L-R: Ali James, Dan O’Connor, Dylan Emery, Phil Whelans.
Saturday September 06 2025, 2000hrs
at
Hoopla…
The Miller,
96, Snowsfields Road,
London SE1 3SS Map
For our first show at Hoopla after the Summer break, GTI will welcome back Dylan Emery and Ali James after wildly successful stints in Showstopper up at London’s famous Edinburgh Festival. We’re also excited for the return of LA impro legend Dan O’Connor during one of his regular teaching tours of Europe. GTI will be sharing the bill with The Pretend Company. It’ll be a great night and very much your kind of thing.
Ali James is in Showstopper. She’s played Eva Peron in Evita (Gaiety Theatre IOM), u/s Swallow in Whistle Down the Wind (West End), u/s Laura (Tell Me on a Sunday – UK Tour), Cathy in The Last Five Years (Buxton Opera House), she was a writer and performer in GIRAFFE sketch comedy (Edinburgh Festival) and has been in Eastenders. So there. She’s also a choreographer and movement director – Showstopper, Mischief Theatre’s Magic Goes Wrong, National Youth Theatre. In 2020 she directed PS I’m a Terrible Person by GTI favourites Francesca Forristal and Jordan Clarke.
Dylan Emery is co-founder of Olivier Award-winning West End, Edinburgh Festival and BBC Radio 4 Impro Hit, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, Ken Campbell-inspired hard-bardics masterclass, the School of Night and Grand Theft Impro. He has performed at the National Theatre, The Royal Court and Shakespeare’s Globe.
Dan O’Connor is co-founder of L.A’s Impro Theatre – for which he co-directed and performed Jane Austen UnScripted, Shakespeare UnScripted and Sondheim UnScripted. He’s co-founder of four American Theatresports companies including Bay Area Theatresports, with whom Phil has performed. He was in Improbable Theatre’s Off-Broadway production of Lifegame and the TNN television series of the same name. He co-created the NBC/PAX television improv comedy show World Cup Comedy. He was a writer and the improv director for The Wayne Brady Show.
Dan’s Television acting credits include Seinfeld, Campus Ladies, Malcolm in the Middle and The Tonight Show. He was an adjunct professor for USC ‘s BFA program. He has taught at UT, DUKE, Pepperdine, UCLA extension and an improv companies around the world. He taught casts of Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco and Corteo.
Phil Whelans – writer and performer of his own Radio 4 sitcom, My First Planet, founder member of Pros from Dover – with whom he did two series of Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage. Phil has worked with everyone from Joan Rivers to Basil Brush, Al Gore to Brian Conley, Robin Williams to Giles Brandreth. Phil has been in It’s Kevin, Brasseye, Preston Front and a number of unsuccessful radio and TV impro pilots. He has improvised all over the world, is founder member of Spontaneous Combustion and Grand Theft Impro, has been in Showstopper: the Improvised Musical, Hamlet Improvised and Criminal and was a Monkey Toast player.