- May 2009
Join Orlando and Rosalind, their sidekicks and all, as they break through the black and white disillusionment of the urban sprawl and find themselves bathed in the magic of the Shakespeare's most stunning of surroundings. In the darkest of the depths of the Forest of Ardennes, infatuation is inescapable and hilarity is sprinkled, doused and poured. The ADC is delighted to present "As You Like It" as its Easter 2009 Headline show and we promise you some of the very best comedy, and most spectacular of images, Cambridge's most innovative venue has ever seen.
Orlando is lost in a world without leaders. The good ones have vanished and the bad ones have taken their place. He needs to become the man to lead the new youth onwards and upwards and out of this disillusioned state, but there’s a problem, his complete and unqualified adolescent inadequacies.
Rosalind is lost in a world without leaders. The old ones have abandoned her and the young ones are little more than causeless rebels. She needs to escape her monotonous life and become the woman to lead her sex into a new freedom that can only be made possible through love, but there’s a problem, a complete and absolute lack of men.
Enter Ardennes.
The only true solution to oppression is love and laughter, and the club’s headline Easter term spectacle will overflow with both. Sure to boast Cambridge’s finest acting and comic talent as well as an aesthetic designed to melt your eyes, As You Like It is going to be huge. Watch this space.
- April–May 2009
"You tell me what’s possible and not possible any more. I wouldn’t be surprised if you opened your mouth to answer and a kestrel flew out of it. We’re just worms, all pumped up with God knows what, like white lab rats shut in a box." A Trilogy of darkly comic plays: A comedic mime on the futility of the human condition. 'The Box', a piece of new writing about four strangers trapped in a room.'Conservatory' by Enda Walsh, a short play about a man who is convinced by his friends to kill himself at his own birthday party. Entangled by the themes of language, loneliness and fear of the unknown, these three acts will make for an evening of intrigue, unease and amusement.
Devised with the aid of 'Complicite' theatre company, this is the perfect project for fans of the darkly comic and the absurd - we are looking for an actor who is skilled at mime, those who enjoy improv, and any actors who are looking to workshop a script and have some fun.
- March 2009
- March 2009
‘Guys and Dolls’ tells the story of a group of small-time gamblers and the ladies in their lives. Nathan Detroit bets his pal, Sky Masterson, that he can’t make the next lady he sees fall in love with him; and when the next ‘doll’ happens to be the prim and proper neighbourhood missionary, Sarah Brown, the stage is set for an evening of high-spirited entertainment.
www.guysanddolls.org.uk
- March 2009
"Wherever it was, whatever it was, I'd come with you...to the end, I'd follow you"
As the detritus of a past world stagnates, witness the creation of an optimistic but hollow fantasy of a world that could have been, and could be...
The old man and woman swamped in memories of the past sit on a Secluded island, isolated from the harsh reality of the post-apocalyptic world around them. They wait for The Orator to announce the Old man's plans for a future world, and as the audience amass we wait to hear what The Orator has to say.
An elegy for the past and a plea for a brighter future, The Chairs is a tragic farce that conflates the whimsical with an underlying despondency. That explores the endurance of relationships when faced with the realities of life.A fusion of music, movement and experimental set design, The Chairs promises to be a riveting theatrical event.
- March 2009
Churchill’s new ten-minute play, which has just finished its run at the royal court, is in Cambridge this week. Seven scenes of family life from recent Jewish and Israeli history create a powerful and human drama. PS: it’s free.
- February 2009
'Richard II' depicts the life and death of the final undisputed king of England, the man whose deposition was to cause some of England's bloodiest and deadliest civil battles. The play explores the pressures of rule, the greed of those in power, the nature of tyranny, the human responses to injustice, and most controversially attempts at the moral justification of acts of treason and regicide.
The play contains some of Shakespeare's most evocative and brilliant language, placed alongside many of the most insightful political observations in the history of drama. Combined with a broad and fascinating array of characters, 'Richard II' is a fast-paced and gripping beginning to Shakespeare's History cycle.
