- April–May 2015
Did he fall? Or was he pushed? Only one man can cut through massive bureaucratic duplicity and reveal what happened to the suspected anarchist who died at the bottom of a fourth-floor police station window.
In a world of commonplace deception and organised corruption, he stands as a bastion of honour and justice. He also happens to be a notorious liar, quick-change con artist, and certified maniac.
Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo’s explosive political farce, inspired by a true story, in a version by Simon Nye ("Men Behaving Badly"), brought to life in a riotous new production.
Come and witness a masterpiece in comic absurdity, a feat of acid wit and farcical bravado, and see for yourself whether there is any method in the madness.
- March 2015
“How do you document real life, when real life’s getting more like fiction every day?”
Coming to the ADC Theatre this March, “Rent" is the smash-hit rock musical which follows the lives of people struggling to live as artists in New York City.
Unafraid to be honest in its portrayal of the hardships that face people, Rent does not shy away from subjects of controversy: alongside the struggling film maker, an angry performance artist and issues of sexuality and depression we are faced with those living with AIDS, addiction and sordid pasts that threaten their current happiness.
Yet, with its contagious energy and thirst for life, Rent promises to bring the audience to its feet with high tempo numbers such as "La Vie Boheme" and “Rent” as well as familiar favourites such as "Seasons of Love"
The biggest, coolest and most heart-wrenching show of the season, make sure you don’t miss out on Rent!
“Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?”
- February 2015
'Dreaming with Dalí' is an hour long surrealist sketch and monologue based comedy play which tells the story of Salvador Dalí's quixotic journey into his own subconscious mind to discover the greatest surrealist object there has likely ever been. It provides the opportunity to experience for the first time what it would be like to dream as though you were inside the weirdest mind of the past hundred years and promises to be very odd indeed.
- February 2015
“Oh how exciting! This’ll be something to tell the grandkids!”
Norman and Rita Sterling are an elderly couple enjoying their golden years in Italy, however after meeting a mysterious stranger on a train they are thrown into the hilarious world of crime and espionage.
Join the Sterlings as they bumble through the shady streets, bustling nightclubs and smoky restaurants of Italy with the mafia hot on their tail.
This hilarious comedy tips its fedora to the stylish art of film noir and is filled to the brim with femme fatales, deadly assassins and vicious gangsters.
With stunning visuals, tense action sequences, side-splitting slapstick and a guest appearance from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, this raucous spoof will have your lungs explode with laughter!
- February 2015
As the New York Times put it, 'Pravda is an epic comedy - part The Front Page, part Arturo Ui - in which a press baron resembling Rupert Murdoch...does battle with over 30 characters as he conquers Fleet Street journalism and, by implication, liberal England's soul'. As Punch put it Pravda is also 'Savagely bitchy and often wildly funny'.
Ridiculous and hilarious, but powered by a central figure of reptilian evilness, Pravda is a comedic drama based in the newspaper print rooms of the 1980s. As a business man starts to treat the world of journalism like he does his dodgy business deals, he encounters moral resistance from a few individuals who seek to take him down. As careers rise and fall and revenge plots are created, the characters are lead into the age old conflict between ethical underdogs and corrupt powerhouses.
"'we' don't publish corrections...a newspaper isn't just a scrap of paper, it's something that people feel they have to trust. And if they can't trust it, why should they read it? A thing is true or it isn't. So by definition, what is printed must be true - otherwise why print it? And if we apologise and correct, how can the readers know what is true and what is not?"
- January 2015
“If you knew God, Doctor, you would know about the Devil. I only know he was my little Alan, and then the Devil came.”
Alan Strang is a nice boy. His family love him. He has nice eyes. Then one night he blinds six horses with a metal spike.
For Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist charged with treating him, what starts as a routine case quickly descends into a dark history of parental oppression and religious fanaticism. From violent Biblical imagery to twisted sexuality and paganistic ritual, Dysart finds himself immersed in events which threaten to shatter his own faith in reason and sanity.
Branded as one of the most controversial plays of the twentieth century, Equus uses an act of inexplicable violence to explore the dark and primal side of humanity, culminating in a finale which has gone down as one of the greatest – and most disturbing – in modern theatre
- January 2015
It’s been weeks and the estate bombings still haven’t ceased. Meanwhile Gary’s school project on Osama Bin Laden is creating waves among the locals. An alleged pedo, a violent thug and his sister take matters into their own hands, to protect the safety and honour of their estate.
