- January 2017
In 1950's Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the three Mcgrath sisters have returned home, awaiting news of the family patriarch - their grandfather - who is living out his final hours in hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried and facing dwindling marriage prospects; Meg, the middle sister, has returned after a failed stint in Hollywood, and the youngest sister, Babe, is out on bail after shooting her husband.
Their troubles, serious and yet hilarious, unravel throughout the play; as past resentments bubble to the surface, the sisters are forced to face the consequences of the various “crimes of the heart” that they have committed.
An example of black comedy at its finest, Crimes of the Heart is a comedic exploration of loneliness, deceit and ultimately what it means to be a family.
- November–December 2016
"You're my prize possession, why can't I watch you ?... You're mine"
Nora Helmer years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her dictatorial husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed and lives in fear of her husband finding out and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career. But when the truth comes out, Nora is shocked to learn where she really stands in her husband's esteem. A play that was once banned for daring to depict a woman defying her husband "A Doll's House is considered to be one of the first "feminist" plays, challenging the Victorian ideal of a woman's role in marriage and revolutionising the portrayal of women on the stage.
- November 2016
‘Merdre!’
The first performance of the first word of the first piece of absurdist theatre, when put on in Paris in 1896, resulted in a riot.
Before the start of the premiere Alfred Jarry walked onto the stage and said ‘You are free to see in M. Ubu however many allusions you care to, or else a simple puppet – a school boy’s caricature of one of his professors who personified for him all the ugliness in the world.’
The play tells the story of the rise of Ubu Pa to the throne of Baloney and his eventual fall, in absurd mockery of everything from the bourgeois to Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.
A basement fever-dream, gutter rock, an anarchic farce, Berlin techno… This show really has it all. Wow.
- February 2016
Set in 1929 New York City, Bugsy Malone captures a flashy world of would-be hoodlums, showgirls, and dreamers. In this setting, two gangs prepare to take each other down, with Fat Sam and Dandy Dan competing to take control of the city. Bugsy Malone, a one-time boxer, is thrust not-so-willingly into the gangster limelight, when he becomes the last chance Fat Sam's gang has of surviving. All Bugsy really wants to do is spend time with his new love Blousey; but that just isn't on the cards for our hero just yet.
Great songs, amazing dances, flashing lights and cream-pie fights - what more could a musical have to offer?
- November 2015
'I've never understood
what it is I'm not supposed to feel
like a bird on the wing in a swollen sky my mind is torn by lightning
as it flies from the thunder behind'
This is not a play. This is a suicide note. This is the fragmented reality of a broken mind.
This is not the answer. This is the question. This is the opening line and the closing breath.
Sarah Kane's final and most personal work opens up the minds of three people suffering from depression, taking the audience on a journey into the deepest recesses of human suffering.
- August 2015
- March 2015
Bernstein's 'Candide' is an operetta set in the castle of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh in the mythical European land of Westphalia. Within these walls live the Baron and Baroness, Cunegonde-- their beautiful and innocent virgin daughter, Maximilian--their handsome son, Candide--their handsome bastard nephew, and Paquette-- the Baroness' buxom serving maid. They are taught by Dr. Pangloss, who preaches the philosophy that all is for the best in "The Best of All Possible Worlds."
Candide and Cunegonde kiss and Candide is banned from Westphalia. As he leaves, Bulgarians invade, kidnap him and slaughter everyone except for Cunegonde, who they prostitute out to a rich Jew and the Grand Inquisitor. Candide escapes and begins an optimistic, satirical journey...
For 'Candide', composer of 'West Side Story', Leonard Bernstein wrote thrilling music full of wonderful tunes. The show is great spectacle, performed by a large cast of thirty talented singers.
- March 2014
"Then, since I am his Ganymede, let me be cut in stars, and set where jealous hate may never come"
Egypt. 130 AD. The emperor Hadrian, accompanied by his wife, court, and secretary, Suetonius, is on a diplomatic tour; all eyes are on Antinous, Hadrian's young lover and pin-up boy of the Classical world. As the party floats further down the Nile, the stage is set for tragedy.