- February 2009
Joe Richards' glorious piss-take of 1930's girls' boarding school adventure stories has been described as “gleefully perverse” by the Financial Times and “blissful” by The Observer. This exuberant, innuendo-filled comic extravaganza incorporates many familiar plot devices of the genre - a thwarted schoolgirl crush on the new Biology Mistress, a school thief, an ostracised foreigner, a midnight feast and a girls' cricket team - all culminating in a dénouement of ludicrously improbable coincidences.
- February 2009
Three Sisters is the story of the Prozorov family and those around them. Olga, Masha and Irina want to go to Moscow. But all they do is talk about it. Andrei, their brother, wants to go to Moscow too but doesn't want to talk about it. He'd rather play the violin. They live together in a small provincial town with only the madcap, misfit officers of their late father's army battalion for comfort and company. Vershinin is the new battery commander. He doesn't want to go to Moscow. He wants Masha. But Masha's married to Kulygin, who teaches at the school. Tuzenbach and Solyony want Irina. But Irina doesn't know what she wants. Nobody wants Olga. And all Olga wants is to be wanted. But all she does is talk about it. Chebutykin wants to believe his life has been worth something. But all he does it talk about it. Andrei and Natasha are ok because at least they want each other. Maybe. Everyone knows a change is coming, but everyone wants that change to be now. But all they do is talk about it. Three Sisters is a play about people who want things. But all they do is talk about it. It is a play about the subtle and complex emotional shifts amongst a subtle and complex group of people. The characters are as intelligent and stupid, as ridiculous and profound, as comic and as tragic, as real people are.
- February 2009
WHY DO YOU CALL ME ANYTHING? I’VE ONLY JUST BEEN BORN.
Le Fil is a sharp sensory experience, taking inspiration mainly from the album of the same name by French singer Camille, which forms a continuous soundtrack to the spectacle. Shameless and aimless characters follow a thread through falls and fires, heartbreaks and namesakes, pulling the audience with them, knotting, tangling and tying together a series of sequences, serious and squeaky; bright and bleak. Scrambling for words, stories explode and expire under the fearless and furious February sky, as actors and spectators embark on an adventure that might never end, might end up nowhere, or might never even begin…
Un,
Deux,
Trois,
- December 2008
'You were marvellous tonight, no I really mean super well done!'
A budding actor looks for praise on his first performance, whilst a low budget director complains at the lack of money he is offered to 'put on artistic failures'. One slightly overweight producer incessantly hits on a beautiful young actress, whereas Steve, sitting at a table in the corner, perpetually questions his suitability to the role of Macbeth.
Set in a suave London restaurant, Berkoff's fast-moving comedy depicts a world in which one's reputation and social standing is fundamental for success. As we observe how the characters publically compliment and privately criticise one another, we begin to realise just how superficial the theatrical world can be. Through his presentation of amusing caricatures and hilarious conversations, Berkoff manages to portray a unique critique on theatre, which is sure to cause you to think twice on how you respond to this production.
- November 2008
The 2008 pantomime is here, and it’s going to be an absolute legend.
Join Theseus on his quest to the mystical kingdom of Crete to hunt the bull-man minotaur that romps and chomps beneath the island. Boo at the tyrannical King Minos as he stops his daughter going to Falaraki. Cheer as Daedalus and Icarus attempt flight. Laugh all night with Nanna the horse-dog. But whatever you do, don’t get lost in the labyrinth!
The ADC/ Footlights pantomime is the biggest show in the theatrical calendar. This year it boasts jokes by Tom Evans and tunes by Léon Charles. And with Cambridge’s funniest comic actors playing your pantomime favourites, including Manson the Snake Priestess and Little Nav, Theseus and the Minotaur promises to be a-maze-ing.
Pleasantly heart-warming, a little bit scary and very, very funny- this is one for all the family and then some. Book now to avoid disappointment.
- November 2008
ADC Freshers' Show
'It's their bed, and they can lie on it.'
When Malcolm and Kate throw a house-warming party, everything seems to go wrong.
Couples start swapping partners, a blazing row is going on upstairs, and Nick is bed-bound due to an unfortunate DIY accident. When Susannah finds Trevor kissing an old flame, chaos ensues and reconciliation seems impossible.
Meanwhile, Delia and Ernest’s’ wedding anniversary is interrupted by a few surprises, also disturbing their special bedtime treat... a large box of pilchards.
