{"id":7769,"date":"2019-03-15T16:49:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/?post_type=resource&p=7769"},"modified":"2020-06-28T22:22:22","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T21:22:22","slug":"7769","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/animal-understudy","title":{"rendered":"Animal Understudy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animal Understudy<\/h1>\n

Description<\/h2>\n

Two people play a scene based on a suggestion from the audience. Whenever the host shouts “understudy” two other actors rush in to be their understudies, but the understudies are animals instead of humans. The animals carry on in the scene for a bit, and when the host shouts “actors” the original actors switch back again and carry on the scene from the positions the animals were in and justify things that happened.<\/p>\n

Variations<\/h2>\n

Lots of variations in this game.<\/p>\n

The animals can be played as part animal\/part human, an animal inspiration for a character or as full-on animals with no comprehension of language or the scene.<\/p>\n

The audience can suggest the animals before the scene starts, or it can be suggested by director.<\/p>\n

The animals can change on each round.<\/p>\n

The actors might mention things the animals said\/did or they could carry on as if nothing happened.<\/p>\n

What works best? Who knows! Try them all and see what’s best for you.<\/p>\n

Teaching Purpose<\/h2>\n

This is one of those games that looks like it has no purpose at all but in fact it’s purpose is the biggest of all which is:<\/p>\n

Play, PLAY, PLAYYYY!!!!<\/p>\n

Even the shyest of improvisers will come out of their shells when doing this game, as they are so caught up in being the animal (and it is the animal that is to blame) that they are making massive bold physical and emotional offers without even thinking about it.<\/p>\n

Also using animals to inspire characters is a well known part of scripted acting too.<\/p>\n

Origin<\/h2>\n

Hoopla! We think we invented it in one of our super short-form courses.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Our Newsletter<\/a><\/h2>\n

If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter containing helpful improv resources, improv exercises, casting calls for new shows and news about the UK improv scene please\u00a0subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also follow us on our facebook group<\/a>,\u00a0facebook page,<\/a>\u00a0twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hoopla are the UK\u2019s first improv theatre and the UK\u2019s biggest improv school with fun and friendly improv\u00a0shows<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0classes<\/a>\u00a0every day of the week in London and across the UK. We provide fantastic ongoing\u00a0performing opportunities<\/a>\u00a0to students from our courses and a warm, welcoming and supportive community to help make improv for everyone.<\/p>\n

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The animals carry on in the scene for a bit, and when the host shouts “actors” the original[...] Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/animal-understudy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hoopla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hooplaimpro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-28T21:22:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/iStock-964611070.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1229\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"854\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hooplaimpro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Animal Understudy | Hoopla","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/animal-understudy","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Animal Understudy | Hoopla","og_description":"Animal Understudy Description Two people play a scene based on a suggestion from the audience. 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