Silent Movie

Think melodrama rather than Buster Keaton slapstick (which is hard to improvise safely or well). Characters can “speak” freely, but no sounds come from their mouth. Exaggerate emotions and gestures to make the meaning very clear, and keep the ideas simple enough that the lack of words doesn’t matter.

For a classic melodrama story, a true-heared male hero is determined to help a female love interest, who is harried by a cruel villain. The villain has his own wicked designs on her. If you have enough players, or want to switch roles, add an aging parent for the women to look after, a sidekick for the hero, and a henchman or two for the villain. Of course, you can play with the formula by reversing sex roles.

The needs of the characters are desperate. They don’t ask for something – they implore, beg on bended knees. Villains are hard-hearted, laugh at the pleadings of others, wrongfully beat their victims, and cast them out into the snow. Lovers clasp their faces side by side and look up at the sky in delight.

Silent movies were traditionally accompanied on piano. If you have a pianist, or can find recordings of silent-movie-style piano music, it will enhance the effect.

It can be fun to turn real-life story into a silent movie. Ask the audience for a reason they were fired from a job – in the silent movie, the firing will probably involve a cruel beating and a penniless trek through blinding snow. Or ask if anyone is in a relationship where someone was opposed to the match – this can be played as lovers being kept apart by a cruel villain.

Years ago, this used to be a popular genre choice – silent movies were often shown on TV as cheap filler and most people had watched them. These days, audiences under 50 are less familiar with silent movies, or, indeed, anything in black and white, unless they were Cinema Studies students.