The full history of Hoopla would be pages and pages long, as it involves 1000s of people and 100s of improv groups over 20 years as part of the wider ongoing evolution and revolution of the amazing UK improv scene that Hoopla is proud to be part of. So, here’s a short summary for now and we’ll eventually write more!

Hoopla was founded in 2006 by Steve Roe and Edgar Fernando, two old school friends who have known each other since they were 4 years old, who bonded through drama with teacher Debbie Price at Rutlish High School in South London.

In his early 20s Steve had first started learning modern improv with John Cremer and Katy Schutte with The Maydays in Brighton, and when moving back to London in 2006 was keen to keep the improv joy going. He decided that no matter what was going on, he would be doing improv at least once per week every week for the rest of his life. The initial plan was a weekly practice session with his friend Edgar and some other chums.

Steve and Edgar phoned round all the pubs they knew (which was a lot) and were lucky enough to be given a free room once a week by Greg Kerr at legendary comedy venue The Bedford in Balham. Originally it was just them and some school friends from their old GCSE drama group running a free improv practice sessions once a week, to have fun after work and keep the joy of drama and play in adult life. The room was free as long as people bought a couple of drinks, which was no problem as people back then people generally smoke and drank even during the workshop (it was pre-smoking ban, different days!).

Right from the start they were clear that the sessions should be fun, friendly, sociable, really active (with less talk and more play), supportive and playful. These values have stuck with Hoopla all the way through, and we love bringing the JOY of improv to as many people as possible. Values that we wrote down in 2006 we still refer to every day.

We were also absolutely determined that the workshops happened no matter what. On the fourth workshop there was a double booking so we hiked the streets of Balham until we found a different pub basement for the night. Also on our 10th workshop there was a power cut so we ran the workshop by candlelight to just one person who turned up, who happened to be an early adopter of Facebook (when it was new and we hadn’t even heard of it) and he had a great time and told all his friends online (before we even knew that was a thing).

These sessions rapidly grew to friends of friends and then friends of friends of friends, until one day about 70 people turned up for one session and we realised we were going to have to do more than one per week and expand!

Around this time (2006 – 2007) we were also attending improv sessions with Alan Marriott and Dylan Emery at Crunchy Frog Collective, going to classes at Sprout Ideas, watching Grand Theft Impro and The Comedy Store Players, and were also lucky enough to attend courses with Keith Johnstone and Patti Stiles when they visited The Spontaneity Shop. These were all a huge inspiration to us, and this was such an exciting time to be alive in the UK improv scene. There was a strong feeling across the whole improv scene that something big was coming. We could see the big improv explosion that was happening in the USA and people sensed it was going to happen here too.

From Hoopla’s workshops in Balham gradually came more workshops each week and then regular shows, first at The Bedford to Steve’s work friends on his birthday, and then as a regular monthly show. This was so exciting to be part of, and we’ve never forgotten the excitement of performing in our first shows and still channel this into teaching our courses with new improvisers.

In 2007 we sensed that London’s improv scene was flourishing but there was a missing thing – there wasn’t an improv comedy club or improv theatre to bring all these amazing but separate shows together to grow the audience for improv and take it into the mainstream.

So we set one up!

First as an improv comedy club with different groups performing together on the same night at The Bedford in Balham, then at The Round Table in Leicester Square, and then at The Black Horse in Soho.

Around the same time (2008 and 2009) we were also taking Hoopla shows to The Edinburgh Fringe for the first time, and gradually running more and more classes around London with help from venues like The Rag Factory and Theatre Delicatessen and a rapidly expanding teaching team with teachers joining like Maria Peters, Chris Mead and Katy Schutte. Boy were we young, and busy!

Running nights that brought together improv groups for the first time was an amazing experience, there was such a vibrant culture of creativity and innovation, and people just KNEW that the improv scene in London was going to explode. Jonathan Monkhouse was also running a London Improv website, and Dylan Emery was running The Crunchy Frog Collective website & forum, that both connected people together in the UK improv scene.

Our shows needed a bigger venue and more nights per week to run so in 2010 we teamed up with the The Miller in London Bridge and with the help of the amazing staff there and a large community of improvisers the venue was converted into the UK’s first ever improv theatre! London finally had a home for improv where different groups could perform together, grow a shared audience, and take improv into the mainstream!

Right from the start at The Hoopla Improv Theatre we were lucky enough to regularly host early shows from Showstoppers! The Improvised Musical, Austentatious, Abandoman and The Mischief Theatre (who later went on to do The Play That Goes Wrong) and loads more top groups. These groups were incredibly influential to the UK improv scene, showing how professional improv can be, and it was obvious they were all destined for big things! We are honoured that many of the shows and cast from that era are back performing again at our 20th Anniversary Festival.

We were also lucky enough to connect to our heroes at The Comedy Store Players, and they have brought various shows to Hoopla over the years and were incredibly inspirational in our early years at giving us the confidence that we were on to something big.

The managers at The Miller one year asked us if we wanted a Hoopla sign painted on the building, we thought they meant just above the door and said yes, but when we turned up later that week they had painted Hoopla across the whole building about 10 foot high and apparently it’s visible from planes flying into City Airport!

During this era The Nursery Improv Theatre was also starting in London and was hugely influential in the growth of The UK improv scene. The Nursery were bringing together top improv teachers from around the world including Charna Halpern founder of iO Theatre Chicago and Susan Messing from The Annoyance in Chicago. Shows would regularly perform at both Hoopla and Nursery and there was an amazing culture of rapid learning with London becoming a melting pot of improv styles from around the World. Around then Mark Beltzman (from one of the original iO Chicago teams) was also teaching in London and was another huge influence on Hoopla’s style.

Hoopla’s behind the scenes team also grew with Angela Pollard (Producer), Jessie Rutland (Training Manager), Max Dickins (Corporate Training Director), Phoebe Kozinets (Phoebe), and an increasing team of amazing teachers, hosts, front of house managers and performers enabling Hoopla to expand rapidly.

Now Hoopla teaches improv classes every day in multiple venues across Central London to 1000s of students each year, run shows full-time at The Hoopla Improv Theatre, produce an ongoing house team system that gives performing opportunities to new upcoming improvisers, and run a huge pioneering diversity programme to make improv for everyone!

The revolution of improv in the UK has involved 1000s of people and 100s of shows and improv companies playing together, inspiring each other and working together over decades with a shared passion for improvisation. Hoopla are honoured to have been involved in the huge rise of improv in the UK over the last 20 years and proud to be part of such a great improv community.

Many thanks to everyone involved, we couldn’t do it without you, we’re looking forward to celebrating at our 20th Anniversary Festival and we’re looking forward to the next 20 years!