If you’ve ever ventured to Lavapiés on a Thursday night you may well have felt the vibrant pulse of English language entertainment beating to its own rhythm at La Escalera de Jacob. The long-established indy theatre hosts MAD Improv – Madrid’s go-to group for all things improv in English. The group offers up their weekly show (now in its third season) to audiences of native and non-native English speakers alike, as reflected in the multiple reviews on their Trip Advisor page. They’re now the 44th highest-rated show in all of Madrid, no less.
Their show formats include MAD About You, an improvised chat show complete with improvised interviews with audience members and an improvised house band, and MAD Monologues where fresh stand up material from comics on the local stand up scene inspires the mad improv that follows. But coming to see a MAD Improv show on a Thursday night is, for some, just the beginning of a deeper and ever-surprising journey into doing improvisation themselves.
Improv training
That’s because MAD Improv, which began life in 2014, run courses and workshops. This month their flagship Green Course for beginners and near-beginners starts for the 7th time, as well as their Blue Course, specially designed for those with existing improv training, such as their own Green Course.
Steve Loader, one of the founding members of MAD Improv, is the teacher of their beginners course. He describes the experience as:
Witnessing a brilliant whirlwind of personal discoveries and magic Eureka moments as participants grasp the basics of improv and run with them. The feedback we get from our alumni is proof that not only anyone can learn improv but also that improv turns out to be much more than just a type of performance, but something that feeds into everyday life.
One student from their last Green Course, Carlos, put it like this:
It’s such a good environment, Steve is so enthusiastic and patient that we are all relaxed and lose our shyness and inhibitions. It’s more than educational, it’s therapeutic. I’ve received a training in spontaneity and I love it!
Flexing creative muscles
As committing to regular participation on a course isn’t for everyone, every Sunday at Espacio en Blanco the MAD Improvisers offer their weekly MAD Improv Gym, an open drop-in session for anyone who wants to try their hand at improv. The Gym also attracts a group of regulars and is always followed by post-improv drinks. According to Steve:
Between 10 and 20 people come every week to our Gym. It’s always formed the foundation of our community. We love offering the sessions.
Steve has been a Madrid resident for 6 years and also runs courses in clown, physical theatre and scripted theatre. In fact, the MAD Improv community acts not only as a meeting point for anyone interested in improv in English, but also as a skills hub for the wider English-speaking arts community.
So, maybe 2020 is the year to find your own creative beat with some mad improv of your own.
