This week I had the pleasure of talking to improviser, teacher, actor, comedian, podcaster and dulcet toned wordsmith, Carlo Ritchie. He’s one of the founding directors (and current Artistic Director) of Improv Theatre Sydney - Sydney’s first and only dedicated improv theatre school. He’s also one half of acclaimed improv comedy duo ‘The Bear Pack’ alongside fellow ITS director Steen Raskopoulos and the pair have sold out shows at comedy festivals around the world from Melbourne to Edinburgh Fringe and even the coveted Cat Laughs Festival in Kilkenny.

Over the course of our chat, we trace the roots of Carlo’s affinity with language and see how this passion guided him through life to the founding of ITS; that 5 years and 840 students later, now has a physical home in Redfern. We talk about his strange obsession with the Titanic, how The Bear Pack was born and of course, he tells me about the year in Poland ‘drinking beer near the brewery and teaching English in the evenings’ that quite literally changed the course of his life.

I had heaps of fun chatting to Carlo and I hope you enjoy our chat too!

(A little FYI for those that don’t know - Improv aka Improvisation is a collaborative method of creating live, spontaneous theatre. Where people or ‘players’ conceive original scenes in the moment, spontaneously discovering ideas, relationships and worlds – all from a single audience suggestion. It’s pretty dreamy stuff.)

If this podcast has left you feeling inspired to do some improv and you live in Sydney - look up a class at the fantastic ITS (improvtheatresydney.com.au), now at its Redfern home, and if you want to keep up with the man himself - you can follow Carlo on instagram @carloritchie

If you enjoyed the chat please let me know with a pun infused comment and share the episode with a friend.

Thanks for listening!

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