- May 2012
“Try to look unhappy. We’re going to a burial, remember?”
A brother and a sister. A cart and a coffin. A dead man in a box. But is there a clear road to the graveside? There’ll be passage to pay and bridges to cross, the war is barely over and there are men in the woods who are still intent on fighting it...
Funny, tense and thought-provoking, this poignant new play by Harry Baker asks where love and loyalty ends, and pride begins. On at the ADC for a short run only, make sure you see the best of Cambridge’s new writing for 2012.
It’s a clear road, but it goes through dark places.
**** TCS "Its script and its execution were equally absorbing and exquisitely balanced between comedy and heartbreak...thoughtful and poignant... refreshing and enjoyable."
**** Varsity "The fact that A Clear Road takes a coffin on wheels as its inspiration goes some way in describing the bravery and originality of this production.... Magnetically atmospheric."
- May 2012
For one night only, Selwyn Jazz will be performing an auditory feast for your toe-tapping delectation. Be prepared for tenacious trumpets and saccharine-sweet saxophones in this mélange of old swing favourites and funky contemporary charts.
Fresh from their adoring audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe, and a full house at their previous ADC One Night Stand, Selwyn Jazz are a 20-piece big band comprised of some of the finest jazz musicians in Cambridge. Not to be missed!
- May 2012
King Richard II’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, lies murdered. Unable to arbitrate between his cousin, Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray – who each accuse the other of responsibility for the crime – King Richard resorts to exiling both. After Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt dies, Richard then seizes his exiled relation's rightful inheritance in order to finance a lascivious court and mismanaged foreign wars.
Discontent mounts, soon breaking into open rebellion
"Landlord of England art thou and not king"
Bolingbroke will claim his due. But what will be left for Richard if Bolingbroke takes the crown too?
"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me"
Drawing inspiration from the famous revival of the play at the Globe Theatre shortly before the Essex Rebellion in 1601, CUADC are proud to present Richard II – a mesmerising and enthralling beginning to Shakespeare’s History plays.
- March 2012
Odds and Ends - Cambridge Footlights Harry Porter Prize Winner 2012 by Joey Batey
'I've come to the arduous, long and drawn-out conclusion that death...well death's just a bit rubbish'.
A prisoner of war camp. An hour left to live. What would you do?
From the bloke who brought you (exactly one sixth of) Good Clean Men (Corpus Playrooms) and To Have and To hold (Edinburgh Fringe), comes Odds and Ends, this years Harry Porter prize winning comedy.
- March 2012
CUADC presents the 2012 Lent term two week musical: Footloose.
City boy Ren is forced to move from Chicago to the small southern town of Bomont, where he experiences a considerable culture shock.
A few years before, a tragic accident killed five teenagers causing local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore to place a ban on dancing and rock music. With his rebellious spirit and love for dance Ren challenges the status quo, attracting the attention of the minister’s troubled but beautiful daughter Ariel.
Will Ren succeed in bringing some life back to this repressed town?
With songs such as the title-track, “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”, this show guarantees to have you dancing in the aisles and kicking off your Sunday shoes.
- March 2012
Jess has just left her fiancé to move in with Cal. He’s lazy, idealistic and has a temper, but they love each other. Before they can settle down, however, everything they care about is threatened by a dark secret, and their odd menagerie of friends can provide little comfort. As Jess and Cal try to dissect each other’s motives, CODA twists and turns with dark humour and a revelatory force that will make you question the idea of trust.
This piece of new writing, from the OTR National Radio Drama Competition winner, explores love, loss and the limits to how far we can know anyone.
- March 2012
A family gathering. A time for celebration. A time to mourn those recently bereaved. A time for secrets and songs and conga lines. The time for Christian to present his father with a choice: two envelopes, two speeches, and one harsh truth that will shatter proceedings.
‘Festen’, adapted by David Eldridge from the Thomas Vinterberg film, is a challenging and harrowing story of a family no longer able to lie to each other or themselves.
- February–March 2012
“Can’t act! Can’t act! Listen to the woman! You’re blonde, are you not? You have no education, have you? Can’t act! You underrate yourself, my dear!”
