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14th December | Sunday | 10:00 – 16:00
Join Liz Peters, Rebecca MacMillan and Joe Samuel for a musical improv workshop inspired by The Maydays’ acclaimed improvised musical show Happily Never After, as part of their tour to Bristol Improv Theatre. Together we’ll explore the beautiful, bizarre and delightfully dark corners of creating theatre through spontaneous song.
This intensive is for intermediate to experienced improvisers with some musical improv experience who want to push their skills in singing, movement and ensemble musical storytelling beyond the obvious. Dive into the playful, unpredictable world of musical improv through:
- Character-driven musical scenes inspired by fairy tales and whimsical narratives.
- Group harmonies, counterpoint and soundscapes to sharpen your listening skills and evoke atmospheres.
- Physicality: playful ensemble movement and compelling stage presence.
- Haunting melodies, stirring rhythms and unconventional musical styles.
- Collaborative freeform musical storytelling with emotional depth and theatricality.
Expect creative risk-taking, and spontaneous musical magic. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have new tools for integrating song, character and theatricality into your improvisation — and the confidence to explore musical improv in bold, surprising ways.
Magical, gothic, otherworldly, but always playful; just bring your energy, your imagination and a willingness to get weird!
More about the tutors and The Maydays
With a history spanning over twenty years, The Maydays – an award-winning Brighton based improv company – were UK pioneers of longform and music improvisation, both in performance and running improv classes and retreats. Having taught throughout the UK and Europe, there are many improv communities that have their roots in Maydays teaching. Their show Happily Never After, which toured internationally as well as multiple Edinburgh Fringes, has been revived this year and plays at the BIT on 13th December. Now predominantly a performance company, this is a rare opportunity to learn with two of the longest standing Maydays company members Liz Peters (Yes Anderson, Bumper Blyton) & Rebecca MacMillan (Closer Each Day, Impromptu Shakespeare), together with Joe Samuel, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s best improv musicians.
More about the instructors:
Rebecca MacMillan
Rebecca has been teaching for over twenty years and has been learning and performing improv since before then, taking inspiration from a huge range of schools, teachers and other influences. She’s active in developing an improv community in Stroud, where she lives, and also teaches in collaboration with the Bristol Improv Theatre.
The past year saw her teach at the Robin Hood International Improv Festival in Nottingham, Birmingham Improv Festival and Gather Improv Festival in Ireland. Co-founder of the Maydays, she also performs with Closer Each Day, Impromptu Shakespeare, Le Wronge and The Library of Forgotten Books with Anděl Sudik.
Rebecca is a nurturing and supportive teacher with a playful sparkle. She loves to help improvisers discover their improv superpowers, lean into and take joy from them. Outside of improv, she dances in amazing places with legendary folksters Boss Morris.
Liz Peters
Liz has been performing professionally for 20+ years, having trained as an actor at Mountview before studying improv at iO Chicago and with many teachers from other improv schools.
A player with The Maydays since 2009, she has improvised and taught across Europe at numerous festivals and performs regularly at Komedia Brighton. Liz is part of Ohana, an international collective of improvisers committed to developing our craft, and performs with other teams including Bumper Blyton, Le Wronge, Yes Queens and Yes Anderson – an improvised Wes Anderson style show.
She created a solo musical comedy ‘Toybox’, which earned her a Best Female Performer nomination at Brighton Fringe. Offstage, Liz uses improv and embodiment as a training tool for organisations and individuals, and wrote the non-fiction book ‘Own It’, for which she also narrates the audiobook.
She likes being underwater and eating potatoes in all their forms, though not at the same time.
Joe Samuel
Joe trained in Music at Royal Holloway University and went on to perform in bands, and then became Musical Director of The Treason Show and The Maydays both based in Brighton. He has been the Musical Director of many European Improv Festivals including Barcelona, Amsterdam and Lyon, to name but a few. He has performed with many of the Improv Troupes in the UK and abroad, collaborating with Joe Bill and Heather with ‘Blues Hammer’ and performing with the likes of Stacey Smith, Patty Stiles and Jill Bernard.
Joe conceived and directed ‘Happily Never After’ with The Maydays, which was performed throughout Europe and at the Edinburgh Festival to much acclaim. He is one of the few improv musicians worldwide who plays online for workshops and shows. He has also co-written a book on musical improv, as well as creating content around music theory and harmony.
As a musician and coach, Joe specialises in developing the relationship between musician and on-stage improviser, encouraging people to use and respond to music in scenes as well as songs and full-length improvised musicals.