Here we are again, edging irrevocably towards the 20th Brighton Fringe (incidentally, that makes The Maydays OLDER than the fringe by one year).
As we save up our pennies, flip through the brochure (yes, back to a paper brochure), and check our diaries, I bring you the hotly anticipated ‘Jen’s Big Improv List’.
Firstly, I have to warn you: there are… drumroll… 29 improvised shows this year. That’s nearly one for every day of the fringe. Some are on numerous dates, some are only on once, some are stalwarts of the fringe, some are brand-spanking newbies, some are local friends and some are from far-flung places – like Manchester, Leamington Spa, Sheffield, and… um… London.
So, without further ado, the full list (in alphabetical order) and with local shows or players in bold, I give you The List:
Acaprov: The Improvised A Cappella Musical
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/acaprov-the-improvised-a-cappella-musical/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
May 2nd at 6.30pm & May 3rd at 3.15pm & 5.45pm
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
May 4th at 6.30pm, May 5th at 4pm & 6.30pm
Acaprov are delighted to return to Brighton with world renowned and their often sold out show! Imagine a new kind of musical: beatboxers, rappers, actors, singers, dancers and body percussionists coming together completely a cappella to improvise a fresh, heart-warming show, that you’ll never forget.
£10 / 8
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (The Time Travelling Baron)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/the-adventures-of-baron-munchausen/
Imagine Jackanory meets Whose Line Is It Anyway, Live. The cast are challenged to tell increasingly extravagant tales all based on The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. All they have are their wits, a box of silly hats, and the imaginations of a room full of giggling children to ensure that the stories end happily ever after.
May 3rd, 4th & 5th at 3.30pm & May 24th, 25th & 26th at 2pm
KIDS SHOW
£9/ 7
Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Dr Who Parody
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/any-suggestions-doctor-the-improvised-doctor-who-parody/
“Artista” (The Secret Comedy Club)
Go on an adventure through time and space with a live radiophonic workshop and a hilarious improv cast in this loving parody of the sci-fi classic Doctor Who. You get to decide when, where and who in this amazing comedy adventure! Allons-y!
May 10th & 11th at 5pm
£10 / 8
Barnish & Carmichael: No Idea (Absolute Onions)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/barnish-carmichael-no-idea/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Hideaway)
Manchester based Improv Comedy Duo Barnish & Carmichael take a one word suggestion from the audience and improvise a longform narrative story where the two performers play all the characters! Two Men, One Word, No Idea!
May 25th & 26th at 8.15pm
£4.50 PWYW
CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/csi-crime-scene-improvisation/
Mirth meets murder in the world’s daftest whodunnit. Following more than a decade of five-star, sell-out runs, festival favourite ‘CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation’ returns to Brighton (sell-outs 2015 – 2024) with the rip-roaring crime comedy made up entirely on the spot.
May 1st 3pm & 5.30pm
£12 / 10
Do the Thing: Choose your own Musical
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/do-the-thing-choose-your-own-musical/
Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Bubble
Where is it set? Who’s it about? What is the plot? You tell us. Brighton Fringe stunners Do the Thing are here to give you exactly the musical you want to see. Not only will the audience decide the setting and characters but they can also direct the plot.
May 2-4th & 9th-11th at 8pm
£11 / 9
The Elephant in the Room: An Improvised Comedy Show
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/the-elephant-in-the-room-an-improvised-comedy-show/
A quick-fire family friendly improvised sketch show chock full of fast-paced performing and silly short comedy sketches. The Elephant in the Room is… we have no idea what the show will be about!
May 31st & June 1st at 1.30pm
£8 / 5
Happily Never After (The Maydays)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/happily-never-after/
The Maydays return to the Fringe with their 5-star improvised show – Happily Never After – a ‘darkly comedic’ twisted musical tale inspired by gothic themes, fairytales, and the warped imaginations that brought us Lemony Snicket, Beetlejuice, Shockheaded Peter and Grimm’s Tales. There’s no telling what strange characters, innocent beasts or talking objects you might meet along the way!
May 22nd, 23rd & 24th at 7.30pm
£15/12
Hitch Your Wagon: Improvised Cowboy Songs
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/hitch-your-wagon-improvised-cowboy-songs-2/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
Tea & Toast presents Hitch Your Wagon is a cowboy campfire show that’s never the same twice. Yes siree, you give us the name of the song and we make it up, music, words and all.
May 8th & 29th at 9.15pm & May 26th at 6.30pm
£8
Impromptu Shakespeare
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/impromptu-shakespeare/
Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT)
May 25th at 2pm
Hold onto your doublets, ruffs and trunk hose. The Bard is back! With story and verse improvised in the moment, enjoy a riotous new Shakespeare play every time – performed by Impromptu Shakespeare’s whip smart cast.