Four characters try to understand their feelings of self-hatred and the futility of life. Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Matilda the Musical) shows our capacity to detect a fault with ourselves or the world around us. Then he shows what happens when we blame that on someone else.
Osama The Hero is a brave masterpiece of contemporary theatre. It charts the course of a fragmented reality, where disparate elements coalesce violently for one central act, before exploding again into ambiguity. It is a play about the necessity and danger of making truth. And watching it, you are forced to construct your own.
- December 2014
Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24 Hour Plays have appeared all over the world, pushing theatrical talent to its limit and creating unforgettable performances.
What will happen when Cambridge is asked to create 5 new plays in just 24 hours in front of a panel of judges? The clock is ticking.
- November 2014
Emperor Wilf loves clothes. No, he REALLY loves clothes. But why? Maybe it’s because he wants to impress his newly-inherited kingdom. Or perhaps it’s to do with the town newspaper, the Looking Glass, run by the shady reindeer-human Rudolph Murder, who has been spreading snide rumours about the Emperor. Perhaps he just has a passion for fashion. Whatever the reason, the Yuletide Parade is fast approaching, and unless he finds the perfect outfit, something pretty bad is going to happen. Something really bad. We know what it is - we’re just being coy. So thank goodness he’s spotted an advert in the paper for a new, sparkly, confidence-boosting suit that’s bound to be the talk of the town… Come on down to the ADC this Christmas to catch a glimpse of Wilf’s... tribulations.
Featuring a brand-spanking new score, bare jokes, the cream of Cambridge acting talent, and written by 3 members of the Footlights, this year’s CUADC/Footlights Pantomime is seam-ingly flawless - don’t get your knickers in a twist, book your tickets now!
- November 2014
'Who's spoiling life, me, us them or God?'
The residents of Road are at the mercy of their country. A state-of-the-nation drama, presenting the underclass of the North. Fighting to escape the endless circle and inevitability of class and regional oppression, the people of Road are merely surviving.
Prepare to be both uplifted and weighed down. Let Scullery walk you down Road where you will come face to face not only with those who live there, but with your own prejudices, fears and ambitions for a better future.
- November 2014
From homemade fireworks to dubious ballet, everything that can go wrong does at the Sycamore household. But when their youngest daughter brings her fiancé and his buttoned-up parents over for dinner, that's when the real fireworks start to fly.
Join Cambridge's newest acting talent as they tell the story of the Sycamore household, at times heart-warming, at times eccentric, and at times just plain mad!
- November 2014
"Hell is other people."
Three damned souls are trapped for eternity in a small Second Empire drawing room where the lights are always on and no one can sleep.
Jean Paul-Satre’s existential classic weaves a blackly comic triangle of desire, spite and violence as the three inhabitants wrestle with each other and with themselves. Each have their own secrets to tell, each have their own lies to expose. The pressure-cooker spirals into a maelstrom of manipulation, mockery, and malice.
- November 2014
‘Go on! How’s it gonna be? “We gonna get a little place . . .”’
George and Lennie have a dream. It is a dream of freedom. After finding work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, that dream seems almost within reach for these two migrant farmhands. But, on a suffocating summer evening, that dream falls quickly and traumatically from their grasp.
John Steinbeck’s modern classic is brought to the stage in an adaptation that expresses the immense value of hope and trust. This visually striking production promises a timeless tale of love, loyalty and determination, seething above a brooding score. This is a tale of hope and human resolve at their most strained.
- October 2014
In amongst slates of cold metal, A. sits at their desk shuttling data files to and fro. But, in a moment of clumsiness, a cascade of drives fall and upset the delicate balance of the mess and unearths a single photograph. Who is that? Where's that come from? What does that go with? 'Clutter' is a new play that looks at information, memory, and identity. There might be yoga.
