Get unstuck: Ignite your mind and your improv with movement.

I like to keep my eye on Cognitive Daily. They publish interesting articles about how the human mind works and how it affects our behavior. Frequently their material has interesting implications for improvisation — after all, improvisation is simply people living out their lives on a stage.

Today’s story, how body movements can help with arithmetic, relates to one of the most serious problems epidemics in improvisation: “Talking Heads.”

The “Talking Heads” problem

We’ve all witnessed (and been a part of) it: two or more improvisers hop on stage with great energy, stand about two feet apart and… start talking. Three minutes later, they haven’t moved or changed emotions… but they’re still talking. They’ve talked about something that happened earlier, will happen later, or a person who isn’t there. Maybe they’ve described their circumstances or argued or made a plan that the audience will never see executed.

These scenes are not fun to be in, and they are not fun to watch. So why do we keep doing them? The answer may actually lie in how our brains process information.

Physical action helps with cognitive processing

The Cognitive Daily article describes a study in which test subjects were asked to count objects and do simple arithmetic. They found that subjects had an easier time performing these tasks when they nodded at, pointed to, or touched the objects they were assigned to count.

When they were not allowed to move physically while performing the tasks, they talked more and their accuracy was lower. They talked to themselves, using words as a substitute for the physical rhythm of pointing at or otherwise interacting with the objects in order to complete the simple counting task. But trying to keep everything in your head in this way is taxing, especially as the tasks become more difficult.

So what does this have to do with improv?

Creating an improvised scene is a significant mental challenge. It involves keeping track of many things at once and is certainly more difficult than counting blocks. The tricky thing about improv, though, is that there are no physical points of reference for the things you create; it’s all in your head.

“When you are physically active you are engaging the scene, not merely watching it.”

The study shows that when people can’t engage physically, they talk. For many, pantomime or space object work is difficult or seems unnatural, at least in the beginning. This is precisely why many beginning improvisers talk excessively on stage, over-explain, ask questions, and re-hash what has already happened. They are effectively “counting out loud” to verbally take stock of the scene from moment to moment.

For the same reasons, experienced improvisers do not do these things. Their experience at pattern recognition, reading scene partners, and accepting the realities created by others reduces the amount of brain power needed to improvise a scene. At this higher level of play, talking through the scene play-by-play isn’t necessary.

Space object work: learn to love it

Remember that kid in high school who seemed weird at first glance, but was really cool once you got to know them? They were eccentric, but they had a good heart and once they paid attention to their appearance they turned out to be pretty attractive? (Think Topanga from Boy Meets World circa 1999).

In improv, that kid is space object work. For many improvisers, a general discomfort with space object work, or the belief that if they are physically doing something they won’t be able to listen to their partner, prevents them from embracing physical play in improvised scenes.

While it’s true that space object work can be intimidating at first, this can be overcome in most cases by simply slowing down, making a genuine attempt to see and feel the object you are creating, and practicing.

The more significant concept supported by this article is that engaging in physical activity during your scenes will actually improve your ability to understand your scene in the moment and make your scenes easier to do.

This is because when you are physically active, you are engaging the scene, not merely watching it. Being physically engaged in the scene in this way facilitates your understanding of it.

Getting comfortable with space object work takes practice, but it is well worth the effort. If you don’t believe this, go watch Steve Kearin of 3 For All, Pete Hulne of the Beer Shark Mice, or even some members of the animal kingdom, and you’ll change your tune.

Get moving!

So if you have trouble with talking too much in scenes, or if you feel your play has stagnated because you aren’t as physically playful as you would like, I’d encourage you to just dive in, start moving, and give physical play a try. Start small and take it slow, but do it. Get started.

It’s going to feel weird at first, but that’s OK. In Boy Meets World, Topanga had to sit by herself at lunch in season one. Eventually, though, she and Cory got married. Invite space work over to your lunch table in your next improv scene. Once you get to know it, you’ll probably want to marry it too.

What do you think?

Do you often find yourself in talking heads scenes? Have you tried physical play or space object work? If you are an experienced improviser, how did you get past your urge to over-explain your scenes? Leave us a comment below and let us know!