What's On

Proudly showcasing diverse skills of local troupes and artists within the Bristol improv community. Featuring unique acts from the vibrant world of unscripted comedy, with a focus on up-and-comers, providing a stage for fresh, original shows.

Discover the joy of improv with Rebecca MacMillan’s lunchtime classes at Bristol Improv Theatre. These sessions are designed for creatives, freelancers, and everyone else who’s looking for a dose of joy in their day.

Following on from our hugely popular Discovering Improv course, this six-week course will immerse you in the fundamentals of improvising for an audience through games, exercises, and scenes. Our experienced facilitators will guide and support you on your journey towards performing.

People often start their journeys into improvisation by rediscovering the joys of play - there’s a pure and deeply human delight that we can get from messing around together and being silly! But how do you go from playing with each other for your own delight to entertaining an audience with fully-fledged improvised comedy and drama?

Looking to stretch your improvising muscles? Then our drop-ins are for you!

A six-week improv for beginners course. Be spontaneous and creative through games, and exercises with our experienced instructors.

Building on our popular Singing Songs course, Scenes and Songs will take your improvised singing skills to the next level and put them to work in your scenes and stories.

Witness your very own spontaneous musical burst into life for one night only, and only for one night! This Is Your Musical is the all-singing, all-dancing improvised musical extravaganza that has wowed audiences for over eight years.

Come along and give improv a go! Taster sessions are the perfect way to dip your toes into improvisation before commiting to a course. It’s a great chance to try improv and connect with others in a playful way.

Created with the support of the Bristol Improv Theatre, the Unscripted Players present two brand new improvised productions in one show!

The improvised game show where comedy meets competition! Originally created by The Delight Collective, the Bish Bosh Bash is perfect for improv newcomers and seasoned fans alike. Get ready for a high-energy evening full of competition and creativity!

This is a fun and friendly workshop led by LGBTQ+ instructors for LGBTQ+ people, open to all levels. You can be completely new to improv or looking to brush up on your basics and practice improv in a different context. Sessions will focus on fun, representing your own identity(ies) in improv, and connecting with other improvisers.

The UK's premier pan-Asian improv group are back with their mission to bring epic laughs from the diasporASIA to Bristol. Bringing playful improv from their monthly night in London - followed by a friendly audience jam!

A friendly and welcoming evening of improv games, silliness, socialising and fun.

An improvised post-apocalyptic adventure comedy. A single suggestion from you will help this twisted cast craft an entire narrative show on the spot. Expect raiders, mutants and more in this absurd dark comedy inspired by Fallout and Mad Max.

The Drag Dungeoneers is a loose narrative monster-of-the-week style D&D live show adventure, featuring some of Bristol’s finest drag nerds.

Jazz Police presents You Name It! A completely unscripted comedy performance born from your imagination. Taking audience suggestions for the title of the show, Jazz Police will craft a hilarious and utterly unique performance. This is a comedic adventure driven by you.

Five performers are all working hard to put on a good improv show. Well, almost all of them - one of them is secretly trying to sabotage the show without getting caught! Will The Saboteur be unmasked before the evening is ruined?

The stylised, cult classic action thriller with an iconic, pulsing, synth score. A Coney Island street gang is framed for the murder of a rival gang leader. Hunted by every gang in the city, they must fight their way back from the Bronx to their home turf.

Come and see the latest graduates of the BIT's improv courses as they share some of the skills they've been building. Free entry with optional supporter tickets!

Our two Adventure Leaders are very, very good at adventures, but when it comes to imagination, they need YOUR help! A fully improvised family-friendly theatre show based around suggestions from the audience’s young adventurers, stick around after the show to join in with drawing or dancing. For children ages 3-8 and their families.

Join a live-play Dungeons & Dragons show, featuring a cast of comedians, voice actors, and guests from the distant worlds of Baldur’s Gate, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and Doctor Who. Whilst our Dungeon Master welcomes our heroes into an immersive world, you will play a critical role in shaping their adventure. Later, be entertained by the Bards Against Humanity, who will perform improvised songs of your recent misadventures.

