Instructors
Aisha Ali
Aisha is a vocal artist, improviser, composer, cultural and inclusion producer, facilitator and co-creator of Kiota: a collective of BIPoC artists in Bristol and the South West, working towards decolonising arts spaces in Bristol. They are passionate about working with the voice and are very experienced at holding space for others to explore and express themselves.
“I really enjoyed the calm way Aisha held the space and their playfulness while so many things moved through us – it was brilliant!”
Workshop participant
Ros Beeson
Ros Beeson has been improvising since 2012, and performing and directing as part of her graduate group Up The Antics since 2014. She is also a regular cast member and assistant director of ‘The Bish Bosh Bash’ and of Real Positive Poles ‘After Dusk: An Improvised Twilight Zone’. Amongst her theatre credits she has devised, written and produced a short play for The Essential Mix Theatre company and devised, directed and produced the UP November show ‘Level Up’.
Stephen Brown
Stephen is a business psychologist, improviser and executive coach with over a decade’s experience in psychology and business. With Imogen, Stephen heads up BIT’s applied improv department, where they use tools and lessons from improv to help organisations be more effective and have fun in the process! Stephen specialises in facilitation, idea generation and forming effective teams.
Caitlin Campbell
Caitlin Campbell has been improvising since 2011: after discovering improv at university she went on to join Degrees of Error and co-devised their flagship show ‘Murder, She Didn’t Write’. She performs with The Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes, This Is Your Musical and The Bish Bosh Bash. Caitlin was formerly the BIT’s Artistic Director: she has also written courses for the BIT Theatre school and occasionally pulls pints behind the bar.
Stephen Clements
Stephen Clements has been improvising for eleven years and teaching for seven. He is a founder and trustee of the Bristol Improv Theatre. Stephen is a founding member of Degrees of Error Theatre Company. He also performs with Tally-Ho Productions in Steves and Wooster, and is Games Master for the BIT’s cult hit Tales of Adventure. Stephen holds a PGCE in mathematics.
Lucy Fennell
Lucy is an improviser, director, teacher and the mischievous creator of The Dirty Picnic Club; a social experiment/ improv show. She is a founding member of Impromptu Shakespeare and as well as improvisation, Lucy has trained in Lecoq, clowning and bouffon. She is a qualified teacher and is currently a trainee intimacy director with Intimacy for Stage and Screen. (ISS)
Lucy is interested in cultivating authentic, candid improvised performance and is fascinated by the art form’s capacity to jolt and surprise both audience and improviser. She is committed to creating a nurturing, open space for participants to discover, learn and be inspired.
WIll Gawned
Will Gawned moved from Australia to Bristol in 2016 and took up improv to meet people and have a laugh. He’s now a regular performer with This Is Your Musical, has directed shows with Unscripted Players, and performed with Merry Christmas Despite The Current Circumstances, Pick Your Own Panto, Some Sing About Mary, and in several Bristol Improv Marathons. Will’s background is in scripted theatre, performance poetry, science teaching, creative writing and Dungeons & Dragons. Will is interested in improvised singing, collaborative story-telling, and non-comedic improv.
Llaura Hughes
Llaura Hughes (aka Llaurah_improviser) is a Bristol based business psychologist and improviser. She has performed and directed shows with The Unscripted Players, Bristol Improv Theatre’s amateur improv community and is in several online troupes (Don’t Mess, Those Women, Octopus Beaks and Road Trip Bonanza). In 2021 Llaura won the World Championship of Extreme Improv’s short form competition. Llaura prides herself in combining her psychology knowledge and improvisation skills to improve adult interactions on and off stage.
Amy Iles
Amy graduated from the University of Bristol in 2019 with First Class Honours in Theatre and Performance Studies. During her time at University, she accumulated a wealth of experience in directing, performing and working with young people.
Since graduating, Amy has facilitated theatre classes, workshops and productions for companies across the South West, including Theatre Royal Bath, Travelling Light Theatre Company, Stagecoach Performing Arts and the Bristol Improv Theatre. She is a cast member of 'Love Peninsula: The Improvised Dating Show' and directs and produces 'Redpython: An Improvised, Historical Adventure'. She is also the Marketing Manager for the Bristol Improv Theatre.
Beth Kerridge
Beth Kerridge is an improviser and performer with theatre companies Up the Antics and This Is Your Musical. She has been training in improvised theatre for 9 years and has been coached by the likes of Patti Styles (Loose Moose Theatre), Holly Mandel (LA Groundlings, Improvolution), Susan Harrison, Duncan Atkins and Andrew Pugsley (The Showstoppers). Beth specialises in improvised musical theatre, long-form improv and improvising characters. She just wants to spread the magic of improvised theatre to all who want to try it!
Paul Lawless
Paul is a Performer, Theatre Maker and Arts Producer. He is Creative Producer for Bristol based theatre company Brave Bold Drama and is an associate performer for the Bish Bash Bosh. As a Theatre Maker Paul specialises in making theatre and creating live events for a family audience that are equal parts inspiring, obliquely educational, immersive and multi-sensory. Through his work with Brave Bold Drama he also co-designs and facilitates participatory engagement projects that seek to empower, build self-esteem and foster the creative potential of those from low socio-economic backgrounds through co-authorship. The liveness, playfulness and spontaneity of improv delights him endlessly.
Anna Loyd Bradshaw
Anna Loyd Bradshaw is a multidisciplinary theatre artist. She grew up and trained in England but in 2014 moved to New York City where her main focus was developing and directing new work for both theatre and film. While living in New York, Anna co-founded The Midnight Factory, an arts organisation dedicated to supporting and developing the work of early career artists.
In 2022 she returned to the U.K. and moved to Bristol where she is now working as a freelance director and actor. Anna is also a member of the teaching staff at the Bristol Improv Theatre.
Cat Murphy
Cat Murphy has been teaching with the Bristol Improv Theatre for over two years. She performs and directs with BIT Associate Companies Tales of Adventure & The Bish Bosh Bash, as well as the Longform company Last Day on Earth. She began directing with Novato Theatre Company, and turned her hand to improv with The Unscripted Players, where she directed her avant-garde improv show ‘The Stuff of Dreams’. She is now the show director of ‘The Bish Bosh Bash’ and directed the BIT’s most recent Christmas Show “Merry Christmas (despite the current circumstances)”. She is a qualified yoga teacher and holds a degree in Drama with Psychology from Bath Spa University.
Imogen Palmer
Imogen Palmer is the Theatre School Manager and the Artistic Director The Delight Collective, creator of IMOGENÉ, The Bish Bosh Bash and International Women’s Day special ‘If These Walls Could Talk’. She began teaching improvisation whilst training full-time at the award-winning Howard Fine Acting Studio in Melbourne and performing with Impro Melbourne. She reguarly tops up her training with improvisation and clown masters including Patti Stiles (Loose Moose Theatre), Deanna Fleysher (Butt Kapinsky), Jill Bernard (HUGE Theatre), the Showstoppers and Jason Shotts (IO Chicago).
Rachael Procter-Lane
Rachael Procter-Lane is a stalwart of the improv scene in Bristol, featuring in two of Bristol’s most iconic improv troupes: Closer Each Day, the improvised soap opera that is a Bristol cult classic and the longest running episodic improv show that we know of, and Degrees of Error, who have toured their improvised whodunnit “Murder, She Didn’t Write” across the UK and beyond.
Ian Towers
Ian Towers is a very busy professional pianist-singer, who has worked in every aspect of the entertainment world. Also a composer, arranger and teacher, he is currently accompanist/leader for three choirs in Bristol, and is the Musical Director and pianist for This Is Your Musical.