Scene and Games

I had a thought that this scene in HBO's Chernobyl gets at something primal with improv. That, for how challenging it is, we're really just balancing two things as performers: Game and Scene. Something that's really clicked for me recently is Jim Wood—I'll attribute it to him at least—saying "the game is a parasite to the scene." And so while I use the phrase "resting the game," another way to look at it is "feeding the scene." The below can be better, and I'll probably revisit it, but it felt important to try to write it as a metaphor in a build-my-own-lightsaber kind of way.

But you don't need to be a nuclear scientist to understand what happened in an improv show. You only need to know this: There are essentially two things that happen inside an improv set. The game, which generates power, either is heightened or rested. That's it. All the improvisers do is maintain balance.
The unusual thing. When the unusual thing is identified, reactivity goes up. But if you don't balance your activity, it never stops rising.
So, scene work, building the who, what, and where, They reduce reactivity like brakes on a car.
But there's a third factor to consider: heightening. Heightening raises the stakes of a scene.
It means that the more heightening within the scene, the higher the reactivity, which means more heat, which means more heightening, which means – it would appear we have a vicious cycle on our hands. And we – we would were it not for this – Resting the game.
The more the game of the scene is played, the less reactive it gets. So game increases reactivity; scene work reduces it; heightening increases it; resting the game reduces it. This is the invisible dance that powers entire shows without scripting or planning. And it is beautiful.