- December 2022
Hamlet learns of his father's sudden death, whilst watching his mother remarry his uncle within weeks. Devastated by grief, Hamlet must grapple with relationships, family and his own unstable mind, as reality and his fantasies blur.
Our version of Hamlet invites the audience to delve into the psyche of the unstable Prince; they leave the theatre unable to distinguish the tragic events from the creations of his mind. The production will preserve an antiquity that cannot be pinned down to a particular time or age, drawing our focus to the inner psychology of Hamlet instead of the peripheral setting he finds himself in. We also hope to breathe purpose, dimension, and depth into the character of Hamlet, leaning into his youth and the difficulties that come with this.
The European Theatre Group was set up in 1957 by a group of students including Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Trevor Nunn, and has toured Europe with a Shakespeare play almost every winter since.
It is an ambitious coach-bound operation; a company of 25 or so tour with professional lighting and sound equipment, costumes and an experimental set, enabling us to put on a show absolutely anywhere.
Over time, ETG has developed a reputation at home and abroad for producing exciting, innovative, experimental and professional interpretations of classic texts, attracting the most ambitious actors, technicians and creative forces from within the university.
Sadly due to COVID, the tour has not happened since 2019, but this year IT IS BACK!
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November–December 2022
Under-represented Genders do Improv? 'The audience will be back every night for more' - predicted Dawn French*. Well we've only gone and spoiled you...365 nights later, Comic Sans has returned! Goofy, HILARIOUS, incredibly witty - and that's just women and non-binary people normally. Imagine them on a stage - oh wait ! Seize this wonderful opportunity to SEE them on stage in comic-improv brilliant-ness! Get ready...it's Comic Sans: Times New No-Man.
*or rather, Dawn would have, I'm sure, prophesied this had she seen it - we have last year's Tab Reviewer to thank for this quote.
- November 2022
Scary Old World is a sci-fi sketch show set in a drowned world, on a mysterious cruise ship, in the pits of existential despair. It draws on social satire, Ballardian dystopia and so on. It will be sometimes dark, sometimes absurd, sometimes satirical, but all of it will firmly ensconced within sci fi comedy.
It will also - shock horror - tell a narrative across its different sketches. A ship sails through the sea... but wither? One person remembers there being a time before this ship, but what was it? Watch as our protagonist scales the whole seedy social hierarchy of this little ship in their quest for the truth. If, indeed, true truth can ever be revealed...
- November 2022
Lights! Camera! Show Choir!
CU Show Choir presents an evening of your favourite songs from Hollywood and beyond! From Footloose to Mamma Mia, James Bond to Pitch Perfect, come along for an hour of fun-filled entertainment.
With four-part harmony and cheesy choreography, A Night at the Movies will be the perfect end to term
- November 2022
In the midst of woeful underfunding and ridicule from local private school St Perfectton’s Prep, join the students and teachers of Grove Park Secondary as a mysterious pirate offers them the geography field trip of a lifetime. Will they find Billy Bones’ lost treasure? Will Jemima Hawkins fulfil her dreams of adventure and find the love of her classmate Lily? And will by-the-books Geography teacher Mr Livesey learn that there is more to life than longshore drift and oxbow lakes?
Geography Trips have never been more thrilling than in ‘Treasure Island!’, a story of swashbuckling, sea-shanty singing and self-discovery.
- November 2022
It's the 90s - Tony Blair has just won the election, Katrina and the Waves have won Eurovision, and no one knows who Harry Potter is. Oasis is king - Britain is the coolest place in the world.
At the local secondary school it's a different story. Tobias, the German language assistant, watches as this ordinary school goes through an era of immense change. Miss Belltop-Doyle can't control her year 10s, Mr Pashley has been put in charge of a confiscated tamagotchi, and Miss Turner is hoping that this muck-up day goes smoother than the last.
Devised by the Wardrobe Ensemble, and performed by a cast and crew of Cambridge University theatre freshers, Education, Education, Education is a love letter to the school system, childhood nostalgia, and really bad club music. Things can only get better.