"I have my wife's contempt, my friend's decease, and now my lover's enmity to weigh upon my soul: what is an empire to these cares?"
- November 2013
A group of young English cavaliers head to the Med for the mother of all hedonistic holidays, but they’ve more than met their match in the girls they encounter. Belvile thinks he’s found true love with Florinda, but an arranged marriage and a protective older brother stand in his way. Blunt thinks he’s found true lust with Lucetta, but he’s about to be given a rude awakening. Frederick just wants to find somebody, anybody. And Willmore, the rover, causes chaos wherever he goes, trailing broken hearts and broken bottles in his wake. Can this “rampant lion of the forest” be tamed? Or will events take a darker course?
- November 2013
Cambridge. 1986. Wracked by ambition and stress, and disillusioned with his studies, Faustus makes a deal. Knowledge, power, reputation - the price: his soul.
What would you give to have all the answers?
- June 2013
During the chaotic festivities of Mayweek a group of students attempt to put on a performance of Shakespeare’s liveliest romantic comedy ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. With lust bubbling beneath the surface and incessant flirting, this raucous show sees two rebellious misfits fall deeply and madly in love. Set in the beautiful outdoor setting of Cloister Court, Queens' college, this show promises to be the perfect antidote for exam stresses.
- March 2013
- February 2013
French Without Tears is a larger-than-life comedy about what it means to be young. When Commander Roger, grizzled Naval captain, arrives a school for young men attempting (and failing) to learn French, he sets of a tangled love affair involving the naive Kit, Alan the self-styled intellectual and Diana: the focus of their affections.
- November 2012
"I found god in myself/and I loved her/I loved her fiercely"
For Colored Girls is an explosively evocative and daringly innovative piece of drama from American poet Ntozake Shange.
Combining spoken word poetry, physical theatre, music and dance, Shange's choreo-poem gives a piercingly authentic look at urban life through the brash lens of beautifully unrefined poetry.
Following the lives of seven women identified solely by the colour of their clothing, the play tackles experiences of rape, domestic violence, infidelity and sisterhood, taking its characters and audience from a place of desolation to the liberating finale at the end of their rainbows.
A vibrant, lyrical and emotive piece of organic drama, For Colored Girls is a powerful social critique which simultaneously gives a uniquely polyphonic and authentically raw voice to universal experiences.
- November 2012
"Philip II has a new wife. And a new lover. But with jealous exes vowing revenge, allies conspiring against him, and his son - Alexander the Great - plotting to seize power, he won't stay happy long...
Blood, fire, sex, rhetoric and revenge; this monstrous creation will be unlike anything you've ever seen on a Cambridge stage."
- October–November 2012
- October–November 2012
‘in the vatican everything is confidential and nothing is secret’
Following the death of the Pope a man is elected who the cardinals believe can stop the spread of corruption in the Vatican. Thirty days later he is dead. No official investigation is launched, no autopsy is performed and cardinal Benelli watches as the press release is secretly distorted. Benelli has the power to ensure the death is properly investigated but only by surrendering his last chance of becoming pope. Years later, beyond justice, ambition and friendship all that remains is his last confession.
A thrilling tail of rivalry, intrigue and faith. The Last Confession takes us inside the Vatican to uncover the events surround the death of ‘the smiling pope’
- June 2012
'Well, all Rome sees Caligula everywhere. And Caligula, in reality, only sees his idea.'
BATS is proud to present their May Week show, Camus' 'Caligula', a play full of philosophy, madness, cross-dressing, and plenty of blood. When the Emperor returns to the city, mourning the death of his beloved sister, his senators are concerned he is not fit to rule. He demands to own the moon; he begins arbitrary executions; he dances before them in the guise of Venus. But how mad is Caligula really? And how long will they allow his cruelty to reign?
- March 2012
The BATS Freshers' Show takes on one of the most celebrated works of twentieth century theatre, Caryl Churchill's warts-and-all portrayal of the working woman, and what it takes to be one. Marlene has been promoted to managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency and is lauded by women past and present as a successful, admirable female. But how much has she given up for her career? Her family? Her credibility? Even her gender?
