Hoopla Impro
Founded2006
FounderSteve Roe and Edgar Fernando
Location
Websitewww.hooplaimpro.com

Hoopla Impro is an improvised comedy and drama company that was founded in January 2006 by Steve Roe and Edgar Fernando. It is the UK's first improv theatre. Originally based in Balham southwest London, its shows moved to The Miller in London Bridge in 2010.

During that time it has grown to become the UK's biggest improvisation training school, teaching thousands of people every year at venues around London. It has collaborated with Google, Facebook,[1] Apple, ITV and Imperial College, and the company has been recommended by Time Out,[2] The Evening Standard[3] and The Daily Telegraph.[4]

Annual Hoopla Improv Marathon

Hoopla runs an annual non-stop show for 29 hours every September, starting from 7pm on the Friday through to midnight on Saturday. It includes over 200 performers - many of whom are present throughout - and over 50 shows.[5][6]

Hoopla's UK & Ireland Improv Festival

In 2019 Hoopla launched a Improv Festival in London, bringing together improvised comedy acts from around the United Kingdom and Ireland. Among the performances were The Actor's Nightmare, Music Box and The Committee.[7][8]

Regular Performers

The listed teams are Hoopla-produced house teams, and regular weekend show performers.

NameImprov TypeDate EstablishedMembersReference
The Aquarium Short-form House Team 2019 Belton Flournoy, Harpreet Sandhu, Heather Burgess, Helen Page, Jake Clements, Joe Cazalet-Smith, John Pape, Kiran Shergill, Laura Gazzard, Mary C. Parker, Phillip Piggott, Rachel Edwards, Sanj Surati, Vitali Bokov
The DescendantsNarrative long-form House Team2018Carly Brazier, Carsten Jung, Jess Williamson, Leo Maxwell, Lisa Ronaghan, Matt Cosgrove, Matt Sparkes, Matt Stainsby, Sarah McKinless, Sarah Wiliams, Will Sebastian, Chloe Wittet
Do Not Adjust Your StageLong-form2010Rhys Collier, Tim Grewcock, Shaun Lowthian, Helen O'Donnell, Nick Oram, Freya Parker, Clare Plested, Freya Slipper, Matt Stevens
Do The Right Scene (originally named Nu Z Land)Multiple2017Tai Campbell, Monica Gaga, Athena Kugblenu, Kemah Bob, Adam Courting, Joel Semakula, Mary Parker, Rosie Bergonzi, Joshua Jackson, Folusho Falegan
Dreamweaver Quartet Musical Long-form 2017 James Witt, Greg Birks, Francesca Reid, James Irving, Rhiannon Vivian, Fraser Parry
GÄMEZ Short-form House Team2018Alastair Thomas, Alice Hudson, Charlotte Gaughan, Chloé Dall’Olio, Dave Heron, Ella Bamforth, Euan Brown, Harriet Hughes, Harry Turnbull, Jack Turner, Jessie Rutland, Miriam Hall, Nadine Bailey, Nell Guy, Rachael Fernandes, Ryan J Murphy, Stephen Wan, Tom Bridge, Unai Garcia[9]
Grand Theft ImproImprovised Sketch2003Dylan Emery, Phil Whelans, Charlotte Gittins, Alan Marriott[10]
The MaydaysLong-form2003Heather Urquhart, Jen Rowe, Katy Schutte, Rebecca MacMillan, John Cremer, Liz Peters, Jules Munns, Rhiannon Vivian, Joe Samuel, Chris Mead, Lloydie James Lloyd, Jennifer Jordan, Edmund Fargher
MichelleLong-form House Team2019Chris Rosser, Folusho Falegan, Jon Nguyen, Kate Heward, Lilla Hodossy, Liv Long, Mary Frampton, Max Marcq, Melissa Parker, Michael Kunze, Michal Banai, Paul Creasy, Reanne Farley, Sabrina Luisi, Teresa Senyah
Music Box Musical Long-form 2009 Andrew Gentilli, Greg Birks, Rachel Lyons, Rory Vierya, Lewis Harrison-Barker, Ben Tailor-Hamblin, Tom Hodge
The PlaygroundMultiple2015Breaking & Entering: Maria Peters, Lauren Shearing. Regular guests: Rachel Parris, Suki Webster, Amy Cooke-Hodgson, Charlotte Gittins, Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt, Briony Redman[11]
The RH ExperienceLong-form2008Conor Jatter, Luke Spillane, Tom Webster, Will Dixon, Dan Attfield, Ben Murphie, Ella Jean, Tom Bacon

Diversity

Hoopla aims to promote diversity in improv and comedy.[12] Hoopla hosts a monthly night for BAME players, run by Do The Right Scene. After a 'Crash Landing' workshop, it presents a performance called 'Special Delivery'.[13] Zeal and runs an LGBT 'Loud and Queer' night at Hoopla.[14] The Playground is an all-female monthly night run by Lauren Shearing and Maria Peters's two-person improv show Breaking & Entering.[15] In 2016 it was named by Time Out as one of "Six all-female comedy gigs not to miss this spring".[16]

Hoopla offers a number of diversity scholarships to people who are unemployed or on low-income, students, key workers, over 60s, under 23, homeless or in sheltered accommodation or BAME.[17]

Media coverage

Hoopla Impro's work has featured in several leading publications in the United Kingdom. In April 2014, the Evening Standard of London reported on the rise of tech workers in the city attending improvisation classes at Hoopla.[18] In 2017, the British Comedy Guide reported how The Miller was becoming Hoopla Improv's dedicated venue, starting with a 50-hour improvisation marathon.[19]

In June 2019, author Jessica Pan wrote an article for the Guardian on her experiences from a visit to Hoopla.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "How throwing invisible balls helps top companies with creativity". i.
  2. ↑ "Hoopla Beginners Improv Comedy Class | Things to do in London". Time Out.
  3. ↑ "Seven improv comedy nights you need to go to". Evening Standard. 10 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "London's Best Improv Events". Park Grand Kensington. 16 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Holmes, Paul (17 October 2017). "Hoopla Improv Marathon". The Velvet Onion.
  6. ↑ "The Hoopla Improv Marathon".
  7. ↑ "Hoopla's UK & Ireland Improv Festival 2019!". Hoopla. 14 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "Improv has got big!". British Comedy Guide. 25 April 2019.
  9. ↑ "GÄMEZ Improv website". gamezimprov.com. 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "Hoopla Improv Marathon". thevelvetonion.com. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "Six all-female comedy gigs not to miss this spring". www.timeout.com. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "Hoopla Improv Festival Returns This April". BroadwayWorld. 28 March 2019.
  13. ↑ "The Black Women Transforming London's Improv Theatre Scene". Black Ballad. 2 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Show of the Week". The Phoenix Remix. 10 September 2018.
  15. ↑ "Lauren Shearing".
  16. ↑ "Six all-female comedy gigs not to miss this spring". Time Out. 4 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "Diversity Scholarships". Hoopla Impro.
  18. ↑ "Rise of the improv geeks: why London's tech workers are taking comedy". Evening Standard. 28 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "Hoopla! to launch dedicated London improv venue with 50-hour marathon". British Comedy Guide. 11 September 2017.
  20. ↑ Pan, Jessica (17 June 2019). "I was an introvert with a grey life – until I learned to let go on stage". The Guardian.
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