Rock The Tots - Gigs for little ones… and their grown-ups! Fun live music for families, and this show’s theme is ‘The Movies’! From Titanic to Top Gun, Grease to Ghostbusters, maybe some Eminem! With puppets, bubbles and more, you and your kids will have a blast.

Uncover your inner Mischief Maker and dive into the joyful chaos of improvisation in a welcoming, low‑pressure space designed for imagination, play, and plenty of laughter. From the team behind the international sensation ‘The Play that Goes Wrong’ and inspired by Mischief Theatre’s Olivier-nominated show, Mischief Movie Night.

Bristol Longform Comedy take over the Bristol Improv Theatre! Fantastically funny improv comedy from legendary Bristol groups and The Takeover Team, assembled anew for each Takeover with a different guest director each time.

Dystopian tech. Human hearts. Questionable life choices. Join Katy Schutte for a playful, thought-provoking weekend of sci-fi improv inspired by Black Mirror. Create bold new worlds, build gripping narratives, and find the comedy inside the chaos.

Get experimental with The Improv Lab! An afternoon of scratch performances featuring a variety of new and developing ideas from Bristol’s improv scene.

A brand-new musical inspired by Stephen Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown, where the characters, location, music, lyrics, and story are created in the moment with a live musician, inspired by the audience. This is a funny, heartfelt, queer-leaning show about the everyday.

This seven-week course explores the key skills and techniques used in improvising narrative-based performances. Using exercises and techniques inspired by the work of Keith Johnstone and Patti Stiles, students will dive into constructing story arcs and engage in supportive ensemble work, as well as discovering a number of tools to shake up and inspire their scenework skills.

This seven-week course introduces the tools, techniques, and tricks used to create characters on-the-spot. You’ll explore how characters can emerge and grow through physicality, status, and the relationships between characters - building your confidence in stepping into another person’s shoes when you perform.

An evening of love stories brought to you by the Bish Bosh Bash team. Six directors must tell a romantic tale in order to reunite with their true love - and it’s up to you to decide which story makes it to the finale!

Get ready for an all-time comedy classic! You're about to get personal with one of music history's greatest and loudest heavy metal bands, Spinal Tap! Whether or not you're a die-hard fan of the group, you'll love this detailed "rockumentary" of England's legendary Spinal Tap.

Giving feedback is difficult. Receiving it can be even worse. This 90-minute workshop draws on improv, coaching and psychology to help you give feedback that actually lands and receive it without shutting down. We’ll practise deep listening, structured feedback frameworks, and the art of keeping difficult conversations open and human.

Award-winning dancer and comedian Sam Burkett is here for the freshest gossip—and they want it LIVE. Watch them spin your stories into a hilarious blend of improv comedy and experimental dance. Expect the unexpected, and come ready to spill.

The return of Pride Games Night! Inspired by popular improv exercises, this night of gripping games and comical challenges will leave you howling with laughter as you play together against others. Our hosts bring the games so all you need to do is turn up and have fun. For every ticket sold, £1 will be donated to Bristol Pride (Charity No. 1166817).

The improvised game show where comedy meets competition! This month, we’re looking for friends from the improv community to join us in a special jam event.

Got funny scenes… but wish they could become even funnier? Or actual sketches? Boom Chicago! alum Michael Orton-Toliver and Dawson Bros writer Steve Dawson bring you a 3-hour comedy power-up. Learn how to find the game, heighten it properly, and turn improv gold into sketch scripts. Big laughs. Smart tools. Real writing skills.

Mind Canyon is an improvised comedy podcast with music and sound effects added live. Each story is brought to life by top UK improvisers. The show was nominated for Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards, won Bronze for Creativity, and holds a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts.

