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A chance for the experienced musical improvisers at BIP to flex their skills with something more experimental. There may be a focus on specific musical styles or genres, or even musical short form games, depending very much on the lovely workshoppers we have available.
I get asked a lot what the prerequisite skills are. Rule of thumb — if you're not sure you have the experience needed to perform an improvised song in a show, you probably don't. Musical Improv relies on very skilled, well practiced and experienced performers, and there is simply not enough time in 90 minutes to go over everything and learn it. Those who can (and should) take part will know who they are (chances are, we all know who they are too :D).
Tom has been an improv musician for over 15 years, having worked with many top acts across the UK and beyond. An audio software developer by day, he can often be found improvising musicals with Music Box or Dragprov Revue, evoking classic Hollywood with the improvised 'Talkies', playing for laughs with internationally renowned comedians, and providing dramatic tension for improvised murder mysteries with Murder She Didn't Write (including a recent transatlantic cruise!).
In this workshop I will introduce the game of scene format, some exercises to get us in the zone, breaking down the elements and creating some scenes. Be ready to put the handbrake on and identify those shiny things! No pre-requisites, no limitations, this is a basic introduction and all inclusive.
Hi I'm Joolz and improv is my passion! I am a primary school teacher, stand up, MC and improviser and love creating exciting and innovative scenes with beginners and experienced improvisers alike. I'm part of 2 teams New Choice and Laughter Thoughts.
Commedia dell'arte is an improvised comedic theatre form that flourished in Italy during the Renaissance. In this workshop you'll explore bold characters, classic stock scenarios, and physical comedy (no extreme movement or actual masks will be necessary). Learn how to bring The Servants, The Masters, and The Lovers to life - and how their timeless traits can level up your improv in 2025. Expect big moves, exaggerated voices, and plenty of laughter. No experience necessary.
Stuart is one half of Moses and Bird, alongside Liverpool Comedy Improv's Emma Bird, creating emotionally authentic scenes inspired by written suggestions. He is the host of the Improv London podcast, which celebrates the improv scene in London and beyond. He was also one half of Doctor Whoprov, a duo that improvised in the universe of Doctor Who. Stuart has taught for Liverpool Comedy Improv, Dogface Improv, the Greater Manchester Improv Festival, and Hoopla Impro (but only once). He currently runs improv classes in Reading, Berkshire.
The workshop will introduce the participants to a show format called 'The Hotel'. Some basic experience in improv, and duo scenes is beneficial as the focus will be on the format itself and not on improv techniques. We will do a lot of playing! The Hotel" unfolds entirely within a single room of a century-old establishment steeped in history. Over time, various guests come and go, each leaving behind traces that shape the hotel's legacy. Through their stories, we come to know the objects in the room, the dreams of solitary travellers, mysterious connections between guests, and the quiet presence of the hotel. The staff witnesses it all.
Since 2021, SomerSand has been a UK–Belgium improv duo composed of Maggie Sand and Johan Somers. Together, we create dramatic and theatrical improvised plays with a deep love for storytelling. Our YouTube channel features a variety of shows, as well as a playlist titled "Chats About Improv", where we engage in thoughtful conversations with guests on specific improv-related topics. Both Maggie and Johan are experienced improv teachers, and regularly co-teach as a duo.
Everyone loves stories! So how do we make sure our improvised stories please the audience, as well as ourselves? This workshop will offer tips, tricks and tools to help you create engaging, coherent and satisfying stories to divert and delight!
Jon has been teaching and coaching improv for 16 years. He runs a weekly drop-in, workshops at all levels, and a 12-week evening class at a local arts centre. He recently delivered a workshop at the Liverpool Improv Festival, and will later this year be teaching at ImproFest in Gothenburg. Jon founded, directs and performs with Box of Frogs, Birmingham's longest running shortform improv troupe. He co-founded, directs, and performs with Breakfast of Champions longform group. He runs Birmingham Improv, and is the Director of the Birmingham Improv Festival.
No prerequisite skills are required for this workshop. This workshop will teach how to gain rapport with each other and how to maintain that performing. Moving this in another direction, we will also look at breaking rapport and how to regain this easily. Finally we will look at supporting and leading. This will be a very practical workshop with lots of exercises, then using these skills in scenes. All these exercises are NLP based so in a different format for improvisers. The exercises do not require physical contact and you may want to bring your secret agent skills with you!
