Speak In One Voice

Synonyms

Mr. Know It All. Expert Scene.

Introduction

Five players linked together arm in arm forming a semi-circle.

Description

Speak In One Voice is both an exercise and handle. Here we discuss the performance version of this structure.

The goal of Speak In One Voice is to have all the players say the same thing at the same time. While this sounds impossible it is a great opportunity to improve both listening and sharing aspects of the player’s skill set. Speak In One Voice is not a follow the leader exercise. The most important goal for the leader to encourage is that the players to follow the collective noise and not one player.

For example, the players will all start with different phonemes (basically a noise). One player will be going “ssssss” another player will be going “mmmm” another “fffffff.” They will collectively agree on one sound, for example “ssssss.” They group will then slide into a word that starts with “ssssss.” This should not be seamless. The sound should waver around options from “sssllll” to “ssssst” to “sssmmm.” It will sound odd for sure. As the group of players move through this process they will find a word that they can “speak in one voice.” So “ssslll” may become “slip”, or “ssst” will become “stop.”

The audience will appreciate the scene more if players are not leading. They can tell. Speak In One Voice can also be a scene overlay where two or more players could join into the scene as one player speaking in one voice.

The players should be encouraged to avoid words like “we and our” becoming one character makes the Speak In One Voice stronger.

Gimmicks

• Prompt for telephone numbers or chemical formulas.

Variations

• Date In One Voice – Two groups of players on a date. Creating sentences back an forth.
• Expert Scene – Host interviews a Speak In One Voice Expert on some topic chosen by the audience.
• Audience Name Start – Take the first letter of an audience member’s name as the phoneme to start.

Credits

None.