There is something that as an improviser that we all tend to do without realising. It is a common issue and also sometimes actually tricky to master your brain out of doing that but it is time to try and focus on the present and try to ignore the past and the future.

It is so easy to do in a scene and that is to talk about something that you did or are going to do bu the most effective thing to do for an audience is to live in the present. If you are talking about the fact that you are going to jump out of a plane – do it! It may be hard to show on stage but that is what the audience love – seeing how you can take it on and how you portray it on stage. It can also actually create a lot more comedy and fun.

Also, even with the world being more online with improv this should not be an excuse not to try out new ideas. You could actually be more adventurous trying to make something work in an an online world and may actually create more humour trying to do a parachute jump on a Zoom show!

If you are n a scene and you are focussing om what you have done or going to do it can make the scene turn more into a conversation then action based and that may have a negative reaction on your audience. If you are in the present you could focus more on creating the space and the scene. It is easier to paint a scene in the present and allowing the world to build up clearly and visibly.

Now, whilst I am saying the present is the best, I have seen some great scenework where they have focussed on the past and the future and sometimes they work really well. However, if you don’t focus on the present you can end up with a bit of a dull scene always waiting for something to happen.