Phil’s course was the perfect balance of fun and learning.
Phil was able to make everybody feel comfortable and enjoy themselves.
Phil’s workshop really set up goals for me and gave me tools to work on my own.
The weekend we hired you was (and still is) one of the most fun and memorable weekends of my life!
I primarily teach with Hoopla Impro, in London.
Hoopla is the largest improv school in the UK and I’m proud to have been associated with them since the start, in the early 2000s. Hoopla run courses on all aspects of improvised theatre, from introductory courses for complete beginners through to advanced workshops looking at very specific topics. Have a look at their website here.
I also teach some workshops independently in London, and at international improv festivals in other countries.
Upcoming courses and classes
An eight week course, looking at the basic techniques of making up and performing songs on the spot.
I’ll be teaching a workshop with short form musical improv formats that are ready to perform.
An eight week course with a showcase, looking at the basic techniques of making up and performing songs on the spot.
My courses
Introduction to Musical Improv
This Hoopla course covers song structures, rhyming, generating song ideas, and how to use music in your scenes. The next course starts on Monday 6 November and runs for six weeks. There is more information and tickets available here.
More Improvised Singing
This course is a continuation of my Hoopla course, but is suitable for anyone who has done some musical improv before and wants to take things further. The current course started in September. More dates will be announced soon. If you’d like to get an idea of the content, there will be a end-of-course show on Monday 30 November at the Canal Café Theatre, London.Other things
You might also see me sometimes teaching sessions on the Beginners or Performance courses at Hoopla.Some of my workshops
Making People
Our characters drive the story through their actions and reactions, which in turn is largely driven by their personality. This workshops looks at key personality traits (taken from psychology theory) that are useful to think about when improvising, and using those to develop our characters and to direct how they behave in scenes.
The Core Of The Song
Whether we’re aiming for funny, moving, or a combination of the two, the best songs tend to have a clear hook, catchy lyrics, and a specific concept. Together we can think of these as the ‘core’ of the song. In this workshop, we’ll look at how we lock in on this ‘core’ in order to make our songs fun, memorable, and easier to perform.
All Together!
A workshop dedicated to creating songs as a group. We look at how to share lyrics and movement, and how to keep songs consistent between people. We also look at how to perform like a pop group—it's not all about musical theatre!
Coaching
I also sometimes coach groups, or run tailored workshops for companies. You can email me to chat about this.