Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv

In this episode, I found out that Rafe Chase directed the first hour-long narrative improv show that I have found a record of!!! And it was a noir of all things :) Get the whole story of how our art form began by listening...

Sasha Sokolova is co-hosting this new series where we break down the process of creating our current show, Nocturnal: the Improvised Animal Noir. On this episode we talk about our inspirations, technical design, and first practice.  

Interviews with (most of) the cast and the director of Helliday: The Improvised Horror Show at the Robin Hood International Improv Festival 2026! It was a ridiculously fun show full of interesting and hilarious people! 

Guests:

Beata Różalska

David Raitt

Paul Berrocal

Kaci Beeler

Liam Webber

Rebecca Stockley has been directing improvised Shakespeare plays since 1989. As far as we know, she is the first person to ever create an hour-long improvised Shakespeare play.  Because she was the first to discover the artform, Rebecca is the perfect person to kick off our new series on the history and methodology of classical improvisation. 

This interview features a surprise appearance from Brian Lohmann. 

The name of the Canadian group that I forgot is Die-Nasty. 

Anson Chan, Co-Artistic Director and Co-producer of the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival joins the podcast to debrief the big takeaways from this year's festival. I tried to edit it down a little, but we still set the record for the longest episode of Muprov Musings. 

Hal Munger interviews Oliver Senton from The School of Night. Oliver and Hal discus all things improv, from inspirations, ideas and everything in between.

Catch their show as part of LIF 2026 hosted by festival partners the Unity theatre. Who: The School of Night What: The School of Night Where: Unity 1 When: 7pm - Saturday the 9th of May Performed by: Oliver Senton, Dylan Emery, Joseph Chance & Alan Cox.

The School of Night has been improvising Shakespeare since they were formed by theatre maverick Ken Campbell at the request of Mark Rylance at Shakespeare's Globe in London in 2005. Their shows are wild and extravagant celebrations of theatre as they attempt to extemporise one of Shakespeare's lost plays, inspired by audience suggestions. As well as being masters of improvising in iambic pentameter, The School enjoy introducing new performers INTO their shows. This year, a new cohort of bardic explorers (who have been playing and iambickering with The School in the morning), will show off their skills in a whirlwind ride of literary games and procedures. The School's unique brand of literary improvisation has been seen all over the world, from the National Theatre to Elsinore Castle, from the Hay Literary Festival to the Edinburgh Festival. And now they are delighted to be asked back to Liverpool to continue asking the question: what if making stuff up was more fun than writing it down? ‘Fearsomely able improvisers’ ★★★★ Financial Times

Hal Munger interviews with Empty Set who will be performing here-elsewhere at LIF 2026. Hal discus all things improv, from inspirations, ideas and everything in between. Catch their show as part of LIF 2026 hosted by festival partners the Unity theatre. Who: Empty Set What: here-elsewhere Where: Unity 2 When: 4:30pm - Friday the 8th of May here-elsewhere, performed and directed by Empty Set, the duo of Rosalind Grégoire and Christianna Tsigkou is a one of a kind improvised performance where live drawing, projection and storytelling transform the space itself into a shifting, imaginative world. here-elsewhere is a performance where space itself becomes a performer. The artists transform the room through live drawing, projection, and storytelling, creating a layered world that shifts between the seen and the imagined. As we explore hidden corners and small details of the space, a scratch on the wall, a glint of light, a forgotten object, these are magnified and projected as living landscapes where new stories emerge. The performers respond, building a visual and emotional map of the room’s echo; strange, delicate, and deeply human. Each performance is unique, shaped by the architecture, atmosphere, and presence of those watching, transforming overlooked spaces into vivid, imaginative worlds, where stories emerge not from a suggestion, but from the materiality of the room. Equal parts theatre, live art and visual improvisation, here-elsewhere invites audiences to rediscover the spaces they inhabit and the stories that live quietly within them.

Hal Munger interviews Nathan Dean who will be performing the A very Capable boy at LIF 2026 at LIF 2026. Hal discus all things improv, from inspirations, ideas and everything in between. Catch their show as part of LIF 2026 hosted by festival partners the Unity theatre. Who: Greg Baxter and Nathan Dean What: A Very Capable Boy Where: Unity 2 When: 6pm - Saturday the 9th of May Sometimes silly, sometimes serious, sometimes surreal, A Very Capable Boy are a duo who blend improvisation, alternative comedy and kitchen-sink drama to create a uniquely surprising live comedic experience. For fans of I Think You Should Leave, The Royle Family, and Rick and Morty, the show draws from sources as varied as DIY music, absurdist theatre, and performance art to create a world full of darkly hilarious characters who move and amuse in equal measure.

Hal Munger interviews Rebecca MacMillan and Andĕl Sudik who will be teaching and performing the Library of Forgotten books at LIF 2026. Hal discus all things improv, from inspirations, ideas and everything in between. Catch their show as part of LIF 2026 hosted by festival partners the Unity theatre. Who: Andĕl Sudik & Rebecca MacMillan What: The Library of Forgotten Books Where: Unity 1 When: 5:30pm - Friday the 8th of May Breathe in. What do you smell? Paper. Dust. Leather bindings. Welcome to The Library of Forgotten Books - a place of ritual, where abandoned and neglected books are offered up and transformed into fleeting stories. In this dreamlike space of reverence and mischief, The Librarians examine forgotten volumes, channel their contents, and decide their fate: to be enshrined on the shelves of memory… or consigned to oblivion. A mysterious, funny and moving improvised performance created by internationally acclaimed improvisers Anděl Sudik (The Second City, Boom Chicago) and Rebecca MacMillan (The Maydays, Closer Each Day), the show blends laughter, wonder, and the quiet thrill of transgression. Audience members are invited to bring a book they’re ready to part with forever; these offerings may shape the night — or be ceremonially altered in the name of improv. What will be remembered? And what will be forgotten?