- April 2017
Cambridge Regional College’s final year acting students present an evening of short plays! The three witches have gathered on the heath to await Macbeth, only he’s late... What are these tardy thanes like? Two months have passed since Katherine received threatening letters in the post, but both her and her husband are horrified to discover a letter promising death this very night has been posted to their holiday cottage. Looking for love? At this speed dating event couples enjoy each other’s company over a plastic glass of warm champagne. What more could you want of an evening? The students will also present a ten minute telling of the story of Macbeth through expressive movement.
- March–April 2017
- March 2017
A play about an interracial (black/white) queer couple who are putting on a play about their relationship in order to provide social commentary on contemporary race and gender politics. They trust each other, having been together three years. But the process of devising the play reveals just how much of a defining role race plays in their relationship and individual experiences of the world, throwing up unresolved issues and - challenging them as writers and actors, as well as the audience to think critically about the intersection between race, gender and sexuality. A love story that asks questions and who and why we love and the things that separate us from one another.
- March 2017
In the centennial year of the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele the Corpus Playroom presents John Wilson’s classic, ‘Hamp’. Amidst the horror of World War I, Private Hamp, a nonentity whose undistinguished simplicity borders on simple-mindedness, has been plucked from the grime of a Lancashire mill town and flung down in the bloodsoaked mud of Passchendaele. But when one day Hamp scrambles out of a shell hole and walks away from battle, the Army finds itself compelled to notice his existence. He is court-martialled for desertion in the face of the enemy. Is everyone too preoccupied with the war to trouble about his 'insignificant crime’, as Hamp reassures himself, or will he pay the ultimate price?
This poignant play sheds light on what for many years has been a taboo subject in discussions of the First World War: the treatment of deserters. Despite first being performed in 1964, 'Hamp' still raises questions over the meaning of heroism & cowardice in the hell of war.
- March 2017
Batrachophone, noun: The voice of a frog.
In the space of an evening, The Batrachophone will introduce you to his bizarre collection of friends. He has invited them to sing, smile and soliloquise. They're all just as weird as him – apart from Balthasar the snail, he's the normal one. Just remember:
Frogs don't go 'ribbit', they go 'brekekekex koax coax'.
This is a brand new and first one-man show by Aurélien Guéroult. A.G. has appeared in footlights smokers and other things. Previous 'praise' includes:
'Serial offender of pantomime' – The Tab
'Emphasis is achieved through volume, with hard, dentalized sounds' – EdFringe audience review
- March 2017
A 20-year-old, Pakistani inner-city girl Husna arrives at K.K. Harouni’s residence in Lahore. K.K.Harouni hails from an established land-owning family in Pakistan. He is elderly and powerful. The purpose of Husna’s stay is to learn typing, nevertheless right after her arrival, Husna and Harouni begin a sexual relationship. As the plot unfolds, Husna, originally a distant poorer relative of Harouni, learns to locate her social class among layers of servants and Harouni’s relatives. The plot reveals the corruption and tension deeply set in Pakistani land-owning society through Husna’s lens and the result of this injustice primarily for women in lower classes. At the end, Harouni dies leaving Husna humiliated and confused. The play is a tragi-comedy and is set in modern times.
The play is an adaptation of a short story by an American-Pakistani writer, Daniyal Mueenuddin. Daniyal’s collection was named “In Other Rooms, other Wonders” after this story. His collection was selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
- March 2017
“You stepped over the line.”
Shy, awkward, gentle Adam meets experienced, analytical Evelyn. Together they embark on an intense relationship which sees Adam go to extraordinary lengths to improve his appearance and character. Under Evelyn’s subtle and insistent coaching, we witness the gradual reconstruction of Adam’s fundamental moral character. At every step, we wonder how far Adam will go to prove his love for Evelyn, how far he is willing to stray from himself and his friends to mould himself into an ideal shape. Meanwhile, his best friends’ engagement crumbles. ‘The Shape of Things’ forces us to ask ourselves; how much of yourself would you change for love? How far would you go for your art? And is there a line between the two that cannot be crossed? Love. Art. Manipulation. ‘The Shape of Things’ brings all three together and asks where the boundaries between them lie.