Packed with priceless wit, lyrical smarts, romance, and a dash of double-crossing, this leading ensemble do the Bard proud with a brand new hit every time, inspired by audience suggestions.
£16.50 / 15
InStitches on Tour
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/institches-on-tour/
InStitches are an improv troupe based in Peckham that specialise in short form comedy improv. Last year we made our residency at The Pen Theatre, where we regularly rehearse, perform and host open workshops.
May 25th at 1pm WORKSHOP
May 25th at 7pm Show
£10
Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/locomotive-for-murder-the-improvised-whodunnit/
Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT)
May 3rd at 2pm and 7pm
Pinch Punch welcome you aboard their hilarious and exciting show, Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit, a fully improvised murder mystery where the audience must help solve the case. There will be outrageous accents. There will be larger-than-life characters. There will be thrills, spills, and good old-fashioned kills.
£16.50 / £15
Loo-prov: Improvised Comedy
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/loo-prov-improvised-comedy/
Ever wondered what happens on the other side of the doors to the ladies toilets? The women from Loo-Prov! bring the tears, pep talks and confessions of the bathrooms to the stage with their completely improvised show.
May 3rd & 4th at 3pm
FREE
Lying Together (Rachel E. Thorn & Alex Keen)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/lying-together/
A black comedy about sex and deception. Completely improvised by award-winning comedians, each show is based on an anonymous confession chosen by the audience. Let’s find out why we lie to the people we love. Act Of The Year.
May 10th & 11th at 8.30pm
£14 / 12
Mates: The Improvised ’90s Sitcom
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/mates-the-improvised-90s-sitcom/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Hideaway)
May 10th & 11th at 12.45pm
It’s New York City. It’s the ‘90s. And this is the world’s craziest sitcom. A parody of classic TV such as Seinfeld, Frasier and Friends and completely improvised from your suggestions. Could this show BE any funnier?
£8
One Thing After Another: An Improv Double-Bill
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/one-thing-after-another-improv-from-across-time/
Half A Camel – The Caxton Arms
Autumn Unwin and Hannah Platts are Date Night: The Improvised History of (Nearly) Everything. Date Night use “encyclopaedic” knowledge of the past to bring history to life, entirely made up on the spot. No scripts, no rehearsals, just two Best Improv Show nominees and a selection of anachronistic hats. Bring your favourite date and watch with delight as history is made (up)!
Sam Marshall and Emily Brady are Play It Again. Play It Again are immortal lounge performers, cursed to provide light entertainment forever! Give them your sultry suggestions, they’ll give you beautiful ballads and mesmerising musical pieces. Laugh and sing along as these eternal entertainers play it again, and again, and again…
May 24th at 5.30pm
£9 / 7
Robotales (Improbotics)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/robot-stories/
Award-winning Improbotics presents a futuristic take on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game, hosted by an endearing robot. Watch human improvisers navigate an AI-generated story as you, the audience, control their fate. Come for the robots, stay for the humans!
May 3rd at 2.30pm & May 4th at 5.30pm
£12/ 10
RPJ: Role Playing James (James Bennison)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/rpg-role-playing-james/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
Join ex comedian, turned games master James Bennison (The James Master if you will) as he takes you on a completely improvised and brand new adventure where you are the heroes!
May 4th, 5th, 11th, 18th at 1.30pm
May 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd at 9.15pm
May 25th, 26th, June 1st at 130pm
FREE
Rumourville: Improvised Comedy
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/rumourville-improvised-comedy/
Half A Camel – The Caxton Arms
May 16th 9.15pm & 17th 10.30pm
The improvised story of a small town where a rumour ruins all: romance, reputation, and petty revenge! As heard on BBC Radio, sold out at Brighton Fringe 2024, Cambridge Fringe 2024, and Hoopla Impro.
£8 (PWYW)
The Secret Society (The Chandeliers)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/the-secret-society/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
An Immersive Comedy Experience
Step into the world of a very serious, very secret, very important secret society. As a member of the society, you are privy to astonishing secrets and command powers beyond all imagination.
But as you enter the chambers for the weekly meeting, all is not as it seems. mysteries unravel, rifts form, and the wrong choice could mean the end of the society itself. So you’d better make the right decision…no pressure!
May 4th at 4pm & May 5th at 5.15pm
£10 / 8
ShakeItUp The Improvised Shakespeare Show
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/shakeitup-the-improvised-shakespeare-show/
WundaBarn at The SpiegelGardens
May 3rd & May 17th at 9.30pm
Pick your authentic Shakespearean genre: Epic History, Romantic Comedy, or Gruesome Tragedy! Pen your wittiest Shakespearean line for our brave actors to pull from their suitably-Shakespearean breeches when they need a helping hand – the twist? They’ll have no idea what the line will be before they say it!