- November 2022
Girton College, 1896. Headstrong and brilliant, Tess Moffat arrives in Cambridge in pursuit of her academic studies, even though female students are denied the right to graduate. The new cohort of ‘blue stocking’ women face a tumultuous year of misogynistic professors, disgruntled male peers and a disapproving public. But even as they navigate this university steeped in tradition, they find themselves amongst a growing political movement calling for change, and a vote that would finally allow them to enter the world as graduates.
Jessica Swale’s exceptional play is a heart-warming and humorous exploration of the rights for education, the cruelty of the class divide and women’s suffrage.
- November 2022
The Marlowe Showcase is an opportunity for 12-14 graduating actors to perform in front of industry professionals, including agencies and casting directors. This year our professional director is Imy Wyatt Corner and we are opening applications for two graduating student assistant directors to work alongside Imy and contribute to the final production.
The show consists of two performances, one in Cambridge and one in London. The Cambridge show will take place at the ADC on Thursday 10th November and the London show will take place on Wednesday 23rd November.
The showcase is a fantastic experience for those who are serious about entering the creative industry once they’ve graduated from Cambridge University. It is open to all who are entering their final year at Cambridge, regardless of past experience and engagement with the theatre scene.
- November 2022
Pushing the boundaries of theatrical expectations, this brand-new production, written by a group of Cambridge students, is an epic journey of the senses.
The Waste Land is one of the first ever theatrical responses to T.S. Eliot's masterpiece and will be staged on its 100th Anniversary. Exploring the broken fragments of our culture, the production examines the nature of human connection and asks what meaning can be taken from the realm of the spiritual.
This amateur production is presented by an arrangement with Faber and Faber.
- November 2022
Do you know who you’re talking to? Who brings a sheep to a party? Are there any lesbians living outside the M25? Could a seagull carry a pug? What is love (baby don’t hurt me)? Are you sure you know who you’re talking to? Cambridge Footlight Izzie H-P explores queerness, rurality and language in her debut solo comedy hour LEECH!. Hold onto your pride - it’s gonna be a wild ride.
- November 2022
I want to dance
I want to dance
I want to heal the world through DANCE
I want to dance
I want to dance
I want to feel alive through DANCE
I want to dance
I want to dance
I want to dance
Somewhere in America, a revolution is brewing. If they dance well enough, they can fix the world. Dance Nation is an electrifying story of ambition, sexuality and power. Harmless dances become sites of ritual. Teeth become fangs. 13-year-old girls become pagan gods, and politicians, and mothers.
- November 2022
N.B. this show has been cancelled
Welcome aboard the Fine Duchess, Fine Line’s finest cross-Channel ferry! Join Charlie, a cynical corporate agent, Kay, a serious-minded young lawyer, and Finlay, a hapless trainee, who’ve been sent aboard to make half of the crew redundant and see that they leave the ship quietly. Bear with us as Fine Line’s crass tactics cause outrage and management lose control of the situation. Conditions may be choppy – but rest assured that the crew will take good care of everyone in their charge. Bon voyage!
Inspired by the mass sacking of P&O Ferries staff in March 2022, Dan Ward’s original satire asks what professionalism means in today’s world and considers what we owe one another as friends, colleagues and strangers.
- November 2022
At the height of the Cold War, a loutish American Grandmaster and an earnest Russian champion clash amongst the influence of lovers, governments, and nations.
With music by ABBA legends Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and lyrics by Sir Tim Rice, Chess features international hits such as 'I Know Him So Well' and 'One Night In Bangkok'
- October 2022
Following the success of Dragtime! Presents: #squadghouls and Dragtime! Presents: Hot Girl Midsommar, Cambridge's premiere drag troupe is back, back, back again and this time they are inviting you to enter their Haunted Haus, full of flying wigs, demon twinks, and razor-sharp nails. :O :O :O
Yes, this autumn Dragtime! is returning to the ADC with their FOURTH Halloween show, treating you to the tricks of the best new drag talent this city has to offer. Hold on to your seats as Dragtime!'s kings, queens, and in-betweens take you on a thrill-inducing ride through the dark side of drag, featuring singing, lip sync, spoken word, burlesque, live music, and more!
