- January 2013
All that glisters is not gold, Often have you heard that told..
Young hot-shot Bassanio’s in a hell of a lot of debt. His magic solution? To court and marry wealthy heiress, Portia. All he needs is a good suit, speedy boat and a loan of three thousand ducats. But if the loan isn’t repaid in time, money-lender Shylock will be demanding more than just cash…
This winter, Cambridge's longest-running theatre tour will be taking on Shakespeare's most controversial 'comedy'. Set in the urban playground which is contemporary Naples, this daring production will look with unflinching eyes at man's inhumanity to man, and the Western world's obsession with wealth and beauty, through the lenses of, amongst other things, Berlusconi's immigration policy, the shiny horror of reality television, and the inertia and despondency of Eurotrash youth culture.
- November–December 2012
Terry is a postman with a thousand memories at his fingertips. All he has to do is open them.
Post is a new tragicomedy, co-written by the president of the Cambridge Footlights, winner of Best Writer/Play, 24 Hour Plays 2010, and one of the team behind Act Casual (4**** - Varsity).
It doesn't take a lot to blur the lines between funny and sad, reality and fantasy. It just takes a stamp.
- November 2012
The CU Show Choir returns to the stage with an all-new collection of songs to herald the merry season.
Traditional Christmas numbers made glitzy and glamorous alongside not-so-traditional numbers given a festive makeover - none of your favourites are immune from the CU Show Choir's ever-humorous treatment this holiday season.
Crowned Masters of Show Choir at the UK's first inter-university Show Choir competition in 2012, the CU Show Choir are not to be missed in the exciting new showcase of music that'll leave you fa-la-la-la-la-ing all the way home.
- November 2012
It's back.
Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24 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 industry judges? The clock is ticking.
- November 2012
"If You Please" is a French Dada-Surrealist play and is completely different from any play you will have previously acted in or come across. Written by Breton and Soupault, two titans of the surrealist movement, and first performed in 1920, If You Please takes hackneyed and clichéd plots and transforms them into thrilling and marvellous absurdity. It is the ADC week 7 late show and has a large cast with a good mix of male and female characters. This play promises to be an entertaining but testing project for everyone from beginners to the most experienced actors.
- November–December 2012
- November 2012
'To begin at the beginning….'
Welcome to Llareggub, a sleepy Welsh fishing village where old and young potter and clatter through their day-to-day business, in a tumble of sounds and sights. Allow our gentle guide to show you the far-off dreams of Captain Cat, the sincere sermons of Reverend Eli Jenkins, and the longing love letters of Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price.
Written as a response to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagaski, Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices' celebrates the calm beauty of the world, through some of the most evocative poetry written in the English language. This work of Welsh genius is brought to the ADC stage by the freshest talent in Cambridge.
'We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood.'
- November 2012
In 2011 Ben Ashenden, Mark Fiddaman, Alex Owen and Adam Lawrence hauled their Footlights tourshow Pretty Little Panic across the UK and America to massive critical acclaim. Now it's 2012: Ashenden, Fiddaman and Owen have stormed Edinburgh as three-man sketch collective The Pin, and Lawrence has a girlfriend.
Join the dogged writer-performers behind eight of the last eleven Footlights mainshows for one night only as they divvy up an hour between them, half to The Pin and half to Lawrence.
Don't miss this special one-off from two acts described as 'genius' (WhatsOnStage), 'razor sharp' (The Stage) and 'flawless, polished to perfection' (Broadway Baby).
- November 2012
'One false move and we'll have a farce on our hands'...
When rich merchant Herr Zangler jaunts off to Vienna to woo his new mistress, his beautiful young ward elopes with her penniless suitor and his two assistants decide that this is their last chance for a big adventure and go on 'the razzle'. Where are they all headed? To the same place, of course - in haste, in heat and in cognito.
Described by The Telegraph as 'an unremitting firework display of puns, crossword puzzle tricks and sly sexual innuendos,' Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle is a wonderful night of fabulous farce. See this year's freshest dramatic talent take on a muddle of mistaken identities, slapstick and romantic shenanigans in one of the funniest scripts ever written.
