Why Jam is one of the main ingredients of The Nursery Theatre
After hosting over 5000 jammers over the years at TNL, what have we learned?
17 May, 2019
How to Improvise a Play
What’s the difference between an improv show and a play? The play has a script, of course, but what I’m interested in is what the script gives the actors and how we can give it to ourselves without one. A script gives the actors a sense of purpose and the...
29 April, 2019
Why failing is okay but trying is still important
Failing is Okay In improv we are taught that failure is not a bad thing, even something to be celebrated. The reason is that we want to overcome the fear of failure. Humans are naturally risk averse (thanks brain!) and this fear causes us to be cautious, and to count...
22 April, 2019
We’re better than that: On self deprecating humour
I’m excellent at self-deprecating humour (hereinafter SDH, because I’ll use the phrase a lot, and Britt gave me a word limit). No one knows how I suck more than I do, and I use that knowledge as skilfully as anyone. It feels like a necessary skill. In the UK, we...
17 April, 2019
I remember
The first time we visited the Nursery Theatre Broadgate, it was a store room. Or rather, two store rooms and a dentist’s office. And what is now the bar outside was all open plan cubicles. Dressed in hi-vis jackets Jess from Theatre Deli showed us around a very unassuming space,...
2 April, 2019
The disappearing teacher
Just before going to university, I realised that working during the day for thirteen pounds an hour was better than working during the evening for six or seven pounds an hour, so I forged a CV and took a CELTA*. I was a teacher at the age of nineteen. Then...
26 March, 2019