This week, The Miller Pub is holding one the biggest Improv events of the season  – The Hoopla Marathon. A 50 hour event of non stop improv with over 200 acts performing in the same room over the whole weekend – it’s going to be an event that you will not want to miss out on!

The event is going to play host to some of the biggest names in Improv, as well as troupes, jams and so much more! The event is a charity event to raise awareness of Team Margot, an organisation that campaigns for people to register as potential bone marrow / stem cell donors and all profits from the event will go to the charity.

So because there are so many acts performing, we have interviewed a bunch of acts about their shows so you know what ones you can go and see! We have interviewed a bunch of acts performing across the whole event at lots of time slots so you can have a varied choice as to what to see!

Have a look below at some of the other acts we have interviewed about their spots!

The Maydays

What time is your slot?
9pm

Tell us a little about your style of improv?
Chicago influenced longform with elements of all the other improv we adore; relationships, game, a pinch of narrative sometimes. We’ll see what happens on the night.

What will your set be about?
Our show is ‘Pitch that show’ we’ll invent 4 news forms on the spot and have the audience vote on which one they’d like us to attempt!

What other acts are you looking forward to?
Everyone is great but love for the Bareback Kings and Tea and Toast.

In three words why should people come and watch you at the marathon?
Seat of pants.

Nerd Salad

What time is your slot?
The post-breakfast pre-brunch pick-me up 9 till 10am slot.

Tell us a little about your style of improv?
Usually, our shows tend to be quite techy, or a pretty flower style, although recently we’ve moved towards a more organic style.

What will your set be about?
Almost the opposite to what we usually do – short form, high paced, quick cuts, super high energy, with very little practicing. We’re all really excited about the ideas we’re trying to cram into our slot.

What other acts are you looking forward to?
Night Versions (as part of us are guesting in that), hopefully catching Kathy & Unai in the Morning, and I think I saw that The Homunculus & Wrestling With Love are performing? I’d like to catch them.

In three words why should people come and watch you at the marathon?
It’s For Charity!

What is your twitter handle so people can find out more
@NerdSalad or FB NerdSaladImprov

Abandon Ship

What time is your slot?
Between 9 and 10 AM on the Sunday. What many, including Hoopla head honcho and alleged demigod Steve Roe are calling the ‘golden slot’ of the marathon.

Tell us a little about your style of improv?
Everything. Made. Up. On the spot. Edits. Tag outs. Drama. Tragedy. Mundanity. How long is a piece of string?

Which is a round about way of saying I’m not sure we have a specific style of improv, or not one that I can identify at the moment. We aren’t using a particular concept to frame it or aiming for a specific tone. We’re all different performers who bring different things to the table so why not make that table massive and ambiguously shaped so that we can make a huge mess in all directions? And then later if we notice that the mess is more concentrated in a couple of areas we might work on a smaller, more specific table. You feel me?

We’re all still relatively new to improv (1 – 2 years) so really at the moment we’re trying things out, enjoying the openness of it and learning as much as we can about each other as performers and our group dynamic before we define a ‘style’. Because after all improv is all about being natural isn’t it? Yes it is.

What will your set be about?

We will be doing a 15 minute long form set known as ‘The Slacker’ in which we present a sort of revolving door of characters, lives and locations. The idea is that the only edits allowed are tag outs, so one character always has to be carried forward into the next scene, such that we follow bits of one person’s story before veering off to see someone else’s story play out, and so on, and so on.

It’s nice because we get to explore characters that might otherwise be just tangential. So say we have a scene where a couple is arguing in Tesco while the checkout man unfalteringly beeps each item. The checkout man is just a supporting character in the scene, but we can then choose to explore his turbulent home life, his hobby as a skydiver, or whatever fun place we want to take it.

It was originally introduced to us by Maria Peters and is apparently based on a movie from the 80s called Slacker, which embarrassingly we have planned to watch for the last year or so but all failed to do, such is our unwavering commitment to the cause. Soon!

What other acts are you looking forward to?
Electric Priests are favourites of ours, their shows are without fail, hilariously well performed. I’ll also throw in Postscript, Dullprov and Musicbox for good measure.

In three words why should people come and watch you at the marathon?
morning lols kaleidoscope

Where should people go to find out more about you?
@TeamAbandonShip, although I’ve just checked it now and it’s pretty barren, so I’ll have to get on that. We’re also on Instagram @abandonshipimprov.

Classic Andy

What time is your slot?
Our slot is between 4pm and 5pm on Saturday 21st.

Tell us a little about your style of improv?
Our style is relatively free. We work to different formats but there are a range of influences at work within them. We love a strong balance between physical and emotional play.

What will your set be about?
Recently we have been doing a show we affectionately call The Haskin (after one of our members). We get a location that an audience member has seen but never been inside and always been curious about… Junkyard art gallery, appointment only bookshop, womb… Then we investigate the environment slice of life style. It’s not meant to be narrative but sometimes that happens.

What other acts are you looking forward to?
Wowzers, so many wonderful things to see… The Maydays, Science of Living things, DNAYS, The Die Hards, Electric Priests and of course The Motivational Lobster’s late night show on Saturday.

In three words why should people come and watch you at the marathon?
Watch it all!

What is your twitter handle so people can find out more?
You can find us @classicandyimp on Facebook as Classic Andy or at http://www.classicandy.co.uk