Date: Saturday 9th May 2026
Time: 10.30am – 2.30 pm
Cost for Participant : £120
Venue: The Old Courtroom Lecture Theatre, 118 Church St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 1UD
Led by : Toby Park, Spymonkey Co-Artistic Director
Suitable for enthusiastic newcomers, performing arts students, emerging artists, seasoned pros and everyone in between.
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This one day workshop is an introduction to the key concepts at the heart of Spymonkey’s Theatre of the Funny . We believe that everyone can be funny in their own unique way, and that the best theatre is one that embraces this quality in its artists. With the emphasis on supporting a space that is accessible, supportive and safe for all to laugh, we will use our favourite games and exercises as practical illustrations, to create belly-laughter – improv exercises (the sometimes scary pleasure of saying ‘yes’ to the unknown), explore practical concepts such as ‘finding the game’, the importance of complicity, or fixed point, of playing together with our friends, and of sharing that particular quality of Funny that you and only you can be.
We have taught these workshops all over the world for 30 years and we are still amazed how much fun can be had by a brand new group of people, as long as they come ready to laugh and equipped with a sense of humour about themselves and others.
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We’ve created a new Resources page featuring recommended books to help you prepare for the workshop. Check it out here!
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Please contact Khai at education@spymonkey.co.uk
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“Totally inspiring.”
Lucy Hopkins performer, London/Worcester
“One of the most amazing weeks of my entire life.. My whole heart is beaming and laughing.”
Isobel Chadwick performer, Northampton
“The work has made me more aware on stage. What makes me funny, and what makes an audience laugh, what doesn’t, why am I even on stage. The work has inspired me a lot, as a performer but very much as a person as well. This is the kind of work I’ve always wanted to do and was searching for in all the other work I did.”
Bill Barberis performer, Belgium
“What an amazing week! Huge, huge thank you to Spymonkey, and each and everyone of you who took part in the workshop for being so supportive with a non-performer, you made me feel at home from the very beginning, which allowed me to take risks and have fun. Go Spymonkey!”
Andrea Foa journalist, Italy
“Belly-laughter, support, ideas, and real friendships. Definitely returning for future sessions. Highly recommended for those new to clowning, as well as for old hands.”
Vera Chok performer, Malaysia/London
For more information about our bursaries, please click here.
Studied Drama at Hull University, and trained at Fool Time Circus School, Bristol, and with Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneaux in Paris.
Toby co-created all Spymonkey shows to date. He performed in Stiff (1998-2011), Cooped (2001-2019), Zumanity with Cirque du Soleil (2003-2005), Bless (2007), Moby Dick (2009), Love In (2010), Oedipussy (2012), Mrs Hudson’s Christmas Corker (2014), Every Last Trick (2014), The Complete Deaths (2016), Christmas Carol (2018), The Frogs (2024).
From 1994-97 he was co-musical director and actor with Karl’s Kuhne Gassenchau in Zurich; member of the Improbable Theatre Lifegame company (1998-2000) including an off-Broadway run.
Musical director and composer for: all Spymonkey shows to date; Guy Dartnell’s Would Say Something (1998); acro-dance-theatre Mimbre’s Sprung (2001), Trip-Tic (2003) and The Bridge (2007); site-specific pieces with Graeme Gilmour at Kielder Water Northumberland (2006) and Forth & Clyde Canal Glasgow (2007), and with Phil Supple/The Electric Estate for the National Trust at Cragside Northumberland.
Appeared in Sandi Toksvig’s Christmas Cracker starring Ronnie Corbett at the Royal Festival Hall (2009). TV appearances include Cirque Images’ 2003 series Solstrom for Bravo Cable Network and BBC2 Hyperdrive.
Director of Fabulous Bäckström Brothers, a clown opera in Helsinki (2014), and Big Bang Siegfried for Orchestra Hagen Germany (2016), Enter The Dragons for A&E Comedy (2017); co-director of The Flop for Hijinx Theatre Cardiff; Director of physical comedy for Chichester Festival Theatre’s Mack & Mabel (2015); RSC’s Merry Wives of Windsor (2018); Tartuffe (2019) and Jack Absolute Flies Again (2022) for National Theatre; Hello Dolly! (2024) for Michael Harrington Productions.
Co-director of Orpheus in the Underworld (2023, 2024, 2025) for Volksoper Vienna and Spymonkey’s Hairy (2023).
