope: using exercises and scenes we are purposefully going to create contexts in which loving physical contact (“pre-kissing,” stage kissing, caressing) is involved, or which angry physical contact (stage combat) is involved. You’ll learn strategies and tools for creating romantic scenes that result in near-kisses or kisses (the kind that make audiences go “whooo!”), as well as scenes that find the characters coming to blows (scenes that make audiences go “ooooh!”). And you’ll learn that there’s comic potential in both these spaces, despite their both being so infrequently explored.

Of course, this course will all be done within the realm of physical boundaries and safety: you won’t actually be “making out” with your fellow actors or hitting them at full speed. You’ll learn time-honored theatrical techniques for implying these things for audiences, with parameters, boundaries, and physical safety being at all times paramount. However, you will be in physical contact with your fellow actors. If you, understandably, have reservations, for whatever reason, about this, you might want to reconsider signing up. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Instructor: Shawn Westfall
 
Pre-requisite: experience, via classroom or performance, in the basics of long-form improv.