Aug 18-24 2025
Main Festival
During the week, improvisers from all over the world will gather in Mölndal and Gothenburg to hold workshops in the art form and perform in improv shows.
The festival's workshops explore improvisational theatre in all its forms and are led by instructors from Australia, Palestine, the UK, Greece and the USA. The workshops provide opportunities for improvisers and other performing artists to add improvisational techniques to their repertoires and for the curious to find new tools in everyday life. Whether you want to learn how to portray characters in new ways, to tackle different genres or get a crash course in improv as political activism, you can count on finding a course in that and much more at Improfest.
All workshops and performances will be held at Konstkollektivet's premises in Mölndal and at Redbergsskolan and Redbergsteatern in Gothenburg. Festival passes and other tickets will be available soon.
Improfest 2025 is a festival dedicated to improvisational theatre in all its forms. The festival invites improvisers from Sweden and the rest of the world to give performances and offer workshops in various parts of Sweden during the period May to August 2025.
This year, we will extend the festival to several places in the region, e.g Lidköping, Skövde, Mellerud, Lerum, Alingsås, Malmö & Stockholm. Most of the shows will be in Swedish except for the once in Alingsås, Stockholm and Malmö. The workshops in Skövde and Mellerud are beginners workshops in Swedish, the rest of the workshops will be held in English.
Venues
The first part of the festival week will be at Konstkollektivet i Mölndal. You can get here by train and/or bus.
If you go by train it will take you about 10 min from Gothenburg train station to Mölndal city and then a 15 min walk to Pixbovägen.
Konstkollektivet
Pixbovägen 5, 431 36 Mölndal
📆 Aug 18-20
KONSTKOLLEKTIVET
MÖLNDAL
AUG 18-20
REDBERGSTEATERN
GOTHENBURG
AUG 21-24
The grand finale will be in our beutiful theatre Redbergsteatern in Gothenburg.
You get here by tram or bus in about 10 min. The stop is called Redbergsplatsen.
Redbergsteatern
Örngatan 6, 416 67 Göteborg
📆 Aug 21-24
Tickets & Passes
Shows
Festival pass
A festival pass will give you:
-
Access to all shows during the entire festival (a total of 19 shows featuring performers from all over the world!)
-
Free Improfest t-shirt*
-
Cut the que and be seated first.
*When buying a festival pass before July 16, you will receive a free Improfest T-shirt. Note that there are a limited amount (first come - first served basis).
Prices:
-
Full price: 995 SEK
-
Student price: 800 SEK
All festival passes must be bought online before the festival and collected on-site.
Collection
The festival passes can only be collected at the theatre between 13:00-14:00 Thu-Sat during the festival week. If you haven't collected your festival pass you will not be able to see the shows for free.
Adress:
Redbergsteatern
Örngatan 6
Göteborg
Daily rush entry
Each day before the shows start, we will be selling tickets at the door, but only when available. Pass holder will always be prioritized. Tickets will be sold shortly before the start of the first shows and again before the headline show. First come, first served basis. Free seating in the theatre and festival pass holders will be seated first.
Tickets:
Shows 18.00 - 21.15: 140 SEK Headline show (21.45-22.35): 100 SEK Sunday shows (ALL): 240 SEK
Workshops
All workshops will go on sale May 4 2025.
Note that pre-sales will be avalible for Gbgimpro members and for perticipants who applied to perform and teach at the festival.
Prices:
3 hour workshops:
450 SEK
One day workshops:
900 SEK
Two day workshops:
-
Full price: 1800 SEK
-
Student price: 1440 SEK
Merch
Wanna get your hands on an epic t-shirt? Buy it online and collect it on-site!
Prices:
t-shirt with Improfest print.
200 SEK*
*When buying a festival pass before July 16, you will receive a
free t-shirt (to be collected on-site).
The t-shirts are only avalible to pre-order online.
Colour: Black
Model: Unisex
Size: S, M, L, XL
Collection
The pre-order t-shirts can only be collected at the theatre between 13:00-14:00 Thu-Sat during the festival week.
