It is a big year for Impromptu Shakespeare as they are heading off on tour around the UK, so it is the perfect time to chat to team! The last time I spoke to the team for quite some time and the last time was the Edinburgh Fringe 2022. This year is a big one for the team as they are going on tour and with lots of shows in the line up I wanted to find out all about it. Throughout the month I will be talking to Tom Wilkinson, Rebecca MacMillan, and Ailis Duff. Today we have a general catch up to find out what they have been up to since we last spoke.

Hello Impromptu Shakespeare how are you? Its been a while since we had a catch up!

Hello, lovely to chat to you again!

The last time we spoke, it was Edinburgh Fringe – how was the 2022 festival?

We had a wonderful time! It was so great being back at Gilded Balloon again, we really missed not being there during the pandemic.

we’ve discovered lots of really fun stuff about show structure that we’re excited to explore more this year!

Impromptu Shakespeare

Are you looking forward to this years one? What was the things you missed about it being fully up and running?

Summers have certainly been strange not being in Edinburgh! Although what was actually really great about 2020 and 2021 was that we discovered lots of other venues and festivals that we’d never gone to before – we did the Camden Fringe for the first time, for example, so hopefully in the future we can combine all these places into one big tour.

How was the rest of 2022 for you? What were the highlights?

There were so many! We went back to some of our favourite venues such as the Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol, the Rondo in Bath, Ventnor Fringe on the Isle of Wight, and the lovely Buxton Fringe. And we also found some delightful new tour venues – we had a fabulous time in Ely, Camberley and Bradford (to name just a few).

Have you learnt anything about your show last year that you aim to develop or do this year differently?

Mainly driven by venues who want to book slightly longer shows, we’ve done lots of work on making a show with an interval. From that, we’ve discovered lots of really fun stuff about show structure that we’re excited to explore more this year!

This year seems like it is going to be an exciting one for you as well! Tell us about it!

Oh it’s going to be GREAT. We’re really excited for some new venues we’ve booked, such as Brighton Open Air Theatre (on May 14th) and Thorington Outdoor Theatre (on August 24th). We’ll also be returning to some of our old favourite venues too, next up is Bristol in April which is always a delight, and we’ll be celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday there too this year!

Where can people purchase tickets or learn more about these shows?

You can find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (@impromptushakes), and you can also go to our website, http://www.impromptushakespeare.com.

We’ve also got a mailing list you can sign up for, you can find the details for that on our website too.

What other shows are you looking forward to seeing this year?

Personally I’m looking forward to a mixture of Shakespeare and improv! Next up on my list is Notflix: The Improvised Musical, at the Vault Festival in London (March 9th-12th).

What about improv troupes are there any that you would recommend to others?

Definitely check out The Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes, Bumper Blyton, Dreamweaver Quartet, Notflix, and The Maydays

Finally, for this week! What was your favourite suggestion of 2022?

Through some inexplicable coincidence, we had three shows in a row in totally different locations where an audience member shouted out “sausages”.