- November 2015
'I heard y'all talkin' about killin' Momma. I think it's a good idea.'
Dallas, Texas. The Smiths are just like any other American family. 6 grand in debt to drug barons, they hire 'Killer' Joe Cooper, a detective-cum-contract-killer, to murder their estranged matriarch for her sizeable life insurance policy. When Joe demands a rather unusual retainer for his services, a simple plan spirals dangerously out of control.
Explosive, gory and darkly funny, this Southern Gothic pulp classic by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Letts (Bug, August Osage County) has been causing controversy, on stage and screen, since it premiered in 1993.
- October 2015
From the team that brought you the sell out hypnotism show last year, we present The Hypnotist: Séance.
The Corpus Playroom has been transformed into a bridge to the spiritual world, through which the audience can interact with the dead, via The Hypnotist.
Prepare to see, hear and feel the dead in this brand new hypnotism show.
Volunteers, who must be aged 18 or over, can refuse at any point
to continue taking part in the performance.
- October 2015
‘What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure – to experience the world as a dynamic presence – as a changeable interactive thing?’
Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home? This one-person, verbatim play tells the story of Rachel Corrie’s short life and sudden death, from the words she left behind.
The play is by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.
- October 2015
‘That was the trouble with Elyot and me, we were like two violent acids bubbling about in a nasty little matrimonial bottle’
Private Lives is a thrilling and witty comedy not to be missed. A divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, are each on honeymoon with their new spouses, Sybil and Victor. When Elyot and Amanda notice they are honeymooning in adjacent apartments, they realise that they still love each other and decide to run away together. Initially their affair seems to be going well, but with wits as strong as theirs arguments quickly ensue. It is only a matter of time before Sybil and Victor turn up..
- October 2015
The Drury Lane Theatre, after-hours, 1828. Six years after the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and her stepsister Claire - ersatz lover of Lord Byron - reunite in an attempt to salvage their poets' dwindling reputations. Mary has written the truth about their history, and now Claire wants to stage it, perform between them the story of Byron and Shelley. And so, with all due fear, self-indulgence, and dramaturgical fiasco, they begin to do just that.
- October 2015
Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. They are brightly marked and have large, often colourful bills. The name of this bird group is derived from the Tupi word tukana. Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists hypothesize they do to establish dominance hierarchies. A toucan's tongue is long (up to 14–15 cm) adding to its sensitivity as an organ of taste. The colourful and large bill, which in some large species measures more than half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size, the toucan's bill is very light, being composed of bone struts filled with spongy tissue of keratin between them. The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth, which historically led naturalists to believe that toucans captured fish and were primarily carnivorous; today it is known that they eat mostly fruit.
“Toucan” is a world within your imagination.
A new sketch show from Footlights Guy, Sam, Jordan and Theo, who have collectively brought you Cirque De L'Extaordinaire, Pelican, Beluga, Hippo Concerto, Dystopia: The Musical, STIFF! (The Footlights Harry Porter Prize WInner 2014), Amygdala Wonderland, Sunset Eternal, The Marlowe Showcase, The Double, Laughing Fitz, numerous Footlights smokers, and many more.
Previous praise:
Varsity - "Highly original and truly hilarious"
The Tab - "The epitome of bizarre hilarity and joyous absurdity"
TCS - "Has half the audience dancing and the rest laughing"
- October 2015
When one man goes to war he leaves the city, his wife and brother. A year later only the wife and brother remain.
Christopher Shinn's new play asks what happens when people and events apparently thousands of miles away affect the heart and soul of a city.
“A political play and also a psychodrama about what Arthur Miller called the politics of the soul… The finest new American play I’ve seen in a long while” - New York Observer
- September–October 2015
For the ninth consecutive year the Pembroke Players Japan Tour will once again be be visiting Tokyo and Yokohama with a company of some of Cambridge’s finest actors, directors, and technical crew, to perform a Shakespeare play and give educational workshops in schools, theatres and universities.
‘They say this town is full of cozenage…’
Ephesus and Syracuse are in conflict. Any Syracusan found in Ephesus — a city known for disguise, deceit and sorcery — will be condemned to death.
