About
Shetland Comedy was founded in 2016 to promote and foster comedy in Shetland. In addition to promoting and liaising with visiting acts, Shetland Comedy is committed to teaching and supporting home-grown performers of both stand-up and improv comedy.
Improv
Improvised (‘improv’) comedy is where the performers have no script or plan beyond a vague structure or set of rules, and create the entire scene, sketch or play as they go along, based off of simple suggestions. Most people will be familiar with this style from Whose Line is it Anyway?, which is one of the strongest examples of this type of comedy.
There are two kinds of improv; short form *and *long form. Short form is where the performers play structured games to create sketches based off of audience suggestions. Long form is where the performers create an entire play, with recurring characters and internal continuity, off of a suggestion.
Shetland Comedy regularly runs improv courses and workshops, as well as evening classes in conjunction with the Shetland Islands Council’s Adult Learning department.
The Imposters
The Imposters are Shetland Comedy’s own improv troupe, who have been performing regularly to local audiences since January 2016. The current members are Marjolein Robertson, Thomas Jones, Alex Garrick-Wright, Matthew Simpson, Ashlea Tulloch, Les Sinclair and Jill Charleson.
The group are all members of Marjolein’s improv classes, with the most recent addition- Jill- being a graduate of 2016’s Improv 101 course. The Imposters are Shetland’s only comedy troupe, playing both short and long-form improv to sold-out crowds across the isles.
Stand-Up
Shetland Comedy also helps support stand-up comedy in the isles. Two of the organisations’ members, Marjolein Robertson and Les Sinclair, are seasoned comedians with a slew of performances at various international festivals and prestigious comedy clubs under their belts.
To help develop the art of stand-up in the isles, we hold regular workshops and performances, where new and seasoned performers can meet and work on their acts, and have the chance to perform their new material in a safe and welcoming environment, with plenty of room for discussion and development.
Filming
A number of Shetland Comedy members create comedy videos for online and film festival screenings. While the organisation itself does not create videos under the ‘Shetland Comedy’ umbrella at this time, the members often collaborate on projects.