Bristol Improv Theatres launches season of in-person shows

As the world begins reopening its physical doors, Bristol Improv Theatre has announced a new season of shows responding creatively to the “new normal”.

Running from May 21 to June 12, REACT will feature a Bristol companies and artists as they use improvisation to create work that celebrates creativity and its importance during hardship.

Described as “imaginative, immediate, wholehearted and fun”, eight shows have been planned, taking place at the theatre’s home in Clifton. Three shows will also be streamed live from YouTube.

The season will kick off with Confession Booth, devised, directed and performed by Bristol Improv Theatre associate artists and streamed to YouTube, it will be a chance to anonymously confess any lockdown sins to inspire scenes of the show.

Completely Wonderful will see Caitlin Campbell, executive director of the Bristol Improv Theatre, and Douglas Walker present a masterclass in improvised storytelling. It will also be streamed to YouTube.

The third show, Off by Heart, will see improv inspired by true audience stories. It will be an “exploration of love, distance and memory” and use improvisation and live illustration to paint a portrait of what unites people.

Caitlin Campbell, executive director of the theatre, will perform in Completely Wonderful. Photo: Wilbee Films

Bristol Improv Theatre’s flagship musical show, This Is Your Musical, will return on May 29 for a cabaret night of musical numbers and show-tunes, A Space Oddity on June 11 will be the first live rendition of a new improv piece by Bristol Improv Theatre artists and June 5’s Tales of Adventure will see performers create an interactive fantasy quest let by a game-master.

“One of the things I love about theatre and improv especially is how constraints can unlock new and interesting ways of making work, and the challenges of performing with social distancing have been no different,” says Caitlin.

“Getting back into the space with our associate artists and getting to play and make each other laugh was the highlight of 2020 for me.”

Also planned is The Antics Joke Show from Up the Antics. Prior to the pandemic, the Antics had been performing together for almost ten years and had taken several shows to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Since March 2020, they have continued to entertain audiences in their homes with their online magazine show The Antics Home Show on the Bristol Improv Theatre’s Twitch channel.

To celebrate returning to live performance, these experienced sketchers have formulated a show combining old favourites and new sketches.

REACT will see a return to in-person improv. Photo: Lee Pullen

Murder, She Didn’t Write will also return to the physical stage. Also being streamed to YouTube, the show returns with the usual suspects, and is “sillier than ever”.

“Now we are finally reopening to audiences after a whole year, I cannot wait to see the shows up on stage and see how the audience reacts to what we have made for them,” says Caitlin.

“It is going to be the strangest and most wonderful feeling to hear a whole room of people laughing together again.”

Main photo: Lee Pullen

Read more: ‘The Bristol Improv Theatre has taught me to embrace the unknown’