“The kids were amazing at making suggestions and the actors were great at making songs with their ideas.” – Amy, Busstopkids Mama
“I liked the fart song and the poo emoji song.” – Luke, aged 8
“The actors were very talented because they made up their own songs from scratch and they genuinely looked like they were having fun.” – Rebecca, aged 12
During the Easter break, two of our busstopkids hopped along to review The Showstoppers’ Kids Show at the Underbelly festival on the Southbank. Even at aged 12 and 8, being slightly older than the 6+ age guidance, they loved the show and were fully engaged in joining cast and crew to help make the show into a unique magical musical adventure.
The cast of the show, take a bucket full of suggestions live from the audience and work them into the performance.
The kids show was born out of The Improvised Musical which started in 2008. It has had eleven sell-out years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, two West End runs, an Olivier award and a BBC Radio 4 series. They also run 8 week improv workshops (see below).
In the kids show, the audience decides where the story is set, what happens next and who the characters are. There are plenty of opportunities to join in the fun on the stage too.
Here is a flavour of the suggestions that Luke (aged 8) and Becky (aged 12) came up with and reasons why they are now formally Showstopper fans;
There was a unicorn that loved strawberry ice cream… and Harry Potter farted… It was set in a Scary Forest next to Hogwarts.
- I liked the fart song and the poo emoji song
- I liked going up on stage and dancing
- Everyone’s ideas came together really well
Rebecca; I liked the play because
- The actors were very talented because they made up their own songs from scratch and they genuinely looked like they were having fun.
- The actors were very interactive with the kids.
- There was lots of colours and fun, loud music for the kids to sing along to.
- At the end the kids got to meet the actors and draw their own story, it was a nice end to the show.
Click here for tickets this Summer
8th April – 7th July 2019
Underbelly Festival, Southbank – The Spiegeltent
| Presented by: | The Showstoppers |
| Price: |
Tickets from £14.50(includes £1.50 in fees per ticket) |
| Venue: | Underbelly Festival Southbank |
| Duration: | 60 minutes |
| Advice: | Recommended for ages 6+ |
You can sign up for an 8-week course in long-form musical and narrative improvisation, coached by leading members of the Showstopper team.
You will develop and hone skills in areas such as character-building, storytelling and narrative, acting whilst improvising, complex and genre-based songs, and improvised choreography. The course will culminate in a public performance at a central London venue.
This course is for people with some degree of improvisation or musical theatre experience, who should already be confident with acting and singing. If in doubt please get in touch and we can discuss which of our courses or workshops is most suitable for you.
Coaches will include Pippa Evans, Andrew Pugsley, Duncan Walsh Atkins and other members of the team.
Schedule: Tuesday evenings from from September 17 – November 5, 7-10 pm.
Showcase Performance : Sunday November 10.
Location : Jacksons Lane Arts Centre, 269a Archway Road, London N6 5AA
Creative Bus Stop 