Last week I attended How To Teach Improv Inclusively, a four-day intensive led by Stephen Davidson and Monica Gaga, with thoughtful standalone sessions by Tai Campbell and Katy Schutte. I enjoyed the workshop week and had a lovely time; as Stephen invited me to delve a little deeper, I found myself thinking on the “why” ... Read more ..read more

One of the best things about improv is that it’s full of variety. There’s something in it for lots of different kinds of people, whether it’s a skill they’ll excel at, a particular type of game that they find fun and rewarding, a way of connecting with people, or something else. Because of that variety, though, and the variety of human experiences, it means most of us can find something that we don’t like too. Maybe it’s confusing, maybe we feel like we’re bad at it, maybe we just hate it. That’s ok too!    For me, there are a handful of games/skills that I hated for years because I ..read more

J’ai réfléchi à ce billet de blog pendant très longtemps : des mois, voire des années !… Il s’agit d’un sujet très délicat à traiter, car ce qui peut déclencher les signaux d’alarme chez une personne ne le fera pas nécessairement chez une autre. Il faut aussi prendre en compte que parfois, ce qui peut apparaître comme un comportement étrange ou inapproprié peut résulter d’une neurodivergence, et dans ce cas les personnes en cause ont surtout besoin d’aide pour s’adapter aux normes sociales et doivent pouvoir bénéficier de notre appui (du moment qu’elles ne causent pas de tort à autru ..read more

June 13-17 at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London In the shadows that lie between real life and mythos lurk characters who are entirely normal but impossible all at once. Demons and gods alike intermingle with humans- sometimes seamlessly, sometimes not. Based on the works of Neil Gaiman (American Gods, The Sandman, Good Omens), Mixed Omens creates an entirely new mythos every evening. There’s no need to be superstitious of course… or is there?       Director: Stephen Davidson Stephen Davidson Stephen Davidson is the Artistic Director of Improvable, QI: Queer Improv, Carmen: A gen ..read more

Welcome to part 2 of my series of blog posts about my 2019 new year’s resolution to meet men from Grindr. An odd thing to put on a professional improv website, perhaps, but it’s turned into more of an eye-opening journey than I’d anticipated. I think that a big part of learning to improvise is learning the unspoken rules of the community (helpfully spoken more and more in codes of conduct), and the personal growth that comes from following them. Things like agreement, positivity, building things together, emotional literacy, etc. all have personal resonance when we practice them regularly. By ..read more

I feel I should begin this post by explaining why I’m posting about a gay sex app on my improv blog. It might seem salacious, or completely irrelevant, but I’ve actually learned quite a lot about myself as a person and as an artist by using this app. I’ve also learned a lot about communities by joining a new one this year. As improvisers (and artists generally) it’s important to strive for personal growth and self-understanding. As people whose artistic practice is intrinsically community-based, it’s important to be aware of what that means and what it feels like to be the new person in one. I ..read more

The word gender has become a bit complicated. To some people, it just means whether you’re a boy or a girl, or what parts you have. Academically, it means the set of behaviours or feelings associated with one’s gender identity, which can be male, female, trans, non-binary or a host of other things. As an actor, I find it most useful to think of gender as two separate elements; behavioural and expressive. These words are borrowed (and slightly bastardised) from Mary Overlie’s Viewpoints and aim to separate the internal from the external elements of a character. Behavioural gesture (as I’m using ..read more

The talk: when and how to have difficult conversations with your group, class, or community. 5 quick takeaways: Listen with an open mind Check your ego at the door Establish rules and systems for behaviour Say what needs to be said; it’s worth taking the time If somebody is being talked over, shift focus back to them If you’re a goal-oriented person, spending valuable rehearsal or class time talking about feelings and boundaries can feel like a waste. You’ve got formats to learn, skills to drill, a show to put on! But, consider this: when members of your group are uncomfortable, dislike each ..read more