Liverpool Improvisation Festival 2026

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Field	Details
Dates	May 7-10, 2026
Edition	4th annual
Location	Liverpool, United Kingdom
Venues	Unity Theatre (shows); Liverpool Arts Bar Studios (workshops)
Language	English
Organizer	Jen Hardy and Mark Smith
Website	liverpoolimprovfestival.com
Facebook	LiverpoolimprovFest
Instagram	@liverpool_improv_festival

Overview

The Liverpool Improvisation Festival (LiF) is an annual festival bringing together international and local improvisers to showcase unscripted performance across multiple disciplines. Founded in 2022 with its inaugural event in April 2023, the festival emerged as a post-pandemic initiative to revitalize Liverpool's improv scene and has grown rapidly since. It is supported by Unity Theatre, Liverpool John Moores University, and Liverpool Arts Bar Studios, and continues Liverpool's improvisational theatre traditions associated with Ken Campbell, Improbable Theatre, and Showstoppers.

The 2026 edition featured 18 live shows - including three world premieres - and seven workshops. The programme spanned improv comedy, clowning, shadow puppetry, musical theatre, and storytelling. Highlights included David Elms Describes a Room, Limboland from musical theatre improviser T.J. Mannix, The Sinners' Table from ImprompTwo & Co, a 12-performer ensemble piece called Ancestors, and "legends of literary improvisation" School of Night. The festival also maintains what it describes as the UK's largest archive of improvised performance documentation.

Liverpool Improvisation Festival 2026

Overview

Sources