Improv Classes
Elective Workshops
The Nursery offers elective classes aimed at experienced improvisers taught by a host of teachers.
We also host international teachers for special workshops.
Our international guests have included David Razowsky, Patti Stiles, Armando Diaz, Jill Bernard, Colleen Doyle, and Jason Shotts to name a few.
These workshops always sell out fast, please book in advance to avoid disappointment.
Current Monthjune
08jun7:00 pm9:30 pmOnline Elective: Acting Through Song with Rhiannon Jenkins7:00 pm - 9:30 pm Book
Event Details
Do you find yourself at a loss for words when improvising songs? Are your improvised songs coming from your head and not your heart? In this workshop, we will explore exercises
Event Details
Do you find yourself at a loss for words when improvising songs? Are your improvised songs coming from your head and not your heart?
In this workshop, we will explore exercises and techniques traditionally used in scripted Musical Theatre to help you bring dynamic and truthful acting into your improvised singing. We will work on truth, vulnerability, and emotional clarity to bring out the heightened emotions needed for truly engaging musical improv.
Time
(Monday) 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Teacher
Rhiannon Jenkins is an improviser, actor, teacher, and facilitator, working across London and Europe. She performs regularly with They Don’t Know the Half of It, and The Ol’ Bill, and was a founding member of Acaprov: the improvised A Capella Musical. She trained in Musical Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and in improv with Hoopla, The Free Association, and the Nursery.
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BookPrice
£15
Event Details
This workshop is aimed at every improviser wanting to improve their narrative skills. As improvisers, we are more than just actors; we are also writers and directors of a unique,
Event Details
This workshop is aimed at every improviser wanting to improve their narrative skills. As improvisers, we are more than just actors; we are also writers and directors of a unique, original play. In this workshop we will work on a basic narrative structure and different alternatives to build theatrical characters and reaching more complex improvised stories.
Time
(Saturday) 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
Online Zoom Room
Teacher
Feña Ortalli began his acting career in 2001. In 2006 he created Global Impro, an improv troupe dedicated to national and international collaboration and exchange. He’s currently based in Madrid where he performs and teaches with the most important companies in the city. Since 2011 he writes, edits, and directs Status, a digital magazine about improvisation, published in seven languages. He’s also the author of the book Impro: Dynamics of the Unexpected (2018). Since 2001 he has taught and performed in different cities in over 20 countries.
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BookPrice
£15
Event Details
Improvisers are great storytellers. Imagery and poetic techniques can be a brilliant way to draw our audiences into the story and scorch them with our sizzling play. In this online
Event Details
Improvisers are great storytellers. Imagery and poetic techniques can be a brilliant way to draw our audiences into the story and scorch them with our sizzling play. In this online workshop, we will use tools crafted by great poets to shape and inspire our work. Imagery, rhyme and rhythm are all covered in a fun and accessible way.
We will crack open the poetic rhythm made famous by Shakespeare: iambic pentameter AND simplify the approach to freestyle rap. Discover how verbal limitations can set your work free.
Time
(Monday) 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Teacher
Imogen Palmer is the Theatre School Manager of The Bristol Improv Theatre and the Artistic Director The Delight Collective, creator/director of shows including IMOGENÉ:the improvised pop concert, The Bish Bosh Bash and International Women’s Day special ‘If These Walls Could Talk’. She began teaching improvisation whilst training full-time at the award-winning Howard Fine Acting Studio in Melbourne and training and performing with Impro Melbourne.
She regularly tops up her training with improvisation and clown masters including Patti Stiles (Loose Moose Theatre), Deanna Fleysher (Butt Kapinski), Jill Bernard (HUGE Theatre), the Showstoppers and Jason Shotts (IO Chicago). Since lockdown she has been developing her online teaching skills with regular classes for both adults and children and performing online via The Bristol Improv Theatre’s Twitch TV Live Stream and is delighted to bring the signature workshop she’s delivered for International Festivals across the world online for the Nursery Theatre. You can find out more about The Delight Collective’s shows and classes on their website.
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BookPrice
£15
27jun2:00 pm4:30 pmOnline Elective: Playing Slow with Bill Arnett2:00 pm - 4:30 pm Book
Event Details
Playing Slow (without being boring) - Playing slow is more than improvising slowly. It requires an appreciation of the subtitles of human behaviour. By leveraging the small shifts that occur
Event Details
Playing Slow (without being boring) – Playing slow is more than improvising slowly. It requires an appreciation of the subtitles of human behaviour. By leveraging the small shifts that occur from moment to moment we can turn a thirty second scene into a three minute scene.
Time
(Saturday) 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Teacher
Bill Arnett, founder of the Chicago Improv Studio and author of The Complete Improviser, is known as a good-natured teacher with an empowering approach to improv. He started improvising at the University of Florida in 1992 before moving to Chicago in 1998. He has been a part of several acclaimed ensembles including People of Earth, Maximum Party Zone and 3033.
After 12 years of teaching at the iO Theater and 18 months as the Training Center Director Bill left to start the Chicago Improv Studio, a stage-focused training and performance company that takes a non-traditional approach to improv.
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BookPrice
£15
Women’s Workshops
Women’s workshops are an open and supportive creative space for women and non-binary people of all ages and experience levels.
These workshops run once a month, and they are stand-alone, so you can book one or come along every time. Each workshop is taught by a different teacher and focuses on a specific area of improvisation, and we have some exciting people lined up over the coming months!
Current Month
QI – Queer Improv
Come and join in at this open playday with QI, London’s first* queer improv group. It’ll be a fun afternoon of scene work and storytelling. Something that is really fun in improv is play that makes no assumptions about anybody’s identity or beliefs. Come along and play with a fun group of people who see you as yourself.
Open workshops every two months! Everybody is welcome to come and play! Always free!
*as far as we’re aware!
Current Month
Free Improv Taster Workshop
Try improv for free! Puddle Jumping is a monthly free improv workshop at the Nursery, open to all.
Puddle Jumping is a great introduction to improvisation if you are new, or an opportunity to work on your core skills if you are a seasoned player.
Guided by an experienced member of the Nursery team, you will work on the core skills of improvisation through warm-ups, exercises and finally in guided scenes in front of the rest of the class.
Puddle Jumping is a friendly, accessible environment in which to have fun, create stories and characters and maybe even learn a little. Coffee, tea and biscuits provided.
Current Month
Improv Beginners Courses
If you want to start learning improv, look no further than our beginners courses.