Pierrot and Columbine have been performing their scene for a long time. Pierrot is the sad clown, pining for the love of the clever serving wench Columbine. They sit at a long table decked out with a splendid banquet of plastic food and deliver their lines. Tonight, though, their little comic scene is interrupted. They are kicked off the stage, replaced by a pastoral scene starring two shepherds who can’t quite remember their lines. When the script moves towards an unpleasant climax, however, they can’t seem to stop acting it out.
Edna St. Vincent Millay, a bisexual, chain-smoking lyric poet, was the first female poet ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. First staged just after the end of the First World War, this unusual play, never before performed in Cambridge, conceals a searing appraisal of the human condition. It is “amusing, brutal, and brief.”
- February–March 2012
“Wh – wh- where am I? A hospital? Northwestfield Hospital Ward B Room 26? Wh - why?” Brian’s had a terrible accident, and an even more terrible operation. He’s been left with a mind that’s not quite his own... genetic tissue. Since dying is boring, and you’ve seen your own life before, wouldn’t it be better if other people’s lives flashed before your eyes? Yes. It would be hilarious.
The Footlights’ Spring Revue is one of the most funded and preemptively acclaimed shows of the year! ‘Donors’ is a sketch show that promises to flood your brain with laughter-induced endorphins.
- February 2012
As the tide comes in, Antonius Block is playing chess with Death.
The Knight and his Squire Jons have returned from the Crusades to find their homeland ravished by plague, poverty and persecution. As they continue homewards, they meet the naive and talented performers, Jof and Mia, a deaf girl, and a young witch, shaved and tied up, ready for burning.
As the little company venture into the forest for the final leg of their journey, they stop to sleep, forgetting Death himself lingers in the shadows, breathing and waiting...
- February 2012
- February 2012
The Priory by Michael Wynne
Following her split from her boyfriend, Kate decides to invite a group of her closest friends to a renovated and supposedly haunted priory, for a New Year's Eve party. However, as the drinks and drugs start to flow, personal revelations begin to emerge leading to near tragedy and a fraught morning after...
- February 2012
The Outside Joke presents G.G.T.H, a brand new, multimedia sketch comedy from the creators of The Mexican Standoff (Newnham Old Labs, Lent 2011, ****The Tab). Combining experience from Now, Now, The Mexican Standoff, Nonsense and the Footlights Pantomime, large joke-merchant Pierre Novellie, tiny pun magnate Ali Lewis, and alabaster raconteur Jonny Lennard team up with director Phil Wang to bring you a mysteriously-titled hour of dark, sexy comedy.
- February 2012
"It's like watching an accident on the highway - you can't look at it and you can't look away".
Michael is holding a party for Harold. Before the end of the night, the friendships and relationships of nine friends/lovers are tested to their extreme. With the shock and intensity of any Albee or Tennessee Williams play, Mart Crowley tells the story of a group of friends dealing (or not) with their demons. Boys in the Band portrays people in turmoil with startling naturalism and hilarity deftly juxtaposed with tragedy making both extremes the stronger.
- February 2012
Bereavement is a song and dance. Watch people singing and dancing about it.
In this bitter-sweet new musical, the big secret about bereavement is revealed: no-one really knows what they should be doing. Curtain up and spotlight on six characters as they blunder through bereavement’s funny little cabaret, trying to make sense of grief and the unexpected extras it throws up. But once you’ve survived the barrage of tasteless funerals; needless guilt; ‘helpful’ advice and useless clichés, is anyone any the wiser about what it really means to lose someone?
Following the success of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Jet Set Go! and Jerry Springer the Opera, CUMTS is proud to present its first new-writing musical.
Praise for composer Jeff Carpenter: "Beautiful and enchanting" - Varsity (The Red Shoes) "Fantastic songs" - TCS (Treasure Island) "A gem of a production" - The Tab (Babushka) "Sensational music" - The Public Reviews, Edinburgh Fringe (Babushka)
Praise for writer Máirín O'Hagan: * "Really very excellent indeed" - The Tab (The Orphanarium of Erthing Worthing) "It's so funny that you'll laugh yourself into damnation" - Varsity (Act Casual)
- February 2012
A group of characters are on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. Whilst travelling they take it in turns to tell stories with the incentive of a free meal for the best tale. Some stories are somber, some comedic, and others just hilariously terrible! Added to this element are the tensions between the narrators in the group which, on occasion, result in exciting conflicts.
