The Improverts is a improvisational comedy troupe from the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, which primarily performs at the Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh. They perform weekly during Edinburgh University's term time and every night during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [1]
The Edinburgh University Theatre Company's improvised comedy troupe now known as The Improverts was founded in Edinburgh in 1989 by Canadian-born Toph Marshall. [2] He named it Theatresports after the form of competitive improvisation developed by director Keith Johnstone in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1976. As the show grew in popularity the name was changed, during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, (for copyright reasons) to Impro-Vegetables and then finally, in the 90s, to The Improverts. The Improverts was adopted as a permanent, year-round name from September 1997 onwards. [3]
Since the show's inception it has kept the Bedlam Theatre as its primary performance space, running weekly during Edinburgh University's term time and then at the Edinburgh Fringe. Each year new players are recruited largely, though not exclusively, from the student population though every player must be a member of the Edinburgh University Theatre Company. The troupe provides free weekly workshops in improvisation for the general public in order to attract new talent to the group. [4]
Carrying on the teachings of Keith Johnstone, the show's format has changed over time, but stayed within the short-form sketch mould similar to TV's Whose Line is it Anyway? .[ citation needed ]
During term time, the Improverts play weekly at Bedlam Theatre, [5] and hold weekly free improvisation workshops for the general public.[ citation needed ]
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featured more than 51,446 scheduled performances of 3,746 different shows across 262 venues from 60 different countries. Of those shows, the largest section was comedy, representing almost 40% of shows, followed by theatre, which was 26.6% of shows.
Mitchell John Benn is an English comedian, author and musician known for his comedy rock songs performed on BBC Radio. He was, until 2016, a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.
The Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES) is a student drama society at the University of Cambridge. Notable alumni include Douglas Adams, John Cleese, Prince Edward, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Andy Hamilton and Graeme Garden.
Bedlam Theatre is a theatre in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The building was completed in 1848 for the New North Free Church. After closing as a church in 1941, the building served as a chaplaincy centre and then a store for the University of Edinburgh before reopening in 1980 as the student-run theatre of Edinburgh University Theatre Company (EUTC), operating during Edinburgh Fringe festival as venue 49.
ImprovBoston is a nonprofit improvisational theater, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers shows and classes its theater in Central Square. Classes are offered in improvisation, stand-up comedy, musical improv, and sketch writing.
The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is a not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre group in Wellington, New Zealand. It is run by a committee elected by and from its forty to sixty active members. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp is an English actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series Balamory. He also played John Duggan in The Thick of It, Nigel in the sitcom Rev and appeared on many comedy panel shows. Between 2015 and 2019, Jupp was the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, replacing Sandi Toksvig.
Patti Stiles is an actress, director, author, playwright, teacher and improvisation artist living in Australia.
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Beginning in 1953, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists - as is the case with their Cambridge University counterparts, the Footlights. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term in the pubs and theatres around Oxford, as well as touring to cities in the United Kingdom and performing a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year.
The Spontaneity Shop is an improvisational comedy company formed in London in 1996. They base their work around the teachings of Keith Johnstone and have developed several original improvisation forms.
The Penny Dreadfuls are a British sketch comedy troupe consisting of comedians Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck, often supported by Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The troupe are best known for writing and performing The Brothers Faversham and The Penny Dreadfuls Present..., comic plays on BBC Radio 4.
David Reed is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls.
Thomas Tuck is a British actor and comedian. He is known for being one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls and as a stand-up comedian. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
David Humphrey Rivers Ker is a British actor, comedian, writer and football executive, who is a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls.
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is an improvised comedy, musical theatre show founded in London in 2008. It has toured the UK extensively, usually sells out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year, had its own BBC Radio 4 series in 2011 and performed a 10-week run in London's West End in 2015, for which it won an Olivier Award.
Ewen Douglas MacIntosh was a British actor known for his role as Keith Bishop in The Office (2001–2003).
Ruth Bratt is an English actress and comedian. Bratt has appeared in the BAFTA award winning BBC2 series People Just Do Nothing. In 2022 she was at the Edinburgh Festival in "Starship Improvise" with the Mischief Theatre.
Edinburgh University Theatre Company (EUTC) is a student theatre company at the University of Edinburgh. The EUTC was founded in 1871 as the Edinburgh University Amateur Dramatic Club and adopted its current name in the 1970s. Since 1980 it has run the Bedlam Theatre.
Austentatious (An Improvised Jane Austen Novel) is a long-form improvised comedy show, in the style of a Jane Austen novel, where each show is improvised by a six-strong cast, based on a title suggested by a member of the audience. Beginning in 2011 in London, the original cast members took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Free Fringe in the summer of 2012. Following their initial success, they began performing a monthly show in London, transferring to the West End in 2017, and have since performed on BBC Radio 4, on tour, and at the Edinburgh Fringe.