Conflict vs. Argument
It happens all the time, at least once per term that I teach, or in the first session with an indie team. I’m watching an incredibly talented and hilarious performer suddenly start stammering their way through an agreement they aren't enjoying because they denied an impulse to do something else and now they are improvising like they are walking through molasses, and when I ask them any version of “what’s on your mind?” Or “how are you going?” Or “how is this feeling?” Or "what’s up?”, so often their response is a big sigh, or a frustrated quick release of some form of “I don’t know what to say because I don’t want to cause a conflict.” I’ll usually, cruelly, ask the question that by now I know the answer to “what’s wrong with conflict?” And they’ll tell me that [insert teacher] told me to avoid conflict at all costs.
That teacher was not giving the wrong note the day that they said that. Language fucked them, OR you’ve twisted their specific note into a broad one. I was teaching a level 5 Harold class once, and a performer, who consistently delights me, was playing a character robbing the Louvre with her accomplice. Mid-robbery, a disagreement began while standing at the Mona Lisa. This performer froze up and I asked what was up. She said “I wanted to smash the Mona Lisa, but that would be conflict”. Everyone in the room was like “Smash that fucking Mona Lisa”. One of the worst things you can do in improv is judge a move before you make it. You’ve stopped trusting yourself. As the old adage goes, jump and figure it out on the way down. They smashed the Mona Lisa and it was the scene was injected with energy, it was alive again. She was free again to follow whatever was inspiring her about the scene and not honouring some misunderstood note from some teacher sometime in the past. Here’s something about notes… If your teacher has ever told you to NEVER do something, it’s my opinion that they didn’t really mean never. There is no room for such brash absolutes in such a malleable and constantly evolving art form. Maybe they mean never (in exactly that scenario which you may never come across again). But also, sometimes, your teacher didn’t say NEVER, but you have turned a note about a specific instance into a broad stroke lesson along the lines of “never do that again, you’re a bad person for ever having done it even once”. Again, I see this all the time. I ask a student a question, and their response is some historical note that has stuck with them and is making them act in a way that is everything but truthful in the scene.
Whether your teacher specifically told you to avoid conflict in all scenarios, or whether that’s how you interpreted what they said, I want to suggest that we are misusing that word. Language, in case you haven’t gathered, is important. I think it’s important to note that conflict in drama is different to an argument. In drama/comedy/whatever you’re making, let’s use conflict as a noun. Not a verb. Your characters are incompatible with each other, or with nature, or with themselves. That does not suggest they are arguing about it. It just suggests they are incompatible. They are in conflict, not in an argument.
Here are my top 3 tips for avoiding an argument but living in whatever conflict you discovered. These, along with every other tip I’ve ever given is subject to change as I’m constantly learning from the incredible number of scenes I’m seeing and performing. These are simple examples. As improv goes, there are a million nuanced ways in which this could go better or worse.
1. Consider your status.
Here is how a silly scene at a Fuggtown training played out. We all loved it! (FYI: Fuggtown is a House Harold Team at the Improv Conspiracy that I have been coaching for 2 years, they have taught me a lot, and hopefully, I have done the same in return) Santa played by Elizabeth (endowed by Zach) Elf played by Zach Santa was a tyrannical leader and the elf was trying to overthrow. Zach made himself physically smaller than Elizabeth to show his status in relation to her. They were in conflict, but at every turn, Santa won because both players agreed. In essence, the exchange was this.
Elizabeth: “I have the support of all the children in the world. How do you think they’ll respond, knowing the elves are against Santa?”
Zach: “gah, damn you, Claus”
Elizabeth: “you’re all small. I can crush you all anyway”
Zach: “gah damn you, Claus”
Zach was upset and remained, throughout the scene, in direct opposition to Santa. As a character, he didn’t stop being mad or in conflict with Santa. But as an improviser, he was in agreement with Elizabeth about who would prevail in this scene and it allowed Elizabeth to be a more absurd Santa. Later in the scene, he contributed to the heightening of her tyranny, but this is where he began losing. Results: A very simple and good time. Which hints at number
2. Don’t try to win (This is so counter-intuitive to most human beings)
Another scene featuring Elizabeth, this time with Dale. Elizabeth had brought a horse into the house. Who knows why.
Dale: “Oh I’m so mad”
Elizabeth: “I’m sorry, I should have told you about the horse and that I would move it into the study”
Dale: “no no it’s my fault I should have just not asked you about it, I’m just mad that I know about it”
Elizabeth: “no I’m sorry I let it track its shit through the house”
Dale: “I should have given you a real place to house a horse.”
Again, absolutely in conflict - but this time both actors are taking the blame instead of trying to win which is delightful to watch.
3. That accusation is an endowment.
Someone just call you a dickhead? How fun.. be a dick head. Don’t fight back… they just offered you the gift of being one. Own it. Have fun. An example from the indie team So Fresh last time I was coaching them.
Nikita: “You think you’re so smart”
Diego: “Thank you, I knew you were going to say that”
Nikita: “oh you did, did you? Gah you’re so annoying”
Diego: “Oh I know, I can appreciate where you’re coming from”
Diego took the gift of being “so smart” and played above the argument while continuing to let Nikita be mad at him. In fact, he fuelled her emotion instead of trying to change it.
As Dave Razowsky would say “The argumentative person has been cast. Role’s taken”
FYI: When we are still establishing a Base Reality… I think we should still aim to be on the same page, before discovering if/how we are incompatible with each other.