- January 2004
Chritie in Love is based on the story of John Reginald Christie, one of the most notorious and disturbing serial killers of the past century. Seen as one of Brenton’s masterpieces, it is a gritty play with an intimate cast that retells a timeless story of sexuality and criminality set against the role of the media. Christie’s tale is a corrupted love story, one of intense honesty and utter atrocity.
- January 2004
Prometheus Unbound in association with the ADC return to Cambridge this Edinburgh Fringe success about the quartet of free-thinking radicals: Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley and Claire Clairemont. "An amazing play...witty, acerbic and accurate" – Three Weeks "Strong ... moving ... genuinely affecting... speckled with humour... a production of which the ADC should be proud" – Varsity. Proceeds will be donated to the ADC Theatre Appeal.
- December 2003
Ten years have passed and the inhabitants of Wonderland have called Alice back through the looking glass one last time to save their world from destruction. Join Alice, the Mad Hatter, the much maligned Jabberwock and the little known Furious Bandersnatch for a lively evening of song, dance, comedy and extremely cross dressing.
- November 2003
Have you ever tried to protest and become frustrated when nobody listens to your voice? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you just gave up trying to be heard and stopped speaking altogether? Would anyone notice?
When Gemma, a young lady living in London, decides to give up speaking and to lose herself in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, her partner and friends are completely thrown. In this unique play Anthony Minghella parodies the superfluous conversations and the triviality of cosmopolitan social life through the voices of Gemma’s friends.
- November 2003
Albert paints the bridge. Hampered by the cost-cutting policies of the Chairman and his team of adept bureaucrats, Albert is engaged in a constant battle to defend the beauty of his beloved bridge. But he doesn’t really mind the struggle: life up on the bridge gives him time to think. Until it all goes wrong, that is, and Albert’s bridge and his life begin to fall apart.
- November 2003
The young and ambitious Charles Lang has designed and built an engine that uses only distilled water as its fuel – and tries to obtain a patent for his groundbreaking invention. But in the dog-eat-dog world of 1930s America, the lawyers from whom he seeks advice quickly turn on him, desperately seeking to steal his designs.
- November 2003
Returning to Argos, Orestes finds his mother married to his father's murderer, and his sister Electra working as their skivvy. Meanwhile, the gods send flies to plague the city, revenge for the regicide the people have permitted. Set in a nineteenth century mental asylum, Sartre’s absurdist reworking of this Greek tragedy is an intelligent and disturbing study of madness.
- November 2003
Under Milk Wood is the extraordinary story of apparently ordinary people. As we are drawn into the world of the inhabitants of Llareggub Hill, we discover a dream-like landscape of characters who are by turns hilarious, quirky, dark and brooding.
This production is about the madness of everyday people, how dreams and reality fade into one another and the creation of a unique world by one imagination.
- October 2003
For the fourth year running, the ADC presents an improvised night of hilarity from its sharpest comedic minds. Audience participation encouraged...
- October–November 2003
When Teddy, a professor in an American university, brings his wife Ruth to visit his old home in London, he finds his family still living in the house. In the conflict that follows, it is Ruth who becomes the focus of the family’s struggle for supremacy. Bringing prostitution, pimping and Pinter to the ADC stage, The Homecoming is an immensely successful work from one of the most accomplished playwrights of the twentieth century.
- October 2003
A man falls asleep. He wakes up in the sea. It looks like magic. But it’s not magic, it’s comedy! One hour of concentrated, non-biological humour, this show will take you to places you never knew existed without resorting to time travel.
- October 2003
Top Draw Productions in association with the ADC return The Edinburgh Fringe hit to Cambridge. A rapid, revolutionary romp through 30 years of action-packed Commie history, featuring smash hits such as The Gulag Rag and Mrs Stalin Regrets.
"As post-pub entertainment goes, this is about as good as it gets" - Edinburgh Evening News.
"Witty and entertaining" - The Observer
Promises to be a sell out run – book now!
