GAMES • IMPRO • ENSEMBLE
PLAYING FIELDS
Six sessions rooted in game-play.
Games to level the playing fields for high-spirited improvisation.
Games we surrender to: minds, hearts, bodies, and souls.
Games to build ensemble — raising our game with team spirit.
Making a game of it again
You already know how to play. In the right conditions. When we give ourselves permission.
At some stage, we learn to hold back — get it right, avoid risk, make something of it, to make work of play.
We don't need to be taught. We need to be reminded. Games are our fail-safe way back into fearless play.
We land, let go, and give in to the game. We connect, we respond to each other, and make something happen. We take risks! We fail, laugh, learn — but it's not about learning to play. It’s about learning through play.
Evening Course, May-June
Only 10 places available
Mondays, 7 – 9pm
- May 11, High Spirits
- May 18, Open Minds
- May 25, Fiery Hearts
- June 8, Busy Bodies
- June 15, Living Souls
- June 22, Team Spirit
📍 The Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse St, Dublin 2
Full Course: €220
HIGH SPIRITS
LEAP, and the net shall appear
Free Spirits levels the playing fields for players, makers, movers, and shakers from all walks of life.
Let’s begin with the idea that we already know how to play. It’s not something we need to learn here. What we actually need is permission. And so, with Free Spirits, we give ourselves permission to play together, like children again.
We lead with familiar schoolyard games, introducing a fail-safe approach that lets fearless play gather momentum. Mixing in a few improvisation games, we’re soon making scenes in the same spirit — supported by the group, responsive to each other in the moment, and playing it forward together.
OPEN MINDS
Don't push the river, it flows by itself
Open Minds releases the choke-hold ego has on creative flow.
Perfectionism be damned! Let it go. All of it — judgement, overthinking, pressure to be clever, original, interesting, funny — there are no “good” ideas. Leading with right-brain creative games, we sidestep the critical left-brain agenda to discover that our most brilliant ideas arrive freely when we stop trying to control them.
Playing from instinct, intuition, and impulse, we close the gap between coming up with ideas and coming out with them — easy come, easy go. Then, playing with curiosity in the information gaps, trusting ourselves to fill them in as we go, Open Minds can move us beyond getting stuck “on the spot”, building confidence in our incidental brilliance and keeping ideas moving onward into the open unknown.
FIERY HEARTS
When passion is on the throne, reason is out of doors
In this civilised world that expects us to be reasonable and responsible, Unruly Hearts are a law unto themselves.
To play in this fiery field of passion, we pledge fealty to feeling first. Passion isn’t logical, and that’s the point. We lead with bold emotional offers, strong attitudes, and sudden changes of heart. As information gaps open up between the feeling and the facts, we learn to trust our storytelling brains to make sense of it after.
Unruly Hearts sharpens our instinct for change, with or without ideas. Emotional turning points shape the stories that emerge in our scenes. It stops being about having ideas to play with, and becomes a lived-in, felt experience of play-making.
BUSY BODIES
Dance first, think later
Actions speak louder than words — let Busy Bodies do the talking.
It’s your move. And whatever move you make, intentional or accidental, becomes an offer. A shift of weight. The shivers. A pained-looking face.
An animated alternative to “Talking Heads”, Busy Bodies gets physical with games that set scenes in motion, make things happen in embodied stories, and build ensemble through play.
Together, the kinetic dance that naturally happens when we interact, space-object work, and abstract ensemble movement work alongside one another — leading with the body in telling our stories.
LIVING SOULS
The more we share, the more we have
Life was meant to be shared. Soul Mates offers an honest exchange — between us, our characters, their stories, and the audience.
Soul Mates are kindred spirits who help something true come into focus by sharing themselves and their stories. Through games that invite openness and honesty, we play with personal impulses and emotional truths, trusting that what feels deeply individual will often land as something shared.
Scenes centre on what makes us care. Players lean into moments that matter, allowing difficult themes to surface and meeting them with compassion. Soul Mates moves beyond improv as light entertainment, asking what happens when we commit fully to one another — and let connection, not cleverness, lead the way.
TEAM SPIRIT
United we stand, divided we fall
Team Spirit throws players straight into the heart of TheatreSports™, where there’s no “I” in theatre.
This competition puts players under pressure. Challenges come from the opposing team, and the audience keeps score. There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, but no one goes it alone.
Team Spirit is about backing each other, taking risks, and making plays. Generosity trumps ego. Momentum beats caution. The game works when everyone commits, together. Bold choices are rewarded. Failure is visible, and when the spirit is right, failure can be its own reward.
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