Do you ever find yourself biting your nails, twirling your hair, or nervously tapping your foot because you have anxious thoughts eating away at you? You do…well, of course you do, we all do! Welcome to the Anxiety Club, where the anxious audience get to share their worries (or not, they would not wish to add to your anxiety) and turn your thoughts and experiences into improv comedy gold!
Hosted at the Free Association’s spanking new venue (check it out), this all-female trio of improvisers, Charlotte Gittins, Briony Redman, and Lauren Shearing, who are members of Austentatious, Showstopper!, Questing Time, The Free Association, Comedy Store Players, and Mischief Movie Night, not to mention key players in the London 50 Hour Improvathon, share their own anxieties, encouraging an improvised therapy session. This sharing of the trio’s own anxieties, quickly creates a safe space to encourage reciprocation, because let’s face it, if the audience does not connect, then it is going to be a difficult show. The closeness that develops between the improviser and their audience is one of the joys of watching improvisation. The process involves the audience in the show and creates a bond between the observer and the performer.
Supported by Ed Zanders (composer/MD/pianist), who tickled the ivories whenever the mood required it, the scenes began with Gittins and Redman using an anxiety shared by an audience member on her recent experience with a psychologist, who recommended altering her sleep pattern to sleep in short cycles of 1 ½ hours per sleep session. Suddenly, this became a maths equation in sharing your life with a partner, working out how to organise two people who sleeping together, but with differing schedules.
Moving from sleep, to a shared anxiety about introducing yourself to your fellow students before a lecture and navigating the use of pronouns. This began with arousal, whoop…’that was such an incredible lecture’, ‘sexy pencils (but always use a rubber)’, ‘never had a PowerPoint so good’, these delicious lines all came from this scene, and just highlights the swift comedic thinking of these WWI (women who improvise). These are just a taster of a very enjoyable hour spent with a professional cast, and an audience who wanted to say ‘yes’!
The improv skills demonstrated have evolved with years of experience. The Anxiety Club, examine human vulnerability, by sharing their own stories, and listening without judgement to their audience members. What ensues is relatable, and very funny! I suggest that you book to see their next show at The Free Association in March. Book now – so that you are not stressing about missing out!
To see the Anxiety Club at The Free Association, go to – https://www.thefreeassociation.co.uk/shows/anxiety30. Their next show is Thursday 12th March at 7pm.
Date: 29th January 2026
Star Rating: ****
