Hundreds of comedians and improvisers are descending on Notts, and not one has learnt their lines! The Robin Hood International Improv Festival is returning to Nottingham for the third time in September. We sat down with artistic co-director and improviser Lloydie James Lloyd to talk about the festival, the local scene and what people make of Nottingham.
What kind of thing can Notts expect from the Robin Hood International Improv Festival [RHIIF] this year?
The great thing with improv is, because you get to see the process of creation as well as what we create, you get something unique on the night. We’ve got shows like ‘An Imam, A Priest, and an Atheist Walk into a Bar’. A Muslim, a Christian and an atheist, quite deliberately playing together with their three different belief systems. We’ve got ‘Living. Dying. Dead.’ Owen [Scrivens], one of the people who created it, works as an intensive care consultant. It’s a very powerful show about how we live and how we die. We've also got a huge show that is massively popular at the Edinburgh Fringe, ‘Shamilton!’. It's an improvised Hamilton musical, with rapping. It's a juggernaut of a show.
We’ve also got some really good shows from the East Midlands, like ‘Date Night’, an improvised history of nearly everything. And also a new group who are hilarious called ‘Sexy Yoga Improv Boys’. They’ve made me hyperventilate with laughter before. It is just such a wonderful mix of shows. And this year we've even got a Robin Hood themed show. It took us until year three. Can you believe it? No one had ever pitched one before.
You’ve said the aim of the RHIIF is “to showcase the best of the world's improv to Nottingham and the best of Nottingham's improv to the world”. How big is that improv world out there?
We're bringing nearly 150 improvisers into Nottingham and we could only take about the top ten or fifteen percent of applications. So that gives you an idea on numbers. We watch a video of every single act that applies. We’ve spent hours of our life watching improv from places as far-flung as Australia, Pakistan, Nordic countries, mainland Europe, right across North America. I mean, there's a lot of improv out there.
This is a bit of a gossipy question, but, with all these performers coming from around the world… What do they think of us here in Nottingham?
If you go around the world, people now know Nottingham as a place for improv. Some high-level improvisers, who also have very big jobs in the entertainment industry, they go and apply to be at RHIIF because they've heard what a good time it is and what a lovely community they get to be part of. All these people want to come to our city, which is fantastic, and it contributes tens of thousands of pounds into Nottingham's economy every single year.
The most peculiar, brilliant, hilarious, but also lovely comment that we had from my dear friend Jorin [Garguilo] was that Nottingham was just like New York City but without the rubbish bits, which I really loved. The great thing is we always give them a tour from Robin Hood and he explains loads about the city. So they become mini fans of Nottingham.
Go support these local festivals because at the moment you are living in a city where there is real thriving culture
To get local again, Nottingham has quite the heritage for improvised comedy. We’ve got 26 years of improv happening in the city. One of the longest running communities in the country. How has all that time affected the local scene and, by extension, the festival?
Well, it allowed the scene to blossom and flourish in lots of very different ways. There's improv happening in this city pretty much every night of the week. The brilliant Geoff Monk set up a Monday group, which came out of the group that meets on Thursday. The classes I teach at the Nottingham Playhouse sell out within 24 hours. You've got people who are setting up their own teams, some of whom are performing at the festival. One of the reasons for setting RHIIF up was to allow the community here to grow even further. So we’ve got local people performing, watching, taking workshops and bursary places for local improvisers to allow the upskilling of our local community.
There are brilliant people in Nottingham doing things, not just at the big venues but in fringe venues. I think it's really important that festivals are supported within the local community. I don't just mean money, although frankly, money would be great. But you know, what is more important is people coming along, watching a show, even taking part. Not just for our festival. You’ve got the Poetry Festival, you’ve got NCF. Go support these local festivals because at the moment you are living in a city where there is real, thriving culture. We lost Nonsuch Studios last year and Nottingham needs another fringe theatre space. We’ve got brilliant people doing brilliant stuff. There is so much talent here and there just aren't the places to put on enough shows.
So, as one of the directors, what would you recommend?
[noises of anguish]
Ha! I love the way you crumpled a little bit when I asked that question...
It's so hard. I can't recommend it enough for people to go see at least one show because if you are in Nottingham and you haven't seen one of these shows you’ve definitely missed out.
So, what are you looking forward to seeing?
This is such a labour of love for me and Liam [Webber] and for this year our guest curator Tanine [Dunais]. More than anything else I'm looking forward to seeing all the people. When we talk about this as a big community, it really is. Now don't get me wrong it is a stressful thing to run a festival like this. It is a very, very, very stressful thing. But we do it because we love it and we love the people that we get to bring together. I am so emotionally connected to this festival. Talking about it, away from just organising it, I still don't know how we do it.
The Third Robin Hood International Improv Festival runs from Weds 4 - Sun 8 Sept 2024. Tickets available at: robinhoodimprov.co.uk/shows
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