- October–November 2014
"It's only history if you steal something really large - like a country, then it's history". In 1950's west-central Johannesburg, artists, activists and illegal bars make up the freehold township of Sophiatown, the beating heart of culture in apartheid South Africa. Home to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Lewis Nkosi and Mariam Makeba, when the Government decides to racially and geographically segregate the population, Sophiatown finds its very existence threatened. Enter the politically charged household of local shebeen owner Mamariti; home to Jewish tenant Ruth Golden, political journalist Jakes, local gangster Mingus, his truanting teenage-sister Lulu, socialite girlfriend Princess, shoe-loving henchman Charlie and local politician-cum-mystic Fafhee and you have an explosive cast of diverse characters battling for recognition amongst class warfare, racism and political rebellion. An evocative piece of political-musical theatre, Sophiatown is a history lesson that won't be easily forgotten.
- October 2014
"Our city drowns in a tidal wave of disease and death that shows no mercy..."
Thebes is cursed.
In his luxurious palace, King Oedipus fights against fate to determine the reason for this punishment by the gods. However, he uncovers dark, disturbing truths unlike anything he could have imagined. Years later, his daughter Antigone battles for justice against her autocratic Uncle Creon, becoming a revolutionary in a city that has descended into poverty and chaos.
The terrible fate of Oedipus, Antigone and their family unfolds in an evocative new production based on Sophocles' masterpiece. ‘Oedipus and Antigone’ is an unforgettable epic tragedy which follows a proud father and brave daughter battling the gods for survival. This ancient story echoes down the centuries and asks us to consider the role destiny plays in all our lives.
- August 2014
A century after the events it depicts, 'And The Horse You Rode In On' (* The Tab; Varsity; **** TCS) is an honest and poignant depiction of the lives of ten men in the trenches, fighting against the cold, the enemy and one another as they await the final call to charge. Original and powerful, 'And The Horse You Rode In On' is a new and stunning war-time drama marking the loves, lives and losses of the men on both sides of the most senseless conflict in human history.
- August 2014
Sue Townsend's play sees three agoraphobic women endure a jumble sale organised by their social workers in an attempt to drag them, kicking and screaming, into the open. High jinks ensue as Fliss, the lefty trainee and Gwenda, the 'ex' agoraphobic volunteer get the 'girls' to face the public.
The girls are obsessively hygienic Bell Bell, ex variety songstress Katrina and the vulgar Margaret whose 'been in' longer than either of the others. The origins of their fears are explained as the jumble sale takes its toll in Sue Townsend's 'amusing yet uncomfortable and occasionally shocking slice of Eighties’ life'.
'As a study of agoraphobia, Bazaar and Rummage...is written with great verve, style and wit' (Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman)
- July–August 2014
After a successful run with HATS (9/10, TCS), CUADC is now taking God on Trial to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014.
"God on Trial is an outstanding production which will challenge your beliefs and linger in the mind long after you’ve left the auditorium." (9/10, TCS)
"Captivating" - Varsity
How could it happen?
Doesn't God hear our agony?
During World War 2 in Auschwitz Concentration Camp a group of male prisoners waiting to discover their fate of either hard labour or death decide to put God on Trial. The charge is that God has broken his covenant he made with the Jewish people by allowing the Nazis to commit Genocide. With the knowledge that their death is almost certainly imminent, the prisoners put forward their arguments, raising fundamental questions concerning religion, morality and the purpose of human existence. The journey to a verdict leads us through the Jewish faith and the personal experiences of the prisoners. Preconceptions are consistently challenged by each argument presented. This is a play where reason and emotion collide in an atmosphere of desperation.
God on Trial written by Frank Cottrell Boyce was originally aired on television and has now been adapted to the stage. This is an intense, dramatic play that promises to be a challenging and powerful piece of theatre.
Reviews for God on Trial when aired:
"The nature and existence of God, the nature and necessity of faith, the role humans occupy in the universe and, most important, how to reconcile the idea of a loving deity with the ongoing tragedy of war and genocide. They are big topics addressed with a striking lack of sentimentality, quite a feat considering the setting. You will weep, but you will also think." Los Angeles Times
"It asks a profound and relevant question: how could a benign and loving God allow the Holocaust to happen?" Telegraph
"Surely the most beautiful thing ever written" The Guardian
- May 2014
- April–May 2014
“I can see him. With vineleaves in his hair.” Hedda Gabler is bored, and that's dangerous. Stuck with her dull, dependable husband in her stifling new mansion, she wants a destiny to control – if not her own, then someone else's. And an old friend re-enters her life. In him, Hedda sees potential for something great and beautiful. A window into a world that cannot be hers. How far will she go in her pursuit of power? Hedda Gabler is a psychological masterpiece that gnaws at the very heart of tragedy.