As the classic farce of four marriages unfolds, Alan Ayckbourn's fast-paced comedy allows a glimpse into the private lives of three very different bedrooms, as the couples quarrel, kiss, cry and, ultimately, are kept up all night.
- November 2008
ADC Freshers' Show
"Have you ever seen a woman's body?"
Melchior Gabor and Moritz Steifel are, like all sixty-seven children in their class, bogged down with homework in the knowledge that, at the end of the year, seven boys will have to fail. But Melchior and Moritz also have other things on their mind
When Melchior sends Moritz a ‘twenty-page document entitled “Sexual Reproduction”, embellished throughout with almost life-size drawings illustrating the most revolting obscenities', life for the children changes forever. In a repressive society where parents shield their children from the outside world, the results are disastrous, shocking and, ultimately, tragic.
Censored for eighty years and controversial even today, Wedekind's Spring Awakening is a tale of sexuality, shame and the abuse of power.
- November 2008
Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley, The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter? All, all are sleeping on the hill.
Inspired by Edgar Lee Masters’, Spoon River Anthology , a series of punchy and explosive tales, which shatter the veneer of respectability that lies behind the picket fence of small town America. The tales expose a mêlée of ghoulish characters that hold forth from the grave with their stories of illicit love affairs, betrayed confidences and small minded hypocrisy.
Suitcase Cabaret is an excitingly original project, a devised piece that fuses the pertinent tales of Master’s, with the raw energy of a cabaret, to produce a distinctive theatrical event. An evening of glamour, music and the absurd with live music from the Staircase Band and a compelling ensemble of actors.
Ladies and Gentlemen, witness for yourself this unique touring spectacle!
- November 2008
On an evening just like any other, Raphaella has her entire life summed up on the evidence of the shoes she wears.
On an evening just like any other, Raphaella is made to question everything she thought she was by the struggling artist sitting across the room from her.
Questions become obsessions as Raphaella tries desperately to discover who this man sees when he paints her, to understand the image he has of her. In a relationship based on deception and manipulation, Raphaella is forced to decide how far she is willing to go in her search for self-discovery, whether she is prepared even to turn herself into another person to be sure of her own identity.
Empty Portrait, a psychologically captivating piece of new writing by Cambridge student Claire Wells, evokes the power of art to raise questions about our own sense of being, as well as about the power and brutality of human nature.
- November 2008
The Amateur Dramatic Club presents:
PETER PAN by J.M.Barrie
4th-8th November 2008, 7:45pm
6th November, 1pm
8th November, 2:30pm
ADC Theatre
Wendy is growing up and has gone missing.
The Boy who won’t grow up has flown her to an island where stories are lived, shadows are lost, and where to die would be an awfully big adventure…
This is not a bedtime story.
This is the Neverland.
With an original score of incidental music by prize-winning Cambridge composer Peter Facer, PETER PAN is an intoxicating adventure for children, grown-ups and anyone in-between.
- October 2008
Patient 6457 is dead. Patient 6459 has given birth to a child. Not a good Christmas for Roote.
Roote is the director of a well-oiled establishment for people who have lost their way. Knowledgeable in the fields of philosophy, philology, photography, phytology, phytonomy and phytotomy, he's undoubtedly a man with more than enough experience to be at the top. So when an investigation ensues to discover how a child was conceived on the premises, he is at the forefront of the operation, and it's his considered opinion that the mother had an accomplice...
But things are hotting up: how can Roote be expected to think straight, when everything's clogged up, bunged up, stuffed up, buggered up? When the snow has turned to slush?
Pinter's darkest comedy sparkles with wit and intensity. Bureaucracy, corruption, paranoia, and the futility of power lurk beneath a viciously deceptive facade of rib-cracking insignificance.
www.thesnowhasturnedtoslush.co.uk >>>
- August 2008
Meet Telephos. Early twenties. Failed shopkeeper. Single. Knobbly knees.
Hero?
This a new musical like nothing you will have seen before. HERO tells the story of Telephos as he flies, falls and finds, following him around Ancient Greece and quite literally to Hell and back as he tries to discover the meaning of being a real hero. Fast-paced and action- packed, crammed with loveable characters and memorable songs, HERO is a show which promises to have you laughing, crying and desperately trying not to stand up and join in as we sing and dance through Telephos' world.