I have being playing with improv for about 4 years and have been using it in my work from the start. I am an Master Trainer of NLP and Coaching and have been for the last 19 years. I have been teaching improv for the last 2 years to NLP Trainers, Practitioners and Coaches to incorporate into their work. I also run courses and workshops for improvisers that want to incorporate NLP skills. I performed my first Brighton Fringe this year with Who Killed the Plot and I also perform with 3 Placebos and Miss Behaviour. I have been taught improv predominantly at Dingbats in Horley (Ed Pithie) and do regular jams with them. I have also been taught by Jon Misler, George Butcher, Chris Mead, Maria Peters, Tim Orr, Inbal Lori and Vinny Francois.
Bobby's ensemble will be combining some narrative with strong characters to create a one-off episode of an ongoing soap opera. Sign up if you like character driven absurdity, strongly implying people have slept with someone they shouldn't, and staring off into middle distance. You won't want to get out of *this* pub!
Bobby has been teaching and performing improv for over a decade. They co-direct Stürike comedy and the Sheffield improv jam with Alex Keen, who he also performs with as twoprov Joined at the Quip. His preference is for long, character driven scenes focusing on the small absurdities in everyone's life.
This workshop will focus on finding the fun instead of fear in musical improv. We will start with some fun musical warm ups that you can take away back to your teams or practice solo. We will use gibberish at first to relax into creating songs to music and move on to learning a shortform musical game or two to test out our new found confidence. You do not need to be able to sing to do this workshop, but recognising a beat will be very helpful.
I have been improvising over 10 years.I teach and perform improv in Northampton and Leicester. I perform with short form team Canny Funny and improvised musicals with Rhymes Against Humanity and my own solo show MIxtape . Musical improv is my passion and I love teaching fellow improvisers to get over that fear of musical improv and find the pure joy that can come from creating a song from nothng.
Who is the protagonist in this scene? Where is the audience looking? Where is the spotlight shining?
Mid-scene or mid-show, it can be hard to tell, especially in scenes of 4 improvisers or more. And when the performers don't know, they often reset to their default - some improvisers leap up to steal the spotlight, and others choose not to put themselves forward and instead shine the spotlight for others.
This workshop aims to sharpen your understanding on where the audience is focussed, with an audience of improvisers to help point at the spotlight. We'll work on making more efficient large group scenes, and building a narrative around a protagonist. We'll be also be stretching our brains away from our default behaviours as spotlight stealer or shiner, taking the opportunity to practice what comes less naturally.
Matt Watson Jones has been improvising since 2004 and teaching improv since 2011, but you might not have heard of him since he's been mostly doing it in Barcelona, Spain. Co-Founder of the Barcelona Improv Group and Watch This Space Improv, he also co-ran the BIG International Festival (BIG IF) for the first four years. He now runs jams and classes with Giant Leap Improv in neighbouring Shropshire.
Why start at the beginning of an interview? Why not start with the last line, and work backwards from there? In this session we will look at this specific short-form game. We will build up slowly, and explore the connections that might make this game more playable. This game is one that is probably best played with a regular partner. You may want to consider coming with someone else you frequently play with.
John has been improvising for almost 10 years, in and around Cheltenham. He regularly appears in short form shows with Comic Sans Script, where he also teaches a weekly class. He has also developed long-form shows and leads classes as part of Shatterprov.
Inspired by Ted Lasso's wisdom (a goldfish has a 10-second memory), this workshop explores how forgetting helps us to let go of control and the script in our mind. Learning to detach from pre-planned ideas and follow the flow of the moment will help you to be fully present. Through high-participation exercises, you'll practice resetting, co-creating with your scene partner, and responding to the scene in front of you - not the one in your head. Be ready to let go and swim freely into the unknown.
Yiovi loves improv and teaching - always aiming at fostering a supportive, playful and creative learning environment for everyone. She has taught at BIP before and since 2023 has been teaching improvisational skills to drama students at the University of East Anglia (where she's also a lecturer in psychology). Her improv journey has been shaped by brilliantly supportive mentors at LCI (Liverpool), The Maydays, Second City, and the summer intensives at iO and The Annoyance in Chicago.
In the Moment is an ensemble-driven improv format that unfolds in real time, spotlighting the messy dynamics between characters as they navigate life, relationships and the unspoken bits in between.
No games, no swipe edits (if you know, You know) just authentic connections, and the unpredictable rhythm of humans existing together - because let's face it, the drama is already there—we just give it space to unfold.
Hailing from Liverpool, I'm an improviser, poet, teacher, coach, and producer at a Shakespearean theatre. I've performed in all-female comedy troupes and Liverpool's first UCB-style team. I perform with companies like Playing Dead Theatre and Rubbish Shakespeare, touring with the 5-star show The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare. I've produced shows such as Mystery Laugh and my solo debut, Wet Skeleton. A trained teacher, I coach across the UK and internationally, helping teams and individuals succeed at festivals. As co-director of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, I'm passionate about exploring improv and helping people find their unique style.