Adress:
Redbergsteatern
Örngatan 6
Göteborg
Black Lady Improv
A Black Lady Improv Show
This joyful celebration features an all-Black women cast serving characters, wit, and the kind of chemistry that only comes from shared sisterhood. Expect big laughs, real moments, and scenes that flip the script on everything you thought you knew about improv. Come through and witness some of improv’s most powerful voices taking up space, making up stories, and making history—in real time. This is more than just a show—it’s an experience.
With Shannon Stott, Coko Galore, Stephanie Rae
Improstudion
Blekingegatan 28, SStockholm
📆 Aug 14 🕒 21.45-22.35
Shows
Venue: Redbergsteatern
Note that more shows are about to be annonced. Stay tuned!
THURSDAY AUG 21
Britta
MEET BRITTA
Gbg/Sthlm, Sweden
In a world longing for genuine relationships and unforgettable meetings, Britta shows up like a good old friend ready to offer you the best of every day awkward situations. Let's enjoy those lovely moments of painful silences mixed with too much eye contact. Meet Britta!
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 21 🕒 18:00
Peter Nordstrand
The Prophesies of
Nordstrandamus
Gothenburg, Sweden
You think it’s just a show. That’s cute.
Step into the unknown with The Prophesies of Nordstrandamus – a journey through the minds and hearts of the audience. Guided by the razor-sharp intuition and wit of mind reader and magician Peter Nordstrand, this one-of-a-kind experience blends psychological illusion, spontaneous interaction, and a touch of theatrical magic. In The Prophesies, nothing is scripted. Your dreams, wishes, fears, and hopes of the future become the raw material for a playful and mysterious exploration of what it means to be human. Expect laughter, surprises, and perhaps a few unsettlingly accurate insights. You bring the questions – Peter becomes your oracle.
Side effects may include laughter, increased heart rate, and mild existential crises.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 21 🕒 18:00
ITS
Stockholm, Sweden
Ladies and gentlemen, dreamers and daredevils—step right up! Enter a carnival of strange dreams and second chances, where a dead troubadour waits for a dream (maybe yours?) to bring him back to life. If he wakes, hold on tight! You’ll be swept into a wild, musical ride through the ups and downs of chasing a dream—what it’s like to crave it, catch it, and pay the price.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 21 🕒 19:30
Raffi Feghali
HALIM AL-HAKAWATI
Istanbul, Türkiye
BEHOLD! Halim, the Hakawati – a storyteller for the ages! SILENCE! Never mind you have never heard of him… HE is indeed the most famous Hakawati in the world… You’re just going to have to trust him on this! SADNESS! Halim pities you should you miss this opportunity to witness his telling of tales from the legendary Kitab Al-Hikayat - The Book of Stories!
Attend other shows at your own PERIL!
l-Hakawati is a solo storytelling and improv performance! Yes, you read that right. I get up on stage all alone and improvise a full show. It still scares the shit out of me every time! It was born because of a need (my partner had to leave town - and no, it’s not because of what you’re thinking) and then I had to… well… improvise!
HEADLINER
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 21 🕒 21:45
FRIDAY AUG 22
Wet Skeleton
AGENT OF CHAOS
Liverpool, UK
Agent of chaos, Jen takes you on 3 seperate journeys as we discover what weird people get up to when they're just living their everyday lives. After all, we're all just Wet Skeletons.
Hailing from the best city on earth (Liverpool!) Jen is an improviser, poet, teacher and coach as well as being a producer at a Shakespearian theatre.
She have performed in all-female comedy troupes and Liverpool's first UCB style team. As the co-director of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, she is passionate about exploring improvisation in all forms, and supporting communities to perform and learn new ways to be spontaneous.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 22 🕒 18:00
Turtle Logic
TWIN FLOWERS
Berlin, Germany
Turtle Logic is a long-form improv team based in Berlin and proud winners of the 2024 Comedy Cafe Berlin Cage Match Tournament. Featuring Zoe Langer, Pip Roper, Laura Kenny, Simone O’Donovan, Georgia Riungu and Rocio Ciganda, the team brings sharp, character-driven, and unpredictable comedy to the stage. In Twin Flowers, two distinct stories unfold—separate yet intertwined—with connections that gradually reveal themselves in surprising and playful ways. The journey twists and turns, leading to an ending that feels both inevitable and unexpected. With diverse perspectives and a fearless approach to improv, Turtle Logic crafts performances that entertain, challenge, and delight—inviting audiences into their ever-evolving world.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 22 🕒 18:35
A Very Capable Boy
London, UK
Deep, dark, emotional (and funny) improv from TV’s Greg Baxter and the late, great Nathan Dean. Join these two giants of improv* as they inhabit a world of strange people, sad places, happy objects and unknown events, guaranteed to move, amuse, charm and perplex you through an hour of your valuable time.
