#171 Improv actor training
Drone. Mountain. Musical. Improv.
18 JUNE 2025
This is a big week for me. And for The Pretend Company.
We’re launching our core offering - an improv actor training programme taught over 16 weeks with loads of thoughtful extras and opportunities thrown in.
There’s also a weekend intensive version for people who have less time (or who are traveling from further afield).
I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve created. Now all we need is a group of compassionate and ambitious performers to take that journey with us.
(I hope that’s you).
Learn how to apply below.
Rule of three
[Photography] Abstract Aerial Art
Loved these images, taken directly from above by a drone, showing a perspective on the world that we rarely see. I find them absolutely fascinating. My favourite is the shadow camel.
[Film] Mountainhead
If you’d like to watch a film where every single main character is an absolute piece of human garbage then look no further than Mountainhead by Jessie “Succession” Armstrong. It has the writer’s trademark wit and a bunch of tech billionaires that you’re actively hoping will freeze to death during their mountain poker retreat.
[Musicals] HamilTEN
Look, I do try to explore the full range of humanity’s artistic endeavours in this newsletter but at the end of the day, I’m me. So I’m always going to recommend musicals content - and seeing almost the entire original cast of Hamilton back on stage for their ten year anniversary made me jump in the air and go Woo! WITNESS Daveed Diggs jumping about exactly as he did a decade ago. THRILL to the close harmony of the Schuyler sisters. CHUCKLE that Ariana DeBose is now super famous but still came back to play the bullet.
Spotlight
Well, this is it - today we launch The Pretend Company’s improv actor training in all its splendour (with versions both in London and Southend). It’s been such a pleasure and a gift to work with Ali James and Liam Webber to create both the primer weekend and particularly the sixteen week mega-programme starting in September. I think we’ve come up with something that no one else is offering at this scale in the UK - something I wish was around when I was beginning to get serious about improvisation. Our intention is to turbocharge your improv in the space of months, not years - to give you the concentrated benefit of our combined decades of experience in a super fun and streamlined course offering.
For some of you, you’re already onboard and just need the links. Here they are:
The Pretend Weekend
The Pretend Company: Improv Actor Training
For others who want to dive a little deeper, please read on for our thoughts on creating the programme.
Longform thoughts
Obviously, as a company, we’re still cooking but every day brings more clarity and more excitement over what we can achieve. We really believe we’ve got something special here, something that our UK (and dare we say global) community can benefit from. Something that lays comfortably beside existing offerings without taking up too much space and that actually elevates the opportunities available.
Read personal reflections from the team behind The Pretend Company’s Improv actor training offering.
Radio contact
LOOK AT THE WAY HE’S SITTING! He thinks he’s people.