- March 2017
Half past five on a Friday evening, and a school’s electronic door-locking system shuts down for the weekend… with four teachers still in the staff room.
Claustrophobia sets in. Tea turns into alcohol. Ties, jackets and the ceremonies of the school day are shed, giving way to messy power plays, grievances and the desire to behave badly. But they are still haunted by the ultimate threat in their job that keeps their behaviour in check. And it isn’t the headmaster.
This brand new comic drama asks where the boundaries of professionalism lie, and how much pressure it takes to reveal the petty, paranoid, impulsive teenagers inside even the most polished individuals.
‘I have practically run the English department for the last three years, and you have bought me a bottle of wine with a screw cap.’
- February–March 2017
“Most people's lives—what are they but trails of debris, each day more debris, more debris, long, long trails of debris with nothing to clean it all up but, finally, death.” Mrs. Venable’s son, Sebastian, died last summer while on holiday with his cousin Catherine. Who was he really, and what actually happened? Mrs. Venable’s illusory idea of Sebastian must be shattered in what has come to be appreciated as one of Tennessee Williams’s most poetic pieces. Sexuality, shame, family: come and be totally immersed in the stifling atmosphere of one of Williams’ best one-act plays.
- February–March 2017
Everything is perfectly prepared, even at disastrous dinner parties. When a ‘news babe’, her biologist husband and a Bohemian, ex-lesbian artist are all invited to dinner, no one is expecting a boring evening. But maybe the evening that Paige and Lars find themselves hosting is a little more exciting then they signed up for, with the unexpected arrival of a burglar, more than a few confessions, and some truly unpalatable dishes. Black Mirror meets Come Dine With Me in a hilarious take on our pretensions and secrets that combines death, less than fine dining, and Welsh people.
- February 2017
Declan Amphlett is halfway through his year abroad. He's trying to work out how to finish it.
Join him for a one-night stand in the Corpus Playroom. And then come and see his show afterwards.
From one of the people who brought you the CUADC/Footlights Pantomime 2016: Rumpelstiltskin, Footlights Presents: Xylophone, Switch: A Sketch Show, Babushka: A Sketch Show and Verbal Remedies: A Stand-up Show, comes a brand new hour of comedy that the Guardian has described as “please stop contacting us, we don’t know who you are”.
Previous praise:
"Superbly written and ingeniously performed” ★★★★★ Cambridge Theatre Review
"Boundless energy, slick performances, and endless variety" - ★★★★★ The Tab
“an uproariously funny and curiously affecting performance” ★★★★★ Varsity
“undeniably funny” ★★★★ Three Weeks Edinburgh
- February 2017
- February 2017
A Taste of Honey is set in Salford in the 1950s. It tells the story of Jo, a seventeen-year-old working class girl, and her mother, Helen, who is presented as flighty and uncaring. Helen leaves Jo alone in their new flat after she moves in with Peter, a rich, younger lover. Jo begins a romantic relationship with Jimmy, a black sailor. He proposes to Jo but ends up going to sea, leaving Jo pregnant and alone. She finds lodgings with a gay man, Geoffrey, who takes on the role of surrogate father. This play pushes so many boundaries way before its time making it exciting and entirely appropriate for today's audience, particularly in our current political climate. Wonderful characters, wonderful writing - this play is a real treat.
- February 2017
Join the Cambridge Impronauts for an hour of first dates, faux passes and happy ever afters. Watch a brand new improvised romcom, based on your suggestions, unfold before your eyes in the corpus playroom. All we want from you is a reason our protagonist is unlucky in love, their place of work and a title for the show and we will do the rest, warming the cockles of your heart and making you belly laugh in the process.
