🛋️ The Therapist

Who plays who

• A — The Therapist: calm, unhurried, and far too interested in how you answer.
• B — The Client: here to talk about your feelings, and slowly losing the thread of them.
• A leads Acts 1–3. B takes the session over in Act 4, without asking.

What you need

• A notebook and a pen — the therapist writes things down
• Two chairs, close enough that knees could touch if someone leaned in
• A timer or a phone you can set for ten minutes
• A glass of water each, and a blanket for afterwards

Act 1 — 🕯️ Setup

The room is set up like a quiet consulting room: two chairs, a notebook, a glass of water, and no clock on the wall. A is the therapist and opens with a real question about how you have been. For the first ten minutes the talking comes first — the notebook is open, the pen is moving, and nothing else is allowed to happen.

Beats

• Ten real minutes of actual conversation before either of you moves. Set the timer and honour it.
• A asks, B answers. No interrupting, and no deflecting the question back.
• Hands stay on your own knee. The only thing crossing the space is the question.

Lines to say

• "Tell me about the last time you felt really wanted."
• "You said 'fine'. I don't think that's the whole answer."
• "Take your time. We have the whole session."

Act 2 — 🔥 Build

The chair has moved — not by much, but the therapist is closer and the questions have stopped being neutral. Every honest answer moves the chair closer, and every evasion earns a longer silence. The rule is stated out loud so neither of you can pretend this is accidental.

Beats

• A moves the chair one hand-span per true answer. Three truths, three moves.
• Every question gets more personal than the last, and every answer has to be spoken, not implied.
• Still no hands. The distance is closing, but the touch is still forbidden.

Lines to say

• "Closer. That's what you said you wanted."
• "Answer properly and I'll come nearer."
• "What would you say if I were sitting right beside you?"

Act 3 — ⚡ Escalate

The notebook is face-down on the floor and neither of you has looked at it in a while. The therapist is still speaking in the same calm, professional register, but the words have stopped being therapeutic. The frame is still standing, and that is exactly why this works — keep the voice, lose the distance.

Beats

• A stays in the calm voice the entire act, even as everything else goes off-script.
• Ask permission before every new touch — the professional habit is the whole fantasy.
• B may only answer, breathe, and say the therapist's name. No requests yet.

Lines to say

• "I'm going to touch your wrist now. Yes or no?"
• "You don't get to ask for anything yet. This is still my session."
• "Tell me what you're feeling. In words, please."

Act 4 — 💥 Climax

The session is over — officially. B takes over here, without warning and without asking, because the therapist has been in control for long enough.

Beats

• B leads now. A does not get to negotiate the handover.
• Change the register completely: no more calm voice, no more questions, no more waiting.
• Nobody narrates. Finish what the last three acts started.

Lines to say

• "My turn. You've talked enough."
• "I've been waiting an hour for this."

Act 5 — 🤍 Aftercare

The characters leave. The notebook is still on the floor, the chairs are still where you left them, and you are two people again.

Beats

• Come back into your own names out loud — "that was me, this is you".
• Water, the blanket, and skin on skin with no agenda attached.
• Say one thing you liked and one thing you want next session.

Lines to say

• "That was really good. Thank you for playing it properly."
• "Next time I want the other side of that — me asking the questions."

Aftercare

The costumes come off with the notebook. Say each other's real names out loud before anything else.,Water, a blanket, and ten minutes of ordinary conversation — the session is closed, not filed.,If anything in the role felt too close to something real, name it now and keep the game lighter next time.

Ground rules and consent

• This is a fantasy session, not real therapy. Nothing here is advice, diagnosis or treatment.
• Only the two of us are in the room. No real practitioner, no third person, and no one watching.
• "Notepad" outranks the therapist. It ends the session and the character in one second, no explanation owed.
• Anything said in character is a game about feelings — it is not a disclosure either of us owes the other.

Before you play it, Sensate focus covers the parts that are hard to improvise.

Frequently asked