- February 2006
Four women present four pieces of drama, 'A Woman Alone', 'The Same Old Story', 'The Rape', 'The Whore in the Madhouse': comic, grotesque and tragic, all triumphantly attesting to the power of female sexuality, and individuality.
This exploration of Abuse, Desire, Harassment, and Oppression will take the audience to extremes of laughter, fear, pain, hope and despair.
A housewife who 'has everything any woman could want' evaluates her roles as wife, mother, mistress, object of desire, slave. And woman. A woman falls pregnant to her left-wing, intellectual lover, whom she cannot persuade to be considerate of her. A young woman is abducted, tortured and raped by three men in a van, and is dumped in a park. A prostitute relates her story to a psychiatrist interviewing her in a mental institution.
- February 2006
The genesis of a Cambridge spy is as thrilling, disturbing and moving as you probably never imagined. Forget BBC teatime dramas. This play gives us an arrestingly intimate vision of those infamous figures as teenage boys, with all their wit, passion, swagger, sex drive and dreams. Julian Mitchell's play magnifies the furious drama of any adolescence into a disarming social and political diatribe. He illuminates the absurdity and barbarity of a 1930s public education, showing us the scandalous consequences of such an upbringing, not only for these boys, but for our country.
- February 2006
"You have an agenda, we have an agenda. I am not interested in your feelings or your motivation, but your actions"
After receiving a failing mid-term grade, a university student confronts her teacher in his office. After the meeting becomes physical, she files a complaint of sexual harassment against her professor.
David Mamet's explosive 1993 play arrives on the ADC stage in a bold torrent of searing eloquence. Set in a university context it questions everything about the higher education system. It pulls its audience this way and that, leaving them feeling somewhat violated. Its first production did just that, causing a sensation and dividing couples over its depiction of political correctness gone haywire. By using time distortion, this production promises to be truly original and highly provocative. With its violently paced and poetic dialogue, Oleanna will certainly have a hard hitting effect on you. Not a word is redundant, every moment is tense, and engaging. It is always disturbing, frequently menacing but only at the end breaks into violence. The control is immaculate. The ringing of a phone becomes a battle cry, words become weapons, and an ordinary meeting becomes a war of wills and ideologies. Watch these two familiar characters tread a sexual minefield. Anything may trigger it off.
- January–February 2006
“What’s the point in revolution without general copulation?” howl the inmates of the insane asylum of Charenton. Narcoleptics, nymphomaniacs, and narcissists, are acting out the persecution and death of the revolutionary leader Marat under the direction of the infamous Marquis de Sade; depravity, sexual perversion, violence, song and dance are the order of the day.
- January 2006
It's all over. Jerry's five-year affair with his best friend's wife has been discovered and his life lies in ruins. But what made him start on the road to self-destruction? In Betrayal, Nobel-laureate Harold Pinter takes us from the end of the affair to its beginning, chronicling the petty deceptions that accumulate to destroy three lives. Beneath their conversation lies a dark subtext that is always threatening to break the surface and shatter their complacency.
Visit www.robertandme.co.uk
- December 2005
The Footlights/ADC Pantomime is back, and this time it’s Epic! Set amongst the great pyramids of Egypt, the towering columns of Rome, the succulent olives of Greece, join Spartacus on his journey from zero to hero, from slavery to bravery, as he gladiates his way to freedom.
Featuring a smouldering Cleopatra, a well-meaning but insane Emperor and a loveable Pantomime Horse, this is a show for all ages.
Complete with original songs, this fantastic new production comes from the most exciting comedy writers in Cambridge, and features some of its leading performers.
www.spartacusthepanto.com
- November–December 2005
- November 2005
Somewhere in America, manacled to a bed, is a man with a unique talent… the ability to dream winners.
Cody can foretell the outcome of horse races, and has been held captive by gangsters for years. But when he loses his magical talent, his fate is called into question – what use do his captors have for him now?
- November 2005
The ADC's Freshers' Plays showcase new Cambridge acting and backstage talent from the Freshers of 2005.
