Lee Simpson
@leesimpson.bsky.social
Improbable Co-artistic director, member of @comedystoreplayers.com, real name Len.
Reposted by Lee Simpson
🎭 Big Improbable news: Matilda Leyser is now Co-Artistic Director!
After years as Associate Director, performer, writer & Open Space champion — she joins Phelim & Lee in leading the company.
“It may still be weird, or wild, but it won’t be lonely.”
Read her beautiful reflection 👉 buff.ly/2kzlE9X
After years as Associate Director, performer, writer & Open Space champion — she joins Phelim & Lee in leading the company.
“It may still be weird, or wild, but it won’t be lonely.”
Read her beautiful reflection 👉 buff.ly/2kzlE9X
November 13, 2025 at 12:25 PM
🎭 Big Improbable news: Matilda Leyser is now Co-Artistic Director!
After years as Associate Director, performer, writer & Open Space champion — she joins Phelim & Lee in leading the company.
“It may still be weird, or wild, but it won’t be lonely.”
Read her beautiful reflection 👉 buff.ly/2kzlE9X
After years as Associate Director, performer, writer & Open Space champion — she joins Phelim & Lee in leading the company.
“It may still be weird, or wild, but it won’t be lonely.”
Read her beautiful reflection 👉 buff.ly/2kzlE9X
Reposted by Lee Simpson
The first session is tonight!
Come and join our wonderful new Co-Artistic Director at Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/improbable/t...
Come and join our wonderful new Co-Artistic Director at Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/improbable/t...
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
The first session is tonight!
Come and join our wonderful new Co-Artistic Director at Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/improbable/t...
Come and join our wonderful new Co-Artistic Director at Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/improbable/t...
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Improbable names first-ever woman to head up company www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fac... #ChangingFaces
Improbable names first-ever woman to head up company - Arts Professional
The theatre company behind collaborations including My Neighbour Totoro has appointed former circus aerialist and writer, MATILDA LEYSER, as a joint creative
www.artsprofessional.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Improbable names first-ever woman to head up company www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fac... #ChangingFaces
Reposted by Lee Simpson
🌱☔️🌱
The friend who loves rainy weather
Winter fans reveal yourself in the comments below! ☔️💚
#FindYourSpirit
Winter fans reveal yourself in the comments below! ☔️💚
#FindYourSpirit
November 12, 2025 at 3:18 PM
🌱☔️🌱
Reposted by Lee Simpson
My Neighbour Totoro stage show Extends its West End Run until August 2026
animeblurayuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
animeblurayuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
My Neighbour Totoro stage show Extends its West End Run until August 2026
This news can be considered old (as it was announced last month) but it is definitely worth knowing, as the My Neighbour Totoro stage show continues to receive success at the London West End as org…
animeblurayuk.wordpress.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:30 PM
My Neighbour Totoro stage show Extends its West End Run until August 2026
animeblurayuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
animeblurayuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Absolutely delightful time watching the live stage performance of my neighbour Totoro. Puppetry unlike anything I've ever seen (both Totoro's in these shots are fully puppeteered characters in the show and you can see their size in comparison to the actors beside them)
November 7, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Absolutely delightful time watching the live stage performance of my neighbour Totoro. Puppetry unlike anything I've ever seen (both Totoro's in these shots are fully puppeteered characters in the show and you can see their size in comparison to the actors beside them)
Reposted by Lee Simpson
The WhatsOnStage #WOSAwards Nominations are open! 🤗 #MyNeighbourTotoro is eligible for:
🌱 Best West End Show
🌱 Best Takeover Performance:
✨ Victoria Chen
✨ Phyllis Ho
✨ Kumiko Mendl
✨ Deanna Myers
✨ Steven Nguyen
✨ Shaofan Wilson
✨ Jamie Zubairi
awards.whatsonstage.com ☂️
🌱 Best West End Show
🌱 Best Takeover Performance:
✨ Victoria Chen
✨ Phyllis Ho
✨ Kumiko Mendl
✨ Deanna Myers
✨ Steven Nguyen
✨ Shaofan Wilson
✨ Jamie Zubairi
awards.whatsonstage.com ☂️
November 7, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The WhatsOnStage #WOSAwards Nominations are open! 🤗 #MyNeighbourTotoro is eligible for:
🌱 Best West End Show
🌱 Best Takeover Performance:
✨ Victoria Chen
✨ Phyllis Ho
✨ Kumiko Mendl
✨ Deanna Myers
✨ Steven Nguyen
✨ Shaofan Wilson
✨ Jamie Zubairi
awards.whatsonstage.com ☂️
🌱 Best West End Show
🌱 Best Takeover Performance:
✨ Victoria Chen
✨ Phyllis Ho
✨ Kumiko Mendl
✨ Deanna Myers
✨ Steven Nguyen
✨ Shaofan Wilson
✨ Jamie Zubairi
awards.whatsonstage.com ☂️
Reposted by Lee Simpson
An audience suggestion and short scene from the Comedy Store Players show last Sunday.
