- November 2024
Theo feels pretty… sometimes.
Theo feels ugly… a lot.
In Pretty Ugly, Theo has had enough. He decides to put a stop to the problems of self-worth, self-confidence, and self-doubt which have been plaguing him for too long. Through song, story, and multimedia; he traces the origins of these pesky inner-demons and attempts to plot his way forward.
Theo Chen has been professionally performing since he was 10 years old, and engaging in amateur dramatics (i.e, putting on shows for his friends and family) since he came out the womb. Originally from Singapore, his performances in Cambridge have been described as “excellent”, “audaciously funny” and “perfectly insufferable”.
This year the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society is transforming the Larkum Studio into the CUMTS Cabaret - a chance to explore the enchanting possibilities when music & theatre intertwine. The first three shows feature powerful storytelling in a uniquely intimate setting: an experience like no other in Cambridge theatre!
- November 2024
A story of friendship through the years is brought to the ADC by Ava Fitzhugh and Sam Ericsson. Forged in the fires of Freshers' Musical 2023, this dynamic duo tell the tale of their hypothetical future: from humble CamDram beginnings to negotiating the real world of work and love, one night of a collection of our favourite musical numbers will guide you through the trials and tribulations of this tumultuous friendship. Different ambitions lead to diverging paths and years of tension which culminate in one unmissable night of therapy which is sure to heal us all in some way.
This year the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society is transforming the Larkum Studio into the CUMTS Cabaret - a chance to explore the enchanting possibilities when music & theatre intertwine. The first three shows feature powerful storytelling in a uniquely intimate setting: an experience like no other in Cambridge theatre!
- October 2024
Liquor and Lust delves into the intertwined lives of characters consumed by desires and vices, where alcohol and lust drive their actions. This evocative show navigates the exuberance of indulgence and its sobering aftermath, provoking thought on the duality of pleasure and pain. Featuring songs like "Little Girls" from Annie and "If You Ever See Me Talking to a Sailor" from The Last Ship, the performance offers a rich emotional tapestry.
Izzy Lane, a member of the National Youth Theatre and British Youth Music Theatre, brings this powerful exploration to life. Recent credits include Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance (Minnack Theatre) and Chris in Carrie the Musical (ADC theatre).
This year the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society is transforming the Larkum Studio into the CUMTS Cabaret - a chance to explore the enchanting possibilities when music & theatre intertwine. The first three shows feature powerful storytelling in a uniquely intimate setting: an experience like no other in Cambridge theatre!
- October 2024
STOP! Where's your real home? Where are you REALLY from? Are you caught in the throes of a lifelong identity crisis too?!
If you don't know the answers to these questions, then neither do the six Malaysian-Chinese women in ‘Between the Aisles’. Mothers, daughters, strangers, and friends come together in three unique circumstances – the aisles of a local Chinese supermarket, an airport duty-free shop, and the attic of a home preparing for Chinese New Year.
To them, family is a source of comfort, but it can also be a source of pain. To have an identity is to belong, but what if you don't know what that identity is? And ‘coming home’ means very different things to each of these six women, especially when these homes are oceans apart. Yet among their differences, there is something that binds them together, something intangibly Malaysian, something intangibly Chinese - something ‘between the aisles’ in the places we make our home.
- May 2024
"The key to offensive argumentation is this: you must, must, must, you must anticipate and know, you must anticipate and know, your opponents’ warrant, and undermine its credibility, before they develop a credible explanation in the first instance. Offense, offense, offense. Don’t ask, argue."
Welcome to American high school policy debate, where arguments are wielded like weapons at over 350 words per minute. When freshman Sarah discovers the activity, she stops at nothing to succeed and win a recruited spot on a top university team. There’s just one problem: her archnemesis Isaac, who wants the same destiny.
A tragicomedy about the end of American political discourse and a cult of anxious, overachieving, Gen Z misfits who somehow find purpose in a world with more and more information, and less and less meaning. Oh, and Adderall — lots of it.
It's bound to get interesting.
- May 2024
- March 2024
Seven students find themselves sitting waiting for their therapist to enter, assigned to a session of group therapy by the University they attend. Slowly, stories begin to unravel as rumours spread fast and hidden secrets don't stay hidden for long. Led subtly by their group therapist Thomas, the group are given free rein to argue, accuse and act on impulse as tensions rise from past scars never truly healed. As true colours are finally revealed, the group each battle for their own catharsis and chase a need to finally be mentally free.