From restaurants to parks to village fetes, these plays deal riotously - and sharply - with human eccentricities and loneliness. As characters lurch from professional conflicts to marital infidelity, their cries for help are instantly recognisable.
Superb examples of Ayckbourn's black comedies of human behaviour, these four short plays are taken from his Confusions collection. In The Drinking Companion, an absentee husband attempts seduction without success; and a waiter oversees a fraught dinner encounter in Between Mouthfuls. A garden party gets out of hand in Gosforth’s Fete, whilst strangers sitting alone pester each other for A Talk in the Park.
A huge hit when it opened in the West End, this production full of witty humour shows Ayckbourn at his very best.
For more information about the show visit www.confusions.co.uk
- November 2005
The ADC's Freshers' Plays showcase new Cambridge acting and backstage talent from the Freshers of 2005.
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, depicts New Hampshire village life, told through the everyday lives of two families. George and Emily grow up together as children, they fall in love and marry. But all too soon it seems that Emily must join the former inhabitants of Grover’s Corner in the village cemetery.
This gentle play celebrates all aspects of the human experience; from the small events and interactions of day to day life, to the peace which can never be understood by the living.
When first produced, the play was considered a remarkable theatrical innovation. It has a universality that does not date, as this team of eager Freshers will display.
- November 2005
Things don’t always go to plan. Schedules don’t always run as intended. The world of theatre can be a tricky place. On Tuesday 8th November at 11pm, the audience at the ADC Theatre could have been watching something else. Something well written, lovingly rehearsed and impressively acted.
But that’s not happening. Instead, Cambridge’s top improvised comedy group have taken over and, with the help of their enthusiastic audience, they will guess what the original show would have been about, and put it on anyway!
Expect laughs, expect drama, expect dastardly plots and unconventional performances. Expect anything you like - it doesn’t really matter, it’s all made up on the spot. But expect a night at the theatre that’s literally like no other, because the Comedy Iceberg are taking over.
No scripts. No rehearsals. No idea.
- November 2005
One theatre. One stage. Four nights.
In celebration of one hundred and fifty years of drama, a kaleidoscopic assortment of scenes and monologues is brought to life by Amateur Dramatic Club talent past and present. Different generations of ADC Membership meet on stage and off in a cabaret-style project involving both students and alumni. These evening performances will celebrate the accomplishments of the past 150 years and look to the future with great hope and expectation.
- November 2005
Michael Frayn’s 1985 adaptation is a brilliant reworking of Anton Chekhov’s first play, Platonov. The characters re-assemble in the wake of the long harsh Russian winter which has finally given way to a 'summer of wild honey' and an atmosphere rife with sexual intrigue and the 'wayward sweetness of forbidden attraction'. Beneath the witty banter the characters lurch from one amorous disaster to the next chaotic affair, and the light humour of the opening scenes gives way to darker and more painful comedy as the play hurtles towards its climax.
Wild Honey forms the focal point of this term's theatrical programme as theADC'S 150th Anniversary MainShow. With an extremely talented cast and crew this is a production that promises to reflect the ingenuity and creativity of generations of Cambridge students, taking as its starting point the celebratory and vivacious nature of the play and its characters.
- October 2005
"Only love can save me and love has destroyed me."
Crave presents four characters/aspects of human nature: A, B, C and M. They reveal fragments of speech to reveal a litany of rape, infidelity, loneliness, romantic rejection and childlessness. Crave explores the niggling truths we suppress within; the secrets we have, the lies we tell and the games we play... The truth hurts, doesn’t it?
- October 2005
GERARDO What if he has nothing to confess?
PAULINA Tell him if he doesn't confess, I'll kill him.
GERARDO But what if he's not guilty?
PAULINA If he's innocent? Then he's really screwed.
A man sits bound and gagged in a living room, accused of the most terrible of crimes. A woman, haunted by a brutal past, points a gun at him. Her husband looks on in horror. Can this charming doctor really be a sadistic torturer? Can the innocent confess to crimes they did not commit?