November 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
An audience suggestion and short scene from the Comedy Store Players show last Sunday.
Reposted by Lee Simpson
📅 Thursdays from 13 November -18 December
🕚 5-6pm
📍 Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks
🎟️ Tickets start at £7.50*
For more information: buff.ly/DsX0I7v
*If costs are a barrier but you would still like to attend the sessions, please email office@improbable.co.uk
🕚 5-6pm
📍 Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks
🎟️ Tickets start at £7.50*
For more information: buff.ly/DsX0I7v
*If costs are a barrier but you would still like to attend the sessions, please email office@improbable.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
📅 Thursdays from 13 November -18 December
🕚 5-6pm
📍 Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks
🎟️ Tickets start at £7.50*
For more information: buff.ly/DsX0I7v
*If costs are a barrier but you would still like to attend the sessions, please email office@improbable.co.uk
🕚 5-6pm
📍 Bat and Ball Centre, Sevenoaks
🎟️ Tickets start at £7.50*
For more information: buff.ly/DsX0I7v
*If costs are a barrier but you would still like to attend the sessions, please email office@improbable.co.uk
Reposted by Lee Simpson
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Ticket to @theimprovathon.bsky.social purchased ✅️
Monday off work ✅️
Emergency accommodation organised for when my ability to stay awake drops off a cliff at around 5am ✅️
Improvathon is the maddest, most wonderful experience - do drop in for an episode or two.
Monday off work ✅️
Emergency accommodation organised for when my ability to stay awake drops off a cliff at around 5am ✅️
Improvathon is the maddest, most wonderful experience - do drop in for an episode or two.
October 30, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Ticket to @theimprovathon.bsky.social purchased ✅️
Monday off work ✅️
Emergency accommodation organised for when my ability to stay awake drops off a cliff at around 5am ✅️
Improvathon is the maddest, most wonderful experience - do drop in for an episode or two.
Monday off work ✅️
Emergency accommodation organised for when my ability to stay awake drops off a cliff at around 5am ✅️
Improvathon is the maddest, most wonderful experience - do drop in for an episode or two.
Reposted by Lee Simpson
❤️❤️❤️ I eagerly await the next time I can see these people.
Love them all ❤️❤️❤️
Love them all ❤️❤️❤️
The Comedy Store Players on BBC News explaining what we've been doing for the last 40 years.
October 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
❤️❤️❤️ I eagerly await the next time I can see these people.
Love them all ❤️❤️❤️
Love them all ❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Julian Clary has been guesting with The Comedy Store Players since the 1980s, and he's back this Sunday 2nd November. With Kirsty Newton on piano. Tickets going fast!
October 28, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Julian Clary has been guesting with The Comedy Store Players since the 1980s, and he's back this Sunday 2nd November. With Kirsty Newton on piano. Tickets going fast!
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Don’t miss! #comedystoreplayers
Julian Clary has been guesting with The Comedy Store Players since the 1980s, and he's back this Sunday 2nd November. With Kirsty Newton on piano. Tickets going fast!
October 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Don’t miss! #comedystoreplayers
Reposted by Lee Simpson
✨ #SecretsOfTheForest: Satsuki's Tomato Prop 🍅
Did you know that the tomato Satsuki eats isn't really a tomato? Watch to find out how it's made! 😮🌱
#FindYourSpirit
Did you know that the tomato Satsuki eats isn't really a tomato? Watch to find out how it's made! 😮🌱
#FindYourSpirit
October 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
✨ #SecretsOfTheForest: Satsuki's Tomato Prop 🍅
Did you know that the tomato Satsuki eats isn't really a tomato? Watch to find out how it's made! 😮🌱
#FindYourSpirit
Did you know that the tomato Satsuki eats isn't really a tomato? Watch to find out how it's made! 😮🌱
#FindYourSpirit
Reposted by Lee Simpson
The Comedy Store Players celebrate 40 years this Sunday (though I've only been a member since 1986) Come and see Neil, Josie, me, Ruth and Lee plus Steve Edis on piano, doors 6.30 show 7.30 til 9.30.
October 24, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The Comedy Store Players celebrate 40 years this Sunday (though I've only been a member since 1986) Come and see Neil, Josie, me, Ruth and Lee plus Steve Edis on piano, doors 6.30 show 7.30 til 9.30.
