We need to talk about your hands
Note: This is a reprint of a previous Improv Illusionist newsletter. If you’re not receiving my email newsletter, you can subscribe here and get my “Learning the Improv Illusion” series as a bonus.
Welcome to another issue of the Improv Illusionist Newsletter, a monthly update from me, David Raitt, with a focus on the improv skills of environment, object work, and physicality in character and performance. I’m honoured by your interest.
Welcome back, fellow illusionist!
Today is Viola Spolin’s birthday. Sadly, we must also remember Carol Bleackley Sills, Viola’s daughter-in-law—a great contributor to improv in her own right—who passed away on October 11th.
WORKSHOP ALERT: I’ll be teaching a 3-hour Improv Illusions class at the Mopco Theatre (Schenectady, NY) on Sunday, November 17th. Info and registration here.
Teach your city?
I’m setting up my travel and teaching schedule for 2025, and I’d love to come to a city near you.
Are there any improv festivals or theatre companies near you accepting guest teachers? I mostly focus on North America and UK/Europe, but any country or city is possible if there’s a local host who can help with logistics.
Please reply and let me know you’re interested.
Using your hands in physical improv
(First, let me say I understand that not everyone can effectively use their hands, and that it’s a privilege to make these explorations. I’ve written before about Physical Improv for Disabled Performers. If you have a mobility challenge, it’s possible you could adapt some ideas in this article. I’m happy to chat about this if you have questions – get in touch anytime.)
Physical improv is all about communicating non-verbally with your audience. As the improviser, you control this communication, which affects what they “see,” and therefore how they engage with your performance.
Because your hands can communicate fine detail, they’re the primary tool for object work. Think about this the next time you watch an activity scene. Notice how your eyes regularly drift to the performers’ hands, and how frustrating it is when they’re moving too fast or without enough detail. (What the heck are they doing?)
The indicator problem
In the past, I’ve been critical of using your hands as “indicators.” These are shortcuts where, rather than shape your hand as if you’re holding a space object, you use your hand as the object itself. Stick out your pointer finger with the thumb pointing up and you’re “holding” a gun. Speak into an outstretched pinky and listen to your thumb and you’re on the phone. Rub your index finger on your other palm and you’re using a knife to butter toast.
This makes it hard to go further with that object. You can’t eat your toast-hand. If you give your gun or phone to someone else, do they pull your hand off? It also violates a key principle of object work—that the objects are absolutely real to the character. With indicators, people see you improvising, which knocks them out of involvement with your scene.
Recently, however, I’ve softened my position. It’s really a matter of the experience you want to create for the audience. If you’re doing “fast and funny” improv, maybe reproducing reality doesn’t matter so much. In some styles, play takes centre stage, and it doesn’t matter how you use your hands as long as the audience can read you.
What does matter is that you make the indicator a deliberate choice. It’s far too easy for object work to become habitual, where you do the same movements every time. You can get along just fine with your finger gun until, one day, you’re doing a grounded scene where it looks ridiculous. While you can never fully control what the audience sees, not being deliberate makes confusion and inappropriate responses more likely.
Other creative ways to use your hands
You can also use quick hand movements to scene-paint things the audience can’t see. For example, to track an annoying mosquito, you can use your head and eyes, but you could also momentarily wave your fingers next to your ear while making a buzzing noise. Maybe you swat your other hand at those fingers to knock the bug away. Oddly, this can help bring the mosquito into visual focus for the audience, even if you only do it for a moment. The mosquito becomes a bigger presence in the scene.
Here are some other examples of using your hands to paint a scene. They’re a little cartoonish, but fantastic for injecting some physical fun:
- “Drawing” unusual environmental features you’re interacting with. This is useful when an object differs from the audience’s expectation of its usual appearance. Say you’re playing a fantasy scene and about to go through a tiny fairy door. Quickly trace its outline so we can see the small opening. (Then play with squeezing through it!)
- Enhancing strong emotional reactions. If you’ve been shocked and your heart is racing, you can show it thumping in your chest. If you have a brilliant idea, tweak the lightbulb above your head.
Ideally, other players can do these things, which helps you stay more grounded in your character. But it’s good to remember you can make these quick gestures yourself, improving the audience’s visualization of your world and keeping them engaged with the scene.
Things to Try
Exercises, scenes, and practices to work out your physical improv skills.
- Keep those hand movements sharp by practicing with Muscle Memory. Every time you handle a real-world object, notice how your hands move with it. Then put the object down and repeat those same movements. Regular practice is the key to great object work!
- Solo Exercise: Physicalizing an Object. A Viola Spolin classic. Choose an object, animate or inanimate, and handle it. Try to communicate the life and movement of the object, using your whole body, not only the hands. Examples include a yo-yo, pinball machine, or hamster.
- Exercise: Where without Hands. Another one from Spolin that stretches your body even more. You and a partner decide on an object, then handle or set it in motion without using your hands. Objects or activities that don’t usually need hands (e.g., stomping grapes) aren’t allowed.
More from Improv Illusionist
The Improv Illusionist book – Preview and order info
Improv Exercises for Physical Skills
Improv Books — Reviews & Recommendations
Improv Podcasts — Reviews & Recommendations
Book Review
This Improv Book
by David Escobedo
(more info here)
When an author dedicates their Masters and Ph.D. research to improv, you know they’re likely to have something interesting to say. Escobedo’s manual of techniques is divided into three sections: You (what you can control), Them (what you can only react to and how to support), and Us (what we aim to create together, both on and off stage.) A great mix of theory and practical application.
- Pros: Engagingly written, with a wide variety of ideas, including how we can build better improv communities. I like the regular use of capitalized words to reinforce important base concepts. Drawings and images are included to illustrate some ideas. (For those who prefer, there’s also an e-book version without the graphics.)
- Cons: As a self-published book, it could use a better table of contents or an index to help revisit the best concepts.
- Best for: Intermediate-level improvisers who want to deepen their skills.
Do you have any feedback about Improv Illusionist? Send me a message or just reply to this email. Seriously, I read everything and respond to nearly all of it as my schedule allows.
I’ll be back to wrap up 2024 on Thursday December 5th!
Ex nihilo!
— Dave
