Mount Olymprov is a pretty big festival by European standards. The 300 seat auditorium is full every night and most workshops sell out pretty much instantly. This is partly because of razor sharp organisation and partly because of the talent on show there. There are many many improvisers and teams...
Impromptu Shakespeare received two reviews at the Brighton Fringe last week, one from Broadway Baby and one from Chortle. Before I continue, don’t worry, this is not a bitter rant against reviewers or set of ripostes. They were not the most glowing reviews ever, and although that always hurts, I...
Some thoughts about improv in the wake of the second bi-annual Global Improvisation Initiative Symposium....
Armando Diaz is back once again on the Nursery Podcast!Armando's list of teaching credits is a long one: the Improv Olympic Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, NYU and Michael Howard Studios. He has trained dozens of actors who have performed or written for Saturday Night Live,...
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...
Failing is OkayIn 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 less...
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...
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,...