- March 2015
One naive fresher encounters a spirit too many in this terrifying tale about a Cambridge University degree. Matt learns the hard way not to consort with ghosts when his misguided wish to achieve academic success has haunting consequences. Matt races through his past to secure his future and get the ghoul of his dreams. It'll be dead good.
- March 2015
'The best thing to happen to the sky since rainbows'.
Based on the BBC Radio 4 show “Cabin Pressure” by John Finnemore copyright Pozzitive Television Ltd, ‘Cabin Pressure’ is set in the cabin of 'GERTI', a charter airplane run by ‘MJN Air’ and examines the relations between and the antics of the four crew members as they fly across the globe: Carolyn (the owner of the MJN), Arthur (her son and hapless flight attendant), Martin (captain) and Douglas (first officer). The crew pass their time by engaging in games, bets and general tomfoolery; making a madcap comedy that is as fun for the actors as well as the audience.
- March 2015
Back in the early 90s, Daniel Leigh applied to join the East Coast rap group the Wu-Tang Clan. After narrowly losing out on the final spot to Method Man, he found himself in the hip-hop wilderness for the next 20 years. Now he is back, exacting vengeance in the form of an hour-long stand-up show.
- March 2015
“They think I am the most beautiful thing in the world. And I don’t mind being a thing. I don’t want their respect.”
Leah is a fifteen-year-old girl who is nervous about losing her virginity. She Veets everywhere and practices her cum face in the mirror. Georgie is thirty and feels frustrated with the turn her life has taken. Having recently ended a long-term relationship and quitting her job, she spends her days lounging around drinking wine and masturbating.
Set on a double bed, the play follows these two women as they try to navigate their sexual identities. In an age of Blurred Lines and widespread access to pornography, FREAK explores the ‘female need to be validated by the male gaze’.
- March 2015
Late at night, 1941, London – heavy rain and the distant crashes of heavy bombing.
Max Slater, engineer for the British Government is preparing a demonstration for a field agent. Corks with a compartment for secret messages, lighters with secret cavities, hollow coins and keys with concealed blades are tonight’s entertainment.
She will arrive any minute. Cara Satin.
But surely it can’t be his Cara Satin? The girl who always seems to turn up at the most unexpected moments and turn his life upside down all over again.
In 1991, two researchers are writing a book about a legendary spy, Cara Satin, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. They visit the home of an elderly couple where the husband, Max, claims to have known her. Will his fondly held memories hold the answer to Cara’s whereabouts?
- March 2015
Broads on the Way - scenes of absolute uproar and confusion! A comic show jam-packed with ludicrous parodies of well-known and loved musical numbers, bizarre satirical sketches and really strange dance moves!
Come on down for a night of fun, madness and laughter that will make your abs hurt in the morning!
- February 2015
'Dreaming with Dalí' is an hour long surrealist sketch and monologue based comedy play which tells the story of Salvador Dalí's quixotic journey into his own subconscious mind to discover the greatest surrealist object there has likely ever been. It provides the opportunity to experience for the first time what it would be like to dream as though you were inside the weirdest mind of the past hundred years and promises to be very odd indeed.
- February 2015
“Let’s just say… that the trees have names? Okay? That’s right- the trees. I know- you think I’m crazy.”
Attempts to define her? Attempts to save her? Or attempts to ruin her life? A harrowingly realistic portrayal of one private life, presented through a kaleidoscopic disarray of personal vignettes, unravels the tale of a woman, enveloped by the demands of the twentieth century. Crimp’s display of twenty-first century obsessions clutter the stage as we are bombarded by memories of childhood, violence, unprotected sex, terrorism, pornography and commercialism. But we are all asking ourselves the same question: who is Anne? Or Anya? Or Anna? One woman, an ‘other’, a nobody in modern society.
Martin Crimp’s ground-breaking seventeen ‘scenarios for the theatre’ first baffled theatre-makers in 1997 in its first appearance on stage at the Royal Court with its sparse, alienating play form and rich language, the continues to question our use of theatre today, and the way we use the stage to depict real life.
- February 2015
‘Pub quizzes may attract customers to a pub who are not found there on other days.’ – Wikipedia
In an odd, dingy pub, a ragtag bunch of unlikely characters are roped together to form the final team in the weekly Pub Quiz. Betrayal, rivalry, nibbles, nuns; all is laid bare on the sticky table as they stumble their way through the rounds. A new comic play where trivia, sketches and music combine for a night at nobody’s local.
