{"id":34258,"date":"2025-06-20T13:22:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/?page_id=34258"},"modified":"2025-10-16T12:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T11:06:52","slug":"freeform-with-niall-ashdown","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/freeform-with-niall-ashdown","title":{"rendered":"Freeform with Niall Ashdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content_no_spaces&#8221; el_id=&#8221;home&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510933836001{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column]<div id=\"home-slider\" class=\"flexslider\" ><ul class=\"slides\"><li><div class=\"slide-image\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Unai-fff.jpg);\"><\/div><div class=\"slide-wrap colored\"><div class=\"slide-content \"><div class=\"container\"><h1 class=\"font-small\">Freeform!<\/h1><p class=\"mt-25\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510934859316{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_row_inner equal_height=&#8221;yes&#8221; gap=&#8221;2&#8243;][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;padder padder-left quote-text&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<div class=\"title\"><h1 class=\"\"  style=\"color: #3a81f7!important\">Freeform!<\/h1><h4 class=\"\"  style=\"color: #000000!important\">With Niall Ashdown from the Comedy Store Players.<\/h4><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Improvisation is a wonderful way to explore your creativity but how much structure do we need in order to explore the possibilities?<\/p>\n<p>A lot of improv has structures and strictures that can give a performer both a sense of security and of limitation.<\/p>\n<p>What happens when we throw away the formats and formalities and play without boundaries?<\/p>\n<p>In these workshops, we shall be investigating ways to identify stories, find new points of concentration and moments of change, and escape the sometimes restricting conformity that can both facilitate and frustrate our creative impulses.<\/p>\n<p>Niall Ashdown is a hugely experienced performer and teacher.<\/p>\n<p>We will be exploring his favourite mode of improvisation, and the mood will be light, playful and pressure-free![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;padder padder-right green&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1591912492412{background-color: #3a81f7 !important;}&#8221;]<div class=\"title\"><h2 class=\"\"  style=\"color: #ffffff!important\">next available dates:<\/h2><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1757979196779{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221; el_class=&#8221;maingreenblock&#8221;]<strong>Date: <\/strong>Thursday 6th November\u00a02025. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketsource.co.uk\/hooplaimpro\/t-zzengjo\"><strong>BOOK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Time:<\/strong> 8pm &#8211; 10pm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teacher: <\/strong>Niall Ashdown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Price:<\/strong> \u00a328 + booking fee.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Venue: <\/strong>Old Diorama Arts Centre, Regent&#8217;s Place, 201 Drummond St, London NW1 3FG.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tubes:<\/strong> Warren Street\/Euston\/Great Portland Street.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1760612520900{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221; el_class=&#8221;maingreenblock&#8221;]<strong>Dates:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Saturday for 8 weeks from Saturday 3rd January 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketsource.co.uk\/hoopla\/t-njkzxmn\"><strong>BOOK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Time:<\/strong> 11am &#8211; 1pm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teacher: <\/strong>Niall Ashdown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Price:<\/strong> \u00a3255. Either payable all at once or \u00a3120 at time of booking and \u00a3135 when the course starts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Venue: <\/strong>Old Diorama Arts Centre, Regent&#8217;s Place, 201 Drummond St, London NW1 3FG.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tubes:<\/strong> Warren Street\/Euston\/Great Portland Street.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221;][vc_column][vc_row_inner equal_height=&#8221;yes&#8221; gap=&#8221;2&#8243;][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;whats&#8211;coming&#8211;up padder padder-left fcol makewhite&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1526580151170{background-color: #23282d !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}&#8221;]<div class=\"title\"><h2 class=\"\"  style=\"color: #ffffff!important\">Niall Ashdown<\/h2><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Niall is one of the UK\u2019s finest improvisers and a regular performer with The Comedy Store Players and original cast member of Whose Line is it Anyway!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He is the baritone singer and improviser in Impropera the improvised opera.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He has worked with a wide range of improvising companies including Impropera, Paul Merton\u2019s Impro Chums, Improbable&#8217;s Lifegame and The Improbable Musical and The Suggestibles. He has also performed a story-telling and sketch show with improvising quintet Between the Notesled by cellist Matthew Barley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He has co-devised and performed with some of the UK\u2019s most innovative theatre companies including Improbable, Cartoon de Salvo, Punchdrunk and Told By An Idiot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Niall has also performed two solo shows Hungarian Bird Festival and The Man Who Would Be Sting both of which were made into radio plays for the BBC, and has appeared at the Young Vic in Annie Get Your Gun and Public Enemy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He has appeared many times on television comedies including Outnumbered (BBC1), Drop the Dead Donkey (Channel 4), Parentsand Whose Line Is It Anyway (Channel 4).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On radio he has written and performed two series of Losers for BBC Radio 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He has a written songs for radio plays and stage shows, poetry for Radio 3&#8217;s The Verb, and was the author and voice behind Robbo Robson, the Voice of Sport on BBC5 Live\u2019s The Treatment.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;makewhite padder padder-right&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1750421541548{background: #23282d url(https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Square-Niall-Ashdown.jpg?id=16368) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;500px&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=&#8221;sub&#8211;header butt-style&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1526581539289{padding-bottom: 40px !important;background-color: #f6f6f6 !important;}&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243; offset=&#8221;vc_col-sm-offset-2&#8243;]<div class=\"btn-container inline-btn-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/improv-classes-london.html\" class=\"btn btn-color-out\"  >improv courses<\/a><\/div><div class=\"btn-container inline-btn-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/london-stand-up-comedy-classes-courses.html\" class=\"btn btn-color-out\"  >stand up courses<\/a><\/div><div class=\"btn-container inline-btn-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/sketch-comedy-courses.html\" class=\"btn btn-color-out\"  >sketch courses<\/a><\/div><div class=\"btn-container inline-btn-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/improv-corporate-training.html\" class=\"btn btn-color-out\"  >corporate training<\/a><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content_no_spaces&#8221; el_id=&#8221;home&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510933836001{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510934859316{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_row_inner equal_height=&#8221;yes&#8221; gap=&#8221;2&#8243;][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;padder padder-left quote-text&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Improvisation is a wonderful way to explore your creativity but how much structure do we need in order to explore the possibilities? A lot of improv has structures and strictures that can give a performer[&#8230;] <\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-15\"><a class=\"small-link upper\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/freeform-with-niall-ashdown\"><span>Read More<\/span><i class=\"hc-arrow-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34258","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Freeform with Niall Ashdown | Hoopla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/freeform-with-niall-ashdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freeform with Niall Ashdown | Hoopla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content_no_spaces&#8221; el_id=&#8221;home&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510933836001{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1510934859316{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_row_inner equal_height=&#8221;yes&#8221; gap=&#8221;2&#8243;][vc_column_inner el_class=&#8221;padder padder-left quote-text&#8221; width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Improvisation is a wonderful way to explore your creativity but how much structure do we need in order to explore the possibilities? 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