Freeze Tag

Everyone is involved, each scene is usually a two person scene.

Two players start and play a short scene. When a beat is reached, one of the non-participating players claps his/her hands and/or calls "Freeze!" The performers immediately stop and freeze in the pose they just have. The player who has clapped taps one of the two players and takes exactly his/her position. Then a completely new scene starts. The two players take their attitudes as a basis for their actions in the new scene. Usually the game idea for the new scene comes from the new player.

The excitement of the game is to copy the exact posture down to the last detail and justify it in a new context. A close observation of the scene and postures before the takeover is very important. So that this is possible, the scenes are to be played with a lot of physicality and posture changes. You should end the scene when a beat has just been reached, e. g. after a gag. If the players have also taken an exciting posture during this time, it's even better...

How to Start

You can start the game in different ways:

• You let one or two players "obstruct"by someone from the audience.
• The players move around the stage with their whole bodies confused and freeze after a clap from the audience.

Variations

• Blind Freeze: Players line up in a row, the first one with their backs to the scene. The second (or last) in the row sets the freeze, the first one turns around and takes over.
• Audience Freeze: Spectators are allowed to clap their hands and freeze.
• Before each new scene, a suggestion is quickly (!) requested from the audience.
• For all scenes a default suggestion or a certain theme has to be observed.
• Scene Marathon/Retro/Director's Cut/Reprise: In the context of an encore, elements (persons, situations) from games of the past performance are integrated into the freeze tag scenes (see Scene Marathon)
• In each short scene, sentences are read out from notes filled in by the spectators (see the game Whose line). It's also conceivable that there is a piece of paper left over at the end of the show that can be used as a remainder (see scene marathon).
• As a preliminary exercise we could recommend Statue - Scene beginning.

See also: Scene marathon; Freezing; Miniscene chain; Places-switch