Hello. This is an announcement from AndAlso and The Maydays

This is a statement from the Maydays and AndAlso Improv. We are two companies with a lot of crossover, in our aims and our people. We love improv, as an art form and as a form of self development. In fact, the founders of And Also met as members of the Maydays. Improv can be a small world like that. AndAlso and the Maydays have been talking for the past few months and we’re really excited to tell you all about it. So, here’s the plan. Starting very soon, AndAlso will be taking on the education side of the Maydays. The Maydays will remain a performance company, free to concentrate on their award-winning shows.

The Maydays started in a room above a pub, and a lot has happened since then. The Brighton improv scene has become one of the most vibrant and exciting in the UK. The Maydays have expanded from a drop-in started by John Cremer – still going almost 20 years later – to a community of classes and residentials, performing at international festivals and packed Fringe runs, and a residency at the Komedia in Brighton. And that’s just the things achieved by the company itself. Individual company members and alumni have become actors, writers and speakers, as well as parents and dog owners. We want to celebrate all this history, while continuing to evolve, and saying yes to the opportunities ahead. That is a core part of the improv ethos, after all. 

By comparison, AndAlso is a tiny baby. It came out of the community around Heather and Jules’ online classes during the pandemic. Then there was a retreat for the people who had only met as faces on a screen. It didn’t even have a name until the middle of last year, or a website until December. But as Heather and Jules were directors of the Maydays and the Nursery respectively during their collaboration (one of the largest globally during the pandemic), we think our students are in good hands.

This change is a clarification and re-focussing. It is a commitment to the ambition of both companies, and to finding ways to support each other, have great fun and do great work. The Maydays will focus on continuing to be the improv performance company you know and love. AndAlso will be an education company. Simple as that. For shows: The Maydays. For classes and training: AndAlso. You’ll see the familiar Mayday faces teaching for AndAlso, as well as some new ones. This separation is simpler and clearer and will allow the two companies to progress and improve, providing more and better classes and shows for you, the very people reading this.

This arrangement will take full effect in September, but you will start to see changes well before then. Not every detail is finalised (how could it be?). So we’ll be looking to you over the coming months and years to be a part of it. Please tell us what we’re getting right and wrong. But, for now, thanks for reading. And if you have any questions or something you would like to say, you can of course contact us on either mayday@themaydays.co.uk or hello@andalsoimprov.com. Or both.