I'll Have a Coke
I'll Have a Coke is a scene exercise in which one performer makes a simple, mundane request -- ordering a soft drink, asking for the time, requesting a pen -- and the scene partner responds by investing the exchange with emotional weight, relational history, or narrative significance. The exercise demonstrates that any ordinary transaction can become the foundation for compelling scene-work when the performers bring genuine investment to it. The mundane request is the entry point; the performers discover what it actually means.
Structure
Setup
Two performers. One performer makes the opening request: something simple, specific, and ordinary. The second performer receives it.
The Response
The second performer responds -- but their response carries weight. The tone, the pause, the specificity of their delivery signals that this ordinary exchange is happening between two specific people in a specific context. The response makes the request mean something.
The Scene
The scene develops from the investment the second performer introduced. The first performer discovers the context and responds. A relationship, a history, or a situation emerges from what began as a drink order.
Debrief
After the scene, the facilitator may name what the second performer did: where they invested, what they established, and how the mundane exchange was transformed. Multiple pairs can demonstrate different ways to invest the same request.
Conclusion
The exercise ends after several pairs have demonstrated, or when the group has sufficient examples to understand the principle: the scene's meaning comes from the performers' investment, not from the premise's inherent interest.
How to Teach It
Objectives
I'll Have a Coke demonstrates that any ordinary exchange can become compelling scene-work when performers bring genuine emotional and relational specificity to it. It combats the common tendency to wait for an interesting premise rather than making the present moment interesting.
How to Explain It
"You're going to make the most boring request possible. Your partner is going to turn it into a scene. The request is not the scene -- how you receive it is the scene. What does it mean for your character to get or not get that Coke from that specific person right now?"
Scaffolding
Begin with paired demonstrations before asking the full group to practice. The contrast between a flat, uninvested response and a genuinely invested one makes the principle clearer than explanation.
Common Pitfalls
Performers sometimes invest in a surprising or unusual interpretation rather than a genuinely felt one -- making the scene clever rather than real. The coaching note is that the investment should feel true rather than inventive: the scene partner's response should suggest a real relationship, not a twist on the premise.
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Related Exercises
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.
It’s Tuesday
This exercise, attributed to Keith Johnstone, trains the skill of overaccepting: treating any mundane statement as if it carries enormous emotional significance. A simple declaration about the day of the week becomes the catalyst for an entire scene when performers invest it with meaning through their reactions. The exercise demonstrates that the emotional weight of any line depends entirely on how the performers receive it and that ordinary language can generate extraordinary scenes when played with full commitment.
Give and Take
Give and Take is a foundational scene technique and exercise in which performers practice transferring and sharing focus within a scene. Only one action, conversation, or event holds the audience's attention at a time, and performers must silently negotiate who has focus and who yields it. The exercise trains the essential ensemble skill of knowing when to step forward and when to step back, making it one of the most important exercises for developing group awareness. Give and Take is used in both theatrical improv and applied improvisation settings, where it teaches collaborative turn-taking and active listening.
I Know
I Know is a scene-building exercise in which performers respond to every offer with the two-word affirmation that names the game, followed by an addition that expands the shared reality. The response functions as an amplified form of yes-and: it validates the partner's offer, implies pre-existing shared knowledge, and propels the scene forward through rapid mutual agreement. The exercise prevents denial and forces each player to build on their partner's contributions without hesitation, creating scenes that accumulate detail and emotional weight at speed.
Object Endowment
Object Endowment is a scene exercise in which one performer enters a scene and, through their behavior and reactions, reveals the nature and significance of an object that the audience has suggested but the performer's scene partner does not know. The partner must discover what the object is through the first performer's physical and emotional treatment of it, not through direct naming or description.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). I'll Have a Coke. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ill-have-a-coke
The Improv Archive. "I'll Have a Coke." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ill-have-a-coke.
The Improv Archive. "I'll Have a Coke." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ill-have-a-coke. Accessed September 29, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.