When you read this feature, you will probably notice over the years that there are a lot of different ways that you can rehearse improv and today we are going to look at an exercise that you can do that actually helps you paint a scene whilst talking about clothes – no really!

What are you wearing? No, this is not a cheesy chat up line on a telephone call or on a dating app, this is actually about an exercise you can use that is really beneficial in creating a mood and an emotion to a scene without it being solely in the players hands.

An improviser would get up on the stage and ask the rest of the team to explain to them what they are wearing and will “dress them” anyway they want because we are painting a character! This can be everything from their clothes, the condition they are in and even what they are holding!

There are two ways that you can play this game – the first is to ‘dress’ to players and then they make a scene out of the characters that they are ‘painted as’. The clothes and the items will make them become these characters and have to work out how they interact with one another.

A way to develop the exercise is to also build up their surroundings and choose key items that they can see around them – this will lead more for the players to work with and also may cause a curve ball which could be interesting.