‘What Are You Doing?’ Improvisation Exercise

Purpose

To build adaptability, spontaneous thinking, and physical storytelling skills through playful improvisation. This activity trains delegates to listen closely, respond creatively and transition roles smoothly under shifting constraints. This exercise is ideal for acting courses, improvisation, listening skills, adaptability, team collaboration, body language and physical expression. This exercise is highly engaging and physically active, which makes it ideal as a warm-up or energiser during soft skills or creativity training.

Objective

Delegates take turns stepping into a live scene, asking what is happening and immediately switching into a completely new improvised activity based on the response.

What You Need

• Open space where a circle can be formed and the central area to be use for acting

Setup

• Form a circle with all delegates standing. If there are more, break into subgroups. If there is an odd number and one person is left out, the trainer can participate to ensure everyone gets a turn.
• Ask the group to collectively choose a starting scene to base the initial setup on. Example prompts include:

“Building a film set”

“Setting up a campsite”

“Running a kitchen during a busy dinner service”

“Preparing for a space launch”

• Ask for a volunteer to step into the centre.
• Explain how the scenes work:
  • The volunteer begins by performing silent object work. miming a realistic action that fits the chosen scene. Encourage detailed, believable movement. Example: sawing wood, painting a backdrop, plugging in studio lights.
  • After 30 seconds, the next delegate in the circle (to the left of the starting person) steps in and asks, “Hey, [Name], what are you doing?”
  • The person currently acting responds with a completely unrelated activity. For example, they say, “I’m firing a machine gun at the enemy!” This should not be what they are miming, but something imaginative and contrasting.
  • The new person says, “OK, let me help you with that,” and joins the imaginary scene, miming support for the new action. For example, holding the dangling magazine, ducking for cover and protecting the flank. The second person should gradually take over. This part can take another 30 seconds.
  • The first player steps out, and the scene continues with the new player alone for a few moments, continuing with the act.
  • The next person in the circle enters the scene, asks the same question, “Hey, [Name], what are you doing?” and receives a new answer, again, not what has being acted out.
  • The sequence then continues.
• Ask if everyone is happy with the instructions and if they have any questions before they start. You don’t really want to stop the flow to explain what they need to do once the sequence starts.
• Optionally you can declare a genre rule. For example, all scenes must take place in a spy thriller or historical drama. Make sure everyone has understood this and is happy with it. Misunderstandings can make the acting sequence messy.
• When ready get the volunteer to start the acting.
• Repeat the relay until all delegates have entered the scene. Encourage energy, focus and commitment to each new action.
• Praise everyone in the end and follow with a discussion on acting performances.

Timing

Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes

Activity: 8 minutes for 8 delegates

Group Feedback: 10 minutes

Discussion

• How did it feel to shift suddenly from one scene to another?
• Could you easily read the acting and understand what was happening?
• How did it feel to quickly react to the other person’s imaginary reinterpretation of the scene?
• How does this kind of spontaneous thinking help with acting and public performance?

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