The Sneaky Improviser with Jim Fishwick

THE WORKSHOP

When we improvise, we’re trying to get on the same page as our scene partner and the audience about what’s going on. But if we just stuff that bare information into our dialogue, we stop sounding like real people. *(“Look, we’ve been brothers for twenty years.” “Hi, I’m the window cleaner you asked to come over to clean the windows of your house.”)*

This workshop looks at the art of exposition: ways of hiding this information more smoothly in our dialogue and detecting the things that our scene partners may have hidden in theirs.

THE Teacher
Jim Fishwick (they/them) is an award-winning director, improviser, teacher and writer, and the current Artistic Director of Improv Theatre Sydney.

They began improvising at the age of seventeen with Impro Australia in Sydney, and went on to perform and teach improvisation at the University of Sydney, Impro Melbourne, and Academy of Improvisation. They have been in demand as a freelance theatremaker and consultant around Australia and Aotearoa for over a decade, and have taught or performed in 21 cities in 8 countries on 4 continents.

They are the general manager of Jetpack Theatre, who have been creating experiential, interactive, improvised and immersive theatre since 2015, and the former artistic co-director of the New Zealand Improv Festival.

Jim regularly performs with Maddie Parker and Emilia Higgs as The Joy Riders, writes questions for the BBC2 quiz show Only Connect, and devised the award-winning show The Saboteur and the internationally touring Grifted & Talented.

“A fantastic and well-structured workshop! I loved how we explored one aspect of improvisation at a time, like emotion, character, or relationship and got to build from small group practice to full scenes. It felt focused, supportive, and very effective.” — NZIF Participant 2025

“Jim has clarity from the get go. They know what they want from you, but allow you to discover it with on point exercises.” — NZIF Participant 2025

Experience level

Students should be comfortable performing in scenes without external coaching/direction. (Equivalent to having completed ITS Level 3 or higher)

Fri 13 Nov, 1pm – 4pm at Improv Theatre Sydney

This workshop is part of the ITS Comedy Festival 2026. Check out the full program here.