- October 2003
Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for someone. Fairly convinced that his name is Godot, they’re not entirely sure what they want from him or whether they’re even in the right place. Their wait is interrupted by the enigmatic whip-wielding Pozzo, and Lucky, his dancing slave. All of them are searching for comfort in the increasing absurdity of their situation. A black comedy which oscillates between the dark and the hilarious.
- August 2003
'Mad, bad and dangerous to know' George, Lord Byron meets the radical poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his two 'wives'. From their meeting flows free love and the greatest Romantic poetry. Meanwhile Frankenstein's monster waits to be born.
- August 2003
Visually striking, powerful, challenging. Euripides’s archetypal play for modern times: the war has happened before and will again. As ever, the women are left to sweep up what remains…
- July–August 2003
An Evening with Joe - Stalin the Musical is a rapid, revolutionary romp through thirty years of action-packed commie history.
The year is 1924 and following Lenin's death, Stalin and Trotsky battle for power and the hand of the alluring, er... Mrs Stalin. As with all naive, lefty pipe-dreams, things soon go awry. Of course, genocide and suicice hardly help these matters...
Yet Stalin, for all his perversions and purges manages, in true musical theatre style, to save the day. Ha!
Profound and challenging for the mildly intoxicated, this show brings Edinburgh all that is best in the genre of genocidal musical comedy.
- June 2003
Three old bufoons, three wily wives and three young suitors run rings around each other in two hours of Restoration jiggery-pokery. What is the best sort of wife? A witty one, a devout one or an innocent one? For the husbands in 'The London Cuckolds' the answer is none of them - all of them betray their husands. Trees are climbed, balconies are jumped, hapless lovers are wedged in windows, thrust into cupboards and hidden under sheets. With everything from bawdy jokes to cross-dressing, this is a bouncy, saucy, old-style Restoration farce and the first May week garden-show the ADC has put on for over 5 years. Singing, silliness and seduction in the idyllic surrounds of the garden at Westcott House (click for map): The perfect way to start a Mayweek evening!
- May 2003
Lance meets Percy on a train hurtling accross Europe. Percy is on a journey of discovery having realised his expensive university education has taught him pretty much nothing. Lance doesn't want to discover anything, he wants to live in his memories. Together the two men try to make sense of why they are there, aided by impromtu visits from Elvis and Richard Nixon among others. An original and thought-provoking piece of writing from one of Cambridge's finest new writers, the rehearsed reading of No Problems promises to be well worth seeing.
- May 2003
Only Ten Minutes to Buffalo tells the striking story of two friends on theiway to the place where all their dreams will be fulfilled. But does ‘Buffalo’ reallexist, and if so, can they be there in only ten minutesTaking you on a turbulent voyage into the realm of the absurd, this play is must for all those wishing to escape the stress of deadlines and the mundanrealism of exams. This production plays with the boundaries between the reaand the fantastical and touches upon questions of technological progress, throle of art and the meaning of life. One hour of charged chaotic calamity.
- May 2003
One of well-loved Yorkshire playwright Alan Bennett’s most hilarious plays, this riotous farce is the perfect antidote to Cambridge exam term The play, set in the 1960s, is a witty and fast-paced period piece revolving around the lives and loves of the Wicksteed family, pillars of the Hove community. Dr Arthur Wicksteed, GP, intrepidly pushes at the frontiers of the accepted doctor-patient relationship, occasionally crashing through them to the displeasure of his long-suffering wife. Their hypochondriac son Dennis (or is it Trevor? Arthur seems entirely unsure) has just three months to live, and is suffering from Brett’s Palsy, a rare and incurable disease complicated by a nasty case of lockjaw. His tragic plight attracts the attentions of Felicity Rumpers, only daughter of one Lady Rumpers, recently widowed and about to be confronted by her own less than pristine past. Then there’s Arthur’s sister Connie, whose ambition in life is to achieve a big bust, and who is emphatically not a spinster, just unmarried. Besides, there’s always Canon Throbbing, the local vicar, ever ardent in his 10-year pursuit of Connie and that’s before she orders a pneumatic breast-enhancing appliance. Still, at least one day his attentions may be rewarded – and it will all make a cracking piece on Anglican Sexuality for the ‘Church Times’As assignations go awry, wires get well and truly crossed and the pneumatic breastrun amok, chaos reigns in Hove.