A narrative longform musical. Create characters that the audience will fall in love with, and sing their hearts out!
Does what it says on the tin. Draw names from a hat, bring people up to play games, whether quickfire, scenic, guessing, musical, or any other style you can think of!
Ben has been improvising for several years and performs regularly with his long form team Skunkhaus in Manchester, with a first fringe performance scheduled in a few weeks. He brings a high energy silliness to many of his scenes, and plans to bring that to the jam, and hopes you will join him!
The Armando is a montage, inspired by an improvised monlogue. One player takes a one-word prompt and recounts a story from their life about whatever that word inspires. The cast create a series of premise-based scenes inspired by that story.
I've been performing improv now for nearly 4 years. I've attended workshops by some of Liverpool's best improvisers Emma Bird, Jen Hardy and Al Donahue. I have performed both short form a long form formats including the Henry, the Harold, the Armando, the Documentary, and the Slacker.
The Musical Montage Jam is a chance for those who love singing & scene-work to jam and show off their skills with a variety of musical games and scenes involving music and song. With accompaniment by our resident musician, Tom Hodge.
A member of CSS since 2018, with a huge love for psychology and self development. A passion for music and creating strong emotions in my characters.
For singers and non-singers alike! Play incredibly fun, musical games for warm-ups that you've never played before. Learn musical games which can applied to scenes without the need for a musical director or keyboard player. A fast paced workshop with little lecture and lots of opportunities to play, with handouts and optional free consultation and advice.
Max Schafer is a Master Improv Teacher, Improv leader all over the world, and toy inventor. He will be sharing the very best strategies and games from over 40 years experience and 300 new improv games with the leaders, innovators, and top players in the world of improvisation. He has studied Musical Improv with Laura Hall, Fred Kaz, and the Nursery Musical Improv from the UK, He is a musical Director, and has published the game “Max's Musical Improv Party Games” which ha has showcased at Improv fest all over the US and UK. He is an acclaimed author on improvisation (Viola Spolin's Theater Games for the Classroom CD) and spent decades working closely with Viola Spolin and Paul Sills.
Plan your weekend in advance (does not guarantee a space)
On Friday night, we'll ease in with two longform formats by the weekend's teachers and jam leaders, The Hotel and Telenovela, capping off the evening with scenes and games from Cheltenham's finest, Comic Sans Script.
On Saturday night, our three new ensemble teams, brought together at this very BIP and coached on a brand new format that very day, will perform a Longform Musical (dir. Tom Hodge), a Soap Opera (dir. Bobby Anderson) and In The Moment (dir. Jen Hardy).
In celebration of BIP's 10th anniversary, we'll also have a special performance by a fantastic pair of improvisers who have managed to make it to EVERY SINGLE BIP EVENT.
The address is The Scarman Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7SH.
The main railway station is Coventry, 3.4 miles from the venue and served by trains from London Euston, Leicester, Bermingham New St and B'ham International.
Check-in is available from 43pm. Checkout is 10am on the day of departure.
A welfare rep will be on the welcome desk with a printed name badge for you to wear throughout the weekend.
Meal times are:
Food is all served buffet style. Dietary requests have been passed onto the hotel, but please make yourself known to the kitchen staff for your individual preferences.
Coffees and teas and coffees are available throughout the day with non-dairy milk alternatives on offer.
The venue bar sells a range of alcoholic and soft drinks.
Warwick does not allow guests to consume their own food and drink on the premises. Anyone found consuming alcohol in public spaces will be charged a corkage fee.
As such, we cannot recommend bringing your own alcohol, but if anyone were so inclined, they would be wise to be discreet and also be conscientious about cleaning up any empty bottles or cans after they're finished.
The venue has free wifi — ask for details on check-in.
Please check out of your room after breakfast on Sunday, before attending the day's first workshop. Put your bags in your car or store with reception.
There is a gym and a pool if you have the energy.
Bobby, Jen H, Jen K, Jo and Matt are your Welfare team for this BIP weekend. We're here for you to talk to if you have any concerns or issues with anything at BIP, or if you just fancy a chat. Come and find us at any point over the weekend — we'll be the ones wearing pink BIP shirts. If you want to raise a concern without talking to us, you can leave a message in the welfare box at main reception.
To report an urgent incident, please find one of us. If you cannot find someone in person, call Jo on 0797 327 8052.
When you report an incident, there is no required information and we will respect any requests for privacy. However, the more information we have to act on and potentially relay to others where necessary, the better we will be equipped to solve any immediate or ongoing problems and make things better in the future.
If you need to get hold of someone during the weekend, you can contact the list below. Unless it's an emergency, a text or WhatsApp message is preferred when contacting an individual.