Object work - is it just a necessary evil or is the creation and continuity of imaginary objects in scenes vital. What power does object work have when it comes to affecting us, our scene partners and our audiences and where does it fit in the hierarchy of improv techniques and tools?

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This episode features:

David Raitt: https://improvillusionist.com/

Carly Smith: https://www.facebook.com/TinyStoriesImprov

Aree Witoelar: https://www.facebook.com/areewitoelarimprov/ 

The Improv Chronicle Podcast is produced and hosted by Nottingham improviser Lloydie James Lloyd
Theme music - Sam Plummer
Logo design - Hélène Dollie

Episode transcript:

This… is the Improv Chronicle podcast. I'm Lloydie.

David Raitt: What I think is important is consistency and agreeing to the existence of an idea. And object work is fantastic for that.

Lloydie James Lloyd: It's Tuesday, 1st of December 2020. Object work: Is it just a necessary evil or is the creation and continuity of imaginary objects in a scene vital? 

When I announced that object work was the next topic we were covering on the Chronicle, I had an email within a day from someone who's been on the podcast before and who's incredibly passionate about object and environment work. 

I had a sense he might message me. So, we arranged a chat ASAP.

David: Hi, I'm David Raitt. I am an improviser and an instructor in Oakville, Ontario, Canada; home to the Oakville Improv Theatre Company. And I specialize in object work and environment exercises through my website, improvillusionist.com.

Lloydie: When we’re taught improv, we are taught, “Yes and”, we are told, “Accept and build”, we're told, “Create great characters.” It strikes me that object work isn't normally something that is seen as the foundation of improv. So, where do you think it belongs?

David: Well, there's no doubt that, on a strict hierarchy, I would say that object work is not a priority. But if you think about how much improv you see, where you have two talking heads standing apart from each other, just chatting away, how much more difficult that is for not only the audience to remain interested visually in what's going on, but also for the improvisers themselves. 

It's certainly very easy to have a conversation, but I find that once you start adding physicality and moving around, you're definitely going to have a lot more not only visual interest for the audience, but you're also going to be able to find more things and more ideas from your environment to incorporate into a scene. So, I would say that object work is really essential. 

I think another thing that I might say, too, is that object work is… what's really important about it is you need to be able to do it really well for it to come off, for not only the audience to be able to understand what you're doing, but also for your partner to be able to do it. 

So, if we're not doing it with a level of precision and detail that makes it very easy for people to understand, then that kind of defeats a lot of the purpose of doing object work in the first place.

Lloydie: So, if I have understood you correctly, some of what you're saying would suggest that actually one of the fundamentals of improv that we’re taught – the who, what, where – that there are ways of finding that through object work. 

David: Oh, absolutely. When we talk about the who, what, where, the where is one big third of that, right? So, you need to be able to have great skills to be able to communicate that to an audience. 

I think there are other benefits there as well. If you can establish a strong setting for your scene, you can't help but draw the audience into what's happening even more. 

So many of our scenes or so much of our improv takes place on a blank stage; there's like a brick wall or a black curtain behind you and a couple of chairs on the stage. The improvisers are usually not wearing costumes. So, there's nothing visually to give the audience a sense of where anything is happening. 

When you have a good object work skills, you're able to create things for the audience to see. And it just makes them more a part of the world that you're creating in your improv.

Lloydie: One of my favourite groups, in the East Midlands here in the UK, uses objects to transition between scenes. And needless to say, when I arranged to speak to Carly, who's one-eighth of Tiny Stories from Leicester, I knew she'd rate object work as a high priority.

Carly Smith: Personally, I think it's super important. So, I definitely put it in like the top three of improv things and needs. I think because… I mean, as an audience member, I love watching like whole scenery come to life and that can be done just by, like, someone doing some really good object work on stage. 

I know I've seen scenes where… So, for example, I was in a workshop once where I think two people were talking about something really boring, like maths – Sorry, mathematicians – and they were quite clearly pushing their child on a swing. 

And this whole playground scene just came to life around them, purely because of how they were interacting with their imaginary child on the swing and how they'd got their hands, you know, to give the item like depth and weight.

And even though it's about maths, which I'm not remotely interested in – Sorry, maths – it was really exciting because I was like, “Oh, is the child going to fall off the swing?” Or like, “What's going to happen next?” So, it's definitely top three. Definitely top three.

Lloydie: It's interesting, though, because I think any regular non-improv audience member leaving a show that they really loved, I mean, how many times have they really said, “Oh gosh, wasn't there object work good?

Carly: Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean. I suppose, as improvisors, we'd come offstage and be like, “Oh, my gosh, that was amazing object work. Well done.”

But I think an audience member would just be like, “I was totally transported to this spaceship or this garden centre” and maybe they couldn't tell you why, but, you know, maybe they just pick up on something they'd seen because an improvisor did a really good job of sustaining the mime and the, whoever they were playing with, sort of did the same thing as well. Yeah. 

