The British Improv Scene: a dedicated improv theatre

The United Kingdom having its very own improvisation theatre was not a lone thought. The voices heard at the start of these spoken thoughts about this very concept was very exciting. It probably is certain that every improviser had the idea of starting an actual building with the commitment to improvisation. I know I did and in a way still do. The excitements of hearing other people desire the same as myself meant that the likelihood that a place would appear and be totally dedicated to the common cause was more probable.

I cannot tell how many of those original voices are involved with The Miller becoming this very building, but with a multitude of resident groups performing in the venue we can be safe to say we have a step closer. I heard mentions from the likes of Jules Munn who runs many theatre projects including improvisation tasks, such as The Nursery and their festival and the Slapdash improv festival in London and no doubt a countless amount of other vast and impressive events and projects. And we all look forward to the next Slapdash that will join the history of improvisation festivals that the UK has: Assisting the growth of the variety of improv that exists in the country. With Bristol Jam entering its third year and Shifti that sadly hasn’t returned since its debut in 2007. I also heard Steve Roe talking about the possibilities. He is from Hoopla that had weekly shows in the venue (The Miller near London Bridge tube) and then joined Shotgun Impro that also then began performing in The Miller. With weekly drop-in sessions in The Bedlam in Balham and also Saturday sessions that are always something magnificent. This is along with many other names that you could have heard on the grapevine. Whispers have been around for longer than I was close enough to hear and now we cannot just hear but see! So to those people that are actually involved, I thank you and look forward to hearing more from over the border with the sheep. The sheep and I are looking at each step with glee and anticipation.
The main reason why this should excite most if not all improvisers in Britain is because we can become a tighter community of improvisers. We can easily see that many people desire this with the start of Crunchy Frog Collective that began about five or so years ago and the recent online request from Alex Fradera who has started a ning network for Community Improvisation. The load of times I have gone to other groups and played, from Wow Impro in Coventry to The Bourne ImprovAbles in Bournemouth.

Connecting up with others is more of a joy for me. Easily found when I got strangers together in last year’s show in London, ‘Catch Impro’, to perform in a duo against another pairing. A good network leads to better quality and this creates a wider audience. When my Nan is going to improv shows I know we have made a good network. A dedicated venue shall have a major impact on the network. Like the Improv Symposium in Edinburgh in August ’10, bringing people together is beautiful.

We can all aspire to have the nation-wide recognised improv theatres, events and productions. We have ‘Scenes from Communal Living’ that started in Australia and moved to us and ‘Fingers on Buzzards’ that is now being performed in Canada, so how come we cannot get shows to be national if we have international. Personally I am doing my part with beginning a youth group in Cardiff and will try and get them to compete in ‘Cagematch’ wherever possible. (So if you have a youth group, then let’s play!) There are a lot of shows that are like Theatresports or Maestro – depending on how you perceive the productions. I guess what I am trying to say is perhaps naming it one title and spread that around. Or is it important in the slightest? Is the one roof the tie of recognition? I know Fat Kitten have competed against Student Improv Nottingham and MissImp against BangorSoc from North Wales. These probably were not the same game. How about Britain Improv Games? With the likes of the fantastic David Shore we should get more and more long-form, perhaps Harolds. This may well lead to Harold competitions or even the afore mentioned Cagematch. The improvisation scene in Britain is getting highly interesting, exciting and thrilling. With new influences, new mediums being used like ‘Fast and Loose’ on telly and ‘Showstopper’ on radio. (Although this is more getting back onto those mediums) and also the best result an actual venue.
‘London Improv’ is the place to perform at the moment. They are booked up till the Edinburgh Fringe, which I have a show in and you can get more about that via searching ‘Ludus Ludius’. Further articles may well come about this too. Unfortunately we cannot bring it to the venue before the festival. However, if we want this to work then everyone needs to bombard them with requests to perform in The Miller and make sure we are seeing the true depth of what people are producing from all around the UK. Utilise what we have and let us see something magical.

Thank you,
Nathan Keates