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By Rebecca MacMillan I decided to write this blog after I thought I had lost my usual ‘performance shoes’ on the train following a boozy session to celebrate our first gig at Leicester Square Theatre. I was quite put out. They are just a pair of black flat ballet pumps, and most of the negative...

by Katy Schutte It seems to me that there is sometimes quite a disparity between how much an audience enjoys a show and how much the performers enjoy a show (or how good they think it was). For me, there are three broad reactions I’ll have after doing a show; ·       Recriminating myself and/or the...

By John Cremer The comedian Russell Brand recently launched and hosted ‘Give It Up for Comic Relief’ an all-star gig to raise money for people in the UK affected by drug and alcohol addiction. As a recovering addict himself Russell is passionate about raising the awareness of abstinence based recovery from drug or alcohol addiction and speaks candidly about...

by Katy Schutte Over years of teaching, I have begun to notice that many students at one point or another appear to have a crisis of confidence and dips in their skill sets.  There seems to be an ongoing cycle that starts with enthusiasm, becomes more of a serious work ethic and then turns into...

By John Cremer Our mainstream education system is based on an industrial model of mass produced learning. We compel lively and inquisitive young people to sit in rows and be “educated” according to an outdated and rigid curriculum. In essence children have their minds filled with information and are regularly tested on their ability to...

By Rhiannon Vivian So I almost went, ‘Guys, Maydays. I can’t blog this time. I’m too snowed under with work. To the point I kind of want to cry. Big, square, juicy, sploshy, clench your jaw to keep them in, stress-tears. Tears of word-swimmery, brain fry-ery, thought fuckery and cognitive mash-ery. But also cheer, as it means...

by Jason Blackwater “What you’ve just experienced there is what we , in the improv world, call a ‘nirvana moment’. A complete absense of thought. Buddhists spend decades of their lives trying to achieve an emptiness of the mind and improvisers achieve it constantly” The above quote is something I’ve said in near enough every...

By Liz Peters One of the first things I say when teaching improv to beginners is don’t try and be funny. It’s among the biggest stumbling blocks you can give yourself. Not only will it take you away from listening to your scene partner and actually improvising together, the audience will sniff out your desperation...