How to Use Blocking in Improv

Blocking, also known as negation, is the one cardinal sin of theatrical improv. It doesn't matter how funny you are or how quickly you think on your feet; if you are guilty of blocking and negation, nobody will want to do improv scenes with you. If you are guilty of this at the moment, don't panic--many troupes have problems with blocking and play practice games like "Yes And" to remind themselves how to avoid it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• An improv troupe.

1. Strive to understand what blocking or negation is. Any time another player makes an offer, and you reject that offer, you are guilty of blocking and negation.
2. Accept all offers given to you in a scene. Note that offers do not always take the form of, "Would you like X?"
3. Realize that any statement that introduces facts about the world is an offer. If someone holds up cupped hands and says, "Look, I think he's breathing," she has offered the fact that a living, breathing creature is in her hands.
4. Affirm any facts offered by the other player. To follow our example, replying with, "That's not breathing, that's just a doll," would be blocking, and bad. Replying with, "He is breathing, but barely," affirms the offer of a breathing thing, and adds more information. That is the ideal.
5. Note that not all offers are verbal. If another player is attempting to work space and creates a table in the scene, walking through that space while ignoring the table would be blocking and negating.
6. Avoid blocking and negation at all costs by constantly paying attention to the other people on stage, so you can accept and affirm all offers given.
7. Practice constantly with your troupe in order to eliminate blocking and negation from your shows.

Tips & Warnings

• Stopping your troupe from negating isn't easy, but the improvement in your scenes will make it worth the trouble!
• Remember that accepting every offer does not mean that all characters in scenes agree, just that the players do.

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