By Jon Nguyen
I have been, for various lengths of time, at the Oslo Improv festival (OIF for short), organised by Impro Neuf, every year since 2023. Every year I have attended it has been in October and it has been a main staple of my festival circuit every year. Impro Neuf is a pillar of collaborative improv in Oslo and has been for many years. It holds free to come workshops in both Norwegian and English every week!
Jon in Oslo in 2025
However it was announced earlier in 2026 that there would be no OIF in 2026. Which as you can imagine is a sad thing to happen but the world and logistics impact improv in so many ways. So that seemed to be that.
However, a few months after it had been known to the world the festival organised by Impro Neuf was not happening, a new festival was mentioned. This would be around 7 weeks before the dates OIF was to take place. At the time, I didn’t think it even had a name and then it also kept the dates OIF would have been. So a new festival was announced with less than 7 weeks notice. Imagine that. Of course I believe discussions were had prior to it being announced, but even so, such an undertaking seemed risky to the risk averse human that I am
This was announced by the Norway based team of Frie Tøyler, with the name Free Rein Improv fest. This is in collaboration with Impro Neuf. As I understand it, the various communities in Oslo wanted something to happen in place of OIF 2026. When it was announced they had asked myself and Aree Witoelar to be teachers and the rest of the classes taught at the festival were led by the excellent members of the Frie Tøyler team themselves. There was a call out for shows and the website was built in an impressively short time.
Image taken from Frie Tøyler’s website
And so I went, and it was a fabulous time. I think I was the only international traveller and I put that down to the short notice of the festival. I was immediately made to feel welcome and I got to see some astonishing shows and show cases. I also got to watch multiple shows in Norwegian, a brand new experience for me.
Image taken from Frie Tøyler’s instagram
There were shows every evening and I got to perform with one of my favourite collaborators in Aree Witoelar. Putting on any endeavour where you ask people to come and see something new is a risk. You have a level of vulnerability which is hard to describe. It’s like arranging your own birthday party with short notice. You have to choose a date which works for a lot of people, you know some people won;t be able to make it as they already have plans and you hope enough people tune up to eat the buffet you have paid for
Photo Jon and Aree’s 2026 Free Rein Fest show by Naya
I think it was a success, and indeed if you build it people will come. There were sold out workshops, shows with people from across Norway and a sense of community which we all crave. Not every project we do will be a huge success, but if we never take those chances, we will never truly know and we would live in a world of ‘what ifs’, which is a sad state of affairs. So I hope Free Rein Improv Fest continues long into the future
Finally, I think it’s worth mentioning that OIF is coming in 2027, from 12 to 19 June 2027. I will certainly be going and I hope many of the friends I made at this recent festival will meet me there!
OIF festival mascot Tigerpig designed by Arthur Gil Larsen
