What to expect

  • Having fun with short improv games

    Session 1

    Building your confidence within the group and learning how to develop characters and interpret relationships with short improv games

  • Letting go

    Session 2

    Learn to celebrate mistakes and go with your first instinct. Finding the rewards in being unprepared and how a 'mistake' can be a gift

  • building confidence

    Session 3

    Feeling the moment and trusting ourselves. Using Improv skills to aid us with unhelpful automatic thoughts, difficult situations and times when we feel 'out of control'

  • Live Zoom Workshop

    3-5pm (UK) 28th 29th & 30th December

    This is a 3 day course on Zoom. Live sessions will not be recorded as this is a very interactive course

'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players'

Why Improv?

How can it help?

  • We are all constantly bombarded with 'perfection'

    People often worry about how they are coming across in a social situation, some people struggle with thoughts of being a failure or not good enough.

    We are all constantly bombarded with 'perfection' and the idea that 'life goals' make us whole, that we are conditioned to believe that every step we take must have meaning and be 'right'. That we worry, plan and concern ourselves in the search for this perfection, sometimes to the point of feeling empty, confused and demoralised. Add in the mix the stress and strain of life, this search to always 'get it right' is exhausting.

  • Improv teaches us that we can be great without a plan!

    Improv can help. Improv teaches us that we can be great without a plan. That when we make a mistake, it could open up a new golden opportunity, and if it doesn't we survive and can manage that uncertainty.

    Improv is a place where mistakes are celebrated

    Laughter is had by all

    Permission is granted to be absurd

    Friends are made and nonsense is part of the agenda

  • learn to find comfort in 'going with the flow

    Joining this course will invite you to get out of your head. You will have the opportunity to try things out in a safe and supported environment. To become comfortable with uncertainty and know you can cope. You will learn to notice the gifts in a mistake and the rewards in being clueless. You will build connections with others, laugh, play and learn to find comfort in 'going with the flow

    We will be integrating improv games with psychological benefits for wellbeing, and learning improv skills in character building. Sarah-Zee Haskett works with using theatre and the body to aid confidence and interpersonal skills to benefit wellbeing and general mental health. Brian Armstrong is an experienced Improv performer and play write.

Open to everyone

Live Zoom Workshop 3-5pm (UK) 28th 29th & 30th December

For more..

A discussion panel podcast

A group of Improv-ers get together to discuss how improv comedy has helped their mental wellbeing and created friendships and life enhancing connections with others

Your course facilitators

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong began his career as a writer by writing plays in college and had several productions in Texas and New Mexico. He went on to study writing plays, screenplays, television and radio drama at the University of London where he earned his MA in Scriptwriting. He is now a teacher and proud family-man. In 2010, Brian published his first poetry book, Pangaea: Transforming the Landscape (available now from Amazon.com). He has had publications in literary magazines including Poetry Quarterly and the Hoot & Hare Review vol. 1&2. His first play for young audiences, Piglet, is available from YouthPLAYS.

"I have been involved with improv since 2003 at New Mexico State University. I performed with Baloney Sans Wits in El Paso, Texas and founded On The Wing in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I was proud to join Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed at Unscrewed Theatre in Tucson, AZ, where I went on to form BRICK and Characters From Friends. In December 2018 I had the pleasure of performing at Improv Fest Ireland with David Razowsky and I now run Portsmouth Improv Experience."

www.brianarmstrongwriter.com

Sarah-Zee Haskett

I have been an advocate for good mental health for decades, having worked within mental health NHS services for 15 years and social services before that, I have been working clinically as a mental health professional since 2013. In 2017 I was awarded a Psychological Therapist Trainee position, leaving the Trust as a Senior Psychological therapist some years later.

As someone who often felt like an outsider, I became fascinated with human behaviour when I was working as an actor. At this time I was a part time support worker and acting in corporate role play training days and teaching youth theatre. I was awarded registration with Equity Arts Federation (UK), however working without a regular pay day was not ideal for me and nursing was the natural choice.

For me, understanding people, life and wellness, is closely linked to creativity. Dance, music, drama has always played a significant role in my life and I now have the pleasure of bringing these areas together in a meaningful way. I have studied Middle Eastern dance and rhythm for a number of years and enjoy the sense of connection and meditation music can have. I specialise in bringing therapeutic theory and creative expression together in my workshops and in my corporate programmes.

for more about me visit www.creativementalhealth.org.uk

Reviews

What people said about this course

5 star rating

Lots of fun!

Jennifer Mills

Thank you for running these sessions. It was great fun, the group felt supportive and it made me think about communication. Thanks to Sarah and Brian for lea...

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Thank you for running these sessions. It was great fun, the group felt supportive and it made me think about communication. Thanks to Sarah and Brian for leading it so well.

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