Stephen Lee | Eat the Eyeball

This is Pretend Night.

Pretend Night is a whole evening of improvised theatre from The Pretend Company consisting of an improv skill raiser workshop from 6-7:30pm and a show at 8pm.

Our workshops concentrate on one skill per session and really push you to develop and grow as a performer. They are for improvisers who want to progress in the craft - we expect all students to already have experience performing and know how to sustain scene work.

• We will start at 6pm and the session will only have a brief warm-up before moving into exercises and scene work for 90 mins, no break
• We will focus on a different skill each month
• The class size will be limited to 14 people maximum
• Cost is £20 and includes a voucher code for 50% off attending the show (normally £10) - which starts at the same venue at 8pm - you can buy tickets here: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/pretend-night/
• The class is open to any improviser of any school of improv - we love and respect all forms of the craft

This month: Stephen Lee - Eat the eyeball! Let nothing go to waste in your scenes

Asians use every part of the fish in cooking, not letting anything go to waste. In fact, eating the eyeball is considered the best part—good for your eyes! We’ll apply this philosophy to our scenework. Often in improv when we find ourselves stuck in awkward scenes, we panic by adding extra offers, escalating the plot quickly or sweeping everything away. But long, grounded sets of 30-60 minutes can flourish from thoroughly mining the first 2-3 minutes of scene-building with no special fireworks or gimmicks needed. Starting with “If this is true, what else is true?” we’ll use every bit of the fish—starting scenes from very few initial conditions and seeing what we cook up.

Experience level and core skills required:

This workshop is designed for people with some experience in long-form improv and a desire to create more grounded, character-based scenes.

About Stephen

Stephen (pronounced ‘Stefen’) Lee is a Korean-American-British improviser based in London. He is a founding member and former Artistic Director of Comediasians, the UK’s premier pan-Asian improv group. 

As an improv teacher, Stephen focuses on cultural inclusivity and slow-burn long-form skill building. He co-launched ‘ImprovisAsian Time’, a workshop series designed to encourage the UK’s Asian community to explore improv, and he has guest lectured for Hoopla Impro’s ‘Culture Flow’ course geared towards improvisers of colour. 

While not improvising, Stephen is busy as the founder of Gist In Time, a strategy consultancy for leaders and organisations in moments of transition. He lovingly injects improv in his executive coaching, strategy offsite facilitation and team training work.

Summary

Where? Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 0QW
When? 6-7.30pm
How much? £20. Please note: entry to the workshop does not guarantee entrance to the show at 8pm. You must buy a separate ticket (although we do provide you with a 50% off voucher - please check your confirmation receipt for details)

Refund Policy

We regret we cannot refund tickets once bought. We will gladly help you find another improviser to sell them to, but we can't take responsibility for actually reselling them. So please factor this policy in before you buy.