The Canterbury Tales are varied and fascinating, containing stories that range from morality and tragedy to farce. They will be presented in different forms from naturalistic to puppetry, physical theatre, musical theatre and mask work. We are looking for a cast that can multirole – playing everything from bawdy characters to traditional heroes/heroines and are focused and committed to producing an exciting and unusual show.
- February 2012
- January–February 2012
“It isn’t easy, starting a war, but nothing worthwhile is easy. And once you’re in, you’re hooked like a gambler, you can’t afford to walk away from the crapshoot once you’re deep into it”.
Mother Courage, formidable, vibrant, battleaxe of a woman, makes her living following armies up and down the country, peddling salvaged goods amidst a war torn wasteland. With her she brings her two sons and dumb daughter, dragging behind them their battered cart, both home and business in times of conveniently profit surging violence. Through them we meet a disarming world of brutality and charm, temperamental soldiers, braggart cooks and cowardly chaplains, as Courage continues in her unyielding venture, buying, selling, surviving; however great the cost. Matching the thrilling quality of its characters is a production of titanic proportions, bringing to you this Lent one of the most astonishing stage creations of the 20th century, a story that is utterly beautiful and utterly devastating.
“It’s too long since they had a war here . . . where’s their sense of morality to come from?
Don’t tell me peace has broken out again”
- January 2012
Lowell Belfield, Jason Forbes, George Potts, and Ryan O'Sullivan present PICK ME UP, a brand new sketch show directed by Ahir Shah. Through a combination of atmospheric setting, strong characterisation and jokes, these Smoker regulars will have you laughing and also in a theatre.
Featuring writers and performers from 'Broody', 'Now, Now', the Footlights Spring Revue and the ADC/Footlights Pantomime, PICK ME UP promises to change your entire life for an hour.
Recent praise for the writers/performers…
'A scarily instinctive knowledge of what makes audiences tick.' – Varsity
'One of the best things to happen to Cambridge comedy for some time.' - The Tab
- January 2012
SWAGGER is the annual dance show of the CUCDW dance society of Cambridge University, organised by current students. We are looking for a technical director, stage manager, lighting and sound managers, set designers and possibly stage-hands for the show which will take place between 24th-28th January 2012. The show includes dance performances from contemporary, hip-hop, ballet, rock'n'roll, Classical Indian, Belly-dance and many more. We need potential applications for these places to contact us as soon as possible.
- January 2012
The Cambridge University Show Choir gives a sneak peek into its 2012 season, ranging from heartfelt movie favourites to contemporary pop and thrilling mash-ups to soulful solos. A rare chance to see this popular group’s talented members perform acoustically. Ease your way back into term with this relaxed evening of musical entertainment.
- January 2012
“King Lear” is one of greatest works in Western literature, yet the challenges involved in performing Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece mean that it is rarely performed in student theatre. Set in modern day England, ETG’s “King Lear” will thrive on verbal and visual accessibility. Regal lavishness and the proud pomp of archetypal Englishness will spiral into a nightmare as Lear casts goodness and compassion into the wilderness and malice takes up the reins of power. The modern world of England will slowly collapse into a timeless Gothicism; everything and everyone being stripped of colour and distorted, leaving behind a terrifying skeleton of all things English.
With a reputation for pushing the boundaries of innovation and creating truly imaginative and utterly polished productions of great Shakespeare tales, this winter’s ETG tour of Europe looks set to be one of the most ambitious ever.
- November–December 2011
It’s 1979, and Ed and Isabel are on a blind date.
They really like each other - and each other's parents. As Ed and Isabel's relationship grows, so does their parents' enthusiasm. But tension litters their course: Isabel's dad won't speak to Ed, Ed's mum won't eat pork and no one will shut up. As these characters meet, eat, misinterpret and overreact, will the older generation be a catalyst or a catastrophe? This comedy about the sheepish beginnings of love, and the zealous involvement of parents,makes you wonder why couples stay together. Is it for each other, or is it for the other's family? For anyone who has practically dated their other half's mum or dad, 'Highlight' is two riotous acts of catharsis.
- November 2011
Could you create a play out of nothing in 24hrs? Come see the best theatrical talent in Cambridge do just that. Five directors, writers, producers, creatives & techies along with twenty five actors will form five groups and put on five new plays. This is the Cambridge version of the concept made famous by the Old Vic, which includes among their previous participants: Jim Broadbent, Joseph Fiennes, Josh Hartnett, Rosamund Pike, Kevin Spacey & Catherine Tate. No one knows what will emerge on stage in the 25th hour, but there can only be one overall winner, as chosen by the intimidating judging panel, and you the audience. What will the groups come up with? No one knows.
