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Acaprov: The Improvised A Cappella Musical

 
Johanna Makelainen Review by Johanna Makelainen 3 Published: 19 May 2026 Multiple Venues Show Dates: 15 May 2026-17 May 2026

Taking on one of theatre’s trickier forms is Acaprov: a fully improvised a cappella musical. Directed by Lisa Lynn, The Improvised A Cappella Musical bring together seven singers and two beatboxers to build a new show from audience suggestions. Each performance has a different theme and location, so the outcome is genuinely uncertain. This time, the company landed somewhere less than glamorous: behind a bin at Glastonbury.

Likeable, but not fully recycled into something memorable

The set-up is promising. Jonathan Whittaker and Heather Hill play two rubbish collectors stuck on bin duty, with Hill’s character dreaming of life on a bigger stage. From there, the company roll through recycling jokes, puking gags, and more variations on “bin there, done that” than one performance can reasonably support. Still, there is a workable narrative shape. The aspiring singer is discovered by Lewis Capaldi, played with cheerful pop-star absurdity by James Little, invited on stage and then asked to join him on a world tour.

The best moments come when the performers embrace the ridiculousness of the premise. A number performed by the bins themselves, 'It’s Rubbish Being A Bin', is easily one of the funniest ideas of the night, giving the production the daft specificity it needs. Whittaker and Hill make a likeable central pair, especially as the story settles into a classic love plot where someone learns

to value love at the last minute.

The problem is that the show often needs more drive. The opening icebreaker helps, but the audience participation fades, and the energy dips when the cast are not actively pushing the premise forward. Musically, the beatboxing adds texture, though the vocal arrangements do not always become fully formed songs.

A show built behind a bin was never going to arrive spotless. Acaprov’s Glastonbury adventure is messy, willing, and intermittently very funny, with enough invention to entertain but not enough precision to properly soar. On another night, with another prompt, the same format could produce something sharper. This particular trip behind the bins is likeable, but not fully recycled into something memorable.

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The Blurb:

Imagine a new kind of musical: beatboxers, rappers, actors, singers, dancers and body percussionists coming together completely a cappella to improvise a fresh, heart-warming show, that you’ll never forget. Every performance is unique. Acaprov take a location and title from the audience before spontaneously creating a non-stop musical that will make you laugh, cry, dance in your seat, and sing all the way home! Everything seen and heard is 100% invented in the moment and entirely from the minds, mouths and bodies of the performers - completely acappella. Joy - Heart - Harmony.