- February 2017
“Maybe there’s someone out there who won’t let you die. Maybe he has something planned for you…”
Two wandering con-artists arrive in an unfamiliar town, their eyes peeled for just one prize idiot.
Worming their way into the mayor’s confidence, this histrionic narcissist and his long-suffering companion have soon bamboozled the townsfolk into submission. Events rapidly escalate as the charlatans settle upon the ultimate scam: tricking a young citizen into believing she’s a fictional character.
A Fool to his Folly is a play exploring immortality, power and the dangers of allowing oneself to be consumed by fiction.
- February 2017
- February 2017
When Elliott graduated, the dream was to make the world a better place. After a year as an unpaid intern at Amnesia UK, the only dream is actually being able to afford lunch. Now the only thing standing between Elliott and an actual paid job is one fundraising concert. How hard can it be?
Very, actually. Lies and misunderstandings breed more lies and misunderstandings. Soon Elliott is stuck in a backstage farce that’s only getting more ridiculous and the fact that all the acts think they’re getting paid isn’t even the biggest problem...
- February 2017
https://vimeo.com/202564794
'I haven’t seen you in years, I don’t even know who you are any more but, fuck, yes I’m here for you, Ray, and I put that in writing we go through a whole procedure and you don’t… appear to give a shit.'
Ray has been discharged from mental hospital. The play charts his attempt to rejoin the wider world, under the care of his sister, who, busy running a restaurant and short on sympathy, can’t stop her brother from drifting into old habits, especially not when his best friend is a drunken old man prone to apocalyptic rages. Relationships grow, patience shortens and long-silenced voices start talking again as Ray and his new life hurtle towards breaking point.
“The most thrilling playwriting debut in years ... The writing is razor-sharp, sensitive, quietly eloquent, full of the touchingly drab poetry of lost lives.” - Sunday Times
- February 2017
Eggbox Comedy and CUMTS Present HOT GAY TIME MACHINE
Do you like COMEDY? Do you like MUSICALS? Do you THE GAYS? If you answered yes to most of those questions, you will love Hot Gay Time Machine.
Toby Marlow. Zak Ghazi-Torbati. Gays. Music. Dance. Comedy. Talent. Lights. Camera. Action.
This will be an original EXTRAVAGANZA of musical comedy, unlike anything Cambridge has ever seen #before.
Let us take you through the history (or 'gaystory' LOL) of the world through MUSIC, COMEDY and CAMP.
Expect the unexpected.
Expect the expected.
All expectations are welcome.
Join Zak and Toby, as they take you out on an evening of outrageous songs, hilarious comedy, and mind-blowing costume changes that will BLOW your MINDS. So what are you waiting for? Gay marriage? WELL WE GOT THAT ALREADY WAHOO. SO COME PARTY WITH THE GAYS.
- January–February 2017
“You can’t explain me. Spagger. Victim. Attacker. Addict. Lover. Priest. I am one of those sorts who is impossible to explain.”
Stuart is an alcoholic, drug addicted, violence-loving, “chaotic homeless”. Alexander is a middle-class, Cambridge graduate and volunteer at the local homeless shelter who decides to write Stuart’s biography. As their friendship blossoms, he peels back the layers of a troubled past and discovers just as much about his own along the way.
Working in partnership with local homelessness charities, this is a production which seeks to challenge your pre-conceptions and transform the Corpus Playroom into a site of social activism.
Hilariously funny, yet shockingly tragic. This is their story, told backwards.
- January 2017
doppelgänger (noun): an apparition or double of a living person.
Join Luisa Callander, Footlight and small-scale woman, for an hour of slightly odd comedy – starring some characters who all look just a smidgen too much like her.
Previous nods, winks, and tips-o'-the-hat:
“Callander exhibits a relaxed and effortless quirkiness on the stage, making her instantly likeable” – TCS
“surrealist, occasionally dark, yet somehow always light-hearted and innovative” – The Tab
“moments of comedic genius” – Broadway Baby
- January 2017
Simone's Speaking Service organises for inspirational speakers to talk to high-performing undergraduates at universities both in the UK and abroad, encouraging students to think about their lives, their careers, and their futures.