For more information, email jh807
- March 2014
‘Careful the tale you tell, that is the spell’.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning masterpiece warns us to be careful what we wish for, and questions what comes after ‘happily ever after’, bringing new life to the Grimm Brother’s most famous fairytales.
A lesson on parenting, growing up, and morality, ‘Into the Woods’ is a dark and magical journey into the unknown ‘where witches, ghosts and wolves appear’. With a captivating score and dazzling illusions, this show is at once heart-warmingly funny, devastatingly tragic, and inspiringly hopeful, teaching that ‘nice is different than good’.
- March 2014
A father and son, trapped in a maze of their own making. A bullish monster. A barren beach. An inventor and his hopes. An apprentice and his folly. A striking piece of physical theatre, thing with feathers promises to surprise, delight, move and inspire.
- February 2014
“They say you changed the whole sky and everything under it, Sergei Pavlovich. What does that mean?”
Rona Munro’s 2011 play, originally performed by the RSC, charts the fascinating life and largely untold story of Chief Designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov, who in spearheading the Soviet space programme, set humanity on a course to the stars. Munro’s play is one about personal endeavour in the face of personal and political strife, and ultimately tells a human story of success, enthusiasm and defeat. Although Yuri Gagarin was the first human being to ever look back on the Earth, Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov was the man that put him there.
- January–February 2014
‘A woman who expends her energy exercising the brain does so at the expense of her vital organs.’
It is 1896 at Girton College, Cambridge, and Elizabeth Welsh is preparing for battle.
Girton is the first college in Britain to admit women. The girls there have risked everything to go to University. They study ferociously. They match their male peers grade for grade. And they leave empty handed.
While the men graduate and are awarded their degrees, the girls gain only the stigma of being a ‘blue stocking’- an unnatural, educated woman. They are unqualified and, worse, unfit for marriage.
Principal Elizabeth Welsh is determined to win the girls the right to graduate, whatever the cost.
CUADC presents Blue Stockings in its first University Production following a critically acclaimed debut at the Globe just four months ago.
This Lent, the blue stockings return to Cambridge to fight for their right to an education.
'The only thing a woman can own is knowledge... We must build our Trojan horse and infiltrate from the inside.'
- January 2014
A chance meeting in a service station. A dance-off in an arcade. A private escort with a box cutter. A new dark comedy.
Adam and Harold, two strangers, meet at a Welcome Break. As time ticks away the pair sip coffee, discuss fast food, and break the ice.
And Adam realises two things. The first is that Harold is not the private escort he claims to be. The second is that he's sure he's met Harold before. When the pair step outside and Harold pulls a boxcutter, Adam's past begins to catch up with him.
"Ok, finish your nuggets, I'll get this blood off my hands, then it's hometime."
- December 2013
It's back. Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24hr Plays have appeared all over the world, pushing theatrical talent to its limit and creating unforgettable performances.
What will happen when Cambridge is asked to create 5 new plays in just 24 hours to be performed in front an industry judge? The clock is ticking...
- November 2013
- November 2013
When Odysseus finally came home, after years at sea, he ruthlessly hanged twelve innocent maids. Whilst this was a mere footnote in Homer's original story, Margaret Atwood has given these women a voice, in her dark yet witty play: 'The Penelopiad'.
Presented by this year's freshest dramatic talent, in a challenging physical theatre adaptation - inspired by Frantic Assembly, see one of the world's most famous myths retold through Atwood's "cunning replotting and smart updating" (Mary Beard).
- November 2013
A village fete gone disastrously and farcically wrong. A mother trapped in baby talk. A blunderingly failed attempt at seduction. Five short plays; five instantly recognisable social encounters; five snapshots of tragically lonely and obsessed characters which will leave you “wondering whether you should be laughing or crying” (The Stage).
Cambridge’s newest acting and backstage talent presents five interlinked one act plays from one of the most successful and prolific modern playwrights, each offering a poignantly funny snapshot of human eccentricity and a cry for companionship.
"Buoyant ... sad, sharp and funny." - London Guardian
- November 2013
“I wanna climb back inside my mum. What’s wrong with that?”