They promise to try their absolute best, and you can’t say fairer than that.
* Greg and Nathan are both 5’10”, and therefore taller than the UK average height.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 22 🕒 19:30
Groundhog
London, UK
From London’s acclaimed theatre, The Free Association, come Cagematch champions Groundhog. A talented, hilarious, attractive and humble team. More to the point, they are an improv comedy group made up of four Free Association veterans, bringing you a brand new original format. Inspired by the classic film ‘Groundhog Day’, they will perform an organic Longform show, using repetition as it’s heart.
Groundhog are Alex Holland, Naomi Petersen, Alison Thea-Skot and Jim Archer. Aka the FA’s Head Teacher, the FA’s former Artistic Director, a critically acclaimed character comedian and some guy who’s been nominated for a couple of Baftas.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 22 🕒 20:20
Patti Stiles & Joe Bill
OUR PLAY
Melbourne, AUS & Chicago, USA
"OUR PLAY" features two internationally known impro teachers and performers. Patti Stiles (Melbourne) and Joe Bill (Chicago). The duo demonstrates that despite the differences in their impro training (Johnstone / Close), there are many more things that the Impro legends have in common which makes their show such a beautiful thing to see. Anchored in narrative, character and relationships, Our Play celebrates the complexity and vulnerability of being human. Ultimately, the magnificence of the performance comes from their diverse approaches and their ability to support each other fiercely.
Joe Bill who was taught by Del Close and Patti Stiles who was taught by Keith Johnstone created a show to explore the question "Are we so different as improvisers?" What they discovered was No and… Yes. What they discovered might run counter to popular thought. No the two schools are not so different, and Yes there are some differences. Through their vast experience playing in many different contexts, they have noticed some differences in tastes/preferences and each context comes with its own semantics. However, they’ve also discovered that players simply have different words for so many of the same ideas/principles.
HEADLINER
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 22 🕒 20:20
SATURDAY AUG 23
Panel Talk
Invited improvisers will be part of a panel talk aboutThe discussion will be about equality and equity in the improv community and how theaters can counteract racism and discrimination onstage and offstage.
More information is coming soon...
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 23 🕒 18:00
SATURDAY AUG 23
Fluff
BIG LITTLE PLACE
London, UK
Big Little Place is the new comedy play from improv theatre company Fluff. Made up entirely on the spot, the show creates a relatable community of characters in a location chosen by the audience. Whether it's an over-excited party of passengers on a cruise ship, or the stressed-out staff of your local coffee shop, the results are packed with laughs – and pathos. Join us as we find the funny in familiar people and situations, all based on your suggestions.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 23 🕒 19:30
Kaleidoscope
IT´S LIGHTS UP!
Berlin, Germany
On a brand-new, completely improvised musical that’s as unpredictable as it is unforgettable! With only your suggestions for inspiration, the cast weaves together a hilarious narrative packed with lovable characters, catchy tunes, and jaw-dropping harmonies. Described as “pure magic on stage,” each show is a laugh-out-loud journey through the unexpected that will stay with you long after the final note!
Hailing from the worlds of professional musical theatre and opera, Berlin’s Kaleidoscope is a powerhouse ensemble known for their stunning musicality, razor-sharp wit, and storytelling prowess. After two years of sell-out shows in Germany, a Fringe run, and a UK/Europe tour, they're excited to lace up their Converse, zip up their boilersuits, and bring their improvised musical to Gothenburg!