- March 2003
Think sparkling; think shimmering; think splendour, and we're in the world of the burlesque dancer....welcome to Gypsy! Mama Rose, the eternal stage mother, is determined to achieve her daughters the fame she never managed. She abandons her home to push her daughters to live the lives of roaming vaudeville performers, driving them forward to further and greater fame and acclaim. But when Herbie, their agent, mistakenly books them into a strip joint, the fame one daughter achieves goes far beyond Rose's original intentions... Gypsy is based on the memoirs of the burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, and provides a fascinating cocktail of glitz, dance, surprise and intimacy that will make the Amateur Dramatic Club's Lent Term Musical a treat to behold. Featuring songs such as 'You Gotta Get a Gimmick', 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Everything's Coming Up Roses', Gypsy promises to dazzle and stun. Following on from the hugely successful Cabaret, 42nd Street, and Copacabana, once again, welcome to the world of showbiz and glamour!
- February–March 2003
Salome is one of Wilde’s most neglected plays; a masterpiece of language and a poetic journey that is rich in imagery. It presents us with a focal point of the deep rooted desire of humans. The play’evocative language seduces the audience, plays with them and ultimately raisetheir repressed desires as the characters on stage bring forth their own. Only in mirrors is it well to look, for mirrors do but show us masks" We use masks, not to hide behind, but rather to show the real character we, as humans, are afraid to portray.
- February 2003
The ADC brings you an evening of extracts from a style of theatrical performance which truly has something for everyone. Featuring a sneak preview of the Lent Term Musical, Gypsy, this promises to be a night of great Musical Theatre.
- February 2003
What if four children had been locked away in darkness and complete isolatiosince birth? What if, tonight, they were to be released? How would bodies and minds reared in darkness respond to the first words, thfirst lies, the first kisses?What if you got to watch? This disturbingly comic play strips away the mask of society to expose the conflict between nature and nurture in an uncensored and fantastically brash style for an hour of schizophrenic brilliance.
- February 2003
Stoppard’s masterpiece, Arcadia, is set in a large country house, anmoves between 1809 and the present day. Characters discuss Byron, love, thhistory of gardens, even chance theory in relation to grouse. The play is humorouand exuberant, an intellectual roller-coaster, ‘a drama of ideas’ that takes you captive from the first joke, and puts you down exhilarated and moved. It raises questions about whether we should live according to our heart or head, how history realties to the present, how people relate to each other, how scientifically can love (‘the attraction that Newton left out’be understood. Join us for an evening of flamboyant theatricality that promises to combine the wit of Wilde, the excitement of a literary whodunit and a heartfelt ache for time that can never be regained. A brilliant, brilliant play" Sunday Times "A masterpiece" DailTelegraph
- February 2003
What happens when you take an answer-phone message, a neurotic sister with a therapist and her Italian boyfriend from Swindon; mixed with the new office boss, a Chinese take-away, a dusting of old friends, and a can opener? Dinner at Marguerite's! An occasion to expect the unexpected and laugh heartily at the absurd but cherished intricacies of everyday life. A sparkling brand new piece of comedy writing, capturing an evening of gossip, revelations and delightfully witty banter between friends, washed down with fine red wine and tinned tomato soup. What's left to say, except "Bon Appetit"!
- February 2003
A blind man who sees only his garden, his power enduring even when his healtand seniority are lost. A son’s development profoundly affected by his fatherhis expectations, limitations and intractability. The figure of the patriarcdominates A Voyage Round My Father as it explores the emotional tensions of a complex family relationship, set against the backdrop of the traumatic first half of the twentieth century. Emotion is intense as each character attempts to deal with their inability to show love: so much remains unsaid. The acutely observed humour, intensely human characters and flawless dialogue make this play both amusing and profoundly moving. Original, often funny, but always deeply thought provoking; this challenging and compelling play is an insight into a world of shades of grey we can all relate to, but have probably never known how to express.
