The open scene round

One of the changes being introduced to the competition this year is a new ‘open scene’ round for the SENIOR DIVISION only.

For open scenes, teams will be given a simple starting offer, such as a location, occupation, noun or a simple set up. They will perform a scene inspired by the offer without being required to follow any game rules or handles.

For example. if a team is given the offer of 'Cows’ they might choose to do a scene set at a cattle farm in which two farmers are looking for their missing cows. Or they might do a scene as cows discussing trying to figure out a way to avoid being taken to the slaughterhouse, etc.

Open scenes allow teams to focus on storytelling without having to jump through the hoops of game rules. Teams should focus on:

• establishing a clear start to the scene (give us a clear sense of the scenes setting)

• Introduce a tilt or a problem to the scene

• Have the characters react to offers or events in the scene and be changed

• Build to a resolution

Open scenes give us the chance to evaluate teams core impro skills. There will be no difference to how this round is scored compared to other rounds.

This is a change from previous years and some teams may find it challenging to perform a scene without the in-built structure or dynamic that a game provides. However, open scenes are not significantly different than genre based games (such as Shakespearean scene, Musical, Film Noir). It also will teach teams how to transition the skills they use in games to other theatre settings (such as devising content, creating sketches, comedy).