Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv

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. 

Interviews with: Laura Kennedy Kieran Sands Kristin Elliott Juwel Haque Derbáil Kinsella Dani Taffijn Babette Hinterleitner Erik Ostrom   I wasn't able to sit down with everybody, but the cast also included: Matt Sparkes Ray Billington Terje Brevik   Who: Wing It Impro - Ensemble Team   What: Ancestors Where: Unity 1 When: 2:50pm - Saturday the 9th of May 2026 One house. Four eras. Countless secre...

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 &am...

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 d...

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, som...

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:...

Hal Munger interviews Anneliina and Guitar who will be performing Life Happens! 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: AnneLiina & Guitar What: Life Happens! Where: Unity 1 When: 6pm - Thursday 7th of May Life is unpredictable and that’s exactly where...

Hal Munger interviews Aunt Batty Knows who will be performing Tales from the Armchair 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: Aunt Batty Knows... What: Tales from the Armchair Where: Unity 1 When: 6pm - Thursday 7th of May Performed by: Karen Hughes, Gemma...

Hal Munger interviews Breakfast of Champions who will be performing 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: Breakfast of Champions What: The Big Breakfast Where: Unity 2 When: 1:30pm - Saturday the 9th of May Performed by: Jon Trevor, John Guelke, Bex Lewi...

Hal Munger interviews Phil Lunn who will be performing Phyllida Sings 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: Phil Lunn What: Phyllida Sings Where: Unity 1 When: 4pm - Saturday the 9th of May Phyllida invites you to a celebration of her life and career. Sh...

Hal Munger interviews Improv the Dead who will be performing 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. What: Improv the Dead Where: Unity 1 When: 8:30pm - Saturday the 9th of May Age range: 16+ Using audience suggestions, Improv the Dead conjure up a spontaneous...

Hal Munger interviews Eric Caldwell who will be performing from the show But of Mind with Diana Brown, Kelly Chambers and Dan Wilson. Eric 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. But Of Mind places ordinary people into extraordinary, often unsettling situations—unfoldin...

Hal Munger interviews director of LIF ensemble 2026 Mark Smith who will be creating Ancestors at LIF 2026. Mark 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: Wing It Impro - Ensemble Team What: Ancestors Where: Unity 1 When: 2:50pm - Saturday the 9th of May Performed by:...

Hal Munger interviews Absolute Onions a Manchester improv company who will be performing Improv Island Discs. The Onions 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. Performed by: Anthony Barnish, Jen Clarke, James Carmichael, Patrick Murray Hello Castaways! Imagine you're s...

Hal Munger interviews Kathy and Joe Rinaldi from ImprompTwo & Co who will be performing from the show ‘The Sinners Table’. Kathy and Joe 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. The Sinner’s Table! It’s where the wedding leftovers are seated — the loud uncle with the booming...

Hal Munger interviews Mike Burton and Fergus Wynne who will be performing from the show Gricers. Mike and Fergus 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. Gricers is a new, spontaneous theatre show created to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern passenger railway. Inspir...

Hal Munger interviews Stephen Longstaffe a solo improviser who will be performing Shakespeare on the spot. Stephen 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. The world clearly hasn’t enough Shakespeare, so this solo show improvises some more from audience suggestions. Your...

Hal Munger interviews Emily Rose part of the duo who make up the music improv shows 'Play it Again'. Emily and Hal discus all things improv, from inspirations, ideas and everything in between. Catch this show as part of LIF 2026 hosted by festival partners the Unity theatre. They are immortal lounge performers, cursed to provide light entertainment forever! ​Give them your sultry suggestions, they...

Cheetah T John and Mantis Make their way through the Wilkerson estate... This one has an epic battle at the end. This episode wraps up the first batch of Animatia episodes! We will be back with more in March, but in the meantime, check out the Liverpool improvisation Festival interviews that we will be posting throughout February!!!

This episode has the craziest ending.... After last time we had the idea to do a bottle episode that followed Beatrice through the nightclub. We had no idea how out-of-hand things would get :). 

Topher gains some valuable information, Beatrice gets involved with some bad actors, and we see where the lake portal leads. We promise that the audie quality issue will be fixed on the next episode, sorry about it cutting off!

The plot thickens in the second episode of Animatia... If you want this to make sense... go back and listen to the first one!    Suggestions for this episode were Water Strider and Rhino. 

The first episode of our improvised television series. The only thing we decided in advance was that all the characters would be animals and that the show would begin with a car chase.  For this show we received the suggestions:  Cheetah, Gopher, Canada Goose, and Peacock.

We discuss our plans for our next format on the podcast, a serialized improvised audio show!

Julian and I have been off the podcast for the past month, so on this episode we dive back in to Muprov Musings and catch each other up on what we have been learning in London and San Francisco.