Ariel Dorfman's taut thriller about torture and guilt is brought to vivid and shocking life.
Visit: www.deathandthemaiden.co.uk
To book tickets, email tickets@deathandthemaiden.co.uk
- October 2005
When widower Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth invite an eccentric local psychic to conduct a séance as research for Charles’ latest novel, they don’t expect much in the way of supernatural spectacle. Unfortunately for Charles, they are proved wrong by the materialization of his first wife, Elvira, who is determined to keep him under the thumb from six feet under.
The ghostly ménage à trois descends from confusion to chaos to carnage as Charles’ dreams of a quiet life come crashing down around him, along with much of his furniture...
Blithe Spirit is a hugely entertaining play from one of Britain’s best-loved dramatists. Brimming with Coward’s trademark wit and panache, it remains an enduring and classic comedy.
- October 2005
‘WHEN CAN I STOP RUNNING DOWN THAT STEEP WHITE STREET IN CABEZA DE LOBO?’ Catharine, fresh out of the asylum, has a story to tell. The viperous Mrs. Venables, who snaked an umbilical cord of pearls around the memory of Sebastian is intent on denying the truth about her son and his death. Suddenly Last Summer builds to a climactic revelation of what happened to Sebastian in Cabeza de Lobo. But the true cannibalistic horror lies far closer to home… In the garden district of New Orleans, where massive tree flowers suggest organs of a body, still glistening with undried blood, Williams’ darkest examination of emotional violence screams, hisses and thrashes its way towards a bloody conclusion where ‘truth’ is a weapon and survival hangs by a spider’s thread. Emotional myth-making, desire and corruption strike an iconic balance between dignity and hysteria in this most theatrical of productions.
- September 2005
Eveline never could sit stll she perches on the window sill Eveline could take a ship and split but sh*t her ankles are chained to a chair in that room where she danced as a girl
- August 2005
Herakles lies dying, killed by his wife’s gift. Daysair lies dead, killed by her husband’s sword. The women of Trachis watch and lament. Music, dance and Pound’s poetry revitalise Sophocles’ tragedy of love, heroism and conflict.
- August 2005
"World-premiere by award-winning playwright. A refugee suffers the secrets of war; stories of things killed and died for. This powerful fable explores mendacity and vanity in contemporary politics. Cambridge's finest present total theatre with an original musical score."
For more information, see http://www.astrakhanwinter.com
- August 2005
Fusing Shakespeare's verse with a battery of music, rhythm and physical theatre, Cambridge University’s acclaimed ADC brings you a spellbinding hour of theatre in their new interpretation of Macbeth. "Breathing dynamic life into familiar Shakespearean territory." (Steve Waters, Playwright)
- May 2005
Abby and Martha Brewster enjoy all the leisurely pursuits of the respectable old lady; tea parties, church, crocheting and biscuits - not to mention murder, if one has the time. Their nephew Mortimer, fazed by the stockpile of dead gentlemen inhabiting the cellar, attempts to shift the blame onto his conveniently insane brother Teddy. When the estranged third brother Jonathan, evil and ghastly, returns to his aunts' house with his slimy sidekick Dr. Einstein, the situation - and the body count - spirals out of control.
Set in 1940s Brooklyn in the elegant household of two loveable old darlings, this gory black comedy is as witty as it is unsettling. Combining old-fashioned elegance with sharp humour and shocking wickedness, Kesselring's classic play will make you fear your own grandmother.
- May 2005
'The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember.'
But then what is the present when all you have is a distant past?
Based on Oliver Sack's Awakenings, Pinter brings to life the tale of a woman awakening from a catatonic state, known as sleeping sickness, after 30 years. Sleeping as a child she awakes as an adult, terrified, confused and alone. This beautiful play offers a glimpse into a mind that has been suspended in time and space, examining a woman who has been dreaming a 16 year olds' dream for three decades.
For one night only, come explore memory and the human experience, and witness one of the most delightful and simply beautiful of Pinter's plays.