- March 2012
Two men, two women. Sex, betrayal, half-truth, and that's just the bubbly first half. Rose has just moved into Cassie's spare room.She believes in horoscopes, leprechauns and numerology, which doesn't go down well with Cassie, who lobbies parliament to raise awareness of rape and gender inequality. They met on gumtree. Rose thinks Mark is the one, Mark's fairly sure he isn't. Tim lives with Mark. He is recently bereaved, fat and doesn't know what to do. So far, so good. But what seems like a romcom waiting to happen quickly curdles into something much, much nastier.
Set up as a sparky metropolitan comedy of manners, Penelope Skinner's divisive script delves deeply into the dark underbelly of modern romance, starkly depicting emotional manipulation, sexual humiliation and near-total self-destruction. An intoxicating mix of comedy and tragedy, 'Eigengrau' tenderly examines the alienation of modern life and the near-impossibility of living as a feminist in a world that believes the struggle is over.
- February 2012
When Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to track down Richard Greenleaf, the errant son of a wealthy American couple, his mission takes on a sinister twist as their lives become inextricably entwined. Phyllis Nagy’s stage adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ explores the mind of one of crime fiction’s great anti-heroes; an intelligent, suave, and charming psychopath whose amorality is at the centre of a plot about duplicity and murder.
- November 2011
Combine the best restaurant in London and the worst diners in the world and what do you get? Madness. Add into the mix a verbose restaurant manager, a namedropping waiter, and a pseudo-sexually charged waitress, and Pinter’s Celebration is a feast of bizarre comedy not to be missed. Join us for this one-act play from perhaps Britain’s most revered and versatile playwright, and take the opportunity to explore his final work in all its comedic, dramatic and intensely strange glory.
- November 2011
It's the 2503th performance of "Oedipus Tyrannus" and Chorus 6 wants to call it quits. The tragic hero, however, isn't quite ready to end the performance. Can a plot be altered, can a well-known story be changed? The minor actors are determined to escape a theatrical prison... but the protagonist has other ideas.
BATS is proud to present this imaginative new adaptation of the Oedipus myth.
- November 2011
Sondheim’s musical thriller, a modern day classic, tells the story of Benjamin Barker. Framed by the evil Judge Turpin him - in order to rape Barker's wife - he escapes and returns to London only to discover his wife poisoned herself and Turpin is to marry his daughter. He rents a room over Mrs Lovett’s struggling pie shop, selling - to quote - “The Worst Pies in London”, and plots revenge, which soon expands to include a much wider clientele.
Sweeney Todd deftly mixes horror with the blackest humour. A cast of Cambridge's finest actor-singers will appear in a brand new production that will be mesmerising, disconcerting and bloody good fun.
Sweeney's waiting.
- June 2011
‘What, would you restrain the freedom of speech? I vow I have no malice against the people I abuse. When I say an ill-natured thing, ‘tis out of pure good humour; and I take it for granted they deal exactly in the same manner with me.’
Speech may be unrestrained, but slander is wielded as a weapon of social control in Sheridan’s finely-tuned, witty masterpiece of restoration comedy (from the director of CUOS’s The Marriage of Figaro, February 2011). Bitchy and self-conscious, perfectly-timed and delicious, this play wears too much rouge and leers like your great uncle.
Join Lady Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mrs Candour and their school for scandal as they construct plot out of rumour, rumour out of plot. With comic scenes to rival Malvolio's letter-reading in Twelfth Night, this bitchy restoration drama of manners is comedy at its best.
'perhaps the most finished and faultless comedy which we have' (William Hazlitt)
- March 2011
When no heroes are left, who will save us?
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe 2010, the Medics’ Revue is back, bringing ‘The Fantastic Forceps’ to the Fitzpatrick Hall and providing an hour of riotous sketches and hilarious songs that are sure to tickle your funny bone. Featuring entirely original, and specifically non-medical humour from the pens of undergraduate medics and vets, this show continues to be a well-loved Cambridge tradition. Drawing upon current affairs, pop culture and the twisted imaginations of the next generation of lifesavers, the show promises to provide light-hearted entertainment as a perfect antidote to the end of term. Medics’ Revue promises to split your sides, and then stitch them back up again after!