- February 2015
'There's no dark like a winter night in the country. And there was a wind like this one, howling and whistling in off the sea. It was this type of night now. Am I setting the scene for you?'
It's a windy night and the local men are gathering at Brendan's pub for their daily pints. The arrival of Valerie, a stranger to the town, sets the men on edge. As the drinks flow, so do old tales of things that go bump in the night... But Valerie has her own tale to tell, and when she shares it the group will never be the same again.
Hopeful and heart-breaking; expect toe-curling ghost stories and belly-warming laughs in this Olivier Award Winning modern masterpiece.
Praise for the play:
'The play of the decade' - Express
'I am convinced that this is the best new play I've seen in years' - Sunday Telegraph
'I have rarely been so convinced that I have just seen a modern classic' - Daily Telegraph
- February 2015
A new surreal and sophisticated sketch show. Expect some film, some settings, and definitely some styles. Written by two finalist Englings whose time has come.
- February 2015
Did you hear that? Where did that even come from? Do you hear the people sing? It doesn't matter. Join just less than half a dozen fervent, frivolous and 3/5 female comedy types as we search internet soundboards for noises that make us laugh the most.
There will be snakes, planes, and unintentional alluding to popular films. Also, a welsh man.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Well a sound paints a thousand pictures. Just think of how many pictures you'll walk away with.
Do come.
- January 2015
Two men: a management consultant from Manchester; an Assistant Scout Leader who has an obsession with Ronan Keeting. L’Escargot is a two-man comedy play that follows the paths of these men stranded in Paris after their flights home are cancelled.
Forced to stick together, the two heroes set out to discover the city they always overlooked. But as they journey deeper on a winding exploration of famous (cliched) sites, they become embroiled in the lives of other characters (a Parisian show girl, a Dutch priest, a rather curious mime) and each other's.
Amidst the chaos and uproar wrought across the cultural capital of the world, one question remains: can you spot the snail?
- February 2015
Based on the true story of the assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Les Justes is a tense drama unveiling the experience of the group of assassins responsible. Camus’ little known existentialist play weaves an intricate picture of the people behind the plot, stripping back the layers of revolutionaries and socialists to reveal their desperate humanity. A philosophical and thoughtful work, the play raises questions about the morality of assassination and its human impact, whilst retaining a story that has both heart and passion. It will be performed in English.
- February 2015
Hatch is back, showcasing scratch performances of new dramatic and poetic works in progress from the hotbed of Cambridge literary talent.
A fantastic insight into fresh new writing in its infancy, there will be an informal post-show discussion for audience, performers, directors and writers to pick apart the evening’s work.
Hatch is a unique and exciting opportunity to be a part of a writing process.
- February 2015
“Like it's fine to say 'having sex with a dog is quite weird' now. But our children's generation might be all like 'that's discrimination!”
One-night stands are awkward. One-night stands with animals are more awkward. And when you're as desperate to please as Bobby, things get awkward as f*ck. He's just a guy with too much love to give, and a burning desire to give it to consensual adult mammals. A one-man tragi-comedy from award-winning playwright Rob Hayes
‘Finely crafted comic dialogue and strikingly surreal moments... Hayes is no ordinary writer’ (Time Out)
- February 2015
'Racing Demon’ follows a group of vicars in inner-city London struggling to come to terms with the modern world. People no longer trust their way of life, and scandal is never too far away from them. Lionel is a man who no longer relies on his faith. Tony navigates his own chaotic morals to little success. Frances is forced to anchor the lost souls of her life, despite holding no beliefs of her own. Harry is hounded by the press looking for a juicy story, struggling to keep his private life under wraps. These people do their best to fight in the face of persecution, asking the question: "How do you fight without hate?" David Hare’s ‘Racing Demon’ opened in 1990 to universal acclaim, and won four awards as Play of the Year. It has enjoyed numerous revivals, and continues to be respected as an exploration of religion, conflict and politics.
- February 2015
Kenneth Watton (six time carrier of the British Broadcasting Bowl) extends a warm invitation to the recklessly somnambulant to join him, and several respectable guests, for a late evening of wit, chat and revelry.
Gather your best bed linen and journey back in time to the proverbial land of mahogany slippers and received pronunciation. Bring your own snook.
- January 2015
Providenciales, a Caribbean paradise. A local woman and two tourists meet on a hot patch of sand.
"Why would I do what I do back 'here' when I aint back 'here' - I'm 'there' - don't make no sense - I'm not at home am I. Am I? I'm 'there' on holiday"
One subject. Two worlds. Three points of view.
