What is this BIP thing anyway?
The British Improv Project (or BIP for short) is a biannual weekend retreat for improvisers from the UK and beyond to meet, learn and play together with workshops, jams, shows and social events. BIP is run entirely by volunteers on a co-op ethos, with the goal of making quality improv training accessible to a wider audience.
For a full history, visit the BIP Website.
Workshops
Can I go to any workshop?
Most workshops are suitable for all experience levels, but some topics rely on participants’ existing knowledge or skills. For example, Advanced Music is usually reserved for those who have plenty of experience performing in musical improv shows.
When do I decide what workshops to attend?
Before each workshop, we gather for teachers to pitch their sessions, and then you can choose where to go. There’s no pre-booking, but you can explore your options in advance and favourite workshops you’re interested in.
Most workshops are repeated twice, but some are standalones. We don’t enforce a limit on how many people can attend a workshop, but if you find yourself in a horde, be considerate of others — and you might have more fun joining a smaller group where you’ll have more chances to get engaged.
Entertainment
Can I perform at BIP?
Once the booking list is full, we send out an email inviting people to pitch their troupe (or their duo, or even their solo act) to perform for the event. At most events, everyone who has pitched gets an opportunity to perform — exceptions are when multiple troupes pitch very similar concepts, or people who just want to perform, but don't have a format to show off.
We generally do not accept pitches for performances that rely on assembling a cast during the weekend, or pulling people up on stage from the audience.
How do I join the ensemble?
On Friday night, we invite people to submit their names in a bucket or other convenient vessel. We draw names lottery-style on Saturday morning, and those selected spend Sessions 2 and 3 learning the format and rehearsing from the Ensemble Coach, ready to perform during the Saturday evening entertaniment.
The ensemble cast is limited to a small group and is chosen entirely at random, so don't be too disappointed if you don't get in. We also limit the lottery to people who aren't already performing at BIP, so if you're in another show, please don't put your name in.
Why aren't there more opportunities to perform? Why don't we have a jam in the evening performances?
There's several reasons we limit the opportunities to perform in the evening. Most simply, with over 100 attendees, giving everyone a chance to perform (even just for one scene) simply isn't feasible without making the evening entertainment five hours long.
In addition, participant welfare is one of our highest priorities at BIP. When we've run these events in the past, a perfect storm of factors — an intense weekend, pressure to stand out or make the most of your moment onstage, performing with unfamiliar improvisers, lowered inhibitions from drinking — have casued too many incidents of people being offensive, making others onstage feel unsafe, or simply doing things they regret in retrospect.
With this in mind, we have chosen to prioritise safety by limiting the number of acts and leaning on well-rehearsed acts, for an entertaining show that finishes before we're all sick of improv.
Other activities
Aside from workshops and shows, many attendees will organise their own activities during Free Time on Saturday or late in the evening, whether that's tabletop games in the lobby, workshops and jams in spare rooms, or drinking games at the bar.
We encourage everyone to keep their activities welcoming to others where possible. However, BIP's organisers don't do any planning or quality control over these activities, beyond making room keys available where possible.
Similarly, while the welfare team are available to talk about any issues that arise whilst you're at BIP, and will address any misconduct that happens outside of the scheduled programme, we can't guarantee that the welfare team will be available outside of scheduled hours.
In other words, play nice and take care of yourselves and each other!