Workshops

Whole Cast Games

Getting the whole cast involved in a game can be a fun way to both start and end shows, but they can run the risk of becoming a hectic free-for-all. In this workshop we will look at one short-form game, Six Scenes, which builds up to the whole cast on stage, and we will also look at some tips and tricks to help keep the scene coherent when we have a packed stage!

Café Scenes

Improv often feels a pressure to find out what's happening in a scene really quickly, seeking the ‘What' of the ‘Who What Where' trinity in order to allow the scene to progress. This often leaves little room for slower, more thoughtful, slice-of-life scenes. This workshop asks what would happen in an improv scene where there are two friends just hanging out. No activities, no prominent conflicts, and how to get the audience invested and make it interesting. Expect some chilled-out chats, both on and off-stage.

Warming Up for the Weekend

This session has three main aims: provide a refresher for anyone who hasn't done improv for a while; provide a space for newcomers to get to know each other; and provide a nice gentle session as we ease into the BIP weekend. Expect warmups, scenes, short form games, and a few too many name games.

Hosting an Improv Show

Learn about the important functions of a host/compère in an improv show, and how to get the best out of the role. We'll be looking at conduct rather than content, experimenting with your presenter persona, touching on basic presenter skills, and playing with different methods for moving between games and acts.

Improv Your Memory: Why Elephants Never Forget

Prerequisites: (Level 3) must have had some performance experience before, or some level of public speaking/facing experience.

Blank!... You know the feeling. You are on stage, or on the back line, and all you can see in your mind's eye is... blank! A blank we don't want to go through again. Particularly given that improv requires us to remember the information we are given on the spot, and to recall it throughout the whole performance, whilst adding more and more information to our limited short-term memory. In this workshop we will learn and practice some strategies (e.g. rule of three, story stealing, object game) to improve our memory, providing you with memorable tips you'll never forget!

Basic Music

Prerequisites: skills: Confident improviser (regular scene/character work, though will not be the focus), rhyming not necessary but recommended.

Shake off the cobwebs, blow away the brain fog and bring the music back. This music workshop is open to beginners and anyone who has not been able to fulfil their favourite pastime of musical improv for far too long and wishes to rediscover the joy in a safe environment. We'll focus on feeling the rhythm and feeling the rhymes. So get on up, it's music time.

Edit Bingo

If you are bored of just using sweeps and tag edits in a show, then this is the workshop for you. Sometimes we need a little push to try out something new, we'll do this by introducing lots of different types of edits and explore using them with our (not yet patented) Edit Bingo Machine which will determine what edit is to be used next. Giving a chance to create and explore new options in a safe environment.

Up Close & Personal

With a background in psychotherapy, Cathy is interested in relationships on stage, as well as relationships with the audience and with the space we work in too. We will explore strategies for developing intimacy with all three; to build connection and hold a level of tension, and to create a cosy place for us all to be a little more open. This class includes some touch awareness exercises so we can be up close and personal with safe play as the foreground.

Your Brain on Improv

If you've been doing improv for long enough, you will no doubt, at some point, have told a newcomer that improv will make you a better listener, more confident, and ridiculously good- looking. But how many of these claims are supported by psychological research? In this workshop, we will explore the impact of improv on its practitioners by playing a series of games and scenes, interspersed with discussions surrounding mental health, brain development, and interpersonal relationships. Basically, just imagine a regular improv workshop, but with DVD-commentary from an educational psychologist.

Intro to Scenework

Perhaps you are new to improv. Or perhaps you are only familiar with short-form games. How do you transition into creating and performing scenes that are engaging and funny. How do you start a scene? What happens when you get stuck? How do you end a scene? This workshop will set you up to become the scene partner everyone wants to work with.

Advanced Music

Prerequisites: Musical improv (preferably having performed it to an audience), songs, song structures, confidence.

An opportunity for more experienced improv singers to try something a little more complicated, a new format, or a new technique. Full details will be revealed at the workshop pitches!

Reincorporation

Reincorporation is the art of recalling and bringing back events and ideas that have happened earlier in the scene or show. It's often easier to reincorporate an offer or idea than to invent a new one. However, it's hard enough to remember things in everyday life, never mind when we're improvising. We'll look at ways to improve your memory, Chekhov's Gun vs Coen's Gloves, and different ways of reincorporating things. This workshop is for you if you'd like to make your improv easier, get out of your head, and delight audiences when you recall something they knew, but had forgotten.

Intro to Game

Game of the Scene is a well-established improv technique that is looks to establish “a repeated pattern of funny behaviour with escalating emotion”. This workshop aims to give a very basic introduction to the skills used in Game of the Scene. Emphasis will be placed on the initial stages of Game, starting from a really grounded reality and finding something delightful within it. And what could be more joyous than that!

Optimal Responsiveness: Giving & Receiving Attention

Audiences love to see relational dynamics, tensions, and resolutions in scenes. Sometimes in our attempts to be funny, we momentarily forget about the other players — and sometimes need to do so — but sometimes this breaks the moment. In this workshop, we'll recentre as performers, work on improving the quality of attention we give to others, and learn to embrace the times when it's our turn to take attention. Optimising our responsiveness creates strong relationships out of which a new level of funny can emerge (or not — let's take the risk and see).

How to do musical improv with no musician

Musicians like Tom Hodge are like gold dust and should be treasured. But what if you love musical improv and cannot find anyone willing or able to accompany your shows? Fear not! Through the wonders of modern technology — and the power of our own voices — we can still create musical moments to delight our audiences. This workshop will teach you how to utilise tracks available online, as well as try out some acapella techniques to get you singing for an audience… or just yourself.

The 5 Love Languages & Improv

Improvisers often bring dramatic conflict to the stage - arguments, shocking revelations, anger - out of a fear of being "boring". But scenes centred around love and kindness are just as entrancing to watch and explore. This class explores all varieties of love and using the Five Love Languages as ways to express connection and positivity on the improv stage. We'll work with theatrical exercises that highlight Acts of Service, Gift Giving, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, and Physical Touch, and use these languages and tools to become better at showing kind teamwork, both in and out of character.

How to pretend you're holding stuff

Object work or mime can be overwhelming, especially when we are remembering lots of other stuff — but when it's done right, it can really wow an audience. Over the years, I have discovered some ways to make it feel more natural, and to avoid the age-old go-to of literally 'digging an invisible hole'. This session will give you some practical ways of brushing up on your object work, both individually and with those you regularly improvise with, and will leave your scenes looking more realistic and well-rounded than the dreaded “two people standing at 45 degrees, taking it in turns to talk”.

Montage Jam

Our usual fare, with each scene inspired by the one before it.

Scenes Only Jam

Pick who you want to perform with and show off your scene-work abilities.

Slacker Jam

A different form of montage — more structured and requiring the players to pay close attention to each other.

Armando Jam

Multiple, premise-based scenes inspired by the same monologue.

Shortform Games

All the classics, whether that be musical, quickfire, scene or guessing game based, with names drawn from a hat.

Musical Montage Jam

A chance for those who love singing & scene-work to show off their skills.