exercise · all tools
Death and Retriever
Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readiness★★some
Disclosure · what is sharednone
A version of Scorpion in which the dead can be brought back. Everyone moves with eyes closed; a killer kills by touch and victims scream and freeze, while a retriever wearing a scarf revives them by rubbing them with a towel. If the retriever is killed, whoever finds them takes on the role.
Hold with care
- A whole group moving with eyes closed; someone sighted has to be watching the room
- Being grabbed or touched without warning while unable to see, and screaming on being touched, is the mechanic — for some people that is play and for some it is not
- The killing and reviving framing is heavier than most warm-ups and is worth naming before, not after
Practical
- Time
- — min
- Group
- ?–∞ · large-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- A towel or scarf for the retriever; a clear floor
- Mechanisms
- somatic-awareness
- Change scope
- state · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- improvencyclopedia.org/games/Death_and_Retriever.html — Improv Encyclopedia, open
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
Source link checked 1 Sep 2026 — reachable
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Unattributed; compiled by Improv Encyclopedia — Improvisational theatre
In this directory via Improv Encyclopedia
Related: Scorpion (variant-of)
status: checked · added 2026-08-31