![]() Every improv theatre I know has been making a policy on Sexual Harassment to protect their students, teachers and actors; perhaps it’s time to look at our key improv teachings and reinvent or rephrase them. When I started out in improv, Yes And was the first thing I learned (plus Listening and Commitment). I learned that no matter what was offered me in an improv scene, I should agree with it and add some detail to what was already being offered. Not only that but even if I felt uncomfortable, I should commit to the idea and make it look good. When we ask someone to ‘read that poem you’ve been working on’ or ‘do that dance’ we call it Pimping. Pimping is making someone do something they are likely uncomfortable with for the audience to enjoy. But now consent is front and centre of our work and in retrospect, both Yes And and Pimping feel a little icky. At the beginning Yes And was literal. We joke about improv being a cult, but perhaps asking people to agree with whatever is suggested has something a little brain-washy inside of it. More and more I find myself ditching Yes And in favour of ‘agree with the reality’. And that means making personal choices in the setting your partner has suggested. You’re chained to a sex dungeon wall and not cool with it? Great. Have magic powers to melt your chains and destroy your captor. You are told to read a poem out loud. Read it in a made up language or pass it right back for them to read. Someone on stage is asked to do a silly dance and they look mortified; edit the scene. Discomfort is often part of comedy and I like to live inside of it a lot of the time. I trust my teams and I don’t have many boundaries with them. However, I’ve seen too many improv jams where one inexperienced player (not always a man) is demanding sexual favours from their scene partner and fully expecting a Yes And. It won’t work in real life, but perhaps with our improv programming of Yes And, it will on stage? I know more than one person who quit learning improv because they kept getting creeped on in scenes. We put caveats in there, we step in as teachers to make sure everyone is happy, we watch out for the sexual predators, but perhaps that isn’t enough. What if the coach, director or teacher doesn’t get it and pushes you to play the improv rules? Only the other day I heard about a scene where one man screamingly sex-shamed a woman and the teacher declared that the scene was hilarious without checking in with the female player at all. In fact, after a student offered their feminist opinion on the scene, the inappropriateness was put to a vote! After years of improv I know that it’s fine to make ‘today the day’ when I decide not to be your sex slave anymore and leave this awful place. I know that choosing not to simul-fuck you is 100% in my arsenal and saying (in character) I’m not cool with this is a great character and scene choice that can lead to brilliant improv. I’m not saying this because I want all improv to be vanilla, far from it. Some of my favourite shows have been full of taboo. I’m saying this because With Great Power… If someone wants you to suck their dick in a scene and you think it will be fun or funny, fuck yes, do it! If you think it feels gross and weird and you feel you have to because rules: don’t. Find a fucking awesome reason why in this same reality you just aren’t going to and then make a brilliant other offer that moves the scene on. If you’re on the sides and you see a choice that traps someone because they feel they have to Yes And, edit them. After shows, tell people if you found something uncomfortable. Ask others if your weirdo move was okay. This is not to shut you down but to make you go further. I’ve been pimped to do a billion embarrassing or intimate things on stage. Sometimes I think it’s funny or good and I want to and other times it’s creepy or un-useful and I don’t want to. If it’s my ego or dignity or I’m just scared I’ll do it anyway and if it feels deeper than that, I’ll shut it down in a beautiful way that the audience won’t even see as a closer. I’m not hedging or editing or auditioning the scene, I’m enjoying my own boundaries and Yes And-ing myself. Side-note: I saw a show at a European improv festival where (after some character establishment) a male improviser stepped forward and asked which of the men she should choose to be with. As they were both (unintentionally) horrific characters and I was given the opportunity to voice my choice, I boldly declared ‘NEITHER’. I don’t know if I was the first, but certainly the rest of the audience rallied and shortly much of the room was bawling ‘BE YOUR OWN WOMAN’ and so forth. Looking a little shell-shocked, the male improviser returned to the narrative. I was excited to see what would happen. The lady forwarded her solo story, only to find that - driven by the male narrators - the ending was that she was ‘sad and alone in the middle of the woods for the rest of her life’. FFS. Even the audience can make choices. Yes And doesn’t have to be literal.
33 Comments
ella jerry
12/6/2020 13:17:20
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Katy
16/5/2018 15:47:07
Thanks for reading, Kenny!
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A.D.
16/5/2018 17:20:06
Thank you for this, Katy. A lot of it resonates. ...you also make me feel like I still want to do improv (and it's ok to take a little time away from it).
