Hoopla – the UK’s first improv theatre and now its largest improv school – is turning 20, and they’re marking it in style.
From 10 Apr, you can join them for their 20th Anniversary Improv Festival, running right through to 18 Jul 2026 at their London Bridge home, The Miller.
It’s a pretty perfect moment for a celebration like this. British comedy is firmly back in the spotlight, with growing buzz around a UK version of Saturday Night Live.
Hoopla has been part of that story – counting among its alumni Lorna Rose Treen, who started out here and has since joined the writing team on Saturday Night Live UK. Not bad proof of how strong the UK improv pipeline has become.
Over the past 20 years, thousands of improvisers and groups have passed through Hoopla. This spring’s festival is essentially one big reunion and celebration, bringing together acts from the past, present and future of the scene.
A lot of the performers returning this year actually started out doing early shows at Hoopla, long before heading off to the West End, TV and radio. So there’s a real sense of things coming full circle. Credit, too, goes to producer Angela Pollard for pulling together such a packed line-up.
The Hoopla story itself goes back to 2006, when Steve Roe and Edgar Fernando (friends since the age of four) decided to start something new. They’d bonded over drama at Rutlish High School in South London, inspired by their teacher Debbie Price.
It all began modestly, with free weekly improv practice sessions at The Bedford in Balham. But things quickly grew. Before long, Hoopla was taking shows up to the Edinburgh Fringe and building a loyal following.
By 2010, they needed more space and more nights. That’s when they teamed up with The Miller at London Bridge. With the help of the venue’s staff and a growing improv community, the space was transformed into the UK’s first dedicated improv theatre – giving London a proper home for the art form.
From the start, that stage hosted early performances from some now-famous names: Showstoppers!, Austentatious, Abandoman and Mischief Theatre – who would later create The Play That Goes Wrong. These groups helped define what professional improv could look like in the UK, and many of them are back for this anniversary festival.
Today, Hoopla is bigger than ever. They run classes every day across multiple central London venues, teach thousands of students each year, stage shows full-time at The Hoopla Improv Theatre, and support new performers through their house team system. On top of that, they’ve built a major diversity programme aimed at making improv open to everyone.
Twenty years in, it’s less a milestone and more a full-circle moment—celebrating where UK improv has come from, and where it’s heading next.
For details of the festival: https://www.hooplaimpro.com/20