What is Improv?

Stranger Things Have Happened perform regular improvised comedy shows throughout the year. The improv team is known as the Strangers. Improv comedy involves short (or sometimes longer) scenes that are made up on the spot by the actors. These scenes are usually inspired by suggestions taken from the audience, such as an object or location. Stranger Things Have Happened have a long list of improv ‘games’ that provide these scenes with interesting or odd twists and scenarios. A good example of this is one of Stranger Things’ signature games, called ‘Squeeze the Duck’. In this game, the actors playing the scene are sometimes interrupted by the host, who squeezes a rubber duck to make a sound. The actor in question must then cancel the last thing he or she said and replace it with something new, giving the scene a different and often bizarre direction!

 

Where and when can I see it?

Stranger Things Have Happened perform their full-length improv show every first Thursday of the month at Usva INTheatre. See the main page of this website for information on the next show. In addition, they host an open improv session, in which anyone can participate, every Monday at O’Ceallaigh Irish Pub. These sessions start at 21.00, but there is an opportunity to participate in an informal workshop beforehand, starting at 19.30, in the pub’s upstairs room. If you feel like taking improv comedy a little more seriously, there is a course available through Usva, which is taught by Stranger Things actors Kees and Thomas. See the Usva website for more details on this. To book Stranger Things Have Happened for an improv show and/or workshop, see our bookings tab.

Meet the Strangers

Cees has been involved with English theatre in Groningen for longer than the rest of the Strangers can remember. His first production was 1999’s GUTS play The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a play he would later revive with Tom and Kees in 2009. Over the years he has acted in projects such as Outlying Islands, The Scottish Play and North. Most of that time he was also actively involved in a Scottish pipe band from Groningen. Cees is a teacher of English at the University of Groningen.

Chad hails from the murky south of the USA, but has relocated his southern charm to the bleak north of Europe. He began acting with GUTS in 2004, and joined Stranger Things in 2010. He acted in Stranger Things Black Label’s Osama the Hero and recently adapted and directed the GUTS production Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Chad is working on a Bachelor in American Studies at the University of Groningen.

We first met Karin when she was a medical student and was cast in the 2006 GUTS production of Blue Remembered Hills, in which she played a 7-year-old boy. Since then she has been involved in various projects, such as Our Father and Osama the Hero, and joined the Strangers in early 2010. After a brief hiatus due to the pressures of working life, we are pleased to have Karin back on stage! Karin is a doctor and works at a hospital in Groningen.

Kees has been involved with English theatre since 2004, when he played an old man in a GUTS production - a stereotype that has haunted him ever since. He is the man who, in 2009, decided to gather together a group of theatre friends and drag them, kicking and screaming, onto the little stage at O’Ceallaigh to perform some improv in front of a virtually empty bar. Stranger Things Have Happened was born, and Kees has been its chief trainer and mastermind ever since. Kees is writing his PhD on Oscar Wilde, and is a teacher. He also gives improv comedy workshops with Thomas at Usva.

Stranger Things’ resident Canadian Naomi first experience of Groningen theatre was playing a 7-year-old boy in the 2006 GUTS production of Blue Remembered Hills. Since then she has gone from project to project, including The Complete History of America (Abridged), North and Osama the Hero. Aside from acting, she is involved in modern dance. Naomi is writing her PhD in Developmental Psychology on parent-child interaction.

Rob joined Stranger Things in 2009 as an experienced improviser, having been with Groningen improv group EQD for 3 years. Before we met him, he had spent time in the army and has done all sorts of things, ranging from nursing to acting at Madame Tussauds. He began acting at age 15 at the NNT and has recently been in projects such as North and the films Bonestorm and Life is an Art. He also enjoys doing karate and tai jitsu.

Thomas has been acting since a young age with groups such as De Noordelingen, GUTS and Dastater. He first joined the English theatre scene in Groningen with student group GET, and has been in productions such as The Last Five Years, The Complete History of America (Abridged), and Sleuth. He wrote and directed the GET production Our Father and the Stranger Things project North. He is also a singer and pianist. Thomas is currently doing an Educational Masters at the University of Groningen. He also gives improv comedy workshops with Kees at Usva.

TJ was unknown to the rest of the group when he joined Stranger Things in 2009, but he quickly took to improv like a duck to water. Aside from improv he has acted in projects such as Our Father, Osama the Hero and North. He is also a practitioner of the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. TJ is currently studying Kunst Cultuur en Media at the University of Groningen.

Tom comes from Liverpool but doesn’t like the Beatles. He began acting in Groningen theatre in 2003, in the GUTS production The Shape of Things. He has since been in projects such as Some Girl(s), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), and Osama the Hero. He is also a DJ and runs a monthly drum & bass event in Groningen. Tom is a teacher of English at Hanze University Groningen.