Is The Rehearsal scripted? Authenticity of the HBO docu-comedy series, explored

Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal tightropes between reality and performance, engaging the audience in increasingly sophisticated sets of circumstances that are approximations of real life — or at least, well, close enough. Blurring the distinction between documentary and scripted programming, this HBO show has set off a raging debate: Is The Rehearsal real, or is it simply really good at simulating being real?

The format of the show, which features Fielder assisting common individuals to prepare for great life events with extensive simulations, is emotionally charged and hopelessly thorough. In fact, one of the biggest points of curiosity is whether the events viewers see are authentic reactions or rehearsed performances. The show’s use of paid actors, hyper-realistic sets, and Fielder’s dry humor all add to the confusion.

It doesn’t help that the show never fully clarifies what’s real and what’s not, leaving the audience to question whether they're watching a documentary, a satire, or something in between.

The actors and scripted elements in The Rehearsal

Layers of artificiality are at the heart of the show. A lot of participants know they're being recorded, and professional actors are frequently employed by Fielder to recreate interactions with other people on the show.

In some episodes, for example, actors are employed to play recurring characters or to rehearse situations in which real participants do not know critical details. This employment of actors doesn't always imply that the whole show is scripted, but it does come close to blurring the boundaries between reality and performance.

Moreover, Fielder himself performs an over-the-top version of his off-camera persona, introducing a further layer of performance into the programme. The concept of employing highly detailed rehearsal rooms and actor doubles adds to a format that can feel staged, albeit the interactions being unscripted in themselves. The audience is therefore left questioning how much is staged against how much is improvised.

Revealings from HBO and Nathan Fielder

HBO hasn't officially branded The Rehearsal as either completely scripted or not scripted. Nor has Nathan Fielder, star of the former show Nathan for You, made an explicit distinction. He tends to go along with the uncertainty, leaving people to deduce for themselves. That uncertainty is at the heart of the show's appeal — and maybe its most revealing aspect.

While some of the episodes contain moments that appear to be emotionally raw and unplanned, others are so carefully crafted that they cast doubts on authenticity. The absence of "behind-the-scenes" explanations or disclaimers leaves viewers uncertain. That uncertainty is highly likely to be deliberate.

The structure of the show invites skepticism

Unlike classic documentaries or even mockumentaries, The Rehearsal is not a show with a unified narrative strategy. Every episode adds to or overwrites earlier ones, usually with twists that make it impossible to know whether the program is developing organically or being manipulated by an unseen force. The intricately set-up reconstructions, complete with real-life look-alikes and multi-tiered rehearsals, are just another layer of disorientation.

This absence of narrative openness is responsible for the perception that The Rehearsal is half-made. But the spontaneity present in most of the participants' responses indicates that, despite having its framework engineered, the series manages to catch some aspects of real human behavior.

So, is The Rehearsal scripted? The answer is complicated. It uses scripted elements — actors, scripted setups, controlled settings — but seems also to leave room for real reactions and off-the-cuff dialogue. The show's brilliance may be in the fact that it makes us wonder not only if it's real, but also whether reality-based entertainment is even possible.

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Ultimately, The Rehearsal flourishes within the gray space between fiction and reality. It doesn't give answers — and perhaps that's the idea.

Also read: The Rehearsal Season 2 release schedule: Every episode and when they drop

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