- January 2003
The ADC continues with its One Night Stands this term; tasters of different styles of theatre and themed selections of extracts. Ireland has been the source and inspiration of some of the best drama the world has ever seen. This evening, we take a journey over the sea to glimpse a rich literary culture at its dramatic best.
- December 2002
In an age in which Gods are anything but divine, and goat-men and centaurs roam the earth, Greece gets saucy, as music, dance and puns as ancient as mythology itself pour out of every urn. Philosophers, muses, furies and oracles take centre stage, as unlikely heroes Bacchus and Venus find themselves in a hair-raising, hilarious and myth-defying adventure to preserve the classical world from a fate worse than Oedipus. Funny, moving and downright silly, this year’s ADC/Footlight’s Pantomime ia completely original, wry take on ancient Greece, which promises to be hugfun for all ages. Beware of Greeks singing songs.
- November 2002
You’ve seen Victoria Wood’s stand-up shows, or maybe her TV sit-coms, but have you ever seen the famous comedienne’hilarious, but rarely performed stage play, Good Fun? Good Fun is just that, providing an enormously amusing evening of comedy theatrto suit all tastes. The fast-moving script, brilliant characterization anside-splitting story line will provide this year’s intake of comic talent thopportunity to show how good they really are.
- November 2002
The year is 1940 and the place London. However, this is not a London at war, but a London swarming with Nazi troops and controlled from Germany by Hitler. In this fascinating, rarely staged play Coward examines the chilling idea of what England might have become had the tide turned against the Allies in the Battle of Britain. This is a script which will both challenge and inspire the Freshers to produce what will undoubtedly be a thought-provoking and incredible evening of theatre.
- November 2002
BLOOD. DESIRE. REVENGE. Tragedy fuels tragedy when Tereus rapes his wife's sister, Philomele. Erotic, elegant, violent and magical: Timberlake Wertenbaker stunningly adapts this powerful Greek myth to create a compelling and thought-provoking drama. Amidst the intimacy of the Octagon, let sixteen actors guide you amongst acrobatics, masked plays and frenzied Bacchic rites.
- November 2002
Where is the line drawn between war and murder? This is the question facing Radajan Burivic, a Serbian soldier trapped in a recurring nightmare from which he cannot wake up. Plagued by figures from his past, he refuses to take responsibility for his part in horrific acts of ethnic cleansing, and is forced to re-live the massacre at Srebrenica in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. A commanding piece of new writing from Cambridge student Christopher Bull which forces its audience to try and understand those who commit such acts of barbarity.
- November 2002
Come and support the Freshers as they make their first footing on the ADC Stage. A variety of extracts chosen by those involved, and including sneak previews from this year's Freshers' Shows. For one night only!
- November 2002
An award-winning television series, Talking Heads looks wryly at the everyday quirks of human life. Now the Amateur Dramatic Club brings three of the best of these monologues to the Corpus Christi Playroom. Bed Among the LentilsSusan is the wife of the vicar. And an alcoholic. Plagued by her husband's female 'fan club' and the pettiness of the church flower arrangers, she finds solace in the arms of an Indian grocer. Her Big ChanceLesley is an actress. A serious one. So when she has the opportunity to star in a film she grabs it with both hands. Oblivious to the true nature of her starring role, her insistence on her 'professionalism' is touchingly comic. A Chip in the SugarGraham lives with his elderly mother. Utterly dependent on their relationship he is bitterly jealous when she begins a friendship with another man, and their orderly, well-structured life is threatened. NB: These performances replace David Hare's The Blue Room as previously advertised.
- November 2002
Simple: an afternoon break on the usual bench (well it's the weather for it) and a good book. A stranger who forces eye contact. Questions that make you need to loosen your collar. Stories that make you forget where you are and how to get home. A set of pornographic playing cards, some empty photo frames, a dog and a trip to the Zoo. As the park empties and New York goes home, Peter falls under Jerry's hypnotic power. His is a world where televisions murmur empty messages from above to people lost in the lodging houses of New York. Jerry no longer knows how to pray.