- October 2022
- October 2022
‘I will be remembered! I will be remembered! - if not in fame, in infamy…’
Respected composer Antonio Salieri’s unflinching devotion to God comes to an end when he meets a new rival by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. How can a man so trivial, so infantile, so obscene, be blessed with divine talent? Transformed by envy and hatred, Salieri dedicates his life to ruining Mozart's.
Accompanied by a live orchestra onstage, Peter Shaffer’s hard-hitting masterpiece dives into the gravest and most thrilling consequences of greatness, love, and the fear of mediocrity.
- October 2022
Sam is gay, Sam is Catholic, and Sam's mother doesn't think he should be dating his boyfriend. An exploration of the intersection between faith and sexuality, Greater Than Ourselves engages with a mother and son's endeavour to define what love means to them.
- October 2022
Approaching thirty, Johnny is a struggling theatre composer, waiting tables at the local diner and watching his New York life tick by. His best friend is making corporate money and his girlfriend wants to leave the city, but he just can’t give up on his stagnating dream of writing the next great American musical.
This semi-autobiographical musical explores Jonathan Larson’s life before ‘Rent’, both the culture and pressures that culminated in his Tony Award winning legacy, and brings a fresh performance following the 2021 hit film.
- October 2022
- October 2022
"The worst slums in Europe. That's where Dublin came from. Out of the shit and into the world."
Life long Dublin docker Patrick has passed away surrounded by his beloved wife Esther, his son and grandchildren. As they remember his life, Esther recounts a tale they are yet to hear. In Our Veins follows their family through 100 year of Dublin, from the notorious madams of the Monto to love in the dark tenements. This is the story of a Dublin City that no longer exists, where it came from and the people that helped build it.
- October 2022
‘I cannot live without my soul’. Cathy and Heathcliff are a pair whose very names are synonymous with passionate desire: the ardent flame of their love, set against Gothic mists and earthy, rugged moorland, effloresces with fresh vibrancy in Andrew Sheridan’s entrancingly poetic rendering of Wuthering Heights. With all of the sustained intensity of the original text, Sheridan’s script conjures a thrilling, dream-like environment in which exterior and interior worlds blur. With inner lives coalescing amidst snatches of song and hauntingly fragmented dialogue, Sheridan’s reformulation of Brontë’s masterpiece lends a classic tale an arrestingly modern edge.
- October 2022
Is all’s well that ends well? For Shakespeare’s characters they have to save a king, run away to war, deceive a married man, disown a son, and kidnap their own soldier before things look brighter. And even then, things end better for some.
All’s Well That Ends Well is one of Shakespeare's problem plays. Crossing between comedy and tragedy the staging of this play will be whimsical, dark and funny. A modern minimalist retelling of Shakespeare's dark comedy. Run by the Production team of the cancelled American Stage Tour.
- September–October 2022
- September 2022
Join us for a celebration of amateur drama – a number of short plays by drama groups from Cambridge and around, and this year from farther afield too! Everyone will be striving to present their best work, which our professional adjudicator will comment upon and judge which is the best overall dramatic achievement. Will you pick the winner? Might you spot up and coming young stars of theatre? Comedy, drama, theatre classics, new writing – the programme is wide and varied! You’ll find a full listing on www.camdramfest.org.uk
Meet your friends in the bar afterwards and exchange opinions over a drink or two . . . . be an adventurous theatregoer and come to the Cambridge Festival of Drama!
- July 2022
A brand-new musical by writers and musicians local to Stamford and Peterborough. Our story follows three sisters who inherit a necklace, The Sparkling Eyes, from their ballerina mother which may or may not have been a gift to her from Russian Tsar. The 1929 financial crash has left the eldest sister impoverished, the youngest dealing with a less than reliable boyfriend and the stable stalwart sister stuck in the middle. Then add in two husbands and a mysterious letter, sisters are divided and their family bond put to the test. What follows are some delightful songs, upbeat tangos and rhumbas, some fabulous 20s dancing, a few misunderstandings and the truth about the story of the mysterious Sparkling Eyes!