- November 2012
“I mean, there’s just no time these days, is there. Who can honestly say they’ve ever seen a child?”
It's tough times for kids' TV. Fired for “offending vegetarians”, Tammy Alligator relocates her jungle show to the wilderness of a rehab centre. With a cast of manic depressives and alcoholics performing under the guise of “Drama Therapy”, two ambitious kids’ TV presenters stop at nothing to make their dreams of fame come true.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Footlights Harry Porter Prize, Far Away From the Watering Hole is a dark new comedy with a poignant edge.
- November 2012
“There was a Cabaret. And there was a Master of Ceremonies. And there was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany. And it was the end of the world…”
It’s New Year’s Eve 1930 and the ghoulish Master of Ceremonies lures us into the smoky Kit Kat Klub where sexual experimentation and debauchery run wild. The American writer, Cliff Bradshaw has just arrived in Berlin and we follow him as he becomes lost in the hedonistic world of the cabaret and falls for the star performer, Sally Bowles. The boarding house owner, Fräulein Schneider also starts to believe in love when Herr Schultz, a Jewish greengrocer proposes to her. However, the show’s characters cannot escape the reality of growing Nazi terror and the sumptuous safe-haven of the Kit Kat Klub is put under threat. As Berlin implodes, so the cabaret descends from glamour to grotesque and the results are devastating.
- October–November 2012
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.
- October 2012
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, Ken Cheng, creator of Mark Liu and comedian, brings a one-off evening of stand-up to the ADC, featuring several support acts from the Cambridge comedy circuit.
Previous praise includes:
“formidable…wry, pragmatic brand of comedy produced floods (and, in my case, actual tears) of laughter” – Varsity
“the star act” – The Tab
“witty and intelligent humour” – TCS
"you were really good tonight" - drunk guy who mistook him for Phil Wang
- October–November 2012
December 2000: Enron, America’s seventh largest corporation, is heralded as a darling of the energy industry. Voted ‘America’s Most Innovative Company’ by Fortune magazine for six years in a row, Enron claims revenues of over $100 billion and employs well over 20,000 individuals.
December 2001: The Enron Scandal. Enron files for bankruptcy. Former employees are paid an average of $4,500 worth of severance pay and lose their pensions and medical insurance whilst top executives cash in stock worth over $115 million. The resulting inquest unearths political as well as corporate corruption, the effects of which are still felt in America today.
Just what happened? Exactly how did Enron destroy itself so completely and so rapidly? CUADC is proud to present this epic tale of corporate irresponsibility and human greed at its most dangerous extremes. One of the most important plays in recent years, Enron utilises gripping personal drama, surreal humour and even musical numbers to tell an unforgettable story that you’ll wish was fiction.
Ask why.
- October 2012
In the salons of Paris, an anonymous young girl plays the piano for the wealthy elites. Here she encounters the exotic, mesmerizing and stifling Marquis. A man of the world, with a mysterious past, he offers her the key to a thrilling future. The Marquis proposes and takes his virgin to a castle on the sea for their honeymoon. When he disappears after their wedding night, leaving the girl alone – save for the housekeeper, and a blind piano-tuner – he entrusts her with the keys to every room in the house. One door alone is forbidden, but the temptation of a tiny key may prove too much.
- October 2012
A heartrending drama about family, betrayal and forgiveness, spanning four generations and two hemispheres. When the Rain Stops Falling moves from the claustrophobia of a London flat in 1959 to the windswept coast of southern Australia, and into the heart of the Australian desert in 2039. Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play interweaves a series of connected stories as seven people confront the mysteries of their past in order to understand their future, revealing how patterns of betrayal, love and abandonment are passed on. Until finally, as the desert is inundated with rain, one young man finds the courage to defy the legacy.
- October 2012
If you like two-woman sketch-shows which are called BEARD, you'll love this: a new two woman sketch-show, called BEARD.