One pair of twin brothers (both called Antipholus), and one pair of twin servants (both called Dromio) are separated at birth. When one Antipholus and one Dromio, both of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, they are thrown into a heady mixture of confusion and chaos: soon realising that in this city, things are definitely not all they seem.
'What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?'
Prepare for an intoxicating, entrancing Comedy of Errors, with live music and a stylish aesthetic inspired by Highsmith and Hitchcock. Enter a world of souks and bazaars, shady merchants, and figures hiding beneath wide-brimmed fedoras, a whirlwind of violent cross-purposes and social disarray, where the consequences of one’s mistakes may prove very dangerous.
‘I’ll say as they say and persever so, / And in this mist at all adventures go.’
- October 2015
Slip on some slippers, leave the kids by the fire, and shimmy yourself down to the Corpus Playroom for another evening of love, chat and laughter with the renowned king of broadcasting.
"...a masterclass in character comedy" - The Tab
- October 2015
...and another one begins.
'Switch' is a brand new sketch show with a dedication to continuity. 'Switch' is a brand new sketch show with a dedication to continuity. But not repetition. Repetition and continuity are evidently not the same thing.
It was once said that every joke is the set up of another - and so it is with sketches. This show aims to prove just how true that entirely fabricated saying is. Every sketch in 'Switch' will start in the exact same position as the previous one finished; performers may switch places, props may switch hands, but the flow of bodily geography will continue on uninterrupted. It will be your one constant, your comfort, and your guide.
BUY TICKETS NOW: https://www.corpusplayroom.com/whats-on/comedy/switch.aspx
One sentence ends...
- October 2015
Beluga whales are highly intelligent marine mammals, who use echolocation to find blowholes under sheets of ice. The echolocation organ is called the melon, because it’s shaped like a melon. Belugas can live for up to 80 years, and are very vocal, communicating through high-pitched sonic songs, giving them the nickname ‘sea-canaries’. A Japanese researcher says he taught a beluga to talk by using these sounds to identify different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to communicate effectively with sea creatures.
“Beluga” is a one-person comedy show by Jordan Mitchell, a cousin of the whales and member of the Footlights.
Buy tickets for Beluga and Hippo Concerto (A Stand-Up Show) and get £2 off. Just enter the promo code: 'WEEK0'
- October 2015
A gritty new drama set aboard Britain’s last hope in a global war. It’s 2030 and the War of Treaties is entering its fourth year, as the disastrous shockwaves of conflict continue to rage across the globe, embroiling nation after nation in an unwinnable conflict. The West lies in ruins, the East equally so, both devastated by the first use of nuclear weapons since 1945. And yet both sides fight on.
A crew of five loyal servicemen and women are manning the control room of Britain’s last surviving nuclear submarine. They’ve been waiting silently in the South China Sea for 7 months, with no communications from London, when disaster strikes and the submarine becomes fatally damaged. With less than an hour to live, the crew must decide what their final act on earth will be. Would you launch the nuclear missiles on board?
The human condition unravels as loyalties and identities breathe and die in the final hour of HMS Salvation, Britain’s last surviving nuclear submarine in the War of Treaties.
- October 2015
Come and join Cambridge Footlight Theo Wethered (Cirque De L’Extraordinaire; The Double; Sunset Eternal: A Stand-Up Show; Pelican; Dystopia: The Musical (A Sketch Show); The RSC Chemistry Olympiad 2012 Silver Award) for a night of comedy at the Corpus Playroom.
Through the medium of stand-up, sketches and humorous stories you’ll be taken on a journey of growing up, pursuing the meaning of life, but more importantly, escaping reality.
Previous praise for Theo:
“A dizzyingly broad array of skills… this was an act that had it all. 5 stars” – The Tab
"Highly original and truly hilarious” 4 stars – Varsity
Buy tickets for Beluga and Hippo Concerto (A Stand-Up Show) and get £2 off. Just enter the promo code: 'WEEK0'
- July–August 2015
- July 2015
Which is your favourite fandom? Does a Baker’s Dozen fit into the TARDIS? Could Satan be defeated by Cards Against Humanity®? Does one ring truly rule them all? Why does dubstep sound like Transformers having sex? If a fangirl implodes and a fanboy explodes, which one will “squee”? Did someone say Loki? What would you do if a fellow survivor told you to look at the flowers? He-Man® asks “What’s going on?” Do you know the answer to these questions, because it’s all geek to me. Thankfully this sketch show will sort your Muggles from your Bronies.
