Inside the Bristol Improv Theatre

Housed in a Clifton terrace building that formerly hosted the Polish Club, Bristol Improv Theatre (BIT) was founded in 2012 by small group of directors, actors and educators, to promote the art of improvised theatre and comedy.

The theatre exists “to produce original work and programming, spread the word about our increasingly popular art form and make people’s lives more fun through the practice of improv”.

Ahead of a packed August programme, we had a chat with artistic director Caitlin Campbell.

So, Caitlin, tell us about the BIT.
We’re up in Clifton, in a beautiful Georgian town house. Downstairs, there’s a basement into which we’ve managed to cram a 115-seat theatre and fully licensed bar. The theatre space is where we put on our big shows: we make our own work (think rollicking improvised musicals! anarchic game shows!) and also host touring companies. The bar space has a corner stage and cabaret seating for more intimate gigs: scratch nights, open mics, student shows. We serve local beer and cider and mix deadly cocktails.

That’s what you’d see on a Friday or Saturday: on a weeknight you’ll find the rooms buzzing with adults cracking each other up and losing their inhibitions at our improv courses.

Bristol Improv Theatre’s artistic director Caitlin Campbell

And how is it all going there?
Growth is gradual and constant. Three years ago there were just four of us running this place, pulling the pints, balancing the books, designing the posters, teching the shows and (for the first month at least) cleaning the toilets. Now we have a 13-strong team, along with a host of incredible volunteers. We’ve become ever more ambitious, a lot more professional and, most importantly, much tidier around the office.

We don’t have improv on every night of the week (one day, but not yet) so sometimes we play host to other wonderful Bristol organisations – the monthly screenings with Bristol Bad Film Club are a staff favourite, along with the annual Bristol Burlesque Festival.

Tell us about some August events you’re especially looking forward to.
Our next Improv Double Bill (Aug 16) features Imogené and Waiting For Becky, two awesome local improv shows. This Is Your Musical [pictured top], our monthly all-singing, all-dancing hilarious musical extravaganza, returns on August 23. The cast make up a musical on the spot from audience stories, accompanied by a live band.

Then, on August 30, we welcome London improv troupe Do Not Adjust Your Stage with The Wunderkammer, in which TED-style talks from experts inspire improvised scenes, sketches and characters. This show has sold out all over the UK and had a residency at the Natural History Museum. They are teaming up with one of our favourite people (Ti Singh, creator of the Bristol Bad Film Club) for what promises to be a hilarious and informative evening.

London improv troupe Do Not Adjust Your Stage visit the BIT in August with their acclaimed ‘The Wunderkammer’. Pic: Natasha Pszenicki

Great that there’s enough of an improv community here in Bristol to support its own theatre. Is Bristol strong in this art form?
It is now! Bristol was the first UK city to get a full-time, dedicated performance space run by artists. Nowadays, if you want to do improv and you don’t want to move to London (and who does?), Bristol and Brighton are your best bets.

Bristol’s improvising community made this place happen – from the five Bristol troupes who performed at the first ever festival back in 2013, to the 40-odd volunteers who descended on the Polish Club in 2017 to help us transform the space into a purpose-built theatre, and on to the hundreds of students and performers who pour in and out of our doors every day now.

For more on the Bristol Improv Theatre, visit improvtheatre.co.uk

Pictured top: A recent performance of BIT’s monthly improv musical evening This Is Your Musical (next instalment Aug 23). Pic by Lee Pullen

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