This ‘inspired’ (The List) hour of comedy returns from a five-star, sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe for a triumphant home run. Appearing on the ADC stage for two nights only, this ‘original and brilliant production’ (Three Weeks ★ ★ ★ ★ ★) is a must-see.
'Top 5 sketch comedy shows at the Fringe 2012' – The List
- July 2012
Two of Cambridge's favourite Footlights storm the stage for an anarchic hour of late-night musical comedy. No two performances are the same with these rakish troubadours as they catapult through a raucous repertoire of their finest songs. Both celebrated 'lynch-pins of hilarity ... comic geniuses' (EdFringeReview.com), make sure to be on the front row when these two decide to sing the next song about you. With the sharpest of wits and yards of comedic talent they are 'a definite one to watch!' (WhatsOnStage.com).
- October 2012
Award-winning composer and performer Jeff Carpenter has been the man behind the music in the cream of Cambridge theatre over the last three years; including the ADC/Footlights Pantomime 2011: Treasure Island, Babushka and Bereavement: The Musical. Now, for one night only, he's taking the opportunity to step into the spotlight himself, accompanied by a live band and the beautiful ADC grand piano.
Don't miss this eclectic evening of Jazz, Pop and Musical Theatre in the skilled hands of this remarkable musici an. Featuring Carpenter's brand new original compositions and stunning re-imaginings of well-known classics in his inimitable style, this will be a performance you'll never forget.
Following sell-out performances of his work in Cambridge, including his Egomania recitals, as well as a performance in the Royal Albert Hall with Jamie Cullum, buy your ticket and prepare for an exciting evening of music.
- October 2012
Sophie Scholl has gone down in history as one of the world's greatest heroines. Her bravery in the name of freedom, and the face of terror, will never cease to inspire people all over the world. Now the first stage adaptation of the Academy Award-nominated, German film brings her powerful story to Cambridge. As a member of the passive resistance group, The White Rose, Sophie is determined to rouse the German people into action against the Nazi regime. After being caught distributing so-called 'seditious' leaflets, she must endure a gruelling interrogation process and a brutal trial. But even the most tragic fate cannot sway her unstoppable quest for justice. This heart-rending tale brings to life a passionate desire to live in a free and democratic society. This is the story of Sophie Scholl, the woman who defied Hitler.
- October 2012
'An thru the pump pump pump of the disco dance I see it all!'
Pig and Runt are soul mates. Born seconds apart in the same hospital, they are inseparable, with an almost supernatural understanding. As partners in crime, they share an appetite for drunkenness, recklessness, adventure and destruction. But on the eve of their 17th birthday it is an appetite for sex that threatens to tear them apart.
Disco Pigs erupted onto the Edinburgh Fringe when it debuted in 1997. Winner of both the Steward Parker and the George Devine Award, the ADC debut of Disco Pigs promises to be a thrilling paean to unbridled youth.
- October 2012
A day at the fair? Well golly-gosh, what possible reason could there be not to?
Oh my poor, naïve companions! Little do you know what awaits you there, for there is no fair like Bartholomew Fair…
John Littlewit and his motley crew of guls and fools are ready to run riot. Plotting to win the hand of Dame Purecraft, they embark on a course of mayhem that will know no bounds. Justice Overdo is determined to stop them, but who will prevail in this carnival of chaos and disguise?
Ben Jonson's timeless sitcom is utterly reinvigorated in this hilarious, rip-roaring production. Directed by the president of the Cambridge Footlights, and filled to the brim with farce, laughs, music, dance, mistaken identities and puerile puns, once you've arrived you'll never want to leave.
'Tis in fashion to go to the Fair', but who knows what one may encounter...
- September 2012
Trouble is brewing in turbulent Rome. Mark Antony, triumvir and legendary soldier has abandoned his domestic duties in favour of his beguiling Egyptian queen. While pirates rush the shores, discontent seethes in the hearts of men and in none more so than the eminent Octavius Caesar. Into a spinning backdrop of furious wars, forced smiles and too firm handshakes, Antony must come home. Yet even the titans of Rome cannot sever him from the pull of Cleopatra, the volatile point around which Antony whirls and anchors his world.