A darkly humorous and quietly brutal meditation on female sex tourism, investigating the indignities inherent in international trade through the lens of first-world women visiting a third-world resort, purses stuffed with local currency and British Kitemark condoms, searching for something special.
As the sun beats down and another 'highball glass of su'un sweet' is consumed, disturbing transactions take place; sex and romance, consumer and consumed, victim and perpetrator become ever more difficult to tell apart. On this beach, 'tourism' is the title under which indignities thrust by one culture onto another are permissible in the name of commerce, and for the alleged betterment of a flailing economy.
- January 2015
'Your eyes are blank. They're like a blank screen, Ian'.
Ajax, one of the greatest warriors in Grecian legend, cursed by the gods with a frenzied madness. While he believes to be slaughtering his enemies and achieving his goals, he wakes to find only slain cattle and his sanity littered about him. Ajax440 is an innovative retelling of Sophocles’ powerful Greek tragedy for the digital age. The myth is now transposed onto modern day, where virtual violence runs rampant, and a mysterious new video-game has gaming-addict Ian in its thrall...
A warrior, punished for his arrogance. Or driven mad by his need for escape?
Reviews have called us 'truly excellent. a tight, original and gripping adaptation.' (TAB)
'inventive and clever. smooth and confident.' (VARSITY)
'clever. inimitable. ultimate. superb. all-consuming. sinister and chilling.' (TCS)
- January 2015
A new farce of dark comedy and pamplemousses set in the sexy, cloak and dagger world of Art History. It's 19--, and the fashion for using dashes to indicate a vague date is taking Paris by storm. Everyone becomes very, very confused when Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire are arrested for the recent theft of the Mona Lisa (this is almost a history fact). Can they prove their innocence? Can they persuade their next door neighbour that they are not having an affair with his wife? And, most importantly, can they find the right word to describe the Mona Lisa's smile? Find out in this one-door tragi-farce, the latest product from the invent-a-genre warehouse.
- January 2015
Tessa’s home. Unannounced.
Michael has stopped eating again.
She makes a deal with him: she’ll stay, but will only eat what he eats, when he eats. She’ll live with him and cook for him every day until he gives in.
Michael, however, isn’t ready to submit.
Attempting to live with each other again and deal with their past, Tessa begins to discover first-hand Michael’s struggles of living as an anorexic.
A brave, boldly original and unashamedly frank insight into one couple's battle with anorexia and each other.
“I have a mantra. Quod me nutrit me destruit.”
“What nourishes me destroys me.”
- January 2015
Orlando sometimes struggles with defining who he is. He didn't take a gap year, and so never had the opportunity to find himself. He will endeavour to do so in his first solo hour of stand-up. Words will be spoken.
- December 2014
Experience theatre as you never have before and immerse yourself in three of Edgar Allan Poe's classic Gothic tales, presented for your visual and auditory pleasure. Witness a man suspended in the exact moment of his death; the torture of a prisoner held in absolute darkness; and the unhinging of a man under the influence of a strange and Machiavellian creature.
Shedload Theatre are back with their unique blend of dramatic reading, live Foley effects, and on-hand lighting to bring you their new macabre showcase: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit And The Pendulum.
- December 2014
The Cambridge Impronauts termly long form show. See some of their best members create an improvised fantasy epic before your very eyes.
Improv is Coming.
- December 2014
“Civil hands make civil blood unclean”
It’s 2014. There’s a new pill on the streets. Ask the Friar. Mercutio wants to try it. Juliet’s Bethnal Green BBQ - Rosalind and 3 other friends attending. What lady is that? She speaks.
The Friar, a drug dealer, commands authority from the periphery. Rosalind’s seduction remains a lingering and accessible temptation. Paris has sweet hopes for his relationship status. Mercutio lives in half-hour highs and wants his mate back.
This exciting new adaptation of a classic tragedy returns to Cambridge after a run at the Edinburgh Fringe.
With the warring families abolished, the star-crossed pair are left to impose their own obstacles if they want the thrill of forbidden love. No Montagues, no Capulets. Love sabotaged by modern whims.
Edfringereview.com - "A quick, bold and explosive play... Engaging and compelling. Stunningly executed" ✯✯✯✯ Varsity - "Matilda Wnek and Claudia Grigg-Edo’s re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, embraces all that is great about the Fringe."
- December 2014
More stand-up from most of the team behind 'Ted Hill's Quip Tease'.
