Sometimes a scene’s why, what and how have been answered, but the scene drags on, because the performers don’t know how to end it, and the host is waiting for something more to happen. Let’s explore some methods to end a scene.
Pause, absorb and finish
Instead of chasing all the unnecessary gifts happening after the scene’s peak, pause and let yourself absorb the scene’s story. What happened? What was its why? What do you now know about the characters? How did your character feel about the others?
As you let yourself absorb the scene and understand it, try to move around the stage. Remember, pausing doesn’t mean freezing. It means letting your character and the audience read the scene, and also preparing its finish by building up tension. Then, it will be clear to you how to finish, by either saying one last line, or with a last powerful look.
Circle back
To circle back is like planting a seed early and watering it later. It rewards the audience for its attention and feels like a shared secret between performers and audience. Circling back is to bring back something that happened early in the scene. For example, you remember one character saying that he had woken up late that day. Then the scene randomly develops into you two in a supermarket fighting for a pastry. To finish it, you can play with that previous bit by saying “so this is why you don’t sleep well”.
It’s important not to overdo it. If you keep circling back to all the details, it deflates their tension and voids the possibility of finishing in a clear way.
Exit the stage
The clearest signal to end a scene is to leave it. Although it looks simple, there are some ways it can go badly. If your scene partner leaves the scene, you may feel like you were just left on stage alone still not knowing how to finish the scene, and you begin a rambling monologue. Avoid the temptation to rescue a scene on your own. Embrace its arc, and let it finish. If your partner leaves the scene abruptly, you can add one last line, eg ‘that was no way to break up with me’, and then resume your character’s standby actions, eg reading a book, washing the dishes.
Another way this method can go badly is when someone leaves without any explanation. This leaves an unknown that’s too big for the audience to fill in, and it can break the whole story up until that point.
A good way to do it is to explain why you’re leaving, eg your character says what she will fix the toilet that the other broke. As you leave, add some closure to the scene so your partner is cued in to its ending, eg ‘that toilet was the only thing holding up our relationship and now it’s over! I never want to see you again’.
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