£14 / 12
Songsmith
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/songsmith/
Welcome to a show like no other! In Songsmith, Karim Bedda takes to the stage armed with little more than his trusty ukulele and a bit of a silly streak…
The twist?
By the end of the hour, he’ll craft a brand-new, never-before-heard song – with you, the audience, as its inspiration!
May 24th, 25th and 26th at 5.30pm
£10/ 8
Space Planet Mission: The Improvised Sci-Fi Epic
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/space-planet-mission-the-improvised-sci-fi-epic/
Half a Camel @ Presuming Ed’s
May 31st / June 1st at 2.45pm
It could be set in Earth’s dystopian near-future, or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But you won’t need to know your Klingons from your Cylons. Join us for a supernova of cosmically dumb fun, accompanied live by an improvised sci-fi soundtrack. The cast of Space Planet Mission trained and teach at leading improv school The Free Association.
FREE
Spin a Play (Insert Laughter Here)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/spin-a-play/
Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Squeak
May 10th & 11th at 3.45pm
£10
Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Bubble
May 23rd & 24th at 6.30pm
In this completely improvised comedy show, the audience are invited to suggest genres for a “brand new” play to be made up on the spot by the performers. These go onto a spinning wheel which is then used to determine which one will be performed.
£14
Suggestions of the Unexpected: And Improvised Horror Anthology
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/suggestions-of-the-unexpected-an-improvised-horror-anthology/
Out of the darkest corners of your mind comes an improvised comedy nightmare. Join us as we take you on a journey through the intangible, via the unknowable and into the unexpected.
This darkly hilarious spectacle is brought to you via the Twilight Zone, spied in a Black Mirror and guaranteed to give you Goosebumps.
May 10th & 11th at 9pm
£8 / 6
Who Killed the Plot: An Improvised Murder Mystery
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/who-killed-the-plot/
Join us for a hilariously unpredictable improvised murder mystery with a twist! Watch as a cast of quick-thinking improvisers blend the best of short-form chaos like lines from a hat and Party Quirks, with the intrigue of a long-form whodunit.
May 16th at 9.15pm & May 23rd at 6.45pm
£8 / 5
Who Wrote This? (The Audition Room)
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/who-wrote-this/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Tusk Club)
May 30th at 6,30pm and June 1st at 9.30pm
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Hideaway)
May 31st at 9.30pm
FREE
The Workplace: An Improvised Mockumentary
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/the-workplace/
May 17th at 5pm
Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Squeak
May 18th at 3.45pm
Join us for your new favourite workplace sitcom. Based on suggestions from the audience, a new cast of eclectic characters live out the every day of working the 9 to 5, with ego clashes, office politics and all sorts of absurd workplace situations.
£8
Yes Anderson: The Life Accompanied
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/yes-anderson-the-life-accompanied/
Improv stalwarts, Tiny Dynamite, are back to bring you their take on the twee, colourful and idiosyncratic world of Wes Anderson. Based on audience suggestions, the performers will spin an anthology of linked character portraits and story fragments. Our show will include a live improvised soundtrack, with underscore and occasional spontaneous songs.
May 3rd, 4th & 5th at 4.15pm
£11 / 8.50
Things that are partly improv, we think…
It’s NOT Cluedo
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/its-not-cluedo/
Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Bubble
There’s been a murder! And you choose the setting! Help the suspects on stage solve the mystery by guessing the murderer, weapon and location. Join host Chris Neville-Smith and an invited list of Fringe artist in an hilarious hour of improvisation, parody and audience participation that is definitely NOT based on the greatest murder mystery game ever made.
Chris runs popular theatre blog https://chrisontheatre.wordpress.com
May 3rd at 5pm
May 4th at 12.30pm
May 17th at 5pm
£10/8
A Night of Drama
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/a-night-of-drama/
WundaBarn at The SpiegelGardens
A Night of Drama isn’t just a comedy—it’s a rebellion. Watch a *prolific* Director (Jack Grossman) live-direct his company of guest comedians in a melodrama play (think Dickens meets Hugo). – Improvised Clown madness
May 23rd at 9pm
£14 / 12
Stranded
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/stranded/
The Actors – Theatre
Seasoned improv comics Liam Brennan and Tom Jacob-Ewles present their new show ‘Stranded’. Join them as the school drama club survivors in this interactive comedy show that weaves audience participation, scripted comedy and improvised sketches into one gorgeous island getaway. Featuring teachers/performers from Hoopla.
May 29th & 30th at 7.30pm
£10/8
Prop Roulette
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/prop-roulette/
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Hideaway)
Compilation show where comedians have to see how they can incorporate a randomly assigned prop into their set – prizes for best/most innovative use of prop.
May 11th – 16th at 8.15pm
£5 / 4