- November 2014
"How bizarre, curious, strange. Then, Madam, we live in the same room and we sleep in the same bed. It is perhaps there that we met!"
--
Performed in a mixture of French and English with English surtitles, this production embraces the humour of Ionesco's absurdist masterpiece.
The Martins are invited to dinner chez the Smiths, and the evening gets more and more peculiar… Mr and Mrs Martin no longer recognise each other, the maid thinks she’s Sherlock Holmes and thanks to the arrival of the local fire chief, the evening descends into chaos and mindless gibberish.
"La Cantatrice Chauve", or "The Bald Prima Donna", explores the breakdown of communication and satirises social conventions. Expect an extravaganza of language, physical comedy, music, mime and endless silliness.
- November 2014
[description of show]
[title of show] is a one-act musical that chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival. It follows the struggle of two writers, Jeff and Hunter, as they strive to channel their sarcasm into writing an original, meaningful musical. They enlist the help of two actress friends: the wonderfully sassy Susan, and Heidi, the only member of the group who has actually made it to Broadway. With just three weeks before the deadline, is there any chance that they will achieve their goal?
If an essay crisis could be a musical, it would be [title of show]. Come see the Corpus Playroom reach a new level of meta.
[end of post]
- November 2014
A new hour of musical comedy from Will Dalrymple and Jamie Fenton. Fresh from Smokers all about town comes a comedy duo who will have you saying things like 'Yes, I've noticed that' and 'That was expressed in quite a funny way', or even 'Crikey. Satire.' Featuring a wry musical take on swaps, a song about the vaguer sort of Christian, and an excerpt from the new musical 'Operation Yewtree! The Musical', never before performed to the public. They tried, but people kept throwing things.
- November 2014
"I feel like everything I do is a performance for lapel mics and security cameras. Like there’s something in me which is the only real thing in the world and someone is trying to bleed it from me." A soldier comes home. A journalist loses his mind. An advertising firm markets a war. An adaptation of Aeschylus' Oresteia for a century of humanitarian intervention and marketised warfare, war war brand war interrogates family, war and tragedy in the internet age. As changed technologies and identical hubris lead nations into deadly wars with all of the relentlessness of the ticker tape that scrolls across the bottom of news channels and stock exchanges alike, one family's imbalance of power brings violence to an international arena.
Thom May has written for the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Court Studio Group. "war war brand war" is the winner of the 2014 RSC Other Prize.
"Intelligent, urgent and formally playful ... the play demonstrates the emergence of a clear and confident dramatic voice" - Pippa Hill, RSC
- November 2014
“Sometimes in my head I think it works, and then... Sometimes I just think it's crazy.”
David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize winning play confronts the madness of family, death and maths in a subtle and absorbing story.
Catherine has spent years caring for her mathematically brilliant but mentally unstable father. Now she also has to deal with his nosy ex-student and her estranged controlling sister and they both seem to think that she’s the one who needs help. As she tries to negotiate her relationships with them both, everyone begins to question what’s true about Catherine and everyone has a different theory and different ways to prove it.
- November 2014
Join award-winners Tom Fraser (most improved bowler, 2003) and Seb Sutcliffe (handwriting, 2004, 2005) as they embark on one of the shows of the term.
The Corpus Playroom is set to turn into a mad house of sketches and silliness for an hour as Seb and Tom show you how dumb they can be. Prepare for as much of the old wordplay also.
Leave your issues and anxieties and political views behind, because Tom and Seb have created a world that will not give into shite.
All we promise is fun.
- November 2014
"Hell is other people."
Three damned souls are trapped for eternity in a small Second Empire drawing room where the lights are always on and no one can sleep.
Jean Paul-Satre’s existential classic weaves a blackly comic triangle of desire, spite and violence as the three inhabitants wrestle with each other and with themselves. Each have their own secrets to tell, each have their own lies to expose. The pressure-cooker spirals into a maelstrom of manipulation, mockery, and malice.
- November 2014
A night of exciting new stand up comedy.
It promises to be a Jolly Good night...
- November 2014
“My mother- almost on her deathbed- no, on her deathbed, made me swear that I’d never be a slave to any man.”
July 1945. The eve of the Labour election victory. In the courtyard of an English country home, the servants celebrate. Down in the kitchen, dizzy with the hedonism of a new social era, the daughter of the house, Miss Julie, seeks out her father’s chauffeur. Together, the two embark on an evening of passion and betrayal.