Glamour meets corset-splitting musical chaos… Darling, it's Dragprov! Dazzling audiences from the Edinburgh Fringe to Glastonbury Festival, this dynamic drag king and queen duo create Broadway-ready songs and sketches on the spot.

We’re celebrating pride this year with the action-adventure film that, rumour has it, awakened many a dormant bisexual millennial… Deep in the Egyptian desert, a band of explorers searching for long-lost treasure accidentally resurrects an ancient legacy of terror.

Strengthen your speaking voice, sharpen your presence and build authentic confidence at work. In this 90-minute interactive taster (plus networking), explore practical tools from acting and public speaking to engage listeners, project clearly and communicate with calm authority.

Test your mettle as a detective with the Company of International Artists as you work to solve an art mystery set at a high-stakes auction. Tackle puzzles, decipher codes and review key evidence to crack the case! An immersive “who-dunnit” art-themed mystery experience set within a top-secret art detective agency.

Ghosts. Archetypes. Delicious tension. Spend five days exploring horror and folklore through atmospheric long-form improv with Katy Schutte. Build haunting worlds, powerful ensemble work and rich symbolic storytelling — culminating in a live showcase at Bristol Improv Theatre. Dark tales. Deep craft. Brave play. 👻

Scenes are the building blocks of improvised theatre, but there are as many different ways to play a scene as there are improvisers. From emotionally-focused play, to creating a narrative flow of cause and effect, deftly weaving themes and concepts together, or just finding something funny to do again (but bigger), how you approach a scene helps to define how it plays out. 

Singing Songs is the course for anyone who’s ever fancied making up songs on the spot, and for those who don’t think they can sing but would love to have a go!

Steamy clown chaos as the most beautiful maid in Paris falls in love with a talking dummy controlled by the audience! Scan the QR code to play cupid in a series of romantic misadventures powered by your in-the-moment suggestions.

After a break from performing at The Bristol Improv Theatre, the Antics are back with a special summer fundraiser! With a selection of incredible improv teams from Bristol, you can sit back with the knowledge you're in safe hands and that all of the proceeds will be going towards the Bristol Improv Theatre!

Big feelings. Bold choices. Characters who actually care. Join Comedy Store Player Monica Gaga for a playful, practical workshop on building richer, more human characters. Explore motivation, backstory and emotional truth in a supportive, joy-filled room.

The slacker noir, sprawling odyssey about a man who just wanted his rug back (it really tied the room together, man).

Want to charm a crowd instantly? Seem calm and relaxed in front of an audience? Join this class to develop your hosting, public speaking and audience interaction skills- with Comedy Store Player, international performer and powerhouse host, Monica Gaga!

A 5-day theatrical improv intensive inspired by Sartre’s No Exit. Develop a brand-new long-form format exploring connection, belonging, and judgement in limbo. For improvisers with some experience and actors. Culminating in a showcase on Saturday night at Bristol Improv Theatre.

“Hell is other people” Lost souls stuck in limbo, where over thousands of years together their hopes, dreams, secrets and lies come to light and steer them to their final destination… Fully improvised theatre inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit.

Step into the flickering dream of the roaring ‘20s a world away from digital influences. And rediscover the joy of pure simple comedy with Silent Movie Improv!

Stuck playing the same scenes on repeat? Join international theatremaker and Artistic Director of Improv Theatre Sydney, Jim Fishwick, for a joyful creative reset. Spot your default patterns, stretch your range and rediscover curiosity in your improv. More colours. Fewer habits. Bigger possibilities. For improvisers with some experience, ready to expand.

Funny stuff, made up on the spot. No gimmicks, no tricks - just the quickest, wittiest improvisers in the UK putting on a show to make you laugh like nobody’s business. The Noise Next Door are award-winning, twelve-time sell-out legends of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and have blown audiences away on BBC One, ITV1, Comedy Central, and in comedy clubs and theatres all over the world. Don’t miss your chance to see them live.