Here are 5 things to consider before signing up for your own duo.
Two-person improv can be some of the most rewarding work as an improviser. You and one other person plunge into new worlds with nothing but each other to hold onto. You are able to build and reach extreme highs, lows and push your improv skills to the max. Much like any relationship, a successful team requires intense amounts of vulnerability and trust. When well balanced, the team can discover a depth of connection not easily experienced with larger ensembles. When ill-balanced, duo teams exacerbate each other’s weaknesses and can struggle to move past a 5-minute scene.
We reached out to several duo groups and the internet responded! There were some overarching themes in the advice given to new groups. Here are 5 things to consider before signing up for your own duo.
You are “On” all of the time
At its most basic, a duo set is a 10-15 minute mono-scene where players play the same characters. There is no time on the backline where one can look for beats and moves. Players must be constantly balancing what is happening in the moment, and remembering details and character quirks to bring back. In addition, they have to find games and fun ideas in order to move the scene forward. All edits tend to be in the scene and when you stop a scene or a universe, both parties are back on the stage to do it again.
Choices, Choices, Choices
“Be prepared to make choices, constantly and confidently. There is no back up for support moves, so you need to be constantly adding information and changing the status quo of the scene” (reddit user alfernie). A lot of work goes into making scenes interesting for audience members. A common pitfall is to have a scene where one person is making all of the choices, or players just negotiate or teach. It is important for both members of the team to make choices that help to move things forward and keep it interesting for both players.
Keeping it Interesting
There really isn’t any structure to a duo set. “If you only do one scene you’ve just done a monoscene. If you do beats, you might be doing something Harold like. A character is in two scenes in a row? Boom you’re doing a slacker all of a sudden” (reddit user kufu91). There are a lot of freedoms when you aren’t tied up in fancy edits and entrances/exits. Players can take it wherever they like. Duo’s do many different forms to help keep it interesting. They play multiple characters in a scene, do time jumps, share a “narrator voice”, and incorporate the audience as anything from a suggestion box to part of the set. The options are endless.
Group Mind Goodness
It is much easier to develop group mind when you only are working with one other person. The synergy can be downright magical. Getting good synergy is best done by hanging with your partner both on and off the stage. In developing a relationship with your partner you can learn their moves, sense of humor, favorite things to do, etc. Most importantly, you develop trust that you can be vulnerable with this person and be supported by them. Making strong choices so that players and audience members can identify characters by quirk, voice, etc can also assist in avoiding misidentification, and helps get to that group mind faster on stage.
Outside Perspective
In a large group, there are commonly people on the sidelines able to give feedback on a scene or set. When all members of the group are always in a set, evaluation becomes impossible. In order to be fully present in the reality established by you and your partner, you can’t be also evaluating your performance. “Getting a coach for practices is even more important for a duo than for a large team. When you are up and doing things all practice it’s super-hard to self-coach and figure out what to do next” (reddit user kufu91). Your biggest clue is only how you feel after you finish a set. If you feel good and you played a fun character who was kind and had good things happen to them, you probably did well at believing and supporting the reality made by you and your partner. This holds true likewise if you played a mean, cruel character and afterward you felt quite negatively. For this reason, it is an important consideration to have a coach for practices.
Now that you have an idea of how to enjoy the many benefits of a duo group, I hope you will give it a try.
He Said They Said 