The Joys of a Car Scene

“Being in a closed space makes improvisers instinctively more aware of how much physical and metaphorical space they are filling up in a scene and encourages them to play on their best behaviour.”

When first thinking about what aspects of improv I’d like to write about, Car Scenes immediately jumped out. I realised that over the past five years, I’ve relied on Car Scenes to kickstart shows when a team doesn’t quite feel gelled together or in-touch that night. When I perform in a Car Scene, I feel at ease. When I watch a Car Scene, I’m excited.

To some, a Car Scene can sound frustratingly restrictive. In fact, the beauty of the Car Scene is that you are trapped. Between the imaginary four doors, you’re stuck talking to each other about each other, confronting whatever it is you need to. There’s no going over to stage-left to make a cup of tea, you need to get to the heart of the matter.

The stage set-up of a car is instantly recognisable to an audience. A recognisable stage picture is not to be taken for granted. The diminished exposition needed will save you time to get into the emotion and POV of a scene quicker. This increases your ability to start a scene in the middle of the action, rather than at the beginning of the conversation. With the ‘where’ already covered from the get-go, you’re given more freedom to play with the form and ‘make it matter’ quicker.

My favourite part of car scenes is the spacework that goes along with it. Again, the familiarity of a car for the audience means that the parameters of what you can play with in the space are a dream, whether it be fiddling with the radio, winding down the window or checking your reflection in the fold-up-overhead mirror. These little touches should never be the focal point of your scene but, as flourishes, they build the world around you and make whatever emotional drop or game heighten far more believable and earned. The most delight I’ve ever gotten from watching instantaneous group hive-mind in spacework was during an old Jacuzii, whereby a car sped-off and two improvisers standing on either side of the car ran backwards in time to show the quick forward motion of the car. • Chef’s kiss •

You might think that eye contact is jeopardised in a car scene as the improviser in the driver's seat has to commit to facing forward. This is true. However, it’s a great offer in these scenes when you do look over to the passenger seat, those moments of eye contact can be used to skilfully punctuate the scene. If you think you’re struggling to make a connection without more prolonged eye contact, stop at a red light or pull over on the side of the motorway for a minute. The space gives you the option. A beautiful merging of spacework and implied eye contact is the driver’s seat improviser looking up frequently in the rear-view mirror whenever an improviser in the backseat speaks. • Chef’s french kiss •

Establishing the car at the top of the scene can often be a lovely indicator for the backline to jump in and make it a bigger group scene. The Gatekeepers did this wonderfully in their FA Cup set in 2019, whereby multiple improvisers crouched-down behind the two, front-seat improvisers and during their show continued returning to this packed van. The hassle of folding forward the front seats to climb into the back was a side-game that made the audience and the improvisers giggle every time. Furthermore, the layout of the car encourages recognition from improvisers to only ‘own’ their percentage of the scene. The players in the backseats can lean forward and chime in when needed, listening and digesting whilst looking out the window. Being in a closed space makes improvisers instinctively more aware of how much physical and metaphorical space they are filling up in a scene and encourages them to play on their best behaviour.

God bless the Car Scene.

Alex is an improviser, writer, comedian and member of the FA House team Night Bus. He started studying at the FA years ago at the age of 17 and has since gone on to perform at IO West in LA and The Magnet Theatre & The PIT in New York. Apart from the FA, Alex has also studied improv with UCB, improv Olympic and The Groundlings. Alex enjoyed a sell-out run at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe in the improv show, Facebook Official. The following year, he brought his first solo-show, Apologies to the festival.

You can see Alex Performing In: Night Bus, Tacocat, Jacuzii, Starry Starry Eyes and More...

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