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 23 🕒 20:20
Black Lady Improv
A BLACK LADY IMPROV SHOW
USA
This joyful celebration features an all-Black women cast serving characters, wit, and the kind of chemistry that only comes from shared sisterhood. Expect big laughs, real moments, and scenes that flip the script on everything you thought you knew about improv. Come through and witness some of improv’s most powerful voices taking up space, making up stories, and making history—in real time. This is more than just a show—it’s an experience. With Shannon Stott, Coko Galore, Stephanie Rae
HEADLINER
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 23 🕒 21:45
SUNDAY AUG 24
MAF
TBA
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 24 🕒 20:20
Mixer shows
TBA
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 24 🕒 18:10
Lillebror & Helium
RECAP
The entire festival - in 30 minutes Gbgimpro’s Houseteams Lillebror and Helium take your most memorable moments from the week and turn them into a fast paced and comedic sketch show.
Redbergsteatern
📆 Aug 24 🕒 20:50
Workshops
All workshops are
now on sale!
MÖLNDAL
Konstkollektivet
Hard Topics
This workshop will highlight what happens to us as performers when a scene becomes scary, offensive, or insensitive, and we freeze or lose ourselves. We explore some approaches to get the agency back when we find ourselves somewhere uncomfortable, tools for improvising mindfully, and finding a proactive voice for you and your show. We will learn the SwagHat format. A living room-style discussion, and then we perform scenes inspired by the conversation.
TRIGGER AND CONTENT WARNING: this is a class on scenes when you find yourself dealing with topics of race or socially and politically charged situations - which means it will include discussions and scenes dealing with race, gender* and other very personally sensitive areas and how to move forward thoughtfully, respectfully and meaningfully when you find yourself there.
John Gebretatose
John Gebretatose is a comedy and improv community trailblazer with over 15 years of experience. He founded Good Camel Comedy Theater, an arts company dedicated to humor that speaks truth to power and fosters diverse voices. As the co-executive director and former Director of Diversity and Inclusion at HUGE Theater in Minneapolis, John has led significant diversity initiatives that have shaped the regional improv landscape. He co-founded the Black and Funny Improv Festival and Blackout Improv, which spotlight and uplift underrepresented artists. Additionally, John is an award-winning podcast host for “MinneCulture” on KFAI radio, further showcasing his passion for cultural storytelling.
Find Your Flow
A Freestyle Workshop
for All Levels
Have fun practicing freestyle rap in a supportive and encouraging environment. Whether you're an experienced MC or brand new to the mic, you've got something unique to bring to the table and we wanna hear about it! We will cover different methods for building a verse, practice rapping from a place of authenticity, rap in scenes, and finally, create our own larger-than-life rap personas for a laugh-filled round of "Build A Rapper." This workshop is perfect for everyone from DJs to dental hygienists, because whatever level you're coming from, you will be met with an appropriate challenge and a space where everyone is celebrated just for having the courage to show up. Push past your fear of failure and find your flow!
Stephanie Rae
Stephanie Rae is a full-time improv practitioner, freestyle rap artist, and corporate facilitator. She is the founder of the Black Improv Alliance and a Creative Director at freestyle+, where she leads dynamic workshops that blend humor and strategy. Her work as an advocate has provided scholarships and free training to hundreds of BIPOC improvisers, and her background in law and higher education gives her unique perspective. Stephanie has performed and guest played with Baby Wants Candy, North Coast, the Groundlings, Free Daps, and the Tony Award-winning Freestyle Love Supreme - even earning a hug and compliment from Beyoncé herself.
A verbal and
enthuastic Yes and
(Non-binary & Female identifying only)
This workshop recognizes and validates the moments when an improviser feels uncomfortable on stage. Here improvisers will discuss those moments and practice tools to address them on stage within the context of a scene or game.
Areas of Study:
-Moving through the freeze
-Techniques to exit a scene
-Saying no in a scene
-Protecting yourself and your character
Note: This workshop is designed for female-identifying and non-binary folx only.
Shannon Stott
Shannon Stott is an improviser based in Austin, TX. She has been performing and teaching Improv to theater students and corporate clients since 2001. Shannon utilizes improv as a tool to change lives both on and off the stage, encouraging her students to carry these tools out of their theaters and into their workplaces and homes
Competetive Improv
Competitive Improv
In this workshop, we explore the art of competition on stage: the presentation, the games, the set-ups, and feeling like a winner (even if you lose!)
Coko Galore
Coko Galore (she/they)
is a comedic actor, writer, director and producer.