The enduring story of Oedipus, the man who murdered his father and slept with his mother, is hurled from classical Greece into the “unimaginable wastelands” of present-day north London, as full of riots, filth and decay as ancient Thebes.
The twentieth century’s revolutionary master of stylised physical theatre, Steven Berkoff offers a searing and visceral reinterpretation of Sophocles’ enduring classic.
Don’t miss this intimate showcase of Cambridge’s newest dramatic talent.
“The bravest, most exciting and moving Greek tragedy in years” (The Sunday Times)
- October 2013
Sex, drugs and trance music. That’d be village gala day. Gala queen Phaedra is missing. Anarchist, waster and ex-daredevil motorcyclist Johnny “Rooster” Byron, infamous for his anti-social raves drawing the local ne’er-do-well youths, is suspected by Phaedra’s stepfather Troy of involvement. To add to Rooster’s problems, the council is sending a riot squad to evict him from his illegally parked mobile home in a wood next to the new estate. But Rooster is in good spirits. Seen by many as a menace to society, he provides safety for those from broken homes and the unconventional. He enthrals with stories of ancient myth and forest spirits. He may even be one. He is also an absentee father, has violent episodes and likes young girls. Crafted with deep intelligence and insight, fast, funny and sexy, see the “instant classic,” a vision of contemporary England that galvanized critics from London to New York.
This will be one of the first major performances of the work since it finished in the West End and Broadway.
- October 2013
Think Charm. Think Polish. Think Renaissance Man.
The tactless and ambitious headmaster of Cutler's Grammar School has high hopes for his latest Oxbridge applicants. Supply teacher Irwin is to teach the boys some style in the hopes of climbing the league tables by gaining places for the eight History Boys.
Hector, their enigmatic "General Studies" teacher, seeks to prepare them for more than an entrance exam - life. Meanwhile he cannot refrain from getting too close to the boys he guides.
"Pass it on, boys. That's the game I wanted you to learn. Pass it on"
CUADC brings you Alan Bennett's multi-award winning masterpiece for the first time on the ADC stage. Hilarious and moving, The History Boys forces us to ask questions about education, truth, history and whether Oxbridge really is that important.
- July–August 2013
Looking for a show? So are they.
"So you’re calling this the profession of madmen, then? We’re all crazy?"
Pirandello's modern masterpiece is hurtled into the present day in this thrilling, visceral new adaptation by CUADC. When a rehearsal is interrupted by six characters swarming the stage, demanding that their tale be put on, what can a director do? He's got a slot booked on one of the Mile stages and there's flyering to be done.
When he eventually agrees, however, the limits of reality and imagination begin to blur as the characters are driven towards tragedy.
Come along if you have the time - after all, it's only a show.
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR returns to Cambridge after an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013.
The Characters are coming back.
"an outstanding production... never has Edinburgh seemed more metatheatrical" ★★★★ PLAYS INTERNATIONAL
- July–August 2013
The two greatest casinos in Las Vegas are at war. Agamemnon, jailed for ten years on charges of tax evasion, is about to end the feud with a devastating blow: the walls of Troy will fall. But when the dust settles and the king comes home, his triumphal return feels wrong. Clytemnestra is obsessed with a videotape, Elektra lives in virtual reality, and Orestes hasn't been seen in years. Under the brightest lights of the Strip a sickening crime, a bloodline's collapse and the rise of avengers mortal and divine will bring the House of Atreus to its knees.
In a new adaptation, Aeschylus' trilogy is updated and radically represented. Through innovative use of audio and video media this show takes a new approach to the spectacular nature of tragedy. Revenge has never looked so good.
After a spectacular run at the ADC Theatre, Oresteia is going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013.
- May 2013
“Find another genius, I can’t be one or become one. I can’t even tell how I’ll begin.”
With less than a week before the cameras roll on his new film, Guido Contini searches wildly for inspiration. Without a script and with his personal life in tatters, Rome’s most celebrated film director finds himself faced with what appears to be the ruin of his career, his marriage, and his sanity.
Set against the exquisite backdrop of Rome’s chic sixties, “Nine” explores one man’s struggle to establish a sense of his own identity through his art. Winning the Drama Desk Award for Most Outstanding Musical and the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, this sumptuous combination of naturalism, expressionism and film will seduce you into considering your own assumptions about art, identity, and romance.
