An offer is an action or statement made by a player that is directed toward a partner and prompts a gestural, pantomimic or verbal response.
Possible content of an offer
An offer contains statements of fact, and in improv theatre these are always immediately and unquestionably true.
A true statement of fact (this offer) may contain a statement about
- the characters (name, age, character, state of mind, etc.),
- the relationship between the people on stage (basic, e.g. that they are siblings, or in terms of the current emotional relationship, e.g. that they are angry with each other),
- the place where the scene takes place,
- the time (era, but also clock time or time of day),
- the genre,
- the routines,
- a problem, a question, a goal, a "promise".
A statement can also be nonverbal, for example when I set up a room.
Dramaturgy
Dramaturgically, the offer has different functions over the course of a scene or a longform:
- At the beginning of the story, the accepted offers serve to establish the basic information, the base information, see CBZO/ROTZ/CROW.
- After the basic information and routines are established, the further offers aim to set an action in motion, to drive it forward, and/or to establish a conflict, a problem, a promise.
- The following offers serve to intensify the conflict or the problem, to make it bigger, to build up (further) obstacles.
- Finally there are offers of resolution and an offer that leads to the end of the story.
Relationship statement
It helps when the offer (also) contains a relationship statement.
Example:
Wife to her husband:
:"Darling, you've forgotten the umbrella again!"
or positively:
:"Darling! Great that you finally remembered the umbrella today!"
is better than if she says to him:
:"What awful weather again!"
Correct reaction
If the partner reacts "correctly" to an offer, this moves the scene forward. Reacting correctly means that he accepts this offer, for example does not, as a common mistake, block it.
Clear or open offer
An offer can point in a clear direction in which the scene could develop. But it can also be "open", leaving several possibilities for scenic development. As a rule, a "clear" offer is preferable, because a strong assertion moves the scene forward quickly and purposefully.
Example - beginning of a scene:
:"Mr. Schmidt, the forensic investigation has shown that you fired this weapon!"
or
:"The result of the forensic investigation has arrived." (open offer)
or
:"The investigation results are in." (very open offer)
or
:(player, referring to something he holds in his hand:) "They've arrived."
Superfluous offers
It is also important not to overwhelm your partners with too many offers. In an established story you should not suddenly make a fundamentally new offer that has nothing to do with the story or does not move it forward. In all of these cases there is the danger that the action is no longer stringent and that the promise of the story is lost from view.
An important basic rule: Take what is there.
Example:
:A marital conflict has been established. The wife (main character) accuses the husband of infidelity; the wife's best friend wants to mediate. Here it would be superfluous if, in a separate scene, the best friend were suddenly told by her doctor that she has cancer. The player who has the idea of doctor plus cancer diagnosis should therefore give up this offer. It would be conceivable, however, that the wife learns from her doctor that she is pregnant (by her husband). That would intensify the existing conflict. If the story has already focused strongly on the couple, it might be too much if it turned out that the wife is pregnant by a third party.
See also: Assertion