Her credits include The Untitled Black Sketch Project (co-producer), This Hour is 22 Minutes (writer), former Artistic and Managing Director of the Bad Dog Comedy Theatre (2020-2022), and appearances in Pretty Hard Cases (CBC), Tallboyz (CBC), and The Accused (Fox).
Coko is currently performing at
The Second City Mainstage in Toronto.
The First 30 Seconds
-The Next 3 minutes
& Now What?
In Improvisation scenes, the ending often lies in the beginning. I will show you how to begin your scenes with focus and playfulness and how to begin to bring your inner Engineer and Jazz Musician into Harmony through the way that you listen. We’ll focus on the first 30 seconds of a scene to discover your
characters (How they do, What they do, is Who they are) evolving from the recognition of “How am I?”, “How are you?” and “How are WE?” I’ll help increase your awareness of the 2 types of dialogue, (Circumstantial and Interpersonal) to give you the best chance to play an honest grounded scene, rooted in depth and discovery AND how comedy and story can come as a consequence of connection, rather than goals that you’re desperately chasing.
Joe Bill
Joe Bill is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Improvised Storytelling and Scenic, Longform & Duo Improvisation in North America today. He is one of the founding members of Annoyance Theater Chicago where, for 12 years, he performed
in and/or directed more than 60 different shows. Joe is ½ of the first touring Improv Duo in North America, BASSPROV, created in 2000 with Mark Sutton. They are still
performing at Festivals and theater engagements globally 24 years later. Since then Joe’s been touring all over the world teaching, directing, and improvising with several
other amazing Duo Partners like Patti Stiles (Our Play), Jill Bernard (SCRAM!), Stacey Hallal (Stacey & Joe, We Slept Together) Lee White (Paradigm), Heather Urquart (Blues Hammer), Felipe Ortiz (Les Disciplinos) and David Razowsky (Razowsky & Bill), ALL in different, original formats and styles. He was the Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for 15 years and started training and performing there in 1985. He was a Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Training Center & Conservatory where he taught intensives in Duo Improvisation and Improvisation for Actors for 10 years.
No isn’t always a block
Sometimes the best yes is a no
No isn’t always a block – Sometimes the best yes is a no
Learning to accept each other’s offers is vital in improvisation. However, many improvisers end up being trained in a ‘Pavlovian’ response to create improvisation through saying yes! to everything without understanding the offer or the story. This workshop will show you that sometimes the best Yes is a NO!
Patti Stiles
Patti is an actor, director, author, playwright and teacher who specialises in improvisational theatre. She is a former Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Dream Kitchen Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU) and the International Theatresports Institute (CA), and a founding member of the award winning Die Nasty – the live improvised soap opera (CA). Her tutelage and mentorship has strongly influenced many improvisors and improvisation companies all over the world. Such as Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU), Spontaneity Shop (UK), Closer Each Day (UK), Smoking Sofa (FR), Teatro A Molla (IT) and I Bugardini (IT), B.L.U.E – the musical (IT), Courtyard Playhouse (UAE) and the award winning Austentacious (UK).
Genre Joy
In this workshop, we will look at how to dive headfirst into our preferred genres but also, what we can do when we are faced with those less common genres that we don't know much about.
We'll be covering tropes and we'll examine how narrowing a genre down to a sub-genre can open us up to different moves.
Finally, we'll examine how genre can help us create new short-form games and new long-form formats.
Kate McCabe
Kate McCabe is an American comic who has been living and working in the UK for the last 18 years. Starting her stand-up career in NYC she also attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, securing an acting degree via the Stella Adler Conservatory.She performs with and co-directs the long-form comedy show Murder Inc. Improv. She has also performed with The Totally Improvised Company for nearly 15 years.In 2022, she co-authored the play THE NAME OF THE DAME, a satire of the film noir genre, which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe and is currently touring the UK.As a comedy and improv workshop facilitator, she has worked regularly with and designed comedy curriculums for: The Big Difference Company, Laugh at Leeds, ComedySportz UK, The University of Salford, Gwneud Make Do, The BBC, and others. When she is not working professionally as a comic, she also lends her voice to audio books and video games. You may have even been killed by her flamethrower-wielding baddie in Tom Clancy’s
THE DIVISION 2.