Marking the launch of CAST’s 13th stage tour, this year’s production explodes onto the stage with a stark, visceral, physically powerful rendering of one of Shakespeare’s most vibrant tragedies. Devastatingly poignant and startlingly comic, Antony and Cleopatra sets rising star against a hero in decline, while pushing to breaking point the passion that could topple empires.
“Now Antony must leave her utterly”
“Never, he will not.”
- June 2012
Starry-eyed young lovers Alexis and Aline wish everyone in their village could be as happily besotted as they are. In a moment of inspiration, they decide to hire John Wellington Wells, a distinguished representative of a highly respectable London firm of sorcerers, to brew a love-potion for their fellow citizens. It remains only to slip the potion into the tea at the wedding feast, and well, it's G&S, you know the rest. Strange infatuations, social satire, and yes, hilarity all ensue. An uproariously funny but subtly dark operetta, The Sorcerer was Gilbert & Sullivan's first great success. Join CUG&S as we conjure comedy and drama this May Week.
- June 2012
After returning from fighting the Protestant Dutch, a group of disaffected Catholics decide a certain Guido Fawkes is exactly the man they need to spearhead their revolution against the new King. He eventually succumbs to their pleas, and must battle 'destiny' and his own conscience to convince himself to carry out what would be one of the greatest acts of terrorism the world has ever seen. The rest, as they say, is history...
The show represents an exciting opportunity to showcase original writing from Cambridge students in a musical comedy (emphasis on the comedy and on the music!), which brings to life events and characters from a notorious era in English history. The events are sure to appeal to anybody with a sense of history and the writing to anyone with a sense of humour. With one individual caught up in grand schemes and grander themes such as revolution, existentialism and love, we see what could drive one such individual to an act of terrorism.
From the composer of the critically acclaimed Bereavement: The Musical and Footlights' Panto Treasure Island, and writer Daniel Henry Kaes (Footlights' Smokers and Harry Porter 2012 nominee) comes a brand new comedy musical that will make you "remember remember" like never before.
- June 2012
The Cambridge Footlights are the most famous student comedy group in the world and the Footlights International Tour Show is the biggest event in the Footlights calendar; responsible for launching the careers of some of the greatest names in the comedy and entertainment industry, including David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Sasha Baron Cohen, Simon Bird, Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness amongst others. After a preview run at the ADC theatre, the show will visit venues across the UK, have a month at the Edinburgh festival, a month tour of the American East Coast and a final ADC run - having been seen by over 20,000 people.
- June 2012
Ben Ashenden, Mark Fiddaman and Alex Owen fling themselves back to the ADC with their year-long project, ‘The Pin’. This sell-out five star show has been completely re-worked from scratch and is better than ever. The decrepit writer/performers of nine Footlights mainshows have been described as “particularly inspired” (The Telegraph) and “the comedy highlight of the year” (Varsity).
- May–June 2012
Girl loves boy; boy loves girl. What could possibly go wrong? Well, when that boy’s already engaged to an older woman, and the girl’s guardian has designs on her too, the answer’s everything!
Fresh from the sell-out success of Chess and The Producers, the award-winning Festival Players return to the ADC with the Hot Mikado.
There’s not a kimono to be seen as this exciting reworking of Gilbert and Sullivan’s original transports the story forward several centuries, bringing a thoroughly modern swing to its tale of romance, intrigue, flirting, death-threats, mock-executions, and a wedding – but between whom?
With gospel and jazz, lindy-hop dance moves, and cool cats in spats all added to the mix, the Hot Mikado will be a treat for your eyes, ears, and dancing feet.
- May 2012
Recent Cambridge graduates Frimston and Rowett have been through a lot together. They've fought together, loved together, lost together. Now they're lightening up a bit and doing an hour of comedy together. Join them as they return to their old stamping grounds at the ADC with an evening of sketch comedy the like of which no man has seen and lived.