- July 2015
A double bill of plays by Gytha Lodge: Otherwise & Avoidance.
Harry and Hugh both know where they are. But that's about it.
Harry has woken up in a police interview room with no memory of the heavy night before. Trying to prove himself innocent of he-knows-not-what, he begins to bring his patchy memories to life. But his attempts begin to unravel when his characters won't play ball, and he becomes desperate when it's revealed that the crime they want him for is murder.
For Hugh, moving into a new flat was simply a means to a new job. But all is not straightforward. An unexplained hole in the floor is swallowing increasing numbers of things, beginning with a pot-plant named Nigel.
Two darkly comic plays; two missing weekends; two struggles to find the truth. But is the truth worth it if it will tear everything apart?
Praise for What Really Happened at the Weekend:
**** “An excellent and ambitious production... My attention was held throughout the 55 minutes, and this fact alone speaks loudly for both the story and the production.” – Catherine Meek, FringeGuru, on Otherwise.
**** "A tight, clever production of a twisted, dazzling, roller-coaster script.” – ThreeWeeks, on Otherwise.
“An intelligent and amusing play with an element of truth/dare and surprise, exploring an existential theme.” – NDFA One Act Playwriting Competition judges on Avoidance.
“A suspenseful, heart-in-mouth production: perfectly cast, and acted with real smarts and intensity.” – Mike McCahill, The Sunday Telegraph, on Otherwise.
- June 2015
A sketch show about everything you learn in your history books...or is it? History is usually written by the victors, but this time it's being written by losers. Literally.
- June 2015
WEEK 7 CORPUS LATESHOW
9:30 PM
The Well Of The Saints is a play in three acts by J.M. Synge. Drawing from sources as diverse as French Farce and Irish Folklore, Synge tells the story of two blind beggars, who have their sight restored, only to discover they might not like what they see. A rare opportunity to see a playwright performed who Samuel Beckett described as a 'profound influence'.
BOOK TICKETS NOW: https://www.corpusplayroom.com/whats-on/drama/the-well-of-saints.aspx
- June 2015
In the hilariously tragic confines of one small room in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, four people are waiting for the end to come. Hamm presides over all, blind and chair-bound, while his degenerating servant Clov tends to the pointless tasks that make up their routine and define their existence.Within two dustbins live the cripples Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s parents, completing one of the most bizarre quartets in theatre.
Bleak monotony, cutting wit, physical comedy and profound insights into human life merge together in this fantastic picture of the ending process. Tears and laughter are mutually dependent, a combination best summarised, as is the play itself, by Nell: ‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness’. Probing the darkest depths of what it means to be human, Beckett’s Endgame is a comic exposition of all our hopes and fears in the face of death.
- June 2015
You remember it well.
That sinking feeling before the interview, the panicked flick through the thesaurus to make yourself sound clever, the misconceptions, the self-doubt, the sexual confusion, the deceit, the vodka.
Being a fresher was never easy.
So why not cure that post-exam hangover by forcing yourself to re-live those equally horrendous and hilarious moments in ‘The Fresher Sketch Show: Revue of the Year’
We bring you the freshest and newest of Cambridge comedy talent, so come along and indulge.
- May 2015
Love is undeniably the most potent force known to humanity. The Ancient Greeks had many different words to describe its plentiful forms. Through seven of the most powerful words this compelling new play explores contemporary interconnected stories set in Cambridge.
Heart-warming moments demonstrate how love can keep a couple together despite age and sickness, or bind a family together unconditionally. Meanwhile, burning passion and love-sick intensity threatens to tear lovers apart and bring their lives to ruin. In moving scenes, one woman finds out if the mindfulness she teaches can actually help her through a silent crisis.
