Emotional Options

Two or three players perform a scene. Another player, acting as “director,” assigns new emotions to the characters one player at a time. Each player continues in the emotion they were given until they are assigned a new one.

This game, a reduced-set version of the game Options, is one of the best emotion-based games. The remarkable thing about this Emotional Options is that, even when played by relatively new improvisers, it often produces a good scene.

You can begin this game without explaining anything to the audience. Just ask for a suggestion like location or relationship, then start the scene. Once the director calls “Freeze” and asks for an emotion, the audience will easily pick up what’s happening.

And, if the scene happens to be going well without the game, you can just let it roll on as an open scene.

A scene usually starts with relatively neutral emotions. Not robotic or bored, but avoiding big reactions.

Terri is washing dishes. James enters, rubbing his hands on his clothes.

JAMES: Well, I guess we need a new lawn mower.

TERRI: I told you. I was pulling at that cord for twenty minutes.

JAMES: No point delaying it. We’ll head over to Mower Shack. I’ll talk to Len.

DIRECTOR: Freeze! Can we have a new emotion for Terri, please?

AUDIENCE: Guilty.

DIRECTOR: Guilty!

TERRI: Why would you need to talk to Len? Not that I care. I certainly don’t talk to Len. Or do anything else with him. Even if I did find his muscles attractive. Which I definitely don’t. You’re not going to kill him, are you?

DIRECTOR: Freeze! And an emotion for James?

AUDIENCE: Amused.

DIRECTOR: Amused!

JAMES: Haha! Kill him? You and your kooky ideas. You’re adorable.

The director should always repeat any suggestion coming from an audience member, so the rest of the audience and the players can hear it.

When you’re given an emotion, perform it immediately—don’t “ease into it.” Many novice players try to lead with the dialogue, ponderously introducing some new fact that will justify an upcoming emotional change. Instead, trust that you will be able to make sense of why your character has suddenly undergone such a strong change.

Although the emotions are changed at random, in directions the performers can’t predict, from the audience’s point of view, the results seem to make sense, and even seem natural.

The director should give the scene 20 to 30 seconds to get started, then call “Freeze!” roughly every 20 seconds. On the call of Freeze, players freeze in position. The director may have to be loud. Players are often so wrapped in the scene that they don’t hear the interruption. A microphone helps. Make the call just before a players is about to respond to a line of dialogue.

The director should watch the scene carefully, looking for good moments to change the emotions. If one character has just made an strong offer to another – a piece of news that invites some kind of action – that’s the perfect time to interrupt the action.

Reject suggestions that are very similar to the player’s current emotion. If a player is already “angry” don’t accept “fury” or “annoyed”. If you’ve had a string of negative emotions, encourage something positive.

Put a good list of emotions on a whiteboard or large poster board. You’ll get much better suggestions from the audience.

Sometimes, both players may be stuck playing a string of negative emotions, or one player may have had a series of negative suggestions in a row. The caller should be on the lookout for this, and, when necessary, ask the audience for “a positive emotion”, or “a very different emotion”, or “an unexpected emotion”. Alternatively, he can ask for an emotion, without saying who it’s for, and then assign it to the player it will change the most.

Emotions like happiness or love often provide good endings. If you want to bring a scene to a close, try asking: “Can we have a final positive emotion for Eric?” This should allow players to wrap up the scene. If not, you can always follow it with, “And a final positive emotion for Eileen.” And if the scene still doesn’t end, try “And to end with, let’s get the same positive emotion for both of them.”

One variation of this game, sometimes called “Emotional Roller Coaster” follows a similar pattern, but when the director announces a new emotion, it applies simultaneously to everyone on stage. This gimmick is much less likely to produce a watchable scene.

The Fast Version

Instead of freezing the action to get a suggestion from the audience, collect suggestions for emotions at the start, then the director calls them out from a list. “Kevin! Jealousy!” Again, this works much better if each person is given different emotions. This approach allows a more varied set of emotions. Get a single audience suggestion off the top, such as location, relationship, or what just happened.

One emotion per line

In this variant, the director has a list of emotions. Players need a new emotion for each line of dialogue, and can’t speak until they’ve been given one.

DIRECTOR: Jerry –  excitement

JERRY: Wow! It’s fantastic to see you!

DIRECTOR: Karen – Lust!

KAREN: Get over here now, you gorgeous hunk of man.

Emotions give a scene its colour and interest. And emotions that continually shift and change will hold the attention of an audience. We all respond unconsciously to emotional shifts. When we observe emotions in others, we need to know where those emotions are going. It’s a sensible survival tool for a social animal.