London Grilling: James Dart, Artistic Director, ShakeItUp Theatre
In this week’s London Grilling we had the pleasure of sitting down with James Dart, the visionary director behind The Improvised Shakespeare Show. James shared his journey from drama school, to the Off-West End stage, blending his love for Shakespeare with the unpredictable thrill of improvisation.
Read on to discover how James and his talented team bring the Bard’s timeless tales to life with a fresh, comedic twist that’s captivating audiences across the city.
James, what inspired you to create The Improvised Shakespeare Show, and why did you choose London for its Off-West End debut?
I started the company after drama school. We didn’t have any improvisation as part of our course, which I thought was a real missed opportunity, and so I started after school improv classes on a Wednesday. I’m also a huge fan of Shakespeare, and I wanted to find a way to combine two things I love. Thus ShakeItUp Theatre was born! I invited my classmates to join the company, and together we created The Improvised Shakespeare Show. It’s been developing since we formed in 2017, with the format changing and the stories getting more wild and wacky as we get more confident in our improv skills and our knowledge of the Bard’s works. We’ve the likes of Dave Hearn from Mischief Theatre and Dylan Emery from School of Night help mentor us on our journey, and their ideas, advice, and improv games have pushed the show to get even better in the last few years. Whilst Stratford-Upon-Avon is the literal home of Shakespeare, London was his artistic home, which makes it the perfect place for our Off-West End debut.
Can you share some memorable moments from performing in various London venues, such as your early days in Putney?
We performed our first London shows in a function room upstairs at The Cat’s Back, a great local pub in Putney. They didn’t have a stage (or lighting) so we built our own out of wooden pallets, and would carry them up three flights of stairs for every show - which meant lots of splinters. They would often get moved outside by the staff, so they were also pretty damp and rotten by the end. We had a little dance routine we’d do after every show to the tune of a kazoo, and managed to light ourselves with a well-angled lamp. Needless to say, we’re happy now to have our stage built before we arrive!
How does performing in a historic city like London influence the improvisational nature of your show?
Shakespeare’s Globe is a huge influence for us as a company. The way actors use that space, play with the crowd, speak directly to audience members, the way they react spontaneously when a pigeon that lands on the stage, or the weather changes, or a plane hovers overhead. Shakespeare’s texts almost become an exercise in improvisation on that stage, and it’s that spirit and energy we try to capture in our shows.
London is known for its diverse audiences. How do you think this diversity impacts the reception and performance of The Improvised Shakespeare Show?
We ask our audience to choose the genre and setting of our shows, plus we ask them to write lines before the start which we hide in our pantaloons to take out and say at random points during the show. What makes London audiences so great is the diversity of the suggestions we get, meaning we’re inspired to tell different stories to what we normally would.
What has been the most challenging aspect of bringing an improvised Shakespeare play to life in a city with such a rich theatrical history?
Whilst London audiences are fantastic with the range of ideas and the good vibes they always bring to the show, they also pose a challenge. There’s so much theatre in London, so much comedy to see, so much Shakespeare to sit through. All this means we have to work harder to show why we are different to (and better than) the other shows out there. So if you think you know improv, or Shakespeare’s been done to death, we challenge you to come discover a new side of both!
Can you tell us about your experience performing at The Other Palace Theatre and what audiences can expect from your upcoming shows there?
Performing at The Other Palace is a huge moment for us as a company: our Off-West End debut! The team have been so welcoming and generous in the build up to our run, and we can’t wait to strut our stuff on their famous stage. Audiences can expect a completely new, improvised Shakespeare show made up on the spot with no director, no planning, and certainly no conferring backstage! We pride ourselves in taking the tropes, characters, and stories of Shakespeare and mixing them all together to create a bonkers, hilarious, and hopefully emotionally moving show worthy of the Bard himself.
ShakeItUp has performed internationally. How do London audiences compare to those in other cities like Italy, Poland, and Germany?
We perform annually at a theatre near Berlin and have performed in a comedy club in Warsaw, and a theatre festival in Rome. What is interesting in each of these cases is the feedback we get at the end of the show. Our German audiences, for example, are often interested in what we are doing with our bodies, not just the words we are saying. This has helped us make the show more physical, using our bodies to create characters and the environment as well as our voices. We love asking ourselves: What does an improvised fight scene look like? How fun would it be to do a whole scene crawling on the floor? How acrobatic can I make a Macbeth-inspired witch? These little details elevate the show and turn it into something slightly more special than your average improv.
The Improvised Shakespeare Show invites audience participation. Have there been any particularly memorable audience contributions from your London performances?
In August 2020, we performed at the New Normal Festival, an outdoor theatre festival set up just after the first Covid-19 lockdown. This was a really special show for us, as it marked our comeback after months of not performing. But the audience in Wandsworth were also one of the best we’ve ever had. They were so thrilled and excited to be at the theatre, so full of joy and laughter, and so full of support that it just elevated the show to a new level.
How do you see the future of ShakeItUp in London’s theater scene, especially considering your return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?
We’ve grown so much as a company over the past six years, and we hope to keep the momentum moving into summer and the start of 2025. We’re performing for the full month at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time this summer, and hope to build on that experience to develop the show even further. Our ultimate goal is to get a regular performing spot on the West End, and to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe itself. We’ve come close, performing in the so-called ‘Underglobe’, but we will know we’ve made it once we move upstairs and perform on those famous wooden boards!
For someone new to Shakespeare or improv, what would you say to encourage them to attend The Improvised Shakespeare Show in London?
Forget everything you might know about improv or Shakespeare: our show redefines both! You don’t have to be a Shakespeare expert to love our shows either, we just hope to make you as intrigued and excited by Shakespeare as we are. Improvisation is all about taking risks…so if you’re really new to improv and Shakespeare, come take a risk and try out both with us!
The Improvised Shakespeare Show
A bard-based improvised comedy Shakespeare play led by audience contributions
Created by James Dart
The Other Palace Theatre Studio,
9th–13th July
@ShakeItUpTheatre