Join Cambridge comedian John Tothill for an hour of absurd character monologues in this hilarious, bizarre and heart-warming one-man show, playing for just two nights at the Corpus Playroom. Meet Professor Julian Pringle, academic and public intellectual, as he ruminates on the key to a happy life with his inimitable flair. Or local councillor John Higgins, who this year is running for the esteemed post of Mayor of West Fumberland. And, of course, Simone-Diane le Roulé, the unbelievably successful businesswoman-cum-impresario who brought these extraordinary men and women together.
It’s a show that you’d be mad or busy to miss. John Tothill reminds students that to have these speakers give up their time to talk to you is a privilege, so get your tickets now.
Previous praise:
‘A triumph of character comedy’ – EdFringeReview ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
'Simply delightful' - The Tab ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- January 2017
The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Oliver and Bernadette are about to find out.
'Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons' is a dystopian rom-com about a young couple, Bernadette and Oliver and their developing relationship in the face of a new censorship law that bans all British citizens from speaking more than 140 words a day.
When every word is sacred, how do we say the things we really feel to those we care about?
- January 2017
In 2014 Mark Bittlestone Came Out As Gay, As If Being An Orphan Wasn't Funny Enough!!
Which is worse? Losing both your parents in awful circumstances or being gay? Sadly, Mark Bittlestone doesn't have the luxury of choice. Join gay orphan Mark Bittlestone for an hour of laughs based on a lifetime of horrible tears.
Of course, people with Mark's colossal misfortune need your help. Well...Mark doesn't, but he's acutely aware that others do. For this reason, all proceeds from 'Pity Laughs' will go to the charities Just Like Us and Cancer Research UK.
"All the homosexuality of comedian Alan Carr with neither of the parents" - The Tab
- January 2017
Enter into the world of a Euclidean textbook in the early seventeenth century, where a melancholic young square named Quadro dreams of becoming the perfect circle. Meanwhile, his dastardly friend, the base Rectangulus, decides to seek revenge on the entire shape-world, turning Quadro, Line and Circulus against their weary sovereign, the Compass. Geometric chaos ensues, as the characters in an overused textbook are finally given the chance to rebel against their lot in life.
Transcribed and published by the Malone Society in 1983, ‘Blame Not Our Author’ has not been performed since it was penned in the Jesuit English College in Rome circa 1630. Written for students some 400 years ago, it is packed with visual gags that are farcical, witty, and still eloquent to anyone familiar with school geometry lessons.
- January 2017
In 1950's Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the three Mcgrath sisters have returned home, awaiting news of the family patriarch - their grandfather - who is living out his final hours in hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried and facing dwindling marriage prospects; Meg, the middle sister, has returned after a failed stint in Hollywood, and the youngest sister, Babe, is out on bail after shooting her husband.
Their troubles, serious and yet hilarious, unravel throughout the play; as past resentments bubble to the surface, the sisters are forced to face the consequences of the various “crimes of the heart” that they have committed.
An example of black comedy at its finest, Crimes of the Heart is a comedic exploration of loneliness, deceit and ultimately what it means to be a family.
- January 2017
‘You’re right. I may forget who you are. I may bring other women here, to this place, and I may tell them I love them, and make love to them. But they will be imposters. And I will be a ghost.’ A man takes his lover to a remote fishing cabin for a romantic getaway. He claims she’s the first and only, but is there more to the river than meets the eye? Big Squirrel presents the Cambridge premiere of Jez Butterworth’s latest play The River, a haunting new drama by the writer of Jerusalem starring Robin Maurice Owen, Emma Von Schreiber and Kattreya Scheurer-Smith.
- December 2016
Join Santa and his assistant, Ellie The Elf as they try to get everything ready for Christmas in time.