- March 2011
The world's greatest physicist, Johann Wilhelm Mobius, is in a madhouse, haunted by recurring visions of King Solomon. He is kept company by two other equally deluded scientists: one who thinks he is Einstein, another who believes he is Newton. It soon becomes evident, however, that these three are not as harmlessly lunatic as they appear. Are they, in fact, really mad? Or are they playing some murderous game, with the world as the stake? For Mobius has uncovered the mystery of the universe--and therefore the key to its destruction--and Einstein and Newton are vying for this secret that would enable them to rule the earth.
- February 2011
Running to 4 star reviews last term (‘a masterpiece of madness’, TCS), BATS revives ‘William Fergus Stuart’ as their week 4 lateshow. Attempting to tell the story of its author’s life, the show explores and explodes autobiography, going after war, life, death, romance and struggling to find your heart.
- February 2011
- November 2010
THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND combines elements of metatheatre and farce with the 'whodunnit' formula of Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle and ludicrous comedy.
The play opens with two critics watching a play, presented with a group of characters trapped in the mysterious Muldoon Manor by adverse weather conditions and a lunatic apparently on the loose somewhere nearby
However, when one of the characters in the play is killed, Birdboot finds himself taking his place, and things only get stranger, as the lines between audience and play, critic and actor become bafflingly blurred.
- November 2010
Politics. Rebellion. Desire. All words. So what can they do?
For the characters in this play, the presence - or absence - of the right words can be life-changing. As a drama teacher is drawn into a staged version of his past, we see how saying what you really mean isn't as simple as it sounds, whether in London or Havana. But then you need words to tell a story, and perhaps they can help as well as hurt...
A new play by Paul Merchant.
- November 2010
"If they don't agree, then I will change their minds by whatever means I deem necessary. If you want to call it disease, or corruption, or whichever words seem appropriate, then go ahead." An empty, windowless room is where the human forms of Rape, Faith and Pain find themselves, cut off and without recollection of their arrival. In trying to escape, they find themselves going deeper into the isolation of their space, and their fruitless and disturbing efforts to learn about one another seems to draw the walls in as their predicament remains apparently without cause.
- November 2010
BATS presents:
The MISANTHROPE by Moliere, verse translation by Tony Harrison
Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens' College | Week 4 Mainshow
2nd - 6th November
Tickets: £5/£7
"Let real feelings shine out through our speech, a deep sincerity where guile can't reach."
Widely regarded as Molière's masterpiece, The Misanthrope is a wickedly scathing satire of high society. Still bitingly relevant today, it enjoyed huge success in the West End earlier this year.
In this brilliant translation by Tony Harrison, the urban, young intelligentsia jostle for status and respect in 1960s Paris. Decide for yourself whether Alceste,the proverbial misanthrope, is an honest man surrounded by flattering sycophants or an arrogant idealistic fool.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE HERE - http://www.adcticketing.com/
- June 2010
When Duke Vincentio leaves the law of Vienna in the hands of Angelo – his notoriously rigid deputy – the city looks like it will be cleaned up for the better. But when Angelo confuses law with justice his harsh penalty starts a chain of reactions that both provokes and captivates audiences of this engrossing drama. What exactly does Angelo want with the beautiful but chaste Isabella? And just where exactly has the Duke disappeared to? ‘Measure for Measure’ is an intriguing tale of power and corruption, lies and deception with the essential comedic elements of dressing up in disguise and a rather simple police constable. Not to be missed …
- March 2010
- March 2010
The Last Five Years, by composer Jason Robert Brown, combines an eclectic and beautiful score, with an intensely powerful plot, told in a strikingly unique and individual way. The story deals with the breakdown of Cathy and Jamie’s marriage, however, the audience sees Jamie’s account in chronological order, whilst Cathy’s experience is in reverse, the two characters meeting only once in the middle at their engagement and wedding. This is a beautiful and challenging addition to the Cambridge musical theatre scene.