GOTHENBURG
Redbergsskolan/teatern
Master class on you
Master Class is designed for the experienced improviser and is focused on providing specific feedback on the individual from an experience outside eye. We look at strengths, patterns and habits. The aim is to bring a greater awareness of your work, provided challenges and open areas for growth.
Patti Stiles
Patti is an actor, director, author, playwright and teacher who specialises in improvisational theatre. She is a former Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Dream Kitchen Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU) and the International Theatresports Institute (CA), and a founding member of the award winning Die Nasty – the live improvised soap opera (CA). Her tutelage and mentorship has strongly influenced many improvisors and improvisation companies all over the world. Such as Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU), Spontaneity Shop (UK), Closer Each Day (UK), Smoking Sofa (FR), Teatro A Molla (IT) and I Bugardini (IT), B.L.U.E – the musical (IT), Courtyard Playhouse (UAE) and the award winning Austentacious (UK).
Scene Brain, Story Brain, Game Brain
This two-day workshop will help improvisers understand the differences in how their brains work when they are playing improv scenes vs improv games. We’ll cover how the harmony of the Engineer and Jazz Musician sensibilities in your head can be vital in playing Scene, Narrative, Games (and “Game of The Scene’, if applicable). There are psychological differences that happen when we play for comedy as the goal vs. when we play for comedy as a consequence of emotional and psychological connection. I’ve studied psychology and behavioral neuroscience for more than 30 years and in this workshop, I aim to help everyone at any point in their improv life, to understand how to ground themselves immediately in an improv scene, in ANY context. There is some deep cut neuroscience nerdery in this workshop but I will also help you get out of your head, gain confidence, and feel more connected so you can just PLAY!
Joe Bill
Joe Bill is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Improvised Storytelling and Scenic, Longform & Duo Improvisation in North America today. He is one of the founding members of Annoyance Theater Chicago where, for 12 years, he performed in and/or directed more than 60 different shows. Joe is ½ of the first touring Improv Duo in North America, BASSPROV, created in 2000 with Mark Sutton. They are still
performing at Festivals and theater engagements globally 24 years later. Since then Joe’s been touring all over the world teaching, directing, and improvising with several other amazing Duo Partners like Patti Stiles (Our Play), Jill Bernard (SCRAM!), Stacey Hallal (Stacey & Joe, We Slept Together) Lee White (Paradigm), Heather Urquart (Blues Hammer), Felipe Ortiz (Les Disciplinos) and David Razowsky (Razowsky & Bill), ALL in different, original formats and styles. He was the Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for 15 years and started training and performing there in 1985. He was a Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Training Center & Conservatory where he taught intensives in Duo Improvisation and Improvisation for Actors for 10 years.
Back from The Brink
Ever been on stage and felt like your show was tanking? Of course you have!Everyone has bad days, whether you’re ten minutes or ten years into your improvjourney. In fact, bombing on stage is a rite of passage for every improviser. Andlisten, I don’t want to take that away from you, because fundamentally it will makeyou a better performer. But it’s never too late to turn things around. In this workshop we’ll explore how you can bring your shows back from the brink through teamwork,trust and commitment. No cheap tricks or short-cuts; just confident, connectedimprov that will make you fall in love with your show again and bring your audiencealong for the ride.
Naomi Petersen
Naomi is a critically acclaimed improviser and actor, and was previously Artistic Director at The Free Association. She has been improvising for over a decade, and regularly teaches at the FA and beyond. She was a member of OG Harold Team Sweet FA alongside the likes of Jim Woods, Graham Dickson and Liz Kingsman, and now performs regularly in FA headline shows including This Doesn't Leave The Room, 3, St Doctor's Hospital and more. She is also a founding member of improv supergroups SORRY and Cagematch champions Groundhog. She has performed improv all over the UK at The Soho Theatre, The Arcola, Vault Festival, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe and internationally in Berlin, Amsterdam, Chicago and NYC. Naomi is basically obsessed with improv and can't quite believe her luck that she does it for a living.
Characters you're not allowed to play
Part of the joy of improv is the freedom to play any character, but we sometimes shy away from characters who are very different from ourselves. For example, playing a character from a different cultural background, a different gender, or who has a disability can feel very uncomfortable for some people. We’re scared of causing offence, of getting it wrong, of misrepresenting a viewpoint or experience that is not our own. And let’s be honest, oftentimes these choices are made badly, without proper regard for those who do hold these identities. If we never try, though, we miss out on a rich pool of characters, and we might never see some of these lives onstage. Worse, we let our fear dictate our art.
