BigImprov!
The Bradford Impro Theatre
Bradford's biggest impro theatre. Open to everyone. Bringing people together, unlocking their creativity, enriching their lives with classes, workshops, and performances. Since 2017.
We've got a new home!
Yes we have and it is spanky.
It's at the Carr Lane Club on, you guessed it, Carr Lane. It has ample parking, it has a bustop just outside, and Shipley train station is eight minutes walk away.
We've restarted the drop in every Tuesday, and we have tentatively started booking shows and workshops. In the meantime come and say hello. Every Tuesday 7.30pm, pay as you feel, £5 if you've got it, don't worry if you haven't.
A gentle warning.
The Carr Lane is a private member's club, so if you want to keep coming (and we hope you will) then you will need to join as a member. Membership of the centre is currently £10 a year for under 60s, £6 a year over. Your membership gets you your own door card and a discount at the bar. It also thanks what has so far been a truly superb host.
The Performance Group
Relax, you won't be going on stage unless you want to. Auditions for the performance group are held a couple of times a year and priority is given to people who've attended drop ins and other sessions. If you want to join the performance group you're welcome to audition. If you don't then that's perfectly fine.
Shows
The performance group are doing shows!
Currently the first Friday of every month at the Triangle Bar* in Shipley. Pay as you feel, 7.30pm start, some of the finest beers in West Yorkshire.
The Performance Group have performed in a range of projects. They've done silly comedy, they've run scratch nights sharing the stage with new and experimental performance work, and they've done turns at comedy nights.
They've done comedy short form improv (the sort of thing you'll see on tv's 'Whose Line is it Anyway'), and they've done spellbinding longform improv, spontaneously creating entire plays in front of an audience. They're a versatile bunch.
If you'd like to join them then you can start the process by coming along to our open nights. If you'd like to book them (or you have any questions) then get in touch
* like so many of these older buildings mobility access is less than perfect; there's a flight of stairs to the performance room and another one to the toilets. With that proviso, common to so many buildings of its area and era, the Triangle is a wonderful venue.
Classes
We have an open improv drop in, where we do comedy and more serious narrative work, at the Carr Lane Club* (39 Carr Lane, Shipley, BD18 2NQ). Every Tuesday, 7.30pm. Pay as you feel, £5 if you've got it, don't worry if you haven't.
The Carr Lane Club is on the edge of Shipley, just north of Bradford, a short walk from Wrose, Idle, and Thackley, maybe half a mile from Saltaire. It has generous parking, there's a bustop right outside the venue and one just down the hill, and it's an eight minute walk from Shipley train station, which has direct trains to Bradford and Leeds every fifteen minutes and direct services to Skipton, Bingley, Keighley, and Ilkley. It's pretty well connected. It was, but is no longer and hasn't been for a while, Windhill Conservative Club. Google hasn't quite caught up yet. It will.
*It's not a Conservative Club. We've had a number of enquiries about this, so let's stress; Carr Lane disassociated from the National Association of Conservative Clubs years ago. Google hasn't caught up, although the company name hasn't been changed at Companies House because it requires solicitors, costs the better part of a thousand pounds, and there's always something else to spend the money on. Windhill Conservative Club no longer exists. Carr Lane is not a conservative club.
About Impro(v)
You stand in a room with a bunch of people who, just a few short weeks ago were complete strangers.
Now you know each other. You've created together, played together. Maybe you're becoming friends, maybe not, but these are people you've created with, these are people you can trust.
You make a story offer to your scene partner. They accept your offer and move the story forward, just a little. The two of you repeat this process and an entire story emerges, with plot and character, one gentle step at a time. It's like magic.
You have gone from walking into the room wondering what on Earth you're doing there, to being an actor in a play that you are co-writing with trusted collaborators. In a support of a positive group you are being creative. You are writing, you are acting. It's easy.
You play silly games. Except they're not silly games - mammals play for serious reasons. They are exercises honed over decades to develop essential skills. Seriously, ask your teacher. Any teacher worthy of the name can tell you exactly which creative skills an exercise is developing.
You're laughing, and in laughter you're pushing back the boundaries of yourself, exercising those parts of the brain that deal with change and flexibility. You're learning, too, that failure can be fun, a vital part of learning. As you play you grow. At any age.
You walk out of every session with the buzz of having worked your imagination, of having flexed your creative muscles. Over time you will find yourself more confident, more creative, better able to deal with change. If you create in other fields then you'll find the workout your imagination gets in impro spills over into them. If you don't then impro will give you the confidence to try.
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