Bring your show to the BIT

Bristol Improv Theatre is currently taking submissions for shows to be part of our Spring 2027 season.

We’re Bristol’s theatre of the unexpected, and we’re looking to present an eclectic lineup including improv, comedy, theatre, live music, immersive, interactive and playable shows, and much more. If you’ve got a show that has play, fun and experiment at its heart, we want to hear from you,

We’re looking to fill dates between 2 January and 4 April 2027, and the deadline for submissions is 10am on Monday 19th October. Read on to find out more about what we’re looking for and how to apply.

Who we are

We’re Bristol Improv Theatre - an arts charity dedicated to changing lives through building creativity, confidence and community. As the UK’s first full-time improv theatre, we aim to hold the principles of improv at the heart of everything we do, creating an environment that’s progressive, inclusive, collaborative, kind, and above all, fun.

What we’re looking for this season

We want to expand our roster of shows beyond what’s traditionally thought of as ‘improv’. While improv comedy will always be at the heart of what we do, we love all art that uses spontaneity, liveness, interaction, serendipity and the unexpected. Just for example, we’re interested in pitches for improv comedy, standup, sketch comedy, theatre, immersive shows, interactive/playable theatre, live art, visual art, quizzes, clown and circus. If it involves the audience in some way, and the performers don’t know everything that’s going to happen when the show starts, we’re into it.

Our spaces

We have two spaces - the Theatre (95 capacity) and Bar (licensed for 200). You can find more details of our spaces on our Venue Hire page.

When we’re looking for things to happen

In general our week breaks down as follows:

Monday-Tuesday - closed for courses
Wednesday - relaxed events in the Bar or artist development events
Thursday - interactive events in the Bar or Theatre
Friday - headline improv or comedy
Saturday - high-energy fun - live music, comedy or improv
Sunday - relaxed events in the Bar

This isn’t a hard and fast rule though, and we’re open to events running across multiple nights.

What we’re not looking for

We’re open to everything, but if you have a scripted play for example, we’d want to know about how the show was created using improvisation, or how it changes depending on the audience’s reaction.

The financial deal

Tickets at the BIT are normally charged at £15 per ticket full price, and £12 concession, plus a £1 booking fee per ticket.

For this season, you would take 60% of all ticket sales income, and we would take 40%, subject to a guarantee to the BIT of £200. The booking fee gos to the theatre to cover the costs of our ticketing system.

For example, if your show sells 80 tickets at £15 each (total £1200), you would take £720 and we would take £480. If your show sells 20 tickets at £15 each (total £300), you would take £100 and we would take £200.

Marketing

As the producer of your show, you will be responsible for marketing it with our support. For each show in our spring season, we offer:

An event listing on our website.
Inclusion in at least two posts on our Facebook and Instagram pages - including one mention in our weekly What's On post.
Minimum 1 reference in our bi-weekly email newsletter.
Your posters and flyers displayed at Bristol Improv Theatre (provided you are able to print and send these to us - please see more information below). We can display up to a maximum of two posters and a limited number of flyers when provided.
Ad hoc reaction to social media tagging
Inclusion in our monthly ‘What’s On’ A3 poster outside of the venue
Inclusion in our monthly ‘What’s On’ internal TV screen

Blogs and additional social media marketing are not included and are at the discretion of the marketing team.

How to apply

Please complete an application form by 10am on Monday 19th October 2026. We will aim to let everyone know whether or not they’ve been included in the season by the end of October, and shows will go on sale by mid-November.

Questions

If you have any questions please contact our programming team Kierann and Billie on programming@improvtheatre.co.uk.