Stephen Davidson
Stephen Davidson is the Artistic Director of The Improvised Play, Improvable, QI: Queer Improv, Carmen: A gender-swapped Film Noir Fantasy, and of Zeal: The Pride Improv Festival. Stephen is the author of two books about improv, Play Like an Ally and Improvising Gender.
Stephen teaches improv independently and through City Academy and Hoopla Improv. He has taught and performed all over the world, and regularly leads improv teacher training courses for theatres and schools.
Stephen is also a founding member of Safe Play, a European group working to combat sexual harassment in improv, and a board member of the International Theatresports Institute.
Big, Dumb, Joyful
Improv
Big swings, shoot for the moon, this workshop explores finding that inner buzz, your own philosophy to go on stage and make moves from and towards joy. What makes you feel silly, playful, and magical? “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose”. Yes coach!
Alison Thea-Skot
Alison Thea-Skot is a critically acclaimed actor, comedian, improviser and writer. ‘The reigning queen of character comedy’ Evening Standard. Selected as one of the Observer’s Female Millennials Changing Comedy, the Evening Standard's Best Comedy Shows to See and The Telegraph's Best of the Fringe. She can be seen on Comedy Central, Sky, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and she has worked with Bad Robot & Paramount Pictures. Alison is a highly skilled improviser, performing for over 12 years on the UK’s biggest stages. As well as developing improv TV formats for ITV & BBC, she is a founding member of ‘Groundhog’. She regularly performs & teaches at The Free Association Improv Theatre in London, she’s hosts and stars in the smash hit ‘Uncle Glen’s Menagerie’ and has guest performed with multi award winners ‘Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel’.
Playing Non-Comedy
Improv is heading more and more towards comedy. Though this is a recipe for a very entertaining night (and we want our shows to be entertaining), we miss improv that can tell a story without the pressure of being funny and just for the sake of telling a good story. This workshop gives us techniques that help us focus on story, reality, and emotion.
Raffi Feghali
Raffi Feghali is a theater maker, peacebuilding consultant, and trainer working mostly in Europe, USA, and the Middle East while being based between Amsterdam and Beirut. As a theater maker, he draws on the meeting point of improvisational theater (improv) and storytelling (especially that rooted in the “hakawati” tradition) in order to inspire his performing, writing, directing/devising, radio dramas, sound design, and music making. He is a member of the Lincoln Theater Center Directors Lab 2018. Raffi is a trainer of various improvisational theater topics as well as other theater skills. He coaches multiple stand-up comedians, storytellers, and actors on performance skills and provides guidance in the development of their shows.
How to be a Wierdo
'How To Be A Weirdo' is a workshop focused on taking your characters to the next level. Try new tools and approaches to character development in improv and help build confidence to let your own inner-weirdo out on stage. Try techniques to more fully inhabit a range of different roles, surprise the audience, surprise yourself! Expand your acting range and trust your instincts, to discover you actually have a whole party of characters hidden in your improviser's backpack.
"If you're lucky enough to find a Weirdo, never let them go!"
Laura Riseborough
Laura Riseborough is an Improviser, Actor and Character Comedian.
In the UK, Laura has performed in comedies and dramas for the BBC, Disney, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 21Soho, Hampstead Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Old Vic New Voice & The Pleasance. Internationally she has performed in the US, Canada, Cuba, France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Irland and South Africa.
As a Improviser, Laura performs and teaches long-form at The Free Association in London, along with coaching a number of other UK teams. She has guested on tour with Austentatious, Steen Improvises with Friends & the Great Job podcast. She can be seen performing in her regular teams '666 Hell Lane', 'Fluff' & 'Northern Powerhouse'. Last year she played at Das Improv Fest in Berlin, Edinburgh Fringe and International Comedy Festival in Scotland.
Laura trained in Classical acting, Method acting, Clown and Commedia Dell'Arte. But she's been preparing for the 'How To Be A Weirdo' workshop all her life!
