Bigimprov - the Bradford Improv Theatre

11/03/2026

I'm going to try to do one of these every week just for my own learning.

We're very lucky with the current open group - they're friendly, they're supportive, they look after each other. We have a range of ages from I think early 20s up to early 70s and they work together beautifully.

So I have nothing to complain about, except a few volume issues, but that's mostly because I'm old and deaf, and they can be sorted very easily - going forward my Rose Bruford trained co-conspirator is going to do a little bit of voice work. We did it last night and people liked it, so we'll keep going.

One thing that did float up (actually two things) that I want to keep in mind, is:

1. The question! Beware the question. It can be evil - not only is it empty, but it puts the load for the scene completely on your partner. Not good! Not good at all. Share, my darlings, share. Having said that there was a lovely example of a *good* question. One person said:

"why is my finger turning purple? What sort of strange mutant spiders are they?"

So now I know the spiders bite, they're venomous, they're strange, they're mutant... I know all sorts of things from that offer. It's a good, rich offer. Framed as a question, so I'm calling that a good question.

2. We got trapped in a teacher-pupil situation. These are dangerous because in the end nothing really happens - it's just two heads talking on stage, one lecturing the other. It's a one-way power dynamic and they can drag on for _ages_. Sitting there watching two very capable performers get trapped in one I could feel my own interest and will to live drain away. Actors, be selfish - cling to the action. Give yourselves something to *do*.

Other than that my only regret is that I will never see the Cheeky Girls perform death metal. That is a regret.

01/02/2026

RIP Catherine O'Hara, got her start in the Second City Improv Theatre, started her media career in Second City Tv (SCTV - popular in Canada in particular. Granada carried a couple of seasons of it in the UK)

Between Home Alone and the sublime Beeltejuice she's one of my faces of the 80s.

Rest well, improv maestra.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year Lovely People!
May you have a happy and successful 2026

27/10/2025

It's a laugh. Improv is a brilliant, superb laugh. It's sociable, it's silly, but it does have serious underpinnings. If you want to work the little grey cells, become a more fluid and relaxed communicator, a more risk-comfortable problem solver, then there are measurable benefits to being just a little bit of a wazzock for an hour or two a week.

Don't take our word for it. Have a proper scientific study. Link in the comments.

"Creative and healthy through improv: Effects of training improvisational theatre on creative and work-related self-efficacy and self-esteem"

Highlights:
• Improv participants show a stronger increase in creative self-efficacy compared to control.
• Improv participants show a stronger increase in self-esteem compared to control.

Open group, Carr Lane Centre, Tuesday 7.20pm

everyone welcome

19/08/2025

Can we just gently remind you that there is an improv drama group in the Carr Lane centre every Tuesday evening, starting at half seven. It's very friendly, it's great for beginners, and it's brilliant exercise for the little grey cells.

7.30 to 9pm, quick drink in the bar afterwards. Throw a couple of quid in the hat if you've got change, don't worry about it if you haven't.

You are very, very welcome 😃

(And just to prove it's not just being silly, there is some proper science behind this:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8155780/

"Participants experienced significant improvements in social isolation and perceived stress (p < .05), and trend improvements in positive affect, self-efficacy, and anxiety.

Participants described themes of increased attentiveness, becoming more relaxed, increased cognitive stimulation, and improved communication skills.")

Adjusting to life in a long term care facility (LTCF) can be challenging for older adults. Improvisation (shortened to improv) is a unique activity that encourages creativity and adaptive cognitive stimulation, through performing short scenes with ...

14/08/2025

This looks interesting -

Highlights:
• A cohort of healthy older adults participated in a comedy improvisation course.
• Responses to open-ended survey questions were analyzed with qualitative methodologies.
• Participants reported common outlook-based and behavioral benefits of improv comedy.

• Comedy improvisation may confer a variety of benefits for healthy older adults.

Link in the comments. Apparently Facebook really doesn't like you putting links in the post.

Don't forget, open group every Tuesday, 7.30pm at the Carr Lane Club on Carr Lane. We don't just do comedy.

11/06/2024

Quote in graphic is slightly wrong. Correct version is:

"See this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they'd allowed to wither in themselves."

Robert McCammon
Boy's Life (1991)

Still very damned right though.

08/05/2024

7th May, so once every two weeks? We brag about the open session? Two wonderful new people in last night - we had someone from South America! We're international, baby! At one point she said "this is so much fun, I wish we'd done this years ago!"

You're doing it now, that's the important thing.

Next week we'll look at spontaneity. We'll run over some short form games then you'll create your own sketch. Two complete beginners did brilliantly last night, you could too. Carr Lane Club, Tuesday, 7.30pm. £5 if you have it, don't worry if you haven't (and the Carr Lane is a private members club, so you will need to join the club itself if you want to keep coming but that's a mighty £10 a year, £6 if you're over 60).

See you there.

24/04/2024

We had a brilliant open session last night - we took a group including a beginner from word games to creating their own sketch in just over an hour.

Next week we'll look at show games. Short form. Expect mental exercise, gentle creativity, and enough laughs to get a complaint from next door.

Open session, Carr Lane Centre, Carr Lane, Shipley, 7.30pm start, every Tuesday. £5 waged / £3 unwaged if you've got it, don't worry if you haven't.

See you there.

05/02/2024

It's only brave if you think that for some strange reason you're not entitled to a learning curve.

You are.