**** "A whirl of tight sketches...brilliant." - Three Weeks
"Quite frankly hilarious...a sense of comic timing so sharp that the audience was left not just laughing but bleeding profusely" - The Cambridge Student
http://www.frimstonandrowett.com
- May 2012
‘We are all born mad. Some remain so.’
Audiences have been waiting for Godot for decades. But they never get bored of doings so. Comic, tragic, sophisticated, bawdy, cheerful and terrifying by turn, this is a play in which nothing and everything happens. But mostly nothing…
Vladimir. Estragon. An unforgiving wasteland. And a tree. Time passes. Others come and go. But nothing really seems to change. How near is death? How unreachable is repentance? How long have they been waiting for Godot? How long will they wait?
Relishing the play’s joyousness and desperation, this production brings freshness to this modernist masterpiece. It presents the audience with a deteriorating, but youthful Vladimir and Estragon, a failed pair of entertainers, whose comic clumsiness as young adults makes their gradual wilting all the more tragic.
Come and be amused and bemused by the deteriorating youth in this production of Beckett’s timeless classic.
- May 2012
Rambling to us over the finger-foods at her Father’s funeral party, Agnes inadvertently unfolds a tale of hilarity, disappointment, and a woman who can’t give anything but love. The last Cambridge run of Anything But won popular and critical acclaim and is likely to do so a second time this May.
Written by footlights alumni Mark Fiddaman (Footlights president 2011) and Lucien Young (Armageddapocalypse writer/performer), directed by Ben Ashenden (writer/performer in The Pin) and starring Abi Tedder (Footlights President 2010), this is a raucous, poignant comedy about the messiness of living.
As the Footlights’ Harry Porter prize winner last year, the production has been developed and recently sold-out some early London previews that have been held. This brand new version is coming to the ADC before heading up to the Fringe.
Praise for original script/run:
'A sparkling hour of new-writing. Sumptuously funny. Big-hearted. Ideal' Tim Key (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2009, Bafta nominated, seen on BBC2 and Radio 4)
'An hour of total hilarity' www.localsecrets.com
'effortless perfection' ***** Varsity
Nominated for Best Comedy - Cambridge Tab Theatre Awards 2011
**** ‘A brilliant production from a lot of very funny people’ The Cambridge Tab
- May 2012
- May 2012
'We all have a choice comrade'. Colonel Kotov, decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, is spending an idyllic summer in the country with his beloved young wife and family. But on one glorious sunny morning in 1936, his wife's former lover returns from a long and unexplained absence. Amidst a tangle of sexual jealousy, retribution and remorseless political backstabbing, Kotov feels the full, horrifying reach of Stalin's rule.
- May 2012
NON-SMOKER is a four-night-stand of stand-up comedy from three of Cambridge’s finest and favourite bipedal microphone-wielding funnymen. Join Footlights Ali Lewis and Ahir Shah for an hour of jokes compered by Footlights Vice-President Pierre Novellie, in a show described by some as being “comedy in a theatre.”
Featuring one-liners, puns, whimsy, surrealism, satire and stories, the NON-SMOKER promises something to tickle anyone’s comedic tastebuds and provide that much-needed Easter Term belly-laugh.
Previous praise for the stand-ups in NON-SMOKER:
Ali Lewis: “Excellent.” – Varsity
Pierre Novellie: “Jaw-achingly hilarious.” – The Tab
Ahir Shah: “Not to miss…intense and absurd comedy.” – Cambridge Theatre Review
- May 2012
- May 2012
Merrily We Roll Along is a tragedy about friendship. Beginning in 1976, it moves backwards in time, tracing the lives of three friends – a composer, a lyricist and a novelist – via snapshots of the events made them who they are. For each fork in the road we see the consequences before the choice, the fruit before the tree. Through some of Sondheim’s most poignant and witty songs, we see how idealism and naiveté can give way to cynicism and isolation, how old friends can fade, and how growing up isn’t necessarily such a wise thing to do.