CUADC is proud to present HERO, written by Ben Nicholls and Ashley Riches, at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It promises to be one of the most exciting shows you'll ever see.
http://www.anyonecanbeahero.com/
Book tickets by phone: 01223 300085 or from the adc website: http://www.adctheatre.com/
- July–August 2008
Higgs, the premiere theatre critic, has disappeared, so Moon fills in. On stage, Inspector Hound seeks a murderous madman. Is Higgs somehow involved? In Tom Stoppard’s theatrical whodunit, where does theatre end and reality begin?
- June 2008
ADC May Week Musical 2008
'HIGH SOCIETY'
You are cordially invited to the most spectacular society wedding of the year, to celebrate the marriage of the sensational heiress Tracy Samantha Lord and...
The dress fits, the band are set, the champagne is on ice, but who will be the groom? This swellegant, elegant High Society party, with Cole Porter’s winning blend of jazz, comedy and romance is the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon!
- May 2008
Premiered only recently in September 2006, Yellow Moon is a script that is still (steaming) hot off the press. It was the play to watch at the Edinburgh Fringe 2007, taking the festival by storm and selling most of the month's tickets within a week. Now it comes to Cambridge to relieve the doom and gloom of Easter term for both actors and their audience.
The storyline is a modern Bonnie and Clyde tale that charts the trials and tribulations of two young Scots on the run. They head into the Scottish wilderness in order to find his estranged father, but they end up with much more than just a place to hide…..
Despite its relevance and resonance with a contemporary audience, Yellow Moon is so much more than just its storyline. The action unravels and entangles itself before us through the presence of narrators, who argue, bargain and ultimately influence the overall atmosphere because they too play the characters. An audience member must invest fully in the world that develops before them and in this way the wry social comedy and looming tragedy become all the more believable and true.
It does away with blackouts, scene changes, set trappings, inauthentic use of props thereby remaining simple, basic and true. This cracking script avoids gushing, instead emphasis lies on the individuals and their environment as well as a direct engagement with an audience through its universal scenarios, its comedy, its self-awareness and its honesty.
- May 2008
"...It seems - uncanny. It makes me feel we're - we're all just waiting for something..."
The trenches of the Somme. A group of officers prepares for the greatest German attack of the war. Commanding Officer Stanhope drinks to forget. Hibbert feigns illness. New boy Raleigh thinks it's all a jolly exciting game. Each man has his own coping mechanism, and each takes its toll on the already strained relationships in a confined and claustrophobic space as the pressure builds and the waiting becomes harder and harder to bear.
A smash hit in the West End, this tense and intricately realised portrait of a few days in the lives of a few men is a poignant testament to the courage and resilience of humanity under the most horrendous conditions imaginable.
- March 2008
'I wish…'
The Baker and his Wife wish for nothing more than a child of their own. Cinderella wishes to go to the ball. And Red Riding Hood just wants to visit Granny.
But are wishes that simple? And if a wish is granted, what comes after its Happily Ever After? In Sondheim's musical masterpiece choices are made and paths are followed, but these are dangerous Woods, and even familiar stories can lose their way…
Into The Woods is an enthralling blend of the fantastically funny and the deliciously dark, investigating the power of wishes and the nature of human desire.
This year's Lent Term Musical promises to be a spectacular rendition of Sondheim's modern classic. At its heart an exceptional piece of dramatic storytelling, this production will include live music and stunning design in the creation of a hugely enjoyable theatrical experience for young and old alike.
The Woods are waiting…
- March 2008
Few words survive from the dark ages. Even fewer from women. But a voice echos through the millennia, speaking of miracles and martyrdom... One thousand years ago, in a lonely cell in a remote abbey in Saxony, the nun Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim wrote the play Dulcitius. Both farce and tragedy, it is a tale of buffoonish Roman soldiers battling the frightening conviction of three girls determined to be Christian martyrs.
To the modern audience, it is a play for both skeptic and believer, the contented and the disillusioned; a thoroughly unusual and vital attempt to reconcile a rationalist Western framework with the sublime influences that shape our common history, mythology, and current struggles with religious extremism. This production fuses the original play with modern texts to illuminate its central themes.
