Hoopla Teacher Susan Harrison shares her improv story.

What got you into improv in the first place?

I originally trained as an Actor and the improvisation part of our training was the best 10 weeks of my three years at Drama School. Maybe not for everyone in the year, but certainly for me! So I'd always loved improvising but had no idea that the Improv scene existed or that Improv was an art form in its own right. Some time after leaving drama school I was doing a course in "Improvisation for the Solo performer" run by Improv hip hop legend Rob Broderick. At that time I was doing it to help me improve my audience interaction, for the purposes of doing character comedy at stand up nights. But while doing that course, Rob recommended Monkeytoast Improv classes, all of which I took and I've been obsessed ever since. I was thrilled to accidentally discover that there was a thriving improv scene right here in the UK, under my nose and that there was so much variety within it.

What makes a good improviser?

Someone who listens and is interested in other people. It's not about being the quickest, the loudest or the funniest. Kind people make good improvisers. Dickheads need not apply! Great improvisers tend to be open, playful, responsive and un-controlling.

What’s your favourite exercise and why?

I'm a fan of the game "I'm a Whisk" because it's a lighthearted, low pressure way of freeing up the locks on your brain. It encourages you to support each other, to make offers and also to make connections and associations but not in intellectual, stressful way. Also it's funny.

Who are your favourite improv acts?

There are so many brilliant players that I enjoy watching. Specific Individuals like Alex Fradera, Amy Cooke-Hodgson, Heather Urquhart (to name but a few) are all rather dreamy to watch and play with! In terms of improv Acts, again there are loads, but I particularly enjoy Breaking and Entering, The RH Experience and Abandoman. Oh and can I say The Pioneers?! They're a team I coach so I am 100% biased...but they are genuinely excellent. They support each other so well and continue to make me laugh no matter how often I watch them. As for international groups I really rate TJ and Dave, The Sufferettes and Parallelogramophonograph, all of whom have their own unique style and improv "voice". Also, when I was in Canada with Showstoppers this year I had the pleasure of watching Adam and Rob (Adam Cawley and Rob Norman) who are another great improv duo. Their character work is committed and fun, they embody the space really well and the night I saw them they improvised such a joyful plot twist that the audience audibly gasped! It's great to see acts from outside the UK, otherwise you can get too stuck in the idea that there's only one way of doing things.

What does improv training help you with in the real world?

Everything! It helps you to listen, to connect with people and to know how to be chatty when it seems as if all chat has gone. It helps you to relax, to take a break from the stresses of life, to have fun, to worry less about yourself and to care about other people, even if, at first, that's only for the duration of a scene.

What advice would you give to people wanting to get into improv?

Do it! Book a course and see what happens. You do not have to be clever or funny. I repeat, you do not have to be clever or funny. Give it a go! You won't regret it.

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Susan teaches the Beginners and Performance courses as well as Character workshops. www.hooplaimpro.com

If you would like to see her perform check out Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, BEINGS, The Actor's Nightmare and her solo show Susan Harrison Is A Bit Weepy. 

Meet Hoopla Teacher Katy Schutte.

Katy's favourite improv quote: 

"If we treat each other as if we are geniuses, poets, and artists, we have a better chance of becoming that on-stage." - Del Close 

•What got you into improv in the first place? 

I didn't realise till years later that I'd done loads of improv at school in my drama class. I imagine it was that. That certainly made me choose Drama as my degree later on. I also found a drop-in class in Brighton years ago that was likely the catalyst to get me doing it all the time. Training at Second City Chicago and watching shows at IO made me get into longform and Baby Wants Candy were my favourites from the first time I saw them in 1999!

•What makes a good improviser? 

Someone that is prepared to listen and support other people on stage to make collaborative art. Someone that is happy to put the truth out there and commit to an idea no matter how good or bad their inner critic tells them it is.

•What’s your favourite exercise and why?

I still love Mind Meld it's a lovely intellectual way of getting to know how other performers are thinking and arriving at a shared vision.

•Who are your favourite improv acts? 

TJ and Dave, Dasariski and the first generation of Baby Wants Candy!

•What does improv training help you with in the real world? 

Being okay with failing in order to get to a better creative and communicative level with other people.

•What advice would you give to people wanting to get into improv?

Try it, it's not as scary as you imagine and you will make a lot of new, lovely friends.

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Katy regularly teaches at Hoopla courses include; Beginners, Performers, Long Form and The Improvisers Way. www.hooplaimpro.com

If you would like to see her perform she is part of improv troupe Project2 and The Maydays. 

And she has also written an improv book called 'The Improvisers Way' which is available to buy from https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/the-improvisers-way

How Hoopla Teacher Liam Brennan got into the world of Improv.

Hi Liam how did you get into improv?

I first started doing improv while studying Drama at the University of Kent, joining a short-form group called 'Play it by Ear'. I had such an amazing time with the group but it's not like I was super into improv or anything. I was more into the wider world of comedy and appreciated the stage time I was getting as well as the fun I'd have in rehearsals with my buddies.

During the third year of my course, there was a module that allowed students to use their own performance practice as a research subject. The prospect of putting study time and University resources towards something that we were really developing a passion for felt perfect so we signed up as a group. We had started getting really passionate about seemed like an amazing opportunity. Time that we would normally spend in lectures on subjects we were mildly interested in could now be spent attending improv classes and watching more experienced improv groups. When one of our members showed us a DVD of the Upright Citizen Brigade's 'ASSSSCAT' show, I was blown away. The UCB performers seemed so effortlessly funny while being amazing committed actors. I started reading everything improv related I could find in the uni library, practicing every opportunity I could and looking for performance opportunities outside of the comfortable bubble we had created for ourselves at the student run comedy club.

It seemed to happen overnight but I had become a fully fledged improv nerd.

What does improv training help you with in the real world?

I used to suffer from stage fright massively, I'd feel so nervous in front of large groups of people. Taking Drama in Secondary school really helped with this but starting improv took me to the next level. It was an amazing fun thing I did with my friends and once I started feeling comfortable and safe on stage, the confidence began showing in the real world too. Afterall, if I can get in front of an audience and do a forty minute comedy show in which we have no idea what's going to happen second to second and make it work, it does put any other social interactions into perspective.

What advice would you give to people wanting to get into improv?

You don't have to be funny, clever or quick to do improv. These can be strings in your bow but they're not all that important. If you can get into that mindset it takes the pressure off. I don't think many experienced improv groups go on stage and say to each other "Okay everyone, let's make sure we're super clever tonight! Do it quickly too! Oh, and don't forget to be funny". If they don't set those lofty heights, why should anyone else? One of the improvisers in my beginners class the other day started a scene with the line "I like books", it completely took the class by surprise and they laughed. The rest of the scene that followed was great and interestingly:

1. It didn't seem like the improvisers were trying to be funny, it really did just end up that way.

2. Even though the scene was about books, the improvisers didn't get lost in trying to show much they knew about literature, it ended up just being a fun context to play in.

3. The lines delivered were just responses to the previous line, there weren't quick quips and the scene remained at what you might consider a regular conversational speed.

The longer I do improv, the more I see that anyone can do it. You've just got to get out of your own way first.

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Liam teaches the Beginners courses at Hoopla and is part of improv troupes The Science of Living Things and Fright Club.  www.hooplaimpro.com. 

You can also follow his blog about improv at www.liambrennan.co.uk/blog/