Copenhagen Impro Festival

Lygten Station (Cph NV), Råhuset (Cph V) and Bastarden (Cph K); April 14-20; imprologen.dk

Apr 13, 2014

The first rule of improvisation is always say yes. The second rule of improvisation is ALWAYS SAY YES.

The Copenhagen Impro Festival is the first of its kind in Denmark and will be one of the biggest in Europe. No-one knows what will happen at it. And according to Stefan Pagels Andersen, the festival’s manager and creator, this is the attraction.

“Every performance is unique, every performance is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said, “If you like stand-up comedy, this is like stand-up and beyond."

Andersen has been working with shortform improvisation in Denmark for the past four years. He then spent time in Chicago learning from Del Close and Charna Halpern, the creators of the longform Harold style, which is more like a sitcom format.

He’d never seen this back home, so he invited the teachers to come to Copenhagen to hold intensive workshops. And with so many improvisers gathered, he decided to make a festival.

Some of the world’s best improvisers from iO Improv Chicago will join teams from all over Europe for a full week of performances and workshops in all forms of improvisation: shortform, longform, improvised musicals, improvised storytelling, experimental improvisation and more.

There will be events each day in English. So remember the first two rules and say yes to improvisation.

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