- March 2024
Bread Theatre & Film Company in collaboration with FUSE proudly present a reading of Jackie Sibblies Drury's play "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915".
The play is a comedic dramatization of the largely forgotten Herero and Namaqua genocide which took place in Namibia between 1904 and 1907 when the region was a German colony, after Germany confiscated tribal lands and the Herero people rebelled. The retribution over four years by German soldiers resulted in more than 65,000 deaths. The play deals with the enormity of this story by introducing it through the actors of a "presentation" which is intended to tell the story, and shows how the various players respond to the gruesome facts during first rehearsal.
- January 2024
Join us for a cosy evening of storytelling in the blanket fort as delve into contemporary tales and forgotten legends of winters past.
Once upon a time… Storytelling at the ADC returns to the Larkum Studio with a warm and relaxed evening of wintry twists and tales set inside a snug blanket fort. Come and hear our storytellers bring warmth and joy to a bleak and cold evening as they take you on an adventure across time and tradition. Weaving threads of old fable and contemporary writing together, Storytelling at the ADC can promise all blanket fort guests “a realm of wonder and delight” in “a perfect fireside experience.” (Varsity 2023, 4 stars)
- October 2023
In the depths of an air raid, famous pacifist and writer Vera Brittain encounters the ghost of her brother Edward as she struggles to reconcile herself to his premature death 30 years before. Through the course of the night, Vera and Edward relive their school days, recounting the thrill of first love, their ambitions for education, and the ugly awakening of their entire generation to the reality of war. As the siblings tiptoe closer and closer to the reason they were brought together under the sirens of yet another war, they grapple with the question - if the people they mourned in war were people they didn't really know at all, if the living were silenced and the dead held the key, how could they ever hope to free themselves from its iron grip?
- June 2023
Once upon a time...
Join us for an evening of storytelling in the relaxed setting of our Blanket Fort as we adventure into the depths of human imagination!
- May 2023
- May 2023
Why am I doomed to live on, to watch all the beings I best loved die before me? What grave sin did I commit, other than seek my own happiness?
With her famous, politically radical parentage, Mary Shelley seems destined to be a revolutionary. But idealism soon comes head to head with reality as Mary faces passionate love and intense loss in equal turn. A screenplay spanning the formative years of the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley interrogates what happens when our dreams are faced with reality, what we must endure to discover who we truly are.
This is a rehearsed reading of work-in-progress feature screenplay, to be further developed for submission to screenwriting competitions, fellowships, and development programs.
- February 2023
- February 2023
How can everything just stop like this? What is coming next? Will the world ever be safe again? Locked down in her room, these questions swirling in her head like snow on the mountaintop, she reminisces on the years before the pandemic, grappling with these ‘unprecedented times’ in the face of the world as she knows it coming to a halt. Memories of the Brexit vote and first boyfriends, Trump and Chemistry homework all blur into one chaotic recollection, as she tries to come to terms with the new state of the world, and whether she can make peace with it and finally come out of isolation.
- November 2022
Got a light?
Ashtray is a play about those little interactions in the smoking areas of queer bars. Whether it's the fleeting compliment, a quick snog, or a conversation which makes you a new friend for life. In the show, we follow three different stories of people who love and fight out in the cold.
There's something for everyone here in the piece of new student writing which uses the space of the smoking area to interrogate desirability politics, gentrification and more, but also to tell very human stories which we can all connect to.
- October 2022
A new performance art piece, examining the power of silence.
- October 2022
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- June 2022
Gather around and I’ll tell you a tale!
Oral storytelling is a universal part of human culture and is one of our most ancient artforms. There’s a certain magic in being transported away by spoken word, whether into a familiar tale or a new one.
The ADC is hosting a relaxed evening of storytelling. Come and hear original stories and retellings of traditional tales from students in a cosy setting.
- May 2022
After a suicide attempt, Samara Brown is left defeated and devastated. Unable to grapple with the weight of her past and present, Samara filters her pain through sarcastic humour and dark comedy at the expense of those closest to her. But as Samara progresses with rehab and therapy, she finds that she must come to terms with her past in order to find the solace she craves.
- March 2022
Multi award winning play Moderation tells the story of two ex-social media moderators who meet again years after quitting their job when one decides to sue the company that exposed them to the traumatic material which left both with different psychological scars. For one of them, who has become unable to touch the ground, the prospect of digging up the past has little appeal. For the other, whose drinking led to a head injury that has damaged their ability to remember things, reconstructing what happened seems like the only way to heal. Based on real accounts, Moderation reveals the true impact of watching the worst things on the internet for a living.