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:47:02
For sure - it's great to take time out and reassess. No point doing this out of habit! Dunno if you saw this one, it's all about taking time out: http://www.katyschutte.co.uk/improvblog/crop-rotation-for-your-improv
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Nicky
16/5/2018 17:42:29
This is excellent, so insightful and such an interesting and important concept! Thanks Katy :)
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:47:21
Thank you.
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Interesting read and totally agree with you Katy. Sometime a performer will lead you somewhere you don't want to go either through lack of experience or for their own selfish reasons and if "yes - and - committing" to their offer makes you uncomfortable, then "yes - and - divert"
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:47:41
Thanks!
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Suzanne (Suzie) Siebert
17/5/2018 06:00:11
Katy, this blog is universally needed and encourage for it to be read by directors and committee people in improv groups. We've had a change over with leadership, and now at the beginning of class we are reminded 'we are playing from a place of love and respect'; even if there is a fight - it's still between 2 characters, and people who love fight - why not have it that way in improv? Last week I had to die in a scene, with 2 guys. When it came to carrying off the 'dead me' - however, the change that came was when both male players stopped, and said "I didn't check in with you before class if you'd be ok with physical stuff" (I've had some surgery) I was so impressed by your 'pimping in improv' notes and strength of your blog. Really important. For us here (in Australia) we are having to include various nationalities, ethnicities, and gender. we are scratching the surface.
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:48:34
London is working on the diversity and inclusion side too, but we certainly have a long way to go.
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Rita
17/5/2018 06:48:31
This is so important. I've seen and experienced icky scenes; I tend to challenge players (of any gender) who are touching me just because, without it making sense for the characters or the scene. It's my own way of doing boundaries - maybe "needlessly protective", but I return that discomfort RIGHT to sender! It's common knowledge that people who learn improv are often doing it to overcome shyness or learn public speaking: it's unrealistic to assume that none of those people have boundary problems. Add power dynamics and a freeze response to an unwanted trigger (as in fight/flight/freeze) and an unchallenged Yes And is a recipe for trouble.
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:49:09
Good point, thank you.
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17/5/2018 09:26:21
Hell yeah. This is so important. I react, as a performer, as a teacher, even, as you said, as the audience. I remember watching one duo show, and a scene where a girl didn’t want to go with the guy, and he was convincing her, with the high status, why it’s all good, and said „I’m not an asshole.” And I reacted in the audience, louder than I thought with „Yeah, right...”. The rest of the audience agreed. After the show I talked to both performers, my friends and I apologized for interrupting, and the girl thanked me, saying „he [character] was terrible. He was totally an asshole, and I didn’t want to go, but I thought that maybe I should, and because of the audience’s reaction I knew I didn’t have to.” And the guy said „I really didn’t realize, I was being an asshole”.
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Katy
17/5/2018 09:51:02
Thanks for posting yours - a great read. I think just keeping the conversation live helps a lot. x
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Anke
19/5/2018 09:07:14
Thank you so much for writing this and sharing your views on making a scene “your reality”. I learned impro in the nineties in an all-female group, then joined a mixed group. Both groups shared the culture of making your fellow players shine. That automatically created some boundaries and I felt safe and taken care of when playing. As an audience member, I have seen awful offers, which would have been sexual harrassment in real life. It made me cringe as an audience member and less interested to return as a player. I really appreciate the open discussion of boundaries yet also acknowledge that discomfort can be a source for comedy. Nowadays, I am taking impro workshops again. I have actually had to ask a male player whether he was alright with my seductive behaviour in a scene. Now that is what I call progress!
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Katy
22/5/2018 14:36:11
Ace! Thanks for commenting. x
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Órla
19/5/2018 13:25:35
Great words! Thanks Katy x
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Katy
22/5/2018 14:36:32
Thanks for reading. x
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Kate
24/5/2018 09:31:06
Well said, Katy. Couldn't agree more.
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Rodrigo
27/1/2019 19:13:12
I don't know if this is a cultural thing, but that is not what "Yes, And" mean where I come from. The way we play it here is: say "yes" to the improvisor, not the character. "Give me a blowjob", followed by "sure, here is your blowjob" and some mimicry, does not mean acceptance at all. If a improviser is not transformed somehow by their peer's offer, there is "yes, and". Of course a character can and should be able to say no, as long as the improvisor uses "and" to elaborate on how that offer changes their relation and helps build the world around them.
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14/9/2019 13:33:33
The problem has always been a misunderstanding of what "Yes And" refers to, but I agree that's enough of a reason to look for a replacement.
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ella jerry
12/6/2020 13:18:31
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AuthorKaty Schutte is a London-based improviser who teaches improv classes and performs shows globally. Katy performs with Project2, and The Maydays. See her live show dates for upcoming shows. Recent Posts |