Technique for: Be Brave
Initiation is the craft of starting a scene — making one specific choice that implies the world, the relationship, and the stakes without trying to establish all three explicitly. Walk in holding a baby and say "She has your eyes" — you didn't check three boxes, you made one move. The rest emerges.
Enter already doing. Don't walk on stage neutral and negotiate. Walk on already in motion — an activity, a physical state, an emotion. Mick Napier's "enter with a deal": you arrive with something happening, and your partner can respond to what they see rather than both of you staring at each other waiting.
Assert something, don't defer. "You're my brother and you stole from Mom" is an initiation. "So... who are you to me?" defers the creative burden. Whether statement or question, the test is: does your line assert a reality or does it ask your partner to create one for you? A loaded question that defines reality ("Why did you come back after all these years?") is a strong initiation. A vague question that hedges ("Do you want to, like, do something?") is hesitation in costume.
Tell your partner who they are. Will Hines's "initiation etiquette": the initiator defines the relationship. "You've been my best friend for twenty years" gives your partner a history, a stance, an emotional position. They don't have to build from zero — you've handed them a foundation.
Be specific. "We're in a hospital" is adequate. "It's 3 AM in the ICU and the family is asking when you'll come out and talk to them" is an initiation. Specificity is bravery because it commits to a falsifiable reality. General offers can't fail because they don't claim anything.
Lead with the body. The Do-Feel-Say sequence applies here: physical action first, let the emotion emerge, then speak. An initiation that starts in the body (sitting down heavily, pacing, staring out a window) generates more authentic material than one that starts in the head.
Johnstone's frame: the stage already contains an offer. Before anyone speaks, the space has a reality. Status is established the moment you enter — where you place yourself relative to your partner, how much space you take, whether you move toward or away. For Johnstone, initiation means accepting what's already there and naming it, not importing something from outside.
The first-thought rule from Be Simple applies: your first instinct is usually the right initiation. Your second thought is the one trying to be clever. Go with the first.
The initiation isn't finished until the partner responds. The initiator proposes; the receiver completes. The receiver's interpretation IS the scene — not the initiator's intent. If you say "You're my brother" and your partner's body language says "I'm terrified of you," the scene is about a terrifying brother, regardless of what you planned. This is why initiation requires listening and support, not just bravery: you offer something, then you yield to what your partner makes of it.