From the sublime to the mundane, modern to ancient, science to religion, this unique theatrical event is a reminder of how much - and how little - has changed over the past one thousand years.
- February 2008
"Mr Sloane, I believed you were a good boy. I find you have deceived me."
Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane depicts the convergence of four very abnormal Londoners on one very normal London living room....Young Mr Sloane is a devilishly attractive orphan with a very murky past. All he really wants are some parents to love. The situation becomes somewhat sticky when Sloane moves in with Kath, a middle-aged sexually frustrated frump who is looking for a long-lost baby. It becomes a little stickier when Ed, Kath's wide-boy brother reveals a personal penchant for the boy and his youthful form. It becomes even sticker once again when their elderly father, Kemp, recognises Sloane as the murderer of his former boss. Set in the 1960s, Mr Sloane is concerned with a restless, ruthless, single-minded pursuit of satisfaction and promises to be an unsettling, pulsating and wickedly amusing sanctuary from the bluesy lethargy of Week 5.
- February 2008
'I lost two homelands as a child... I lost two homelands but I sought a third: a space for the imagination.' (Adam Zagajewski)
They say that in any family there are at least three great stories. This is a tale about not three stories but a whole patchwork quilt of stories, wrapped around one woman. Asked to tell the story of her life, Lily loses her grip on the present and begins to delve deeper and deeper into her past. After all, when reality is turned upside-down, our imagination starts filling in.
In a bold and exciting piece of new writing and ensemble theatre, this production will take you skating off into your imagination, right back to the heart of storytelling.
- February 2008
Two conversations between two people in two places. They talk about lots of things. They don't talk about lots of things. But what is said is less important than that it's said. Or not said. How much can we really connect to each other through words alone? Cynical/idealistic, funny/sad, something/nothing is bound to get you talking. Which is kind of the point, really.
A new play by the award-winning author of Coat:
"Genuinely touching" - The Guardian
***** - The British Theatre Guide
- February 2008
Under the dark, dank February sky, a dazzling light will shine. She is The White Devil. And like a mine of diamonds, she refuses to break.
Atop the chequered marble of an Italian court, a game of chess will be staged; some will play dukes, others must play pawns. The key to survival is clever moves and viciousness. It’s theatre, after all.
Vittoria and Flamineo, proud but poor siblings, know this game all too well. Flamineo acts as pander between his married sister and the Duke of Brachiano - an illicit affair unfolds, breeding lust, murder and revenge in its wake.
Vittoria, the femme fatale, becomes the scapegoat – her startling wit and rebelliousness pose too great a threat to male dominance. She must be destroyed.
Webster’s tragedy is crueller, darker and more seductive than any of Shakespeare’s; it’d be a nightmare to miss.
- February 2008
"Malcolm Scrawdyke. On behalf of the party, on behalf of the nation, I address you. You are the fount of our wisdom, you are the source of our strength, you are our bastion against eunurchy. Dynamic Erection is the future!"
"Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs," follows expelled art student Malcolm Scrawdyke as he persuades his fellow students to join him in forming, The Party of Dynamic Erection. To Malcolm, the real reason for his failure at art school is that society is run by 'eunuchs' who stifle true geniuses like himself. With his friends Irwin, Wick and Nipple, he plots to conquer the world and enjoy 'power for power's sake.'
- January–February 2008
A minor masterpiece from Tennessee Williams' lesser known explorations into the theatre of the 'Outrageous'; featuring a giant pelican, a drunken fisherman, a Hollywood Indian, two stoned female clowns and a tragic ex-Vaudevillian soubrette, accompanied with a Chaplinesque set and an on-stage gypsy-klezmer band, THE GNADIGES FRAULEIN (The Gracious Maid) will be an unprecedented theatrical experience at the ADC theatre.
Written in the 1960's, during his self-professed 'stoned age', Tennessee Williams found himself spurned by critics for not producing another Glass Menagerie or Streetcar; the original Broadway production closed after only six days of performance. But this was more of a sign of Williams' transgressive talent than failed artistry; in his own words it was "a grotesque comedy that was incomprehensible to people" but "everyone has the tears that are expressed in this play". This is not, as narrow-minded critics have claimed, a second rate attempt at the theatre of the absurd but a logical climax of themes and emotions that are central to Williams' theatre: tragedy, comedy, black humour, pathos, the grotesque, melodrama and an underlying spirit of endurance pitted against the unrelenting cruelty of the world.
