Hi everyone, We usually write these sort of blogs at the end of the year but we just thought why not now. We’re just in a natural break between teaching seasons and want to take the time to say thanks to everyone involved with Hoopla. If we miss you don’t worry you’ll be in the[…]
Hey there future long-formers! Upon finishing the Performance course and having done your first ever Hoopla improv show (congratulations!) there’s a good chance you’re thinking about what comes next when you move onto the Long-form course. In brief, long-form gives a lot more freedom to an improviser and more possibilities for play! We can play[…]
Hoopla teacher Phil Lunn shares his favourite warm up exerices for musical improvisers and how they are helpful. Diddly dum. The phrase is “Diddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum”, and we pass it around the circle, one person saying a word at a time. Once that’s sorted, we walk around the room and[…]
Character Course with Susan Harrison – What to expect and her favourite exercises.
Blog Jul 06, 2018
Caught up with Susan Harrison to find out about her Character Course at Hoopla. Hi Susan, what can people expect to be doing on your course? The character course is a fun and energetic opportunity to improvise numerous characters and to explore the various routes in to characterisation. Students will be on their feet a[…]
Hoopla Teacher Liam Brennan shares his favourite games for first time performers and why they are good to play. Story Director Story Director is a good shout for first-time performers as they can focus on the pure act of improvising. The performers simply have to listen to the ongoing story and take over when it’s their[…]
Fun Short Form Games for Beginners Oracle Oracle involves four people, set behind each other. One at the front sitting on the floor, one behind sat on a chair, the one behind that standing and the last one stood on a chair. That way we can see all their faces. Oracle is a brilliant low[…]
You know the score. You’re due on stage in about 20 minutes, but there’s a show already going on the, cupboard at the back is full of people singing, and the bar downstairs is full. You and your team need a space to warm up, FAST! Bright idea, you go outside, oh no this is[…]
James Witt shares his favourite exercises from his beginners improv course and how they help his students. Shared Holiday Talking about a shared holiday in pairs and starting every new sentence with ‘Yes And’. This really gets the players on the same page in a fun and inventive low-pressure way. I find it a good[…]
Here are Hoopla teacher Rory Vieyra’s favourite improv warm-up games and what they help with. Mimic Everyone stands in a circle and someone says something. It can be a movie quote, song lyric or something from real life. The next person in the circle observes the person saying the quote and then mimics exactly what[…]
Rhiannon Vivian’s Top 5 Tips for Beginners So I think the best advice has to come from your own experience. Despite having done improv for ten years now, I still remember my first class as clear as day. With that in mind, here’s my top 5 tips for beginners: Don’t worry about what other people[…]
What got you into improv in the first place? I originally trained as an Actor and the improvisation part of our training was the best 10 weeks of my three years at Drama School. Maybe not for everyone in the year, but certainly for me! So I’d always loved improvising but had no idea that[…]
Katy’s favourite improv quote: “If we treat each other as if we are geniuses, poets, and artists, we have a better chance of becoming that on-stage.” – Del Close What got you into improv in the first place? I didn’t realise till years later that I’d done loads of improv at school in my drama class. I[…]