- May 2005
Albee returns to the land of middle class suburban America which he explored to such biting effect in his classic, 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?'. The Pulitzer-Prize winning 'A Delicate Balance' is a caustically funny and moving exploration of love, compassion and the bonds of friendship and family. Agnes and Tobias, a middle-aged couple, are engaged in a battle of wills with Agnes' sister Claire, a self-professed drunk, and their daughter Julia, who has returned home after a fourth failed marriage. Their equilibrium is further jeopardised by the sudden arrival of their best friends, Edna and Harry, a couple seeking refuge in an already threatened home.
At once horribly tragic and wonderfully funny, the play further explores the American drama ideas of truth, illusion and secrecy. Fueled by alcohol and pure vitriol the characters embark on a tirade of accusation and humiliation, revealing the emotional savagery of suburbia and the psychological terror of empty lives.
- March 2005
The Hen and Chickens theatre is 109
St Pauls Road Islington, London, N1 2NA.
box office number is 02077042001, or visit website
http://www.henandchickens.com
A Patient arrives at the surgery. Just a weekly check-up? In some ways, yes: it is. Although perhaps this time the Doctor is merely part of the schizophrenic Patient’s subconscious. Probably. Or vice versa. Or not at all: but still probably. Either way, there’ll be a twist – nothing will be what it seems. Maybe…
Join “…Cambridge’s hottest comedy talent…” – Cambridge Evening News, in their brand-new, action-packed, feature-length session of theatre-therapy as they unravel the Doctor-Patient dynamic in ways never before considered interesting or funny. Described as “…very slick and extremely funny…” – Varsity; “…absurdly comic…the most cutting-edge comic writers around…” – TCS, Diagnosis promises to deliver the most exhilarating, inventive comedy without compromising on laughs, and without a comic staple in sight.
- March 2005
My Fair Lady charts the transformation of Eliza Doolittle from a Cockney street-urchin into a genuine Edwardian lady. Starting as a bet between Higgins, an opinionated linguistics professor, and the affable Colonel Pickering, Eliza’s journey takes her into the lives and homes of the English upper class, to Ascot and to the Embassy Ball. But after all the beautiful dresses, the elegant parties and the handsome suitors, perhaps all she really wants is a little kindness.
This fresh and exciting revival capitalises upon Cambridge’s finest talent to combine the vibrancy of London’s East End with the refined world of the Edwardian aristocracy. Including musical classics such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’, ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’, ‘On the Street Where You Live’ and ‘Get Me To the Church on Time’, My Fair Lady is one of the best-loved musicals of all time.
- March 2005
A mouth-watering selection box of dramatic treats; monologues by the likes of Bennett and Kane interspersed with work devised by some of the university’s most imaginative performers. These short pieces come in comedy, tragedy, tragi-comedy and strawberry cream flavours.
- March 2005
In 1529 two worlds collided – lands were colonised, people were enslaved and thousands upon thousands were slaughtered.
Francisco Pizarro is a man disillusioned by life. Jaded, faithless and cynical, he is driven only by his hope of achieving lasting fame, and so recruits a motley group of no-hopers to join his last voyage to the New World in search of gold, prestige and a place in the annals of history. Instead of the primitive communities they anticipate however, they encounter the Incas – an empire of millions, subjugated by their divine ruler, Atahuallpa; the god-king, the son of the Sun. As the fate of the two men becomes intertwined, Pizarro’s personal confl ict between his hubris and his new-found faith reaches a captivating and ultimately tragic climax.
Based on factual historical accounts, this is the story of the first contact between the Spanish conquistadors and the Incas of Peru, given life by Shaffer’s compelling play. A true spectacle, involving ‘not only words, but rites, mimes, masks and magics’, this production captures the thrilling allure of the empires of the New World – and the harrowing consequences of conflict and conquest.
- March 2005
Youth of Cambridge! Your country needs you to see OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR!
