The first Greater Manchester Improv Festival will showcase the best of the region’s growing improv comedy and theatre scene. The festival will take place at the award-winning Kings Arms, Salford 6th-8th June 2025. With sixteen shows and four workshops (including a taster session for anyone wanting to try improv themselves) there’s something for everyone. Tickets for all events just £5.
“We have everything from improvised murder mysteries to musicals, showcasing new teams and seasoned festival acts,” says Greater Manchester Improv Festival organiser Bron Edge, who also runs the award-winning Totally Improvised Company. “The Manchester Improv scene has exploded in the last few years so we decided it was time to bring together as many acts as we could fit into a weekend stuffed full of talented teams!”
The festival features family friendly competitive comedy with ComedySportz (Best Alternative Act, North-West Comedy Awards. Nominated Best Kids Show, Leicester Comedy Festival), crime comedy with Murder Inc., the thrillingly silly theatrics of Shakespeare On The Spot and musical mayhem with The Totally Improvised Musical (Nominated Best Variety Show, Leicester Comedy Festival) and Musical Improv Galactic Deathmatch. If you’re looking for quick-fire gags and games My That Improv, The Yoga Goats, The Communimps and all female team Ladies Who Improv have you covered.
Bolton’s neurodiversity charity Headspace are bringing a show called It Will Do You Good, blending silly fun with mental health awareness. The Things You Love and Skunkhaus take inspiration from audience’s real-life stories and Absolute Onions will be revealing the true story behind a karaoke classic. There will be TV themed comedy with Improv on Demand, Dungeons and Dragons inspired antics with Dark Peak Adventure Club, and a chaotic take on a literary favourite with Drunk Classics unique take on The Picture of Dorian Gray.
There will also be workshops for all levels of experience including a beginners taster session for any punter looking to give improv a go themselves. Whether you’re looking to learn a new skill, build confidence or make new connections, improv classes offer something for everyone looking to connect with the creative and playful side. Manchester’s improv scene has been growing steadily over the last few years. Bron attributes audience’s eagerness to say “Yes, And” to the “unique, in the moment nature of improv that means audiences get a new experience every time. Improv can move you and it can have you roaring with laughter. Above all it is playful and fun. I think we could all do with a bit of that these days.” The Kings Arms is an award-winning pub in Salford, as well known for its excellent theatre and entertainment as its selection of ales. Tickets for all events are on sale now and can be purchased direct from The Kings Arms website. https://www.kingsarmssalford.com/
SMOKE is a savage queer comedy thriller. A play written and performed by Alex Gregory.…
Jack Docherty has had a much longer, and varied, career than many may be aware…
I once described a Wooster Group production to a prospective theatre date as a “massage…
Virginia Woolf’s poetic, genre-resistent novel The Waves might not feel like an obvious candidate for…
One of the predominant elements of John Le Carré’s novels concerning British Intelligence is bleakness.…
Miss Saigon is an iconic love story set in the last days of the Vietnam…