This is a great warm up game the School of Improv created to get people connected and out of their heads.
It’s a bit like ‘Machines’ but is more instinctive and spontaneous. It requires people to really let go and be silly.
We stand in a circle. One person goes in and starts to do a repetitive movement and a sound that accompanies it – no intention or plan, just a random choice. Then person two goes in and does another movement and sound that compliments the first. They both keep repeating until person three joins and then number four. Now, we have a strange but dynamic physical automaton, like a wind-up Victorian toy spinning around the centre of the circle. Four is the optimum number so then someone new joins the circle and shouts – “What the fuck (or hell) are you doing!” Everyone in the centre screams and runs back to the outside. Then the person who came in and shouted starts a new movement and sound and we build again. It’s a strangely liberating experience that has the people on the outside in tears of laughter. What’s really nice, is that after a while stories and themes start to emerge from the chaos.
Try it out.