Classes
This is going out to everyone who has a real-life course booking with us for this year.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look likely that London will be back in Tier 2 over January or February so we have had to postpone all courses due to start in January and February until the Spring. Courses due to start in March or later are currently staying scheduled as planned but we will be reviewing the news over January to see if we also have to postpone those.
For courses due to start in January or February we are putting together some new dates for Spring onward and will be emailing you these over the next couple of weeks. We’re trying to keep the same venues, same days of week and same teachers as you originally booked for. We will also be keeping people that booked together on the same course, for instance if a group of you were on Level 1 together and booked Level 2 with the same group you will be staying together. Courses due to start in March onward we will catch up with you later in January to see if they also have to be postponed.
In the meantime: Unlimited FREE online drop-in workshops!
To say thank you for your patience with all this we are now putting on unlimited FREE online drop-in workshops for anyone that has a real-life course booking before their real-life course starts again. You can do as many as you like, and if they start to book up too much we’ll add some more.
We’ve put on a selection of different themes to suit all levels, so everyone is welcome. The main focus will be having lots of fun with improv to give us all something fun to do while London is in Tier 4 and we’re waiting for real-life things to restart. Our online classes have recently been recommended by The Guardian, The Evening Standard, Grazia, Chortle, The Londonist, BBC Radio 2 and more!
To book your places:
1. Go to https://www.hooplaimpro.com/
2. Book any dates you like, as many as you like.
3. At time of booking use the discount code you’ve been emailed to make it free. If you haven’t received the email let us know.
4. On the day we then email you a zoom link to take part.
We also have free online jams running a couple of times a month (a cross between a show and a workshop) and regular online socials running from our facebook group Hoopla Impro People.
FAQs:
What’s happening with real-life courses starting January and February 2021?
They are being postponed to start in Spring onward.
When will you send out the new dates?
Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, once we’ve been able to catch up with all of our workshop venues and teachers. We’ll be trying to keep the same venue, teacher and day of the week so groups that booked together can stay together.
Why have you chosen Spring to restart?
Nobody really knows when London will be back in Tier 2, there are so many factors affecting that which are outside of our control. The earliest predictions in the news for some restrictions lifting are for February, the latest aren’t until much later in the year, and there are a lot of predictions for many restrictions lifting by Easter. The West End and wider theatre industry have also settled for Spring and early Summer to reopen, with large shows already booking.
What happens if London is still in a lockdown or similar by Spring?
We’d have to postpone again until summer. Obviously we don’t want that to happen. We’d again keep in touch with you if that was going on, and as always would always be very flexible and happy to do whatever works best for you with your bookings.
What’s happening with real-life courses due to start in March onwards?
We are keeping them scheduled as planned, but we will monitor the news over January and then catch up with you later in January about whether these courses have to be postponed.
What happens if I can’t make the rearranged dates if a course needs to be postponed?
You will be able to move your booking to any other course and date. You will also be able to move your booking to an online course. Basically whatever works for you, works for us. We’re very flexible.
Why are you postponing courses instead of just running them online?
We were originally thinking of having them automatically run as online courses, but we’ve found from Lockdown 2 that not everyone wanted to do that especially after they were online all day at work too. Also not everyone is in a situation where they can do online. We also ran a few focus groups with existing students to find out what they preferred. They felt that while Tier 4 might cause a pause in real-life improv the Spring isn’t too far away and they would rather wait for that. So we’ve gone for this option to give the greatest benefit to all, with free online workshops in the meantime and the option to move to an online course if people wish.
What happens if courses restart but there is another lockdown part-way through a course that’s already started?
We will immediately carry on running the course as an online course for as long as is needed, on the same dates and with the same teacher. We’ve been running courses online non-stop since March so have built up great expertise and they have been highly recommended by The Evening Standard, The Guardian, BBC Radio 2, Chortle, Grazia, The Londonist and The British Comedy Guide. Alternatively you will also be able to postpone your booking until a later date if you prefer. We’ll give you full flexibility to do what works best for you.
What’s your cancellation and refunds policy if I can no longer make a course?
As always we are very flexible. If closer to the time you can’t make a course just let us know on email ([email protected]) and we’re happy to move your booking to a different course or give you a credit for future bookings. We’d appreciate it if you could do a transfer or credit. We just ask that you give us as much notice as possible, ideally at least a week’s notice.
Can I transfer a booking for a real-life course to an online course?
Yes. Just email [email protected] and we will move your booking and payment over and process any difference in course fees. We’ve got some online courses up on our website (www.hooplaimpro.com/online) and we’re going to be putting more up over the next couple of weeks.
Can I transfer my booking for a course that was postponed to a new course?
Yes. Just email [email protected] and we will move your booking and payment over and process any difference is course fees.
Can I have a refund on a real-life course booked?
If possible we’d appreciate it if you could do a course transfer or credit if you can’t make it. You are able to transfer to any online course or any real-life course, or hold your booking as credit for the future. We’re asking improvisers to do credits or transfers where possible as we have already had to manage almost a year during various lockdowns and restrictions with no financial support. However if you are in financial difficulty or have moved away from London we’ll still be able to do refunds.
Can real-life courses run in Tier 1 and Tier 2?
Yes. Real-life courses are able to run in Tier 1 and Tier 2 and we will be running our courses in real-life whenever London is in Tier 1 or Tier 2, but that doesn’t likely to be anytime in January or February. We will have various safety measures in place including reduced class sizes, physical distancing, increased cleaning and ventilation.
However we are keen to avoid the situation that happened this November where we reopened everything only for it all to be closed down again two weeks later, so we will be aiming to reopen when things are more stable.
Can real-life courses run in Tier 3?
The rules for this seem to vary from time to time, so we would have to look at that closer to the time.
Can real-life courses run in Tier 4 or lockdowns?
No.
How come you had real-life courses starting in January and February anyway?
These were originally planned in September when Covid cases were very low and things looked likely to be getting better. There was guidance from Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for theatres to reopen. We followed this guidance and successfully reopened and ran classes safely over Autumn with no Covid cases, and found improv was still lots of fun with social distancing in place. After lockdown 2 London was put in Tier 2 and the London theatre industry including the whole of the West End was encouraged to immediately reopen. So back in November (we know that feels like ages ago now) running real-life theatre shows and classes in January and February looked very possible and along with the rest of London’s theatre industry were planning ahead to reopen.
With hindsight we should have just focussed on online courses for January and February, but it wasn’t possible to know this at the time of planning.
Shows
We’ve now cancelled our January shows and will be automatically refunding anyone who had booked tickets. We’ll be looking at February shows and others later this month.
Shows will start again the second London is back in Tier 2 or similar. Shows we can get up and running again within a week, real-life courses take us about a month to get up and running again.