Maria Peters!
Maria Peters was one of Hoopla’s original teachers, but she now lives in Bristol so can’t teach our regular courses at the moment. We miss her so much we are bringing her back for a series of longer masterclasses on specialist topics!
After starting at Hoopla Maria went on to train at io Theatre in Chicago, The Upright Citizens Brigade in New York, Second City in Chicago, and with Keith Johnstone and Patti Stiles in London.
Together with Lauren Shearing she produced and performed in The Playground, Hoopla’s most popular ever show that launched the professional performing careers of many female improvisers.
Maria went on to perform with the Comedy Store Players and Paul Merton & Suki Webster’s Impro Show at The Comedy Store. She was a member of Yes Queens, the West End’s first female lead improv comedy group. Her critically acclaimed solo show The Science of Cringe played to sell-out audiences at The Edinburgh Fringe.
She now regularly performs at The Bristol Improv Theatre with This is Your Musical.
She’s a hugely popular teacher who excels at helping improvisers exceed their own expectations and flourish while having ALL THE FUN!!!!
We are so excited to welcome Maria back to Hoopla!
workshops
Longer than normal 4 hour masterclasses for lots of Maria time!
The JOY of improv!
Bringing JOY to you, your scene partner and the audience. Getting back to why we all do this!
Date: Thursday 24th September 2026.
Time: 6pm – 10pm.
Venue: Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3FE.
Tube: Warren Street or Euston.
Price: £85.
Level: Intermediate & Advanced. Must have experience of improvising scenes in a workshop. Not suitable for people totally new to improv.
Make the audience CARE!
Improvising compelling characters and scenes with heart that you and the audience care about.
Date: Thursday 22nd October 2026.
Time: 6pm – 10pm.
Venue: Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3FE.
Tube: Warren Street or Euston.
Price: £85.
Level: Intermediate & Advanced. Must have experience of improvising scenes in a workshop. Not suitable for people totally new to improv.
Bringing PLAY to your long-form!
Improvising long-form scenes and formats in Maria’s playful style. Get out of your head and PLAY!
Date: Thursday 26th November 2026.
Time: 6pm – 10pm.
Venue: Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3FE.
Tube: Warren Street or Euston.
Price: £85.
Level: Advanced. Must have experience of improvising long-form scenes and long-form formats with multiple connected scenes in a workshop. Not suitable for people without previous long-form experience.
Character party!
Lot’s of FUN character exercises to give new dimensions to your character play. A really fun pre-Christmas workshop!
Date: Thursday 10th December 2026.
Time: 6pm – 10pm.
Venue: Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3FE.
Tube: Warren Street or Euston.
Price: £85.
Level: Intermediate & Advanced. Must have experience of improvising scenes in a workshop. Not suitable for people totally new to improv.
faqs
Who are these workshops suitable for?
Intermediate and advanced improvisers. Ideally you will have completed at least our Level 3 Scenes Course and ideally our Level 4 Course or equivalent too. You should be used to improvising scenes from suggestion in a workshop environment.
Do you offer discounts?
There will be one discounted concession place per workshop. We won't be able to do any more as the workshops are helping fund the teacher's travel from outside London.
Will Maria be coming again after these workshops?
Hopefully yes but nothing confirmed yet, we will post on this page and our social media once we have information.
What’s the class size?
Maximum of 16 people, average of 12-14 people.
What's your cancellation policy?
You can get a full refund if you give us 5 days notice. We don't give refunds if you give us less than 5 days notice.