Support Us
Help us make beautiful theatre and create collaborative communities.
‘If theatre didn’t exist, this would be a good place to start’ - Keith Johnstone
Led by Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson, Improbable is a theatre company which defies categorisation. We create work on every scale and at the heart of our work is the practice and philosophy of improvisation. We use improvisation to inspire people to create a better world. We work with the understanding that positive change comes not from one person, group or ideology, but grows from the symbiotic interactions between us. We connect individuals to their sense of agency, grow community, and empower people to imagine and create a healthier and more equitable society.
Our practice enables us to make shows like An Improbable Musical, Akhnaten, and My Neighbour Totoro, and to engage with people through workshops and mentoring to offer tools and techniques that empower them in their lives, their creativity, and their communities. We work in partnership with those in science, business, medicine, academia, and education to develop new applications for improvisational processes and we create spaces for local, national, and international communities within the cultural sector and beyond to work on urgent issues.
The last few years have affirmed for everyone just how crucial opportunities are to come together with others, to meet, connect and create, oftentimes in scenarios where conversation feels increasingly tricky or stuck. Improbable is uniquely placed to hold this space – both on stage and off.
As we look to our future, we need support to continue to deliver on this mission – a mission that feels more important than ever within our current world.
Become part of our story.
We are at a unique juncture in the company’s history. We are at the precipice of a new adventure: The Gathering. After three decades of borrowing, and being invited into different spaces, we are building a home. A space where our work and our community can be developed, consolidated, and passed on. Not a venue. Not a ticketed theatre. An Improbable space. A playful one. A porous one. One that can hold all our diverse roles. A place to make work, research it, or take a break from the work, to rest, regenerate. An environment in which we can collaborate, learn, share, explore, mess up, say yes, (and)...
So Improbable is growing, in ambition, in community (and in recognition – we’re very proud to have won Producer of the Year in the Stage Awards in 2023 and My Neighbour Totoro, our collaboration with the RSC swept the board in 2023’s Olivier Awards). To support and sustain this growth, we need to diversify the ways we fund our work. So, we are building a new community – a community of supporters made up of anyone who loves our work and wants to enable its future. By joining our Community Supporters' Scheme you can be involved in the improbable story of how we went from doing scratch nights in squats, to improvising musicals on stage and directing operas, to building a home that protects and nurtures the artistic practice of improvisation and those who engage with it (and asks, who might these be?)
Perhaps that has been you in some shape, in some form over the years, or perhaps you’d like to know more about the work and be more involved in our future. By supporting Improbable you will be joining our journey and helping to make the work happen.
This is a monthly pay-what-you-can scheme to ensure that the community we’re building is inclusive. You will also have the option to subscribe to a dedicated monthly editorial piece – just for this community – where we delve into the archives of Improbable’s portfolio and tell stories about moments that shaped our practice – or share how it’s grown – or where we might be going next… think behind-the-scenes access to the vast range of work we have made, produced, and collaborated on, with reflections from many of the artists who’ve shaped it (and us) along the way.
Each year, we have over £300k fundraising to do so that we are able to break even. We are grateful to receive funding from Arts Council England through the National Portfolio, which along with income from our shows and on stage projects, helps to cover most of our core costs (for example Improbable's staff salaries, subsidising the annual flagship D&D event, and supporting other core costs such as access and wellbeing provisions for those who work with us). For everything else – all the shows, rehearsals, work with artists, D&D satellites – we have to find other ways to raise the money: some of this is earned through our facilitation work (Open Space for Hire and Improbable for Business), and the rest comes generously from our community of supporters. We are aiming to raise £10,000 over two years specifically from this Community Supporters’ Scheme and we hope to be able to count you as part of that group. Thank you.
We are fundraising for this work at all levels. If you are interested in supporting a particular show or project, can give at a higher level, or want to talk to someone directly about your donation, please contact Anna at anna@improbable.co.uk.
Thank You
We are incredibly grateful to the following organisations, funders, and individuals for their support:
Arts Council England
Dr. David G. Knott & Françoise Girard
Heni Koenigsberg
Kate Olvr & Jeremy Young
Patrick Handley
Elizabeth Adams & John Elliott