The play won this year’s CUADC Playwriting Competition, winning £200 and a run in the Larkum Studio. It was also co-winner of this year’s Cambridge Creatives Playwriting Competition, which was judged by industry professionals Sally Abbott, Luke Barnes, and Alexis Zegerman.
- February 2022
Henry has a dream to study Classics at Cambridge, so his mum finds Maurice, a Latin tutor in his 40s who is more than a little eccentric. Set in the heart of Swaledale, ‘Antinous in the Swale’ explores a young man’s relationship to his home and his family.
Slowly, as the year goes on, Henry and Maurice find themselves growing ever closer, but piece by piece an image of Maurice’s past comes to light and Henry finds himself unsure of who it is he has fallen in love with. The lines between fact and myth become increasingly blurred until Henry must turn to his mum, his rock, for help.
A tender, queer coming of age story, reflecting on the isolating nature of a rural hometown where options are few and good queer role-models fewer, the play brings to light a queer experience so rarely seen on stage or film.
This performance is recommended for audiences aged 18+
- March 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
A Friend's Request is a cruel and bitter misanthropic comedy about the lives of three lonely people in the age of social networks.
Tal has only four Facebook friends. Jake has a few hundred Facebook friends, but in reality he mostly socializes with Tal. He is in love with the influencer and former reality TV star @Big_Bum and wooing her. After a very embarrassing incident turns him into an internet celebrity, they end up together, and their wedding breaks the internet. The deserted Tal, who feels left out, decides to give the newlyweds his services as a social media manager as a wedding present. The envy, grudge, and greed over the potential number of likes each one of the three might gain will quickly shake up the new family, and lead to horrible acts of vengeance.
This play is a tribute to the works of Hanoch Levin, and dedicated in his memory.
- February 2020
It’s five o’clock on a Friday night at the Department of Health, in a near-future Britain in which everything is going wrong. Power cuts are frequent and unpredictable. Floods have overwhelmed the southeast.
Anna, working on paper files under her office’s flickering lights, is part of a team trying to isolate and contain a strange and terrible new disease. Quarantines and social media blocks are in place to stop word getting out, but tonight it’s in five cities and no one knows how or why. By morning there might be riots and cities alight.
And beneath Anna’s office, in a darkened cell, is a girl who might know something about the disease- but she's refusing to talk, and as the night drags on and everything begins to fall apart, Anna is faced with terrible choices...
- February 2020
"The moment was suddenly over; a fleeting trick of the light. Who'd have thought, looking back, that this chance encounter would change my life?”
It's a freezing and rainy day when Elizabeth Day is finally persuaded to tell her story- the story of how she and Liam Moore met, fell in love, and fell apart, and of how their shared life influenced each other, and those around them. Life With You is a nostalgic and poignant piece, exploring how life goes on, even once the curtain falls on one stage and the rose-tinted memories fade.
Life With You is an original student musical. Featuring numbers from the tear-jerking 'Someplace Safe' to the uplifting 'Almost's Good Enough', this is not one to miss.
https://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/review-life-with-you/
- November 2019
An earthquake leaves two strangers buried alive in an office building. No air, no supplies, no communication with the outside world. As they wait and hope for rescue to come, they must come together to pass the time, discussing life, death, and everything in between. As the air grows thinner and the light dims they will learn more about each other and themselves than they could have ever imagined. But is everything truly as it seems?
A play about friendship, loneliness, life, death, fear, and happiness, Oxygen will ask the audience to question their own morality and relationships as the characters on stage do the same.
- October 2019
The infamous Marlowe Hatch night returns to the ADC for another exciting evening of new writing. The Hatch project offers an opportunity for students to showcase the theatre they’re working on in an unfussy and liberating atmosphere; featuring perfectly polished pieces performed alongside inspiring works in progress, no other student night offers a glimpse into the heart of the student theatre scene so uniquely. Expect an eclectic mix of genres, styles, and voices, in one of the most intimate and well-loved celebrations of creativity in the Cambridge theatre community.
- July 2019
In a civil society, what are the limits of what can and cannot be said?
Three static gargoyles, believing themselves to be angels, sit atop three plinths atop a cathedral. The First, an entitled rule-maker, imparts his wisdom on The Second, a consensus builder, and The downtrodden Third. Sleeping by day, the gargoyles spend their nights examining their origins, desires, politics and purpose.