Lloydie: You've convinced me it definitely has an impact on audiences. It's not that I really needed convincing, but you make a compelling case.

However, I'm interested in what you think it does for performers.

Carly: Okay. Well, personally speaking, I love a really good object work, because it gives me more to kind of play with. I am the person, sit on the side-lines, going, “Ah”, a lot of the time, because I don't always know what to do.

So, if somebody sort of established an object or established like a scenery, shall we say, it makes me feel more confident, actually.

And I remember being in a workshop where someone described one of these really tall houseplants and straight away, I was like, “Oh, we're going to play hide and seek, obviously.” 

And then also, I was doing a little bit of preparation for this interview. I was reading Katie Schuetz book about object work. And she was saying about how great it can be when two performers really work together to sustain the objects.

So, if one person puts down a cup or a grass, say, you know, it's really nice when your fellow improvisor then picks up that cup as well, because they really responded to an offer.

Lloydie: And this week, so many improvisors responded to say how much they value object work. Considering how few courses really there are, where we just specifically focus on object work, there are a lot of people advocating for its part in the improv toolkit. 

Adam Unwin got in touch saying; 

“So, important. Audiences want to believe what you're doing and want to understand what you're doing.” 

Ben Stevens said; 

“It's incredibly important. It makes the scene real for the performers and the audience alike. I've done scenes where my character might be, say, holding a glass of wine. And when the scene ended, I found myself setting the imaginary glass of wine down on an imaginary table before leaving the stage because it had become so real to me.” 

Monika Ozdarska says; 

“Very important for actors and the audience. Good object work is mesmerizing and makes us and them see the world. And it gives a focus and intentions to behaviour, not only the words.” 

Jay Suko got in touch saying, 

“We don't need props because we have unlimited objects.”

I love that phrase. 

“Objects or other characters in the scene, and we can use them to show our emotional states as well.” 

Shaun Lowthian said; 

“Object work’s position in the hierarchy of improv skills is right up there.” 

He says; 

“It's massively underrated in the UK, especially with our love of trading witty jokes at each other while still at a respectful distance apart.” 

And Justin Brett agrees with Sean, saying; 

“It shouldn't even be a topic for discussion. It's never done enough and the rewards are amazing. You can say a dozen things with one simple action.” 

One other the response I had caught my eye and got me into a bit of a discussion. So, I called that person up to go deeper.

Aree Witoear: Hi, my name's Aree Witoelar and I am an Indonesian improvisor based in Norway. I am now doing improv basically everywhere around the world. I do a 10-minute series with a lot of people. But before all of these happened, I was artistic director of Impro Neuf International in Norway.

Lloydie: As somebody who is a performer and an artistic director, where would you, in the kind of hierarchy of improv skills, rate object work. Where would you place it?

Aree: I think it depends on different people. So, for me, it ranks very high. I think what you need to do is always put yourself in the space of where you are in the scene. And so, for some people, it might be either senses like smell or just thinking. But for me, it's about physically being present. If I feel I'm physically being present in this makeup scene, then it seems becomes easy for me.

Lloydie: And what is it about the objects that we use in that scene particularly that is so important?

Aree: So, it's funny because a lot of people think objects for a show for the audience. But for me, it is about… Actually, manipulating objects allows me to explore emotions that I feel in the scene. So, if I'm holding a cup of coffee, I might hold it a little bit tighter, if I'm angry in the scene. I can express a different kind of emotions about how I manipulate objects, how I throw things, how I hold it carefully, gently or tightly.

Lloydie: So, it's not so much the objects themselves that were important, but our interactions and reactions to them. 

Aree: Definitely, interactions. And I use them to anchor my character. So, for instance, if a classical character would be an old person with a cane, then I would actually feel this cane in my hand and I would stiffen my arm to really feel that cane. And then if I use my physicality to hold an anchor at this position, then I don't need my brain to anchor my character. I could just use the physicality for that.

Lloydie: Aree, how real do these objects get for you in a scene?

Aree: It gets quite real. So, if I'm in the zone, it gets very real. So, I remember I was doing a scene and we were just chatting in the confessional booth and I was throwing a tissue paper into a bin. And then at that scene I felt that I didn't throw it properly, that the tissue paper sort of lingered at the rim of the of the bin, you know, that kind of thing. And then I have to go again and take it and actually put it in the bin.

So, it actually brought feelings of like frustration out of it. So, it's quite real.

Lloydie: And the objects we make real have a real impact on the characters we create, as David explains. 

David: If you look around at any room that you're in, we tend to think of rooms as being empty or there's not a lot in here, but there are so many little objects; things that we notice. Even in a in a so-called empty room, you might still see signs on the walls or electrical outlets or clock or a fire extinguisher. There are these objects around us all the time.