- July 2022
Award winning classic British comedy based on the much-loved 1955 film. Crime doesn’t pay – but it can be hilarious! Since 1955, the classic comedy film has entertained audiences worldwide and is now transformed into a multi-award winning play by Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted and The IT crowd. Criminal mastermind, Professor Marcus, and his gang of oddball villains posing as musicians, meet their match when they take up residence in Mrs Wilberforce’s dilapidated house. They figure their sweet-natured old landlady will be easily hoodwinked. But beneath her demure exterior, Mrs Wilberforce is made of sterner stuff and, in the end, she turns the tables on the bogus quintet. Crime doesn’t pay –but it can be hilarious!
- July 2022
Ballet Central presents a programme created by internationally acclaimed choreographers. The works include original pieces created on the company’s dancers which showcase the skills, artistry and versatility of young performers, all on the cusp of professional careers. Mikaela Polley’s new piece is a celebration of the dynamism of the ensemble featuring classical ballet and contemporary dance. New choreography from dance industry influencer Ashley Page is to music by the composer John Adams. Ballet Black’s Mthuthuzeli November has created a new piece which demonstrates his distinctive choreographic voice. Cathy Marston’s 2020 piece Moving, Still is being restaged especially for this year’s tour. This is a chance to see dynamic contemporary dance and the grace and power of classical ballet performed to powerful music.
- June 2022
Tony Harrison’s masterpiece in verse theatre, voted one of the best 100 plays of the twentieth century, ‘The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus’ brings Sophocles’ missing satyr play ‘Ichneutae’ to life. This rowdy, riotous comedy begins in the sands of Egypt as Grenfell and Hunt, two Oxford dons, become obsessed with discovering the lost play. Hunt is relegated to reading petitions to governors and receipts for loans, whilst Grenfell becomes possessed by the god Apollo, as he gets closer to finding the fragments. Harrison brings to life the story of the first lyre and the dancing, swearing, unruly satyrs who tracked it down. No sooner had they found it, they were banned by Apollo from ever producing music again. The play asks who controls history and culture? What receives orchestral recitals and what is noise pollution? Who’s allowed to tell their own tragedy?
- June 2022
Welcome to Tomorrow's News: the news tomorrow, today. Now in live-action!
- June 2022
All aboard The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2022: Are We There Yet?
Buckle up as we hit the road for a tour of life itself, visiting more sketch-shaped destinations than a travel agent could dream of. Join five curious tourists for a holiday filled with laughs, quirky characters, and sand in uncomfortable places.
‘The most renowned sketch troupe of them all’ (The Independent) embark on their annual international tour with a brand-new show, travelling to London, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, New York and more! You’d be silly to miss it.
- June 2022
David and Evelyn have the most traditional of marriages- he’s gay and she’s a lesbian- but neither of them know about the other. Oh and it’s 50s America at the height of the Red Scare against communists, accompanied by the lesser known Lavender Scare when anything that varied from heterosexuality was considered inherently dangerous to the populace.
After the whirlwind arrival of new neighbours Angela and Harold, our gay pair scramble to avoid Harold’s investigations while at a dinner party with both of their lovers. As the night descends into burnt chicken, wine and chaos, the noose tightens and everything our definitely-actually-in-love couple has built is put at stake.
- June 2022
- June 2022
‘I’ve looked at all that - marriages and all that - and what do you get for it? What do you get?’
On the night of his 35th birthday, Bobby struggles to think of anything he wants, as a lone bachelor surrounded by his married friends. Over a series of dinner parties, weddings and cocktails, he starts to confront why he is so afraid of being alone, surrounded by a world of ‘crazy’ heteronormativity.
Featuring some of his most iconic songs like The Ladies Who Lunch, Not Getting Married Today, You Could Drive A Person Crazy and Being Alive, Company is one of Sondheim’s groundbreaking musicals - a funny, heartbreaking and poignant look into marriage, vulnerability, loneliness and what it means to be alive.
- June 2022
Based on the 2005 British film Kinky Boots, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth and mostly inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price. Having inherited a shoe factory from his father, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola to produce a line of high-heeled boots and save the business. In the process, Charlie and Lola discover that they are not so different after all.