- December 2016
Blasted Heath, has never truly recovered from the strange days of madness, meteorites and that indescribable colour out of space.
Live Foley sound effects and intense, dramatised readings bring to life this Lovecraftian masterpiece. As the lights dim you'll be left shrouded in darkness, allowing Shedload’s uniquely vivid method of storytelling to paint otherworldly horrors before you. Live sound effects crafted by some of the most unassuming objects of the everyday and more, help create an atmosphere which never fails to place the spectator into the belly of the story- therein lies the mystery of ‘The Colour out of Space’...
- December 2016
- December 2016
“No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused” Join Paper Planes for a heartfelt and joyful improvised story based on A Christmas Carol. Watch our character's journey as they encounter three spirits - one each of past, present, and future. One-by-one, the spirits takes them through a Christmas which has, is and could have been, leading to a change of heart... An improvised musical Christmas adventure, with a puppety flavour.
- November–December 2016
Lily is dead. Who was she?
It seems even her friends don’t know.
As they gather in Eleanor’s living room after the funeral, Lily’s friends attempt to remember and celebrate her life, but their discussion soon turns inwards. Though they talk about Lily, they actually say very little, and end up revealing more about themselves than about her. In the wake of death, they think of their own jobs, children and love affairs; their own life forces are brought to the fore as they deal with the idea of death. They take chances, and take trust in each other. Tangled relationships unravel and quiet sufferings find voice in this strange afternoon of grief and false smiles. In the limbo space of the living room, they express their desires and confront their demons. Love and death meet head-on.
Jack seems to be the only person truly focussed on mourning. Unlike the others, he has no trouble in remembering Lily, but how will he ever let go?
- November–December 2016
BATS presents....
"I was arrested last week. I haven't been able to book any flights. I can't take out more than £20 at the cashpoint in one transaction. Also my Boots card used to have 1900 points on it, and now they've all just vanished from the system."
On his thirtieth birthday Joseph K is arrested and nobody will tell him why. Thrown headlong into a confusing and illogical maze of bureaucracy and strangeness, K faces the impossible task of holding onto an ever- shifting reality.
Tom Basden's darkly comic adaptation of Kafka's classic novel The Trial relocates the story to twenty- first century London, collapsing the boundary between K's world and our own and tapping into the fear that our lives are not our own.
- November 2016
August 1939; three days into her job as a journalist, Clare Hollingworth is sent to Poland to report on the growing tensions. It is there she discovers a line of German tanks lined up on the Polish border, poised and just awaiting the order to strike. It is there she warns the entire globe that World War Two has just begun. It is back in her English newspaper office, however, that her contribution is glossed over, her name forgotten and her story erased from our history. All because she was a woman in the male dominated, cutthroat newspaper business.
Right Place Wrong Time tells the remarkable true story of how one woman saved the world and how the world repaid her by forgetting all about her. The story is presided over by present day 104-year-old Clare and told through a series of flashbacks acted out by her younger self and an ever changing cast of characters.
- November 2016
“Are you my Butterfly?” Rene Gallimard’s dream is to love and be loved by The Perfect Woman, but he expects little after a lifetime of rejection. So when he is sent on a diplomatic mission to China only to be entranced by actress Song Liling’s alluring performance in Madame Butterfly, he assumes that his advances will be rejected once more. To his great surprise, however, Song suggests that the feelings might be mutual. Blinded by joy, Gallimard catapults into a torrid love affair without hesitating to consider that things may be too good to be true. Unwilling to accept anything but his dream woman, however, Gallimard ignores the widening cracks in order to preserve the illusion that he has yearned for all his life. A play about deception, stereotypes, and the power of blind belief, 1988 Tony Award winner M. Butterfly observes the collision between expectation and reality and the wreckage left behind.
- November 2016–April 1908
Hatch is a collection of dramatic student writing - between five and ten minutes in length - of all different genres and styles that make up over an hour of some of Cambridge's most creative student written theatre.
