Rewind
Rewind is a short-form game in which a host calls out during a scene, causing performers to physically and verbally reverse their actions back to an earlier moment, then replay forward with different choices. The game rewards strong physical memory, comedic timing at the point of replay, and the ability to generate distinct alternatives quickly when the scene resumes.
Structure
Setup
Rich Goteri in Something from Nothing documents Rewind as a three-performer game with one host. Two actors begin a scene based on an audience suggestion; a third performer waits to make an entrance. The host observes the scene from outside the playing space.
Gameplay
The scene proceeds as a normal improvised scene. At any moment, the host may call "Rewind." Performers must immediately begin reversing their actions: dialogue is spoken backward (or approximately so), physical movements are reversed, and the scene rewinds to a prior moment. The host calls "Play" (or the equivalent) to resume forward action, and performers replay the scene forward from the rewind point with new choices.
The comedy of the game lies primarily in the rewind itself (physical reverse is inherently comic) and in the contrast between the original choice and the replayed choice. A good rewind reveals a better, worse, or simply different version of what could have happened at a pivotal scene moment.
A related variant documented by Norm Newton in Improvisation (2nd edition) extends the remote control metaphor: performers are controlled by an imaginary VCR remote with full capabilities including pause, fast-forward, slow motion, and mute, in addition to rewind. The host uses each function to create different comic effects from the performers' behavior.
Debrief
After the game, players discuss which rewind moments generated the strongest comedy and what made the difference between the original choice and the replayed choice. The debrief develops players' understanding of pivotal scene moments: the moments where the scene could have gone in a fundamentally different direction.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"You are going to play a scene. When I call rewind, you go back to the last moment before the scene changed, and you replay it differently. You remember what happened, but this time you make a different choice. The scene continues from the new branch."
Objectives
Rewind develops physical memory: the capacity to reproduce a sequence of physical actions precisely enough to reverse them. This is a demanding technical skill that most performers do not develop explicitly, but which is foundational to any performance involving physical precision.
The game also develops the awareness of choice points: the moments in a scene where a different decision would produce a fundamentally different scene. Performers who develop this awareness in the game tend to make bolder, more committed choices in regular scene work.
Scaffolding
Begin with a slow version: the host calls rewind only once per scene, and both performers are given a moment to prepare before reversing. This builds facility with the reversal before the game's pacing demands are introduced.
For groups that struggle with physical reversal, practice physical rewind separately: a single action (opening a door, sitting down, picking up an object) is performed and then reversed, first slowly, then at speed. Physical reversal is a specific skill that benefits from isolated practice.
Common Coaching Notes
- "Rewind means reverse. Go back, don't just stop."
- "When you replay, make a different choice. Not the same line delivered differently."
- "The rewind shows us the alternative. Make it worth watching."
- "Commit to the reversal. Half-hearted reversal breaks the game."
How to Perform It
The game's primary comic resource is the physical rewind. Performers who reverse their actions with commitment and precision (reversing movement sequences, delivering dialog backward or in approximate reverse phonetics) generate more audience response than those who approximate the reversal loosely. Physical commitment to the reversal also makes the transition from rewind to forward play cleaner and more legible.
The rewind point is the host's most important decision. A good rewind point is at a moment of high stakes in the scene: a decision, a revelation, a first contact between characters. Rewinding at a dramatically neutral moment (mid-conversation, between beats) produces less contrast than rewinding at a pivotal moment.
The replay must be genuinely different from the original, not merely rephrased. If the replay makes the same dramatic choice as the original (even with different words), the game loses its purpose. The host should rewind again if the performers fail to genuinely diverge from the original choice.
History
Rich Goteri documents Rewind as a structured short-form game in Something from Nothing, presenting it as a three-player, one-host format built on audience suggestion. Goteri's version specifies the role division (two active scene performers, one waiting to enter, one host) and frames the game around the rewind-and-replay mechanic.
The game belongs to the playback control family of short-form games, which use the metaphor of video or media playback controls to generate comic effects from performers' physical behavior. Norm Newton in Improvisation (both editions) documents a related VCR remote control game that expands the mechanic to include pause, fast-forward, slow motion, and mute. James Mark in Creating Improvised Theatre documents a chapter-and-rewind variant in which a host uses a ziiiip noise to rewind an actor's speech to an earlier point.
The playback control format appears across multiple short-form programs and reflects conventions established through Theatresports competitions and short-form television programs.
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Related Games
Rewind/fast-Forward
Rewind/Fast-Forward is a short-form game in which a host controls the speed and direction of a scene using imaginary playback buttons. "Fast-forward" accelerates the action into the future, "rewind" reverses it, and "play" resumes normal speed. The game demands strong physical commitment and the ability to maintain scene logic across temporal jumps.
Scene Replay
Scene Replay is a short-form game in which a scene is performed once, then replayed with a significant modification such as a new genre, emotional shift, or physical constraint. The replay preserves the original scene's structure and relationship while the imposed change reveals how a single variable transforms meaning, comedy, and dynamics.
The Re-Run
The Re-Run is a short-form game in which a completed scene is replayed multiple times in rapid succession, each repetition filtered through a different genre, style, or emotional register specified by the audience. The game demonstrates that the same story contains endless possible theatrical interpretations.
Backwards Scene
Backwards Scene is a short-form game in which performers play a scene from its final moment to its first. Each exchange must logically precede what the audience has already seen, creating a reverse-engineered narrative that rewards careful physical and verbal continuity.
Countdown
Countdown is a short-form game and exercise in which performers replay a scene in progressively shorter time limits, compressing the action from several minutes down to seconds. Each repetition demands sharper editing, bolder physical choices, and more efficient storytelling as the available time shrinks. The game reveals the essential beats of a scene by forcing performers to strip away everything nonessential, leaving only the core moments that drive the narrative. Countdown demonstrates that the emotional truth of a scene can survive extreme compression, and that clarity improves when performers are forced to prioritize.
Space Jump
Space Jump is a short-form game in which one performer begins a scene alone. At the call of "space jump," a new performer enters and initiates a completely different scene. When "space jump" is called again, a third performer enters with yet another scene. Eventually the scenes are unwound in reverse order, returning to each previous scene where it left off.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Rewind. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/rewind
The Improv Archive. "Rewind." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/rewind.
The Improv Archive. "Rewind." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/rewind. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.