This riveting play reminds us of the importance of having empathy for humanity and how we are unified through our shared experience as human beings. The play has been written by a team of seven writers and was developed using a devising process.
- May 2015
Erik is a boy whose life has always been defined by violence. With an abusive stepfather at home, and his position as ringleader for a gang of abusive boys, it seems he cannot escape from it. After a heist gone wrong, his headmaster calls him in, accusing him of being the leader of a terror-regime, and states “You are evil, people like you must be destroyed…”
Erik is then shipped off to the exclusive, expensive Sveaborg boarding school, thinking he is given the change to reinvent himself, to lead a new way of life. But the Student Council and their regime of demeaning and degrading humiliation and principles of “responsibility for each others’ upbringing and discipline” soon test all of Erik’s patience and faith. Their cruelty seems to know no bounds, and seems to have no opposition.
Can you resist evil without resorting to evil yourself? Does doing evil things make you evil, or is it the other way around? This chilling production will make you question the very nature of “the evil”.
- May 2015
Maureen lives with her aged mother, Mag, in rural Galway, Ireland. The tensions in their damp kitchen simmer and sizzle like the porridge which rattles away on the stove. There are strange folk songs on the radio and a suspicious smell in the sink that might be related to Mag's urine infection.
A possible escape for Maureen means abandonment for Mag which she won't be accepting lying down. After twenty years in the old house, things are finally coming to a head.
Romantic, uproarious, and terrifying, The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a comedy of mothers, daughters, and lovers which has twisted and curdled.
- May 2015
Ageing denizens of Cambridge comedy Milo Edwards and Charlie Palmer are joined by some of their favourite comedians who are soon to leave the warm bosom of Cambridge for the bleak wastes of the outside world, also known as Dalston.
Join them for an hour of laughter, reminiscences and mourning for the loss of youth. Free tissues will be provided.
- May 2015
On the anniversary of their mate's death, three twenty-somethings, Ted, Danny, and Charlotte, decide it's time to make a change. Follow them through parks, raves, and greasy spoons, and watch as their youthful aspirations are tested by the unforgiving London night.
- May 2015
Martin wants it all. A happy marriage to Antonia and a delightful affair with the much younger Georgie. Yet his comfortable existence is upset when his wife reveals she has been sleeping with her psychoanalyst Palmer, and wants a divorce. Lovers are swapped around shamelessly as a brilliantly funny story, which is mostly satirical, at times bordering on farcical, ensues.
Set in the homes of the middle class in 1960’s London, the adaptation by Iris Murdoch and JB Priestley is a witty, sharp and intelligent exploration of marriage, adultery and class.
- May 2015
‘Would you string me up? Would you tie me down?’
Join us for an unrepentantly RUMBUSTIOUS, RIOTOUS and altogether RIVETING puppet show for adults! From shadow puppetry in Plato’s cave, child care arrangements with Punch and Judy, to War Ass (the critically panned sequel to War Horse), we’ll pulling your strings all night.
Featuring song, stand-up, improv, sketches, video, and a whole lot of socks – we’re here to remind you, puppets aren’t just for children.
- May 2015
What the Dickens! is an improvised comedy in the irreverent style of Charles Dickens. Expect big characters, with even bigger hats, as The Cambridge Impronauts (***** The Tab) transport you back to the timeless era of Dickensian London.
Your suggestions, including a title of the work, and a twist in its plot, inspire a unique comic creation; one of the many that Dickens himself never got round to writing. Whether it contains plucky orphans, devilish businessmen or tyrannical step-parents; each story has never been seen before, nor will it be seen again.
“brilliant improvisers... expect to laugh - a lot” - Varsity
“crazy, unexpected and hilarious” - The Tab
“It was the best of times...” - Charles Dickens
- May 2015
It's 1944 and Theresiendant Civilian Internment is expecting a visit from a member of the Red Cross. In preparation, Nazi commandants prepare a spectacle, hiding reality.
This five act production tells the true story of this notorious incident of WWII.
- May 2015
The Fletcher Players and Shadwell Society bring you “Smorgasbord”: a brand-new festival showcasing the most exciting and original extracts from emerging student playwrights.