I think, as 40th birthday parties go, this one will be special. And you are all invited.
October 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I think, as 40th birthday parties go, this one will be special. And you are all invited.
Reposted by Lee Simpson
The news is out!
My Neighbour Totoro is extending in the West End until 30 August 2026!
We can't wait to welcome you to the neighbourhood 💚
📸 Manuel Harlan © RSC
totoroshow.com/news/
My Neighbour Totoro is extending in the West End until 30 August 2026!
We can't wait to welcome you to the neighbourhood 💚
📸 Manuel Harlan © RSC
totoroshow.com/news/
October 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The news is out!
My Neighbour Totoro is extending in the West End until 30 August 2026!
We can't wait to welcome you to the neighbourhood 💚
📸 Manuel Harlan © RSC
totoroshow.com/news/
My Neighbour Totoro is extending in the West End until 30 August 2026!
We can't wait to welcome you to the neighbourhood 💚
📸 Manuel Harlan © RSC
totoroshow.com/news/
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Three years of magic and joy. 💚
The sky is so big here! 😮
Three years ago, London officially met the Kusakabe family when #MyNeighbourTotoro officially opened at the Barbican Centre in 2022! 💚✨
#FindYourSpirit
Three years ago, London officially met the Kusakabe family when #MyNeighbourTotoro officially opened at the Barbican Centre in 2022! 💚✨
#FindYourSpirit
October 18, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Three years of magic and joy. 💚
I mean this is ruddy huge. Get on board.
FACILITATOR ANNOUNCEMENT
We are excited to announce that the next M/Others Who Make workshop, Making a Manifesto for Deaf M/Others will be hosted by Jenny Sealey!
📅 Monday 3rd November
🕚 6-8pm
📍 online
🎟️ buff.ly/pS0Alyc
We are excited to announce that the next M/Others Who Make workshop, Making a Manifesto for Deaf M/Others will be hosted by Jenny Sealey!
📅 Monday 3rd November
🕚 6-8pm
📍 online
🎟️ buff.ly/pS0Alyc
October 16, 2025 at 9:55 PM
I mean this is ruddy huge. Get on board.
Ooh look at our new layout!
October 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Ooh look at our new layout!
Reposted by Lee Simpson
We are delighted to share images from last week's Antepiano rehearsal of Akhnaten @liceubarcelona.cat !
Akhnaten will be performed at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona from 16 October - 3 November 2025.
📸 © Sergi Panizo – Gran Teatre del Liceu
Akhnaten will be performed at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona from 16 October - 3 November 2025.
📸 © Sergi Panizo – Gran Teatre del Liceu
October 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
We are delighted to share images from last week's Antepiano rehearsal of Akhnaten @liceubarcelona.cat !
Akhnaten will be performed at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona from 16 October - 3 November 2025.
📸 © Sergi Panizo – Gran Teatre del Liceu
Akhnaten will be performed at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona from 16 October - 3 November 2025.
📸 © Sergi Panizo – Gran Teatre del Liceu
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Not long until my novel, Introducing Mrs Collins, is out! Nov 6th, but you can pre-order now via link in my bio. It’s all about what happens to Charlotte Lucas in P&P, after her engagement to Mr Collins, and whether perhaps she might find herself to be romantic after all…
October 11, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Not long until my novel, Introducing Mrs Collins, is out! Nov 6th, but you can pre-order now via link in my bio. It’s all about what happens to Charlotte Lucas in P&P, after her engagement to Mr Collins, and whether perhaps she might find herself to be romantic after all…
Reposted by Lee Simpson
#comedystoreplayers40 happy birthday to us
October 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM
#comedystoreplayers40 happy birthday to us
Reposted by Lee Simpson
Workshop 6pm Monday 27th Oct (recording also available) in #postmenopause as a time of creative possibility. An existential, psychotherapeutic and creative look at #menopause as turning point, opening towards our vital third act. All welcome.
onlinevents.co.uk/event/how-to...
onlinevents.co.uk/event/how-to...
How to Reframe the Transition to Postmenopause as a Creative Turning Point
What if we looked beyond colonial Euro-North American ideas of ageing to learn from other cultures? And what creative possibilities might open for us if we perceived the transition to postmenopause an...
onlinevents.co.uk
October 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Workshop 6pm Monday 27th Oct (recording also available) in #postmenopause as a time of creative possibility. An existential, psychotherapeutic and creative look at #menopause as turning point, opening towards our vital third act. All welcome.
onlinevents.co.uk/event/how-to...
onlinevents.co.uk/event/how-to...