Improv workshops & classes in Leeds
Welcome to improvised comedy & drama for thoughtful people. Discover a playful way to feel freer, more joyful and connected in life - where you’re welcome as you already are.
Improvisation in Leeds for confidence without pressure to perform
With a slower, reflective and relational approach to improvised theatre - this is fun yet practically-focused improv to help you grow as a human. Discover more ease speaking-up in groups, more calm under pressure, and more aliveness in life.
Our philosophy at Leeds Improv
There aren’t many places where it’s safe to explore your comfort zone - where you’re welcomed as you are, and have fun while you’re doing it. Here’s what Leeds improv stands for:
- 1Permission to be human: no need to get it right all the time. Messiness and mistakes are welcome here. No expectation to be fast, funny or clever. No need to be any other way than how you are right now.
- 2Play cures seriousness-fatigue: grown-ups forget how to have fun from time-to-time. So you’re invited to come home to yourself, follow your bliss, and remember what play feels like at your own pace.
- 3Connection over comedy: human life is absurd, and it’s more fun together than alone. Being real, honest, gentle and truthful in the moment means your joy takes care of itself. No trying required.
Choose and buy tickets for an improv workshop in Leeds
Each drop-in improvisation class below is deliberately limited to a small, supportive group in a comfortable and spacious venue. There’s no audience, show or pressure to perform - and all improv games are optional.
Got questions or hesitations?
Schedule a free, friendly chat
Book a telephone call with Chris - your host and founder of this event. To explore your needs and expectations around improvisation, and what to expect from your first improv experience.
About your host: Chris Kenworthy
Improviser, facilitator & embodiment coach in Leeds, West Yorkshire
Hello, and welcome to an improv event for people like us
I lead warm and playful group experiences with genuine human connection. Events to explore what it’s like being curious, creative and fully you - together.
Professionally, I’m a certified embodiment coach and a trauma-informed relational facilitator. I’m also trained in Level 3 Authentic Relating leadership.
I travel the world exploring retreats, festivals, improv workshops and intensives, then return with discoveries for you to play with. I’ve trained with The Maydays, Maria Peters, Jennifer Jordan, Jen Hardy and Chris Mead.
Regular, in-person improv classes in Leeds, West Yorkshire
As your facilitator, I often frame our improv workshops around different themes - usually in service of play, expression and human connection, to motivate and inspire you. Here are some recent examples:
The joy of listening
Exploring distinct qualities of listening through the head, heart and body - to really tune-in.
Acts of kindness
Making generous choices and offers that create possibility and help people feel valued.
slow down
Staying present and connected to yourself and other improvisers through centering your body.
honour self & other
Respecting your needs and the needs of other individuals when we improvise, so we become more caring, loving and empathic improvisers.
welcome everything
Being more open-hearted in the way we accept, agree and build with what unfolds in the moment - what that feels like and how to embody that in our improv.
other themes
As a certified professional facilitator and coach, I also facilitate improv-inspired day workshops and experiences for teams and progressive workplaces in Leeds. These explore themes of communication, cooperation, leadership, emotional intelligence, embodied intelligence, and relationships.
What is improv (and why do it)?
Improvisation is the art of accepting ‘what is’ with playful, heartfelt curiosity in the here-and-now. It’s about making things up as you go along, collaboratively. It can involve movement, games, stories, dialogue, reactions, characters and plot.
Benefits of improv
Improv helps me navigate life’s struggles with overthinking, judgement, perfectionism, isolation, failure and mistakes - taking life too seriously.
If you need to let go, feel more alive, laugh more, or rediscover your inner child then improvisation is for you too.
Help your team communicate more clearly, think on their feet & work better together
Interactive workshops and training for your business, to help people listen well, speak-up more openly, and think more flexibly.