The play is set in Cocaloony Key, a non-realistic evocation of the Southern Florida Keys in which giant birds that resemble Pelicans (Cocaloonies) ominously co-inhabit with their human counterparts. In order to pay her rent for the local boarding house, run by a cruel and clownish landlady, Molly, the 'Fraulein' has to submit herself to a savage, daily contest with the Cocaloonies to catch fish from the harbour. As the two unsympathetic clowns watch her clockwork battle with the birds they wonder if she has "guts enough to fight the good fight or will she retire from the fish-docks like she did from show business?"
It is at once deeply tragic and profoundly comic. This production will be infused with a faithful spirit of play, spectacle, sensitivity and, most importantly, a commitment to entertain, move and disturb its audience.
- November–December 2007
Attempts to describe her? Attempts to destroy her? Or attempts to destroy herself?
Seven nameless figures. One hour. One red bag. One ashtray. One hotel. One protagonist, missing.
In 1997, Martin Crimp’s controversial scenarios for the theatre revolutionised British playwriting, challenging audiences and defying critics. The seventeen ‘attempts’ are the search for the perfect story, and the action runs the gamut of modern life – from terrorism to pornography to gap years and smoking in the blink of an eye. Our protagonist is the ultimate enigma, and the possibilities are endless.
More relevant than ever to the world and our attempts to explain it, this daring and emotionally charged production of a modern classic will leave you speechless.
Ten years on, Attempts on her Life is back with a bang.
- November 2007
Once Upon a Time… there was an ADC/Footlights Pantomime.
You want traditional? This is traditional. The panto is back, and back to basics.
In a land where bulbous beanstalks grow, dark forests lurk, and the monarchy teeters on the edge of survival, get ready to see your favourite characters as you’ve never seen them before. From the three little pigs to the Fairy Godmother, and a big, bad pantomime wolf. Prepare to boo and hiss as you encounter the wicked Stepmother and cheer as Prince Charming tries to save the day.
The biggest and boldest show of the theatrical calendar, this year's pantomime features a script by Footlights regular Alex Clatworthy and Footlights Harry Porter Prize winner Rory Mullarkey, a catchy-as-hell original score by Harry Winstanley and performances from Cambridge's top comic actors. Once Upon A Time… is guaranteed to be fantastic fairy-tale fun for all the family. Oh, yes it is!
- November 2007
"Out there, where the sky shines, humans say: 'To thyself be true'. In here, trolls say: 'Be true to yourself - ish.'"
Caught in a place between reality and fantasy, Peer Gynt is searching for his identity- what is that? Who is he? What can he trust to tell him? Peer begins his quest through a landscape of time, place and mind. At times tragic, comic and fantastic, Ibsen fashions a world that is other to our own yet inextricably connected, a Borderland between here and now and other and elsewhere. Are we alone here? This imaginative and lively production creates the energy, bawdiness and innovation of Kenneth McLeish's National Theatre translation.
Book through the Cambridge Arts Theatre, St Edward's Passage on 01223 503333.
www.peer-gynt.co.uk
- November 2007
What exactly do we mean by charity? Delve into the dirty, underhand and political world of big business philanthropy where principals and ideals simply disappear. Churchill's unnerving dark humour and trademark wit coupled with the Fresher talent on display make this play this season's must see!
- November 2007
Crowds are gathering. The town is made ready. The Visit begins. The arrival in Güllen of Claire Zachanassian, billionaire and former resident of the town, sends ripples of excitement through the sleepy eastern European settlement. But after Zachanassian offers the townspeople the grant they so desperately need in return for settling her old scores, the veneer of civilised life is scraped off to reveal the darkness beneath. Alfred Ill must die. And his neighbours and friends must do it. It’s only a matter of time.
The inspiration for Lars Von Trier’s Palm d’Or winning ‘Dogville’, ‘The Visit’ has transfixed audiences around the world with its blend of broad humour and bleak drama.
The CU Amateur Dramatic Club's Freshers' mainshow: see the best of Cambridge’s new theatrical talent in this dark comedy.
