Rules as temprary walls

Some time ago, I attended a workshop led by i Bugiardini's Francesco Lancia. During said workshop, Lancia shared a metaphor so good, I have made it one of the cornerstones of my improv practice. With a couple of tweaks.

(I do not know where this metaphor originates - I should have asked Francesco before writing this post. If you know who said this, send me a message.)

Anyways, imagine improvisation as a infinite land, very similar to the Construct in Matrix.

Improv exists everywhere in this infinite land. In an improv class, the teacher builds a bunch of walls in this infinity, to enable the players to explore the land and not get lost.

For example, the teacher can build a wall dividing the infinite land of Improv in the "Don't Ask Questions" Nation on one side, and the "Questions Welcome" State on the other. The teacher can then invite the players to improvise scenes in the Nation of "Don't Ask Questions".

Game I like to play: "Great! Rephrase." (As far as I know, I have invented this game. But I know very little, so I might be wrong. Send me a message if I am wrong). Two players, A & B play a scene. If A's character asks a question (any question), B will turn to A, smile and say "Great! Rephrase"; A will rephrase the question and turn it into a statement. And viceversa. This game's objective is to support any hidden or shy offer contained in the question, and to make it stronger and more confident.

In the same way, we can make a game out of playing in the region of "Questions Only". In fact, there is a game based on that very premise. Questions are neither absolutely good nor bad in improv. A teacher might notice a habit of asking a lot of questions or none - a pattern in the players M.O. on stage. Exercises like these allow the players to explore areas of the Infinite Land of Improv they rarely step in.

However, no matter how we split it, improv exists on both sides of any wall one might build.