One fateful day, after wedding bells chime, to they other ‘Angel’s’ horror, The First is granted the gift of movement. Will he be free, fly away and explore the world beyond? Or will he stay for the good of ‘the brotherhood’?
Using absurdist farce, The Offensive is a satirical parable navigating the logical rabbit holes of modern day identity politics to explore the case for freedom of expression.
The Offensive is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- July 2019
'Darling. What's my name?'
John and Claire Cunningham are an average couple: married for years, they’re stuck in a rut, with only experimentation seeming to hold the key to invigoration. Except, those aren’t their real names, and over time the line between reality and fiction has become blurred to the extent that neither really knows where the games end and their actual lives begin. What began as an attempt to inject some much-needed excitement into their lives has led to a crisis of identity from which neither seems able to awaken, and as their lies become more and more elaborate, they start to threaten the world outside of the relationship, with potentially criminal repercussions.
From playwright James P Mannion (Hedgehogs & Porcupines, Old Red Lion, 2018) comes this story of thrill-seeking and delusion, self-deception and the breakdown of trust.
Role Play is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- June 2019
‘The curtains aren’t blue because I’m sad. The curtains are blue because I’m trying to remember all the reasons not to be.’
Charles’ wife died three months ago but her favourite book’s still on the night stand. Billie’s ex boyfriend gets a poem left on his answerphone every day. D likes stories, and now he’s in one. There are 20 clocks in Alex’s room. It’s a reminder that time is running out.
The Blue House explores the things that break us, the things that mend us, and what it means to be alone.
- June 2019
Do you want to be one of the first to explore the future of art and entertainment? Do you want an experience that you will not get anywhere else? Magnet Rose is your answer. It is the first immersive narrative mixed-reality experience in the ADC Theatre, blending new-frontier technologies, installation art, special soundscapes, dynamic lighting designs, and interactive theatre performances, in a cinematic story setting. By becoming a character in the show, you will live in a surreal world of magnets and roses, exploring human feelings, dualities, attractions and love, in a linear narrative. A universal story, the show's messages also speak about gender equality and non-binary. With a rare combination of Eastern and Western aesthetics, technology and art, traditional and experimental storytelling, you will take home with one of the most unique memories with the shortest time spent.
- March 2019
‘Everyone knew him as The Boy Who Fucked The Duck In The Bush At Alton Towers – you’re going to have to bleep that. We were on a school trip, queuing for the rides, and The Boy – I think his name was Steven – he pops out from a bush, zipping up his flies with a duck following after. Obviously he’d just gone in to have a piss, but the name stuck.’
Lent Term will see the exciting premiere of Victor Rees' dark new play in the Larkum Studio. A pitch-black tale of intimacy and cruelty, Let’s Start a Fire questions what it takes to be famous in the 21st century – and how much you can truly love those you hurt.
‘Next morning I couldn’t remember a thing. My clothes smelled of smoke. It’s only later I found the video. It just happened. It didn’t feel like it mattered.’
- February 2019
This play is about dreams, where forgotten memories go, deja vu, laughter, the inability to laugh, that sense you get when you can tell someone is staring at you, the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," balloons, coincidences, the stars, belief, the suspension of disbelief — but it is not about me.
"This Play Is Not About Me" is written and performed by Steve Rathje, and produced as a staged reading as part of the ADC's Papercuts rehearsed reading series.
Read an interview with Steve about what the play's really about here: https://medium.com/@steverathje/interview-with-steve-rathje-about-this-play-is-not-about-me-21d98b49074e
Get tickets here: https://www.adctheatre.com/whats-on/play/this-play-is-not-about-me/
- January–February 2019
London, 1969. A conscientious but mischievous phone-operator uses her specialist skills to avert the end of the network.
The last days of the manual telephone exchange. While the new automated switchboards are being installed across the nation, an operator resents connecting phone calls that are ending the careers of her colleagues. Never shy to a prank, Susan commits herself to take it further, using her skills of eavesdropping, rumour-spreading, and call-misdirection to save the present from the future. When the upgrades were only scheduled in Birmingham alone she was able divert and disrupt them; yet within days the threat starts to close in on London itself.
Unable to match the efficiency of the system, Susan must contend for the human side of the technological sector. Though she is up against an industry that prefers the superfast dreams of the visionaries, who promise instant connectivity and the removal of human error. Susan refuses to leave, in part to complete her employment, and in part to wait for the impossible return of a precious fellow operator.
