Harold is a form of improvised longform comedy. Developed by Del Close and brought to fruition through Close's collaboration with Charna Halpern, the Harold has become the signature form of Chicago's ImprovOlympic and is now performed by improvisational comedy troupes and teams across the world. Del Close (March 9, 1934–March 4, 1999), along with Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin, is considered one of the premier influences on modern improvisational theater. ... A Chicago-area theater owner best known for being a co-founder of ImprovOlympic. ... The ImprovOlympic (now known as IO or IO Chicago) is a theater in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois dedicated to improvisational comedy. ... Improvisational comedy (also called improv) is comedy that is performed with a little to no predetermination of subject matter and structure. ...

The San Francisco improv group The Committee performed the first Harold in Concord, Califorina in the mid 60's. They were invited to a high school and decided to do their improvisations on the War in Viet Nam. On the way home in a VW bus they were discussing the performance when one of them asked what they should call it. Someone called out "Harold." It was a joking reference to a line in a Beatles movie where a reporter asked George Harrison what he called his haircut. The Beatle answered "Arthur."^[1]

Close's book, Truth in Comedy, is the definitive text on the form. It describes a "training wheels Harold" as three acts (or "beats"), each with three scenes and a group segment. With each beat, the three scenes return. By the end of the piece, the three scenes have converged.

Bold text==Structure==

A typical Harold is 25 to 40 minutes. Given three unrelated scenes A, B, and C, the structure follows:

• Opening;
• Scenes A1, B1,& C1
• Group Game
• Scenes A2, B2, & C2
• Group Game
• Scenes A3, B3,& C3

Close called this a 3x3 structure, using it to give improvisers a sense of organization to help them through their first Harolds. He was clear that the format was there to use. Departures were not only allowed but were considered important steps in developing a group's ability to Harold. He expressed this in his book Truth in Comedy noting that "the first rule is: there are no rules." In performing Harolds, content and the need to develop an organic commentary on the suggestion trump predetermined structures.

Various Harold structures use different sets of guidelines such as the 3x3 format. Another guideline might be whether you stay as the first character you create or can play multiple characters. Or, that the ending is a group scene. Or, that everyone knows each other and scene partnerships may change from the first to second and second to third layers.

The loose structure allows for the creative bursts necessary for the Harold. Using an audience suggestion, actors explore their relationship to the topic as a starting point. Then scenes evolve as the exploration continues to an ending point.

Example: A Harold based on the suggestion "Do I look fat in these pants?" began with the five actors concerned about their weight. Unhappy with their own rear ends, they admired everyone elses. This generated all sorts relationship issues. Near the end, one of the characters (who was a doctor) began performing butt transplants. Everyone switched butts and was happy with their new one. Out of the Harold had evolved a social commentary on the issue raised by the suggestion.

Some notes: 1) The ending was not known at the beginning of the Harold. It evolved out of the exploration of the topic. 2)The Doctor character was in existence before the idea of butt transplants was raised. The actors made use of the reality created.

Opening

The basic form starts with an "opening." After getting the audience's suggestion, the ensemble explores it for a few minutes in either an unplanned or a pre-chosen structure. Textbook structures include:

• A cocktail party that ebbs and flows between conversations.
• Monologues that rotate among cast members.
• Invocation of the suggestion in the style of an occult ritual (It is, you are, thou art, I am).
• Organic involving morphing sound and movement exploration.
• Pattern game where word association is used to generate ideas, often referred to as a clover leaf because the pattern arcs out with associated words and returns to the suggestion, and is repeated two additional times.
• Source scene or scenes which are used to pull ideas and which might return in the 3rd Beat

Rarely is the opening just about the literal suggestion. The suggestion serves a starting point to discover greater underlying themes. Del Close stated that a suggestion should be elevated from the commonplace to the extraordinary.

First Beat (A1, B1, C1)

Following the opening are three completely unrelated two-person scenes. Each may use such information from the opening as:

• Details, such as location
• Themes and patterns, such as troubled family life
• Tangential information, such as a throwaway line

As the suggestion inspires the opening, the opening is a launching point for the first set of scenes.

Group Game

Following the third scene, multiple members of the cast return to stage, for a group game based off the opening. A group game is a palette cleanser and should not relate to the established sets of scenes.

In a scenic group game, the focus jumps between all the characters participating. A textbook structure is the Advertising Meeting, where the entire cast must come up with an ad campaign for a new product.

More abstract group games are called presentational, which focus less on individual characters and more on a concept, such as one improviser presents a slide show where each slide is recreated by improvisers. Types of Presentational group games are

• Flocking - all the improvisers mirror each others actions
• Simple game - rules are developed of a simple game during the game, like freeze tag.
• Slide Show - Described above
• Inanimate Objects - improvisers become inanimate objects and do a very short monologue describing their perspective then perform a scene based on the interpersonal relationships of the objects.

Second Beat (A2, B2, C2)

The second set of scenes heightens what was established in the first set. What it is heightening will differ from school to school. At the ImprovOlympic, the characters and relationships are heightened. A tool for this is a "Time Dash," where the scene picks up at a different point in time than last left. A scene between a newly married couple with problems can take the second beat to show them on their tenth wedding anniversary.

At the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, when game is heightened, the second beat may also use an analogous situation to the first scene. A scene about a bad cop could be heightened through a scene about a bad priest. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 2004. ...

After the second beat is another group game.

Third Beat (A3, B3, C3)

The final set of three scenes (the third beat) connects themes, characters, situations, and games from the whole piece. Often, scenes merge into each other, avoiding the need to return to all three. The third beat is usually the shortest.

Related Forms

Del Close allowed for and encouraged much variation within the structure of the Harold and saw it as a malleable and organic form with which to explore themes and ideas. The beats and games need not appear in the order or number described.

Most modern forms are derived from the Harold. These include:

• Armando - a host's monologues provide the inspiration for scenes. Name originates from Charna Halpern and is named after Armando Diaz.
• Deconstruction - one long opening group scene, which is used for idea generation.
• La Ronde - Multiple locations with improvisers staying in one character the whole performance.
• Monoscene - One scene location with improvisers playing different characters.
• Movie - an improvised movie that uses disjointed situations which converge by the end
• Sybil - one-person Harold.
• The Bat - a Harold performed in the dark, like a radio play.

A Chicago-area theater owner best known for being a co-founder of ImprovOlympic. ...

Origin

The odd "Harold" name came from a joke response to the question of what this format should be called, to which Close suggested "Harold". According to Close, the joke was a reference to the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, which had been released a few years previously. In this film, when a reporter asks George Harrison what he called his haircut, Harrison replies, "Arthur." Close later remarked that he wished he had chosen a better name. ^[2] A Hard Days Night (1964) is a British comedy film originally released by United Artists, written by Alun Owen and starring The Beatles during the height of Beatlemania. ...

References