Lesson 2 - Core Rules

Intro
Brief recap on the session from last time, ask people what they learned and if they have any
questions.

Warm-up
8 Count Shake Down
Students are in a circle and you all count 1-8 whilst shaking your left hand then right hand
then left foot, then right foot.

e.g.

● Left hand shake - "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8"

● Right hand shake - "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8"
● ...then left foot and right foot

You do the sequence again but this time count up to 4, then 2, then 1.

You repeat this decreasing every time and on the last set of 1 you jump up and shout out
something like ‘shake down.’

Bunny Bunny
The players are in a circle. There are three elements, 1. The basic rhythm ("Oompa,
oompa..."), 2. The bunny-bunny impulse ("bunny-bunny, bunny-bunny...") and 3. The Tikki-
Takkie ("Tikki-Takkie - Tikki-Takkie...") to the left and right of the "Bunny-Bunny". Starts with
everyone rhythmically saying "Oompa oompa" while patting their knees in a consistent
rhythm which continues throughout the game. Then, in addition to the basic rhythm, one
person starts a chant of "bunny-bunny, bunny-bunny" in time with the beat. On the first
“bunny-bunny” they bend two fingers (like bunny ears) to gesture towards themselves in time
with the word bunny. They then repeat this while pointing towards another player who then
repeats the process. There should be no gaps between the “bunny-bunny” chants, always in
time with the “Oompa, oompa”. Whilst all of this happens, the neighbours to the left and right
side of the person with whom the "bunny-bunny" responsibility lies, turn towards them and
chant "Tikki-Takkie - Tikki-Takkie" in time, while bouncing between legs and moving their
angled arms and shoulders side to side. The game ends automatically, because the basic
rhythm gets faster by itself. The funniest part is when it's so fast that it's not possible to pass
on the bunny-bunny impulse so fast.

Zoom / Boing / Pow

Coloured Balls
Form a standing circle. One person makes eye contact with another person in the circle and
says “Red ball”. They then proceed to throw the imaginary red ball to the other person, who
pretends to catch it and says “Red ball, thank you”. The red ball continues to be passed
around the circle this way. Over time this is made more complicated by:

● Adding other coloured balls to be thrown around at the same time.

● Walking around the room while doing the exercise.

Counting to Three
Form pairs. Count to three together on repeat, i.e.
Player A: “1”
Player B: “2”
Player A: “3”
Player B: “1”
Over time this is made more complicated by:
● Replacing the “1” with a clap.
● Replacing the “2” with a jump.
● Replacing the “3” with a shimmy.

Rules Of Improv
These “rules” help make it easier for players to play together, to know what the expectations
are of each other. The rules are made to be broken, but when learning improv, it’s good to
try and follow them as much as possible to develop good habits that make it easier to
change later on. These are some of the most important ones:

Say “Yes, And”

Embrace the ideas of your scene partner. Acknowledge the gifts that they give you and build
upon them. You never feel more empowered than when those around you take your ideas
and run with them. Make this “the normal” by doing the same for your scene partner.
Player A - “I’m feeling so sick after eating all of those hotdogs, Geoff”
Player B - “It was too many Beth, too many hotdogs! You were like a vacuum cleaner, I
thought you’d never stop!”
Note that you don’t literally need to respond with the words “Yes, and”!

Don’t block
Similarly, don’t block other people’s ideas or realities that they have given you. If you go into
a scene with one idea of what it’s about only to find your scene partner has started things in
a totally different way, then accept their offer and go with that instead. By blocking the reality
they have created, you’ve made things more difficult for everyone right from the start.
Player A - “Happy birthday grandma, I bought you a present”.
Player B - “I’m not your grandma and it’s not my birthday. Who are you, how did you get in
here!?”.
No player B. Bad player B!

Pay attention to your scene partner(s)

For a scene to work, the players need to constantly be aware of each other. This requires
listening and looking at what’s going on around you. If three players play a scene doing
entirely different things, there’s nothing to build on. Your other players are constantly giving
you gifts to build upon, it’s up to you to do so.
Player A - Stands at an imaginary sink washing dishes.
Player B - Stands still next to them talking about what they learned in school today.
This is fine, but do you know what would make it better? If player B was drying the dishes
while this scene was playing out.

Avoid asking questions- unless you’re also adding information

Questions back your scene partner into a corner. When we ask a question, instead of adding
new information to our scene, we put pressure on our scene partner to do so, instantly.
Asking questions is a natural thing to do in real life, but in improv we need to get past this
instinct and develop scenes without them.
Player A - “What are you doing?”
Player B - “Uh… Uh…What are you doing?!”
These two people are just making things harder for each other.
This one is not a hard rule, because there are occasions where a question can add to a
scene and introduce new information, particularly rhetorical questions, but it’s good to try
and avoid them when playing or training to get away from that instinctual habit.

Exercises
Questions only
Players form two lines. The teacher gives them inspiration. The two players then act out a
scene where everything they say is a question. If one player says something that is not a
question, then they go to the back of their line. The player at the front of that line now takes
the place of the last player asking a question of their own. The game continues until the
scene is exhausted or the teacher calls an end.

Three Headed Oracle

Three players stand opposite in a concave shape where they can all see each other’s faces.
The game takes the shape of an interview, where the interviewer asks questions to the three
players, who respond simul. The two players speak one word at a time, introducing their
guest and asking the first question. The huddle then will speak at the same time as each
other, giving answers to the questions being asked by the interviewer. They will look at all of
their fellow players to let the words form naturally and create a conversation this way.

Elimination
Four people play. They are given a scene suggestion and play out a short scene based on
the suggestion. Once the scene is over, the audience decides who they want to eliminate.
The scene is then replayed with one less player, but the remaining players must recreate all
of the original parts.

Shift Left / Shift Right

In pairs, players perform a variety of scenes. The Host switches back and forth between
these individual scenes by telling players to “Switch Right” or “Switch Left.”. 4 stand in the
middle of the stage, in an outward-facing square, two in front, two behind. The two players
closest to the audience will be the first pair. They look straight forward to face the audience.
The Host requests a suggestion for this pair's scene. The pair is given their suggestion and
all players are told to “Switch Right.” This means each player moves one position to the right
in the circle. The pair facing the audience should now consist of one member of the previous
pair, and one new member. The Host gets a different suggestion for this pair's scene. The
circle again switches right. Repeat until each pair has a suggestion of its own. After panning
back to the starting pair, review all the suggestions:
The host asks the players to state their suggestion, then switch right, until each suggestion
has been reviewed. The game begins. The first pair performs a scene based on its
suggestion. At some point during this scene, the Host shouts “Switch Right!”. The square
switches right and the next pair immediately begins a separate scene based on its
suggestion. Continue like this until a scene by each pair has been seen. Eventually, the
square will return to the first pair. When we return to a pair, that pair continues the same
scene it was performing before. The scene, however, does not resume from precisely the
point where it left off. Instead, it resumes as if time has passed while we switched around the
circle. Once we've switched all the way around the circle to the right – and been introduced
to each scene – the Host may choose to switch either left or right between each pair.

Finishing
The Cauldron