- November 2011
What would you do if you found a mysterious treasure map? Well that’s irrelevant. Treasure Island is the story of what young Jim Hawkins did. And what he did is very much the meat of this year’s ADC/Footlights Pantomime.
When a disgusting old sea captain leaves Jim a crusty old treasure map along with a whole heap of trouble, Jim sets off to unearth the legendary booty. Along with his bumbling friends and a love interest of sort, Jim sets sail.
But all is not well. The charming ship’s cook - a certain Long John Silver - is not all he seems, and there are whispers of mutiny.
Will Jim save the day? Only one way to find out! Join him as he swipes more swag and buckles more swash than any literary character to date (but not so much that it becomes repetitive).
The ADC/Footlights Pantomime is one of Cambridge’s theatrical highlights of the year, and brings together the finest comedians, actors and musicians in the University. Treasure ahoy!
- November 2011
'You should probably leave – it’ll be a savagely passionate affair, you’d hate it.'
Tenderly chained to her lover’s bed, beautifully decorated with chocolate sauce, Felicity has been abandoned. But that’s okay, because she won’t be short of company for long.
Fierce is the new comedy written and performed by Kat Griffiths.
- November 2011
From the twisted branches of the forest emerge some equally twisted storytellers. Taking charge of their cauldron of fairytales, they will conjure an unforgettable brew of gothic folklore and children’s nightmare. First there are the rogues: the black-hearted stepmother, the decaying beggar, and the charming old woman who will burn to death in her oven. There is a fantastical menagerie, teeming with flesh-mongering doves, the golden goose, and an amiable donkey, whose very bowel movements betoken good fortune. Then there are mysteries to be solved. Why are the locals sticking to each other and prancing through the hills? What use is a house fortified with gingerbread? And why does the golden slipper overflow with blood...?
Mingling the imagination of the Brothers Grimm with the dark humour of Carol Ann Duffy, this is one journey into the woods you certainly won’t forget
- November 2011
Defying the temptations of 17th-century France, the wealthy Orgon has devoted himself to his servant. That servant is a seemingly pious and moral man. But in reality, he is Tartuffe: trickster, swindler, master criminal and supreme disciple of Machiavelli. Slithering like a serpent, Tartuffe winds his way ever further into the aristocratic household. He leaves behind him an unparalleled trail of confusion and corruption: controlling master, seducing mistress, turning family member against family member – and even whipping the royal family into a frenzy.
In this lively new take on Moliere’s masterpiece, expect a multi-tiered wedding cake of comic abundance. It’s an enigma. It’s a romp. It’s Upstairs, Downstairs for the multiple King Louis generation. It’s the wildest house party known to man – and the invitation is entirely yours.
- November 2011
London, 1843. Marley has lain dead for seven years, mouldering in his grave and burning in the netherworld beyond. Old Scrooge sits festering in his counting-house, accumulating his money by the light of a single coal. At the stroke of twelve, Scrooge and Marley go head to head, hurtling across time and space as they battle it out for redemption... There has never been a telling of 'A Christmas Carol' quite like this.
Join two of Cambridge's most eccentric character actors as they give life to a sprawling ensemble of Dickensian grotesques. From undertakers to charwomen, petty thieves to vulpine orphans, kindly philanthropists to the spectre of Death himself - here is Dickens's supreme masterpiece in all of its rollicking carnival glory. At once a terrifying ghost story, a delightful comedy and a triumphant reminder of man's power to change, this enchanting modern fairytale is not to be missed.
- November 2011
“This is my Jerry Springer moment…”
Jerry Springer, America’s favourite controversial talk show host, suffers the worst day of his career as high art meets low culture in the funniest, most ground-breaking and most talked about musical ever made. Watch three contestants, all eager for their fifteen seconds of fame, reveal their innermost secrets to our host, as they set him up for the biggest show of his life - a showdown between good and evil.
Will Jesus see eye to eye with Mary? Will Adam forgive Eve? And can Jerry reunite heaven and hell, before it is too late? There’s only one way to find out.
