Boring Scenes Circle
Boring Scenes Circle is a training exercise in which players deliberately perform the most mundane, uneventful scenes they can. By stripping away the instinct to be clever or dramatic, the exercise reveals that strong characters, honest relationships, and genuine listening create compelling stage work regardless of plot. It builds trust in simplicity.
Structure
Setup
Players stand in a loose circle or sit facing a small performance area. Two players step out and the facilitator gives them a simple premise: two people waiting for a bus, coworkers making coffee, someone returning a library book.
The Assignment
Players are instructed to make the scene as completely boring as possible. Nothing interesting is allowed to happen. No drama, no subtext, no cleverness, no jokes. The scene should be exactly what it is on the surface: two people, a mundane situation, ordinary conversation.
Play
The scene runs for 60-90 seconds. Observers watch. Then players rotate and a new pair tries.
The Discovery
After two or three rounds, the facilitator facilitates a discussion: "Did you believe the relationship? Did the characters feel real? Were you watching?" The answer is usually yes. Boring scenes performed with genuine presence and attention are often more engaging than scenes where performers are "trying to be funny."
Variation: Endowment Layer
After the exercise, run the same scene again but tell one player (privately) that they have a secret emotional context: they just received devastating news, or they are deeply in love with the other person. The scene stays "boring" on the surface but the subtext changes everything.
Advanced Variation: Director's Cut
A third player acts as director and can call "cut" to redirect if the scene becomes intentionally dramatic.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Your scene is boring. Completely boring. Nothing interesting happens. Two people, a mundane situation. Commit to how ordinary it is. Don't try to make it funny."
Why It Matters
Boring Scenes Circle directly addresses one of the most damaging habits in developing improvisers: the compulsion to be interesting. When performers think their job is to be interesting, they manufacture drama, rush to jokes, or force plot - all of which undercut genuine scene work. By making "boring" the assignment, the exercise removes the pressure to perform and creates a context where genuine presence, honest relationship, and real listening are the only tools available. The discovery that a "boring" scene can be compelling reframes what good improv actually requires.
Common Coaching Notes
- Watch for meta-boring. Some performers make the scene "boring" by being listless, flat, or unengaged. That's not the exercise. The scene should be genuinely played - with real attention, real character, real relationship - it just shouldn't be dramatic or funny.
- Name the discovery explicitly. When a boring scene is clearly working, pause and ask the observers: "Are you watching? Why?" The answer is almost always: "Because the characters feel real."
- Connect to Keith Johnstone's ideas on status and presence. The exercise reveals that what makes a scene compelling is not drama but genuine human behavior. This is a direct application of Johnstone's argument that "interesting" is found, not manufactured.
- Use before scenes tend to run hot. Groups that are chasing jokes can be reset with this exercise.
Debrief Questions
- What made a boring scene watchable?
- When did you feel the urge to make something happen - and what did you do with it?
- What does this tell us about what we're actually selling as performers?
Worth Reading
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Related Exercises
Lcd
LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) is a scene exercise in which performers practice finding the simplest, most universal emotional truth in a scene rather than reaching for clever or complicated choices. The exercise trains the instinct to ground scenes in recognizable human experience. It rewards simplicity over sophistication.
As You Will
As You Will is a character immersion exercise in which actors spend an extended period inhabiting their characters in an unstructured social environment. As documented by Gavin Levy in 112 Acting Games, players arrive already in character and interact freely with each other for twenty to sixty minutes without any scripted dialogue, predetermined blocking, or audience. The exercise strips away the technical demands of performance (projection, line learning, blocking) and replaces them with pure character exploration and responsive interaction. By removing the pressure of performance, As You Will allows actors to discover new dimensions of their characters through spontaneous encounter. The exercise is primarily used in conjunction with a scripted production, where it serves as a rehearsal tool for deepening character work and ensemble connection.
Play With
Play With is a scene exercise in which performers are directed to explore and heighten whatever elements have already emerged in a scene rather than driving toward a predetermined outcome. The coaching directive -- "play with it" -- asks players to treat each established detail, character behavior, or game pattern as material to revisit, expand, and discover rather than move past. The exercise trains the improv muscle of finding satisfaction in the present moment of a scene.
Scenes That Bring You Joy
Scenes That Bring You Joy is a scene exercise in which performers are invited to play only scenes that genuinely delight them, prioritizing personal enjoyment over audience-pleasing instincts. The exercise reconnects players with the pleasure of performing and often produces unexpectedly authentic, engaging work. It counters the tendency to default to conflict-driven or joke-heavy scenes.
Flatmates Just Do Nothing
Flatmates Just Do Nothing is a scene exercise in which performers play roommates engaged in completely mundane, low-stakes activity -- watching television, eating cereal, folding laundry -- with no dramatic agenda imposed from outside. The exercise trains the ability to be fully present in an ordinary moment, to find authentic relationship texture in ordinary behavior, and to trust that genuine connection and specificity are sufficient engines for scene without the need for conflict or event.
Blind Line Offers
Blind Line Offers is a scene exercise in which performers receive random written lines from slips of paper and must incorporate each one seamlessly into the scene as it unfolds. The unexpected text forces players to justify and connect disparate material in real time. The exercise trains adaptability and the skill of making any offer work.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Boring Scenes Circle. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/boring-scenes-circle
The Improv Archive. "Boring Scenes Circle." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/boring-scenes-circle.
The Improv Archive. "Boring Scenes Circle." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/boring-scenes-circle. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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