Playful Voice of Reason
Voice of reason is often misrepresented as the ‘boring’ part of the scene. Oh, it’s a vital role that allows us to frame and play game whilst keeping the baseline reality in check? Eurgh, fine! I’ll do it but I’m not happy about it. “I don’t want to have to eat my vegetables” etc.
In this workshop, we’ll dig into the VoR and look at how much fun you can have in this role. We’ll practise how to play grounded without being ‘boring’, how to say no whilst being a part of the fun, and ask ourselves whether the VoR is even a ‘role’ at all.
Alex Holland
Alex is an award winning comedian, writer, improviser, and headteacher at The Free Association improv theatre in London. Alex joined The FA theatre at its birth in 2014 as part of the first house teams before joining their teaching staff and then moving on to his current role overseeing all classes, syllabus, and teachers at the theatre. He can be seen performing in house show This Doesn’t Leave The Room, is director of the halloween spooktacular 666 Hell Lane, and is a member of cagematch champions and powerhouse improv team Groundhog.
BE CONFLICTED!
We tell beginners to avoid conflict. But sooner or later, improv scenes involve conflict. This workshop will examine creative ways to move beyond bickering to engaging scenes of conflict, based on invested characters with their own POV. We will explore a number of tools and techniques to turn conflict into drama, comedy and fun!
Jon Trevor
Jon has been teaching and performing for 16 years. He runs Birmingham Improv and teaches classes, drop-ins, and hosts and performs in shows. He founded and directed Birmingham's longest running shortform group, Box of Frogs and co-founded longform group Breakfast of Champions. He is the director of the Birmingham Improv Festival.
Celebrate the Lower Status
We love being right and setting the tone. We enjoy receiving praise and admiration from others, we’re only human, after all. However, in so many cases, it is the seemingly clueless and good for nothing character who steals the spotlight. As improvisers, we understand the importance of status in a scene, in terms of relationships, dynamics, and tension. In this workshop, we will explore the concept of a low status, the various types of characters that it encompasses, different ways to achieve it, and how to push it even lower.
Using techniques from clowning, we will embrace our mistakes, flaws, and errors, as they are the ones who make us relatable as human beings and create loveable characters. We will discover the perks that come with lower status, the playfulness and tomfoolery. So let's get lost together!
Liron Barre
Liron is an experienced improviser, clown, performer, actor and improv teacher. She combines methods of clowning, physical theater, performance art and dance, all building and supporting her improv acting and teaching. She's the co-founder and co-artistic director of the duo “ImPresent”. They've been touring with their impro-clown duo format "Strings" and their group formats, teaching and performing in festivals, and they are constantly creating new experiences, formats and collaborations. She's also a part of “Woman up” - an all-female improv ensemble that touches on women related topics and "Girls Night In" - an improvised Rom-Com conversation.
Liron's varied theatrical background supports her stage presence and movement, as well as her connection to the body and physicality of her characters. Her teaching style is energetic and supportive and she loves sharing these aspects in her workshops.
Liron is a guest teacher at ImproSynthesis school in Athens and a curation team coordinator and communications specialist for Ithaca Improfest. She taught workshops in improv festivals in Lisbon, Istanbul, Bucharest and Gothenburg, and in Japan, Munich, Cambridge, Vienna and more.
Playing Politics
(aka Woke 2.0)
In a time when political issues are becoming more and more controversial, we are expected to be more and more politically correct on stage. This workshop helps us navigate how we can say everything we want to say without having to be politically correct and grow our audience instead of losing it.
Raffi Feghali
Raffi Feghali is a theater maker, peacebuilding consultant, and trainer working mostly in Europe, USA, and the Middle East while being based between Amsterdam and Beirut. As a theater maker, he draws on the meeting point of improvisational theater (improv) and storytelling (especially that rooted in the “hakawati” tradition) in order to inspire his performing, writing, directing/devising, radio dramas, sound design, and music making. He is a member of the Lincoln Theater Center Directors Lab 2018. Raffi is a trainer of various improvisational theater topics as well as other theater skills. He coaches multiple stand-up comedians, storytellers, and actors on performance skills and provides guidance in the development of their shows.
The Planning Group
Improfest was founded by Peter Nordstrand in 2015. In 2023, the festival received new direction in the form of Gbgimpro and is now run by a project group with Martin Rositzka as project manager.
this is us!
Collaborators:
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