In a new staging at the ADC, with the cream of Cambridge’s acting and singing talent, come and witness triumph, tragedy and trailer trash combining to create a genre-bending show that has wowed critics worldwide ever since it burst onto the cultural scene in 2001.
Tickets available at http://www.adctheatre.com/shows/show/1063 or on 01223300085
- November 2011
‘I am not a victim – oh no – That’s not a part I am willing to play – believe me.’
Amelia waits at home for her husband to return from war, with only her household help and detached son for company. When her patience and resilience are worn out, she resorts to increasingly desperate measures to bring her husband home, with no idea of how destructive her jealous and paranoid actions will prove to be.
Martin Crimp, ‘one of British theatre’s best-kept secrets’ (the Independent) reworks Sophocles’ Trachinae, blending Greek tragedy with modern dilemma. CUADC’s production promises to be an inventive and gripping telling of this story of desire, fear and self-deception.
- November 2011
When Dr Stockmann discovers the public baths are poisonous, he expects the people of his small Norwegian hometown to welcome him as a saviour. However, after the cost of the proposed improvements is made clear to the Mayor of the town, the pragmatic politician moves to manipulate both the press and public opinion against Dr Stockmann, his own brother.
‘You really are hell bent on our destruction, aren’t you?’
‘I love this town intensely. I’m wedded to it. Nobody wants to see their bride become syphilitic.’
Henrik Ibsen, widely hailed as ‘the Father of modern Drama’, tells a searing tale of honour, love and ambition. In a democracy, is 'the truth' ever more than what the the majority say it is? Is it worth pursuing at the expense of those one loves? Can the press be separated from power politics? Perhaps most pertinently, is Dr Stockmann’s discovery any more inconvenient than those that 21st century governments routinely suppress?
- October 2011
The Orphanarium of Erthing Worthing is a silly new comedy by two of Cambridge's biggest goofs:
"Orphans come and go, but some just stay for ever." Marcus is on orphanage work-experience and it's all gone a bit weird. Is it the eccentric proprietor with a fur-coat made of 'er not cats'? The Zimmer-frames piled up in the hallway? The fact that there's not a child in sight? Yes, it's probably that. In seventy years, no orphan has graduated from the Orphanarium of Mr Erthing Worthing, and Marcus has been sent by the villainous Jocelyn Cuddles to put a stop to this un-parented chaos. Cuddles, CEO of Closing Ltd, delights in closing everything he can: fridge doors, the borders of small countries, even his eyes. Now, it's the Orphanarium in the firing line.
Amidst the bunch of kleptomaniac/French-exchange/former glamour-model geriatrics is Dorinda, orphan nanny and all-round good-time gal. Will she be the one to convince Marcus that being an orphan is for life, not just for Christmas house-fires?
Probably, but that would be telling.
- October 2011
- October 2011
When Antigone defies orders from the state by burying her dead brother, she sets in motion a chain of events that rapidly spirals out of control. This ferociously charged play asks whether family bonds are stronger than civil ones, whether laws must always be enforced and if we truly have control over the decisions we take, testing the human limits of power and love. A new version by Richard Keith and Simon Haines; directed by Richard Keith.
Richard Keith trained and worked as a professional actor and director before coming to Cambridge, including performing at The Globe, the BAC, the Apollo Theatre, West End and directing at various London venues. He continues to teach at drama school and privately: whilst in London he was a member of the Young Vic Genesis Directors programme and The Royal Court Young Writers programme.
- October 2011
BROODY - a brand new sketch comedy show.
Week 2.
ADC Lateshow.
Ladies and gentleman! Are you sitting comfortably? You are? Yes. Yes… of course you are. You’ve all been sitting comfortably for far too long. Look at you, in those lovely comfortable seats of yours. Look at yourselves. Look at your faces. If you can’t manage that then look at the face of someone next to you. See what I mean? Horrible isn’t it? Really rather horrid… like… umm… prunes.
Last night after my dinner cereal (Special K), gazing into the mirror positioned on the ceiling above my bed, I looked into my old, old (old, old) eyes… and (as I stared into the abyss (which was my own soul)) I realised that I was feeling really rather broody. I really really wanted to have a baby. The Special K (2 bowls-a-day) challenge just wasn’t enough for me anymore…
Theodore Chester and Ryan O’Sullivan, frequent writer/performers in Footlights Smokers bring you BROODY, a brand new (dark and moody) sketch comedy (show).
