Harold (improvisation)
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Harold is an improvisational long-form. Developed by Del Close and brought to fruition through Close's collaboration with Charna Halpern, Harold has become the signature form of Chicago's ImprovOlympic and is now performed by improvisational comedy troupes and teams across the world.
Close's book, Truth in Comedy, is the definitive text on the form. It describes a "training wheels Harold" as three acts (or "beats"), each with three scenes and a group segment. With each beat, the three scenes return. By the end of the piece, the three scenes have converged.
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[edit] Structure
A typical Harold is 30 to 40 minutes. Given three unrelated scenes A, B, and C, the structure follows:
Opening
1A
1B
1C
Group Slot
2A
2B
2C
Group Slot
3A
3B
3C
[edit] Opening
The basic form starts with an "opening." After getting the audience's suggestion, the ensemble explores it for a few minutes in either an unplanned or a pre-chosen structure. Textbook structures include:
- A cocktail party that ebbs and flows between conversations.
- Monologues that rotate among cast members.
- Invoking the suggestion in the style of an occult ritual
Rarely is the opening about the suggestion. It serves a starting point to discover three patterns or themes which connect by the end of the opening, just as scenes connect by the end.
[edit] The first beat
Following the opening are three completely unrelated two-person scenes. Each may use such information from the opening as:
- Details, such as location
- Themes and patterns, such as troubled family life
- Tangential information, such as a throwaway line
As the suggestion inspires the opening, the opening is a launching point for the first set of scenes.
[edit] The group slot
Following the third scene, the entire cast returns to stage, for either a group game or a group scene that returns to the initial suggestion.
In a group scene, the focus rapidly jumps between characters. A textbook structure is the Advertising Meeting, where the entire cast must come up with an ad campaign for a new product.
More abstract group scenes are group games. There is less focus on individual characters and more on a concept, such as a series of "10-Second Lessons".
[edit] The second beat
The second set of scenes heightens what was established in the first set. What it is heightening will differ from school to school. At the ImprovOlympic, the characters and relationships are heightened. A tool for this is a "Time Dash," where the scene picks up at a different point in time than last left. A scene between a newly married couple with problems can take the second beat to show them on their tenth wedding anniversary.
At the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, when game is heightened, the second beat may use an analogous situation to the first scene. A scene about a bad cop could be heightened through a scene about a bad priest.
After the second beat is another group game/scene that returns to the suggestion.
[edit] The third beat
The final set of three scenes (the third beat) connects themes, characters, situations, and games from the whole piece. Often scenes merge into each other, avoiding the need to return to all three. The third beat is usually the shortest.
[edit] Offspring
Del Close allowed for and encouraged much variation within the structure of the Harold and saw it as a malleable and organic form with which to explore themes and ideas. The beats and games need not appear in the order or number described.
Most modern forms are derived from the harold. These include:
- The Sybil: one-person Harold
- The Movie: an improvised movie that uses disjointed situations which converge by the end
- The Bat: a Harold performed in the dark, like a radio play
- Armando: a host's monologues provide the inspiration for scenes
[edit] Name
The odd name came from a joke response to the question of what this format should be called, to which W.A. Mathieu suggested "Harold". According to Close, the joke was a reference to the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, which had been released a few years previously. In this film, when a reporter asks George Harrison what he called his haircut, Harrison replies, "Arthur." [1]
