From "The Improvisor's Way":

Meta means being self-referential, like calling out that you’re in an improv show.

“Well, this scene is weird.”

I’d much rather believe what’s going on and enjoy what’s happening with the characters. Meta choices can come out of fear and a desperate need for a laugh and are often characterised by improvisers pointing out ‘errors’ themselves or their fellow performers have committed.

“I thought your name was Jane before?”

It will likely get a laugh, but the actors will have to work harder to make anyone in the audience care about any of the characters now that the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief has been shattered.

I am bored by how many times I’ve seen someone correct themselves or someone else on their accent: “So where are you from exactly?”, “What is that accent?” When inconsistencies happen, they are the ultimate gift for your show. If a character has been given two names, justify the reason for that. Are they undercover? Are they in a witness-protection programme? Do they like being called by their middle name? If an accent is strange and unbelievable, make up a place that it comes from or agree with any country that was already stated. Making your scene partner look good means using these moments for good and not evil. Your choice might be getting a quick laugh for yourself or saving someone else’s error to keep the scene intact. There are different choices here depending on the show you want to make, but I know that I’d rather someone make use of an error to add to the reality rather than shatter it. There was a moment in a Dasariski show where a couple of the cast were making the sound of a helicopter by slapping their chests. They paused at one point because it was exhausting. The characters in the helicopter panicked beautifully and realistically crash-landed. The bail-out version would have been a “I guess the blades have stopped working” wink to the audience and we wouldn’t have cared about those characters.

Related Exercise

ORDINARY/EXTRAORDINARY.

Play a scene as mermaids/ghosts/werewolves, etc., but keep all the dialogue real-world. How would mermaids chat if they were just having a normal day?