And if you think about how much goes into collecting objects, the particular objects that that you have access to in your personal space, whether that's your office desk or your bedroom, those things, they expressed something about you. 

Even the choice of the type of object. So, for example, if you have a digital alarm clock versus one of those old analogue ones with the little bells on the top, that says something about you. Maybe says something about your choice to be more technological or maybe you're a bit of a Luddite and you don't like the digital stuff. So, you've gone back to this really classic alarm clock. 

So, how do we communicate that I've got an object of that type, so that the audience can see it well enough to understand how that really applies back to who I am?

Lloydie: That's so interesting. The thought I'm having now is that essentially, humans mark their territory with objects, don't they? So, the kind of environment you're in and the kind of objects that might be around you and how you interact with those objects as a character is going to make a huge difference to how you behave in that scene.

David: Oh, yeah, absolutely. The choice of the object is so personal to people. But even the way that we use objects is is like that. One of the things that you can do with object work is discover patterns. For a UCB-style game of the scene-type scene work, you can discover things in the way that characters use objects, either consistently or inconsistently. 

One of my favourite improv instructors, Bruce Hunter, wrote an essay in the Second City Almanac of Improvisation about environment and object work. And in that article, he talks about a can opener. So, you could have a scene where there's a can opener, people are using it and no one in the scene knows how to use it properly. 

And that can say so much about this group of people. Are they people who just don't know how to use a can opener or are they simple minded in that way? Is there a problem with the can opener that they refuse to fix? Because for whatever reason, are they unable to pay for a new one or they're just lazy? 

And then what happens if someone else comes into the scene and is able to use the can opener successfully after all the others did it? What's different about that character and how does that create a conflict or a relationship change between that actor and the other people in the scene?

Lloydie: Carly also thinks objects help us create characters.

Carly: I think they can be really useful when, like, you know, as improvisers, we often come on with no ideas at all and we just respond to what's on stage. And it can be quite interesting when somebody hands you an object, and depending on the depth of the weight or the size of the object, that can sort of give you a lot of clues as to your character is going to be.

I'm just trying to think of an example of maybe when someone has handed me an object. I think someone once handed me an apron on stage once. And just because of the way they sort of like got their fingers and their thumbs holding this apron and kind of they sort of had floppy wrists, so they flapped it at me and I thought, “That's an apron.”

And I think I became like a shop worker or something like that, like in a grocery shop or what have you. So, I think that can certainly be really helpful. 

And actually, that makes me think of like when we do really basic games; like when we first do an improv. And one of the things, for example, maybe is the, you know, the game where you take an object out of a bag and you give it to somebody else and they say, “Oh, thanks. I always really wanted it”; whatever. 

And it's so important, I think, when you're doing object work to make sure that you've got the precision of the depth and the weight and the size and what have you, because it can really help to stimulate a scene or to stimulate a character.

Lloydie: But in the end, this technique we call object work isn't something the audience comes to see. At least, I don't think they're coming to see it most of the time. But its impact on audiences, well, that's a different matter. Back to Aree.

Aree: I think it gives a strong visual, but more than that, it makes things more real. So, we are doing things. We are making things up. And if you don't obey the laws of gravity, if you don't obey things, then anyone can basically do a thing and say, like, “There's this thing and there's that thing. This is light. This is heavy.” 

You can say it, but if you actually do it, then it becomes a performative thing for the audience; that they see like this person is actually doing this. This person is taking care of it. This must mean something. 

Lloydie: And we never really get – from ordinary audience members rather than improv audience members – we never really get the full credit for our object work, do we? Because I don't think anyone ever leaves the show saying, “Wasn't the object work great?” 

But it's kind of one of those underlying things that I suppose audiences don't realize are important. But that if we do it right can really transform the performance.

Aree: It's one of the things that is taken for granted if done really well, but if it's done poorly, then you see that they are just making things up. The pinnacle of object work is that it feels natural; is that it becomes seamless. 

A true object work takes much slower than an improv object work. But we had this exercise where we had two people putting… on one person putting on an improv shoe and the next person next to him putting on a real shoe. And then you notice that how often we rush hour object work in the improv because the other shoe is not even halfway done and already, we want to run with the scene with the half-worn shoe. 

Next time… on the Improv Chronicle podcast.

As one calendar year comes to the end and we reflect on a year, no one exactly bargained for what are improvisors around the world hoping will happen to improve in 2021? 

Wherever you are in the world, if you have an improv related wish for 2021, I'd love for you to share it. Record a voice message about it in your phone, send it to newsdesk@improvchronicle.com and I'll feature as many as I'm able to in the next episode. 

The Improv Chronicle Podcast is produced and hosted by me, Lloydie James Lloyd. Check out the show notes for this episode and find out about the contributors. And if you have an idea for a possible episode, go to improvchronicle.com