Hosted the Corpus Playroom, this is a casual opportunity for writers to have their work performed on-stage, with the chance for the pieces to be discussed and critiqued afterwards by the audience.
Unlike many other writing festivals, there are no limits to the works being presented – they can be complete plays, extracts from a larger piece, or rough first drafts – as long as they are less than 10 minutes in length.
Come and see some of the boldest works of new theatre in their rawest and most creatively fertile state.
- April–May 2015
When her son comes back home after months of wandering, Sprout tells him to leave again. In order to persuade him, she tells him a story that she has never told anyone before...
This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and an acacia tree blooms. She comes up with a plan to escape into the wild—and to hatch an egg of her own.
An anthem for freedom, individuality and motherhood featuring a plucky, spirited heroine who rebels against the dogmatised world of the barnyard and embraces her perils with love, ‘the hen comes out of the yard’ is a story of universal resonance that is a reflection on society, nature and the world at large.
- April–May 2015
Did he fall? Or was he pushed? Only one man can cut through massive bureaucratic duplicity and reveal what happened to the suspected anarchist who died at the bottom of a fourth-floor police station window.
In a world of commonplace deception and organised corruption, he stands as a bastion of honour and justice. He also happens to be a notorious liar, quick-change con artist, and certified maniac.
Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo’s explosive political farce, inspired by a true story, in a version by Simon Nye ("Men Behaving Badly"), brought to life in a riotous new production.
Come and witness a masterpiece in comic absurdity, a feat of acid wit and farcical bravado, and see for yourself whether there is any method in the madness.
- April 2015
Set in the studio of struggling news channel, Headlines follows a group of journalists dealing with sensationalist stories, the breakdown of relations in the studio, and the possible rise of the living dead. Jumping between the studio, where the journalists try to keep on top of spiralling events and the possibility of a communist take over in the catering department, and stories from journalists in the field. Headlines is a surreal, darkly comic original satire
- April 2015
The New Mexico Desert.
Leave your home. Go to the other side of the world, to a country that looks like nothing you’ve ever imagined. Go there and fight for an idea. Fight for your God. And wait and sweat and starve for your God. Trust in Him, trust in the captains He set over you, trust in the priests He sent to help you. Just keep fighting.
“Is it God’s work? Because it doesn’t look like it. Not when you’ve got as close to it as I have.”
A tense psychological thriller exploring war, belief and power against the harsh backdrop of colonial New Mexico. In the dusty borderlands of the Spanish Empire, four young soldiers are waiting for the captain who will bring them home. But their trials aren’t over just yet.
- April 2015
A new comedy by Colin Rothwell (Cambridge Impronauts, various acting nonsense). It is 1562, and the Holy Roman Emperor is dead. As is traditional, the Prince Electors are convened to elect a new Emperor.
It’s just that for once, the Prince Electors aren’t quite what you might expect. There’s King Ferdinand of Bohemia, he’s a traditional choice. Margrave Franz of Brandeburg, a little young, but nothing too much out of the ordinary. But Duke Frank of Saxony, at 10, is a lot young, and certainly shouldn't be refusing a regent. And finally, there’s Count Palatine Frederick of the Rhine. For the first time in history, a woman.
Who in Christendom is up to the job of leading the Empire through this troubled time? Will the Prince Electors manage to pick the right candidate? And what, exactly, does the Pope have to say about all this?
- March 2015
ALBATROSS PRODUCTIONS presents a new version of Shakespeare's Cymbeline.
Modern Britain, home to liberal thought, social progression and a renewed sense of pride. The monarchy, having enjoyed strength and stability from recent surges in nationalistic interest, is now facing adversity from abroad and from within. Princess Imogen, heir to the throne since her brother's disappearance, and heart-throb of many, has finally decided to marry. Having eschwed kind but misguided offers to marry her step-brother, Imogen instead opts to propose to her girlfriend, Posthumus. King Cymbeline, himself a pioneer of the Marriage Equality Laws, is now embroiled in untimely personal conflict. The Queen won't permit a gay royal wedding, but losing his daughter would enfranchise his detestable step-son - and, with a backlash invasion from Italy on the horizon, he needs his kingdom as united as possible.
