The person behind the work
Caspar Schjelbred
Caspar Schjelbred (b. 1979, Denmark) grew up in Sweden and moved to Paris in 1999. What followed was more than twenty years of work in improvisation, physical acting and performer training.
He began improvising in 2001 with The Improfessionals, Paris’s English-language improv company, where he later served as artistic director (2008–2014). During those years he taught extensively, co-directed Impro Academy Paris, and developed a teaching approach centred on clarity, presence and physical awareness.
Alongside his artistic work, Caspar completed a Master’s degree in History of Science at the Sorbonne, specialising in late-19th-century theories of emotion – research that continues to inform his precise, perceptual approach to acting and expression.
A turning point
In 2008, Caspar began training with Ira Seidenstein, whose method of physical acting and clown became a central influence in his development. Seidenstein’s work introduced a level of clarity, discipline and embodied intelligence that permanently altered his artistic direction. Caspar later wrote the forewords to Seidenstein’s books Clown Secret and Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare.
In 2010, he founded Impro Supreme – not as a constructed brand, but as the natural outcome of years spent refining a physical, attentive and imaginative approach to improvisation.
Performance work
Caspar is known for PLAN C, his improvised solo show created in 2012 and performed more than seventy times across Europe, Australasia and North America, including at the International Mime Festival in Colombia (2023). The show became a long-term laboratory: a place to test, refine and embody the principles he teaches.
His artistic work also includes directing the physical comedy piece AVANT-GARDE with HaHaHa Impro Theatre in Sofia (2018), performing in a Samuel Beckett production in Luxembourg (2016–2017), and appearing in various movement-based and visual projects. His work draws from clown, mime and dance traditions without belonging strictly to any one of them.
Teaching
Teaching has always been the centre of the work – in practice, Caspar has spent more time teaching than performing, and this has remained true throughout his career. He teaches internationally, working with actors, improvisers and performers who want a grounded, physically honest stage presence.
Caspar currently lives in Copenhagen.