What Are Warm-Ups For?

Want to start an argument about improv? Get a group of people talking about warm-ups. That’ll do it. I’ve seen people passionately defend doing a warm-up before the show saying that you simply cannot do a show properly without a warm-up. I’ve seen others argue that warm-ups are a complete waste of time.

I’m always of the very liberal view: “do what works for you”. If you have done improv for long enough you probably have a good idea of what makes you feel “ready” to perform both individually and as a team.

Why do we warm up? Generally it’s to get in the right mental and physical state to perform. It helps for us to be on the same page. Some people might have come from work, some might have had a very slow day and some might have had a stressful journey to the venue. We are all coming together from a variety of different days. I would argue we want to hold on to some of that. We don’t want assimilation. For me there’s a sweet spot where we are open to listen to each other and understand each other’s energy.

I’ve seen people told off during warm-ups because they aren’t doing it “right”. Sure, a lot of the games we play have rules, but given we are all coming from a different place when we arrive at a show, how about we let someone do it “wrong” so they can slowly move into the right head space. And how about the rest of us give space for that, or even “yes, and” it into something new!

I was talking about warm-ups last weekend with Marcel Blanch-de Wilt and Ele Stankiewicz who brought their wonderful show “The Newlyweds” to Nottingham (see them this Thursday at The Free Association in London if you’re nearby. Their show is excellent). The more I talked about warm-ups the more I felt they were something that we sometimes do “because that’s what you do before a show” and that felt like something I could clumsily try to unpack this week. So are warm-ups just a ritual? There’s nothing wrong with ritual. I think having a regular ritual before a show tells everyone’s brain something useful. It’s a signal that we are about to perform.

The question I’ve asked myself since my weekend conversation is “how much do we need to warm up?”. When I’m doing musical improv I like a short vocal warm-up to clear the cobwebs and make sure I know where my voice is at that day. In a show where there are more than two of us, I enjoy at least one physical warm-up and a check-in on physical boundaries that day. But in a duo (especially a non-musical one) a chance to chat and connect is enough for me.

As ever, this is all context-based, but do we “need” warm-ups? I don’t think so. Some of the best shows I’ve ever done didn’t have a warm-up before them. Some of the others did. There isn’t a correlation. I’ve seen great shows where I know the performers didn’t warm up. I’ve seen great shows where they did.

In classes, however, I think warm-ups can be super useful. A good warm-up can help introduce a concept and underline what you are teaching that day. Warm-ups can definitely drill skills and shortcut people into a concept. I find warm-ups super helpful in class both as a teacher and when I’ve been a participant in workshops and classes.

I know you can probably hear a fence creaking due to the weight of my backside on it, but my view on warm-ups just isn’t all that strong. Ultimately I don’t believe the warm-up makes a huge difference to the show, but it can be helpful to the performers. It can be helpful to a class and a workshop. It’s also sometimes a lovely shared language for improvisers who don’t know each other, but do know similar warm-ups.

For me, warm-ups are a moment of connection, and I find connection useful in improv. How that moment of connection happens can vary wildly, and maybe that’s a good thing.

The Robin Hood International Improv Festival is just six weeks away. Festival passes are selling faster this year than ever before (only a couple of “all shows” passes are left) so if you want to see a bunch of shows, now is definitely the time to get your eyes across the schedule and decide what you want to see. All the details are here. And now seems like a good time to shout out the show I’m doing with Katy Schutte and Sam Marshall during the festival. Brand New Musical is a Sondheim-inspired improvised musical. It’s on the Friday of the festival at 6pm.

Next week I’m recording a new series of Ranger Rae and the Wildlifers, which just got long-listed for Best Kids Podcast and Best Fiction Podcast at the British Podcast Awards. The podcast follows the adventures of a team of animals with heightened powers and their friendly ranger, Rae. If you have kids, or if you just like fun adventures with animals, you one of the previous series a listen here.

Have a great week,

Lloydie