Joe Bill: The Bat

Joe Bill is bringing his signature format, The Bat, to MAC Birmingham on Thursday 5 November. It's a longform improv 'radio play' performed with the players' eyes closed in a darkened theatre, so the audience builds the scene in their own minds. It's a strange, sensory way to experience improv — instead of watching a scene unfold on stage, you're listening to it and letting your own imagination fill in the gaps. If you've never seen it, that's exactly what it is: a story told in the dark.

Bill is widely regarded as one of North America's best teachers of improvised storytelling and scenic, longform and duo improvisation, and The Bat is his own particular take on the form. He's spent decades in the thick of the Chicago improv scene: he was a founding member of Annoyance Theatre Chicago, where he performed in or directed more than 60 shows over 12 years, and half of BASSPROV, the first touring improv duo in North America, formed in 2000 with Mark Sutton. He also spent 15 years directing corporate training at iO Chicago, where he started in 1985, and was a Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Training Center & Conservatory. So when he talks about longform, he's speaking from a very long career in some of the most famous improv rooms in the world.

The show is part of the Birmingham Improv Festival 2026, which runs from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November at MAC Birmingham, so if you're into this sort of thing, there's more to see across the festival. Tickets for The Bat are £91.95.