Step right up, do it for God, King, and Country! Here, at last, in one
show, experience the dangerous trenches of France along with those of the
cabaret girls! Two parts War Game, three parts Music Hall, four parts
History, six parts Song, five parts Floozies, and nine parts Machine Gun
Fire, let Oh What A Lovely War! take you OVER THE TOP!
- February 2005
A chorus of actors. A century-defining poem. A genre defining drama. Innovative and exiting, Wasteland offers a visual-vocal invigoration of T S Eliot’s magnificent poetic creation. Sometimes words speak louder than actions as this energetic new drama demonstrates, bringing the unique power of spoken verse to the ADC Theatre. In a spectacle of voice, movement, music and iconic visuals, Eliot’s poetic vision and narrative thread are drawn out and rendered in sight and sound.
Including music especially commissioned for the piece and composed by one of Cambridge’s most talented aspiring young musicians, as well as additional new writing from 2004 young poet of the year, this is a remarkable bringing together of the complex strands which have defined nearly a century of modern thought.
Watch and listen as Wasteland stamps its bold impression on the Cambridge drama scene. We will show you fear in a handful of dust…
- February 2005
The Amateur Dramatic Club preposterously offers you 24 Hour Drama. Devised, scripted, rehearsed and performed in just one day.
Join us in the ADC Theatre bar at the 23rd hour...
- February 2005
This gothic adaptation of a classic play, refreshed for the modern generation, offers a satire on contemporary life and current news, asking the questions we’re too afraid to ask. Examining the corruption of wealth, the exploitation of power and the commodification of the sexes through the medium of the media, this show promises to transform the ADC into a live news room! Volpone, the protagonist, endeavours to trick his ‘friends’ out of money by pretending to be at death’s door, upon receiving the gifts he wants more…the wife of one of his friends, to save him from death and fall into his grace. His humble servant Mosca aids his master all he can, but his intentions are far from innocent… With all the farce of the original play, but with the politics and lust of the 21st century, come witness the humour and the horror, come deceive and be deceived.
- February 2005
"…his death was uncalled for, but our generation just became intolerably bored. We are the STILLBORN generation! Rise up, young fellows. Jump off the bridge. We have nothing to lose but our mediocrity…"
The place: here. The time: now. The world: ours… and something parallel. A cultural revolution, the end of a rancid era. Assassinations, riots, the bloodsucking vampire generation finally brought to its scabby knees. Power the only currency, circumstance the only government. Into this terrifying anarchy stumble professors and students, lovers and leeches, intellectuals and rude boys. Let the games begin…
- February 2005
Alex isn’t very nice. Alex says things like ‘If a butterfly flaps it’s wings here, a series of knock on reactions make a hurricane happen in Tokyo.’ When he’s feeling angry, Alex sticks his hairdryer out the window and thinks of Tokyo. Martin spends his time sitting on the lino talking to matchsticks. Xavier says he always empathised with matchsticks (passively). Jackie is not feeling too happy. Jackie says her son is probably the antichrist. Kate says it’s just as likely to be Jesus; which would, I think we can agree, be lovely.
Written by Luke Roberts, this is a series of short conversations where people talk at each other and things go wrong...
- February 2005
Part of CUSU Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Awareness week, the Amateur Dramatic Club has commissioned new writing from across the city to create an evening of monologues that explore life as seen from the perspective of members of the LBGT community.
A rare opportunity to share the experiences of a minority group whose voice, in the light of recent political events, has become ever more important. It promises to be a provocative and affirming night of community theatre.
- February 2005
In a sordid bedsit, a prostitute welcomes a client. So it seems. But what is he really looking for? And what does she really want from him? When they are joined by a second man, more questions are raised - is he just another client, a lover, or a brutal rapist? Dwelling on a passing sweetness and descending into dark demanding self-investigation, through warmth and sentimentality, flirtation, make-believe and confession, "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" is a modern-day morality play which explores the blurred lines between love, dependence and psychotic attachment.
Following the success of Cross Road Blues at the ADC in Michaelmas 2003, "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" is David Hall's second play as writer/director.
