Id
Id is a scene game in which a performer's unfiltered subconscious desires are voiced by a second player, creating a running commentary of primal wants beneath the surface dialogue. The tension between polite conversation and raw impulse generates comedy and dramatic irony. The game highlights the gap between social behavior and inner life.
Structure
Setup
- One performer plays the main character in a scene.
- A second performer stands just behind or beside them and voices that character's unfiltered inner desires, impulses, and wants : the id.
- A third performer (optional) plays the scene partner.
The Two Voices
- The character speaks and behaves with social appropriateness: polite, measured, restrained.
- The id speaks everything the character suppresses: raw want, petty impulse, embarrassing honesty, primal drive.
- The id may speak quietly or loudly; the main character cannot hear it. The audience can.
How the Scene Works
- The scene proceeds as normal dialogue between the character and their scene partner.
- The id interjects in the gaps between the character's lines, in the pauses, and in the moments of transition, naming what the character is actually feeling beneath the social surface.
- The tension between what is said and what is felt generates the comedy and the drama of the game.
- The scene partner reacts only to what the character says and does, not to the id.
Pacing
- The id should speak only when there is something underneath to voice. An id that fills every silence becomes noise.
- The most effective id moments arrive at the points of maximum social restraint: the polite professional conversation, the first date, the family dinner.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"You are playing the inside of this person's head. Everything they're too polite, too professional, or too scared to say out loud : that's you. You are what they want. You are what they actually think. They can't hear you. We can."
Common Notes
- The id's observations should feel true to the character, not like random statements. The id is the character's actual inner life, not a heckler from outside.
- The id player should find the gap between social appropriateness and genuine desire specific to this character in this scene, not apply generic impulses.
- The scene performer must resist reacting to the id. If they respond to what the id says, the game's premise collapses.
Common Pitfalls
- The id speaks too frequently and the scene performer cannot get through a line. The id should punctuate, not interrupt continuously.
- The id says things that have no connection to what the character is actually doing. The id's observations must be rooted in what the scene is generating.
- The scene has no social stakes. The game needs a situation where social restraint is actually required. An id with nothing to restrain has nothing to play.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"We're going to see inside someone's head tonight. [Name] is going to play a character having a perfectly normal conversation : but [partner name] is going to voice exactly what they're really thinking and wanting the whole time. The character can't hear it. We can. Give us a situation."
Cast Size
- Ideal: Three performers: main character, id, and scene partner.
- The game can work with two performers if the same player serves as both scene partner and id, but this requires more technical skill.
Staging
- The id player stands slightly behind or beside the main character, within easy speaking distance but visually separated enough for the audience to track who is speaking.
- The id should not move around the stage; they are anchored to the character.
Wrap Logic
- The scene ends when the main character says or does the thing the id has been voicing all along, or when a clear button lands.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Pirate Robot Ninja
An Improv Fable
Billy Merritt; Will Hines
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
Matt Besser; Ian Roberts; Matt Walsh
Whose Improv Is It Anyway?
Beyond Second City
Amy E. Seham
Improv Show
Virginia Loh-Hagan
Related Games
Little Voice
Little Voice is a scene game in which one performer provides a running internal monologue for another performer's character, speaking the private thoughts aloud while the character plays the scene with a different outward presentation. The technique adds psychological depth by externalizing what the character would never say. The gap between the inner voice and the outer behavior creates comedy, dramatic irony, and character complexity. The game trains performers to play with subtext and demonstrates how much scene work depends on the difference between what characters think and what they reveal.
Alter Ego
Alter Ego is a short-form scene game in which each main character has a second performer standing directly behind them who voices the character's inner thoughts. Two players perform a scene with dialogue and action while their respective alter egos narrate the unspoken subtext: desires, fears, judgments, and contradictions that the characters would never say aloud. The contrast between what a character says publicly and what they actually think generates natural comedy and dramatic irony. The game highlights the role of subtext in scene work and rewards performers who create clear, exploitable gaps between surface behavior and true feelings. Alter Ego appears across multiple improv traditions and is documented in Andy Goldberg's Improv Comedy among other sources.
Switch Gibberish
Switch Gibberish is a scene game in which performers alternate between speaking coherent dialogue and gibberish on command. Scene partners must maintain the scene's emotional arc and narrative logic regardless of which mode they are in. The game demonstrates how much communication happens through tone and physicality independent of words.
Arpeggio
Arpeggio is a scene game in which multiple performers play aspects of a single character's personality, speaking in rapid succession like notes in a musical chord. The fragmented delivery reveals a character's internal contradictions and complexity. The game produces rich, layered characterization that a single performer could not achieve alone.
The Gerbil
The Gerbil is a scene game in which one performer plays a character whose behavior is secretly being controlled or influenced by another performer through hidden signals. The controlled player must justify their involuntary actions within the scene's logic. The game creates comedy through the visible struggle between intention and compulsion.
Asides
Asides is a scene technique game in which performers periodically break from the action to address the audience directly with their character's private thoughts. Borrowed from theatrical convention dating back to Shakespeare and the Restoration comedy tradition, the aside allows a character to reveal inner monologue, secret motives, or contradictory feelings while other characters on stage cannot hear what is said. In improv, the technique layers subtext over surface dialogue, creating dramatic irony and comedy through the gap between what characters say to each other and what they confide to the audience. The game trains performers to maintain dual awareness of both the scene and the audience, and to develop rich inner lives for their characters that extend beyond spoken dialogue.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Id. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/id
The Improv Archive. "Id." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/id.
The Improv Archive. "Id." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/id. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.