- February–March 2012
‘It’s just that I suddenly feel, I suddenly feel – help me – I suddenly feel lost. I don’t know who you are’.
A couple relocates to the country with their family; a fresh start in their new house in the middle of nowhere. But Corinne is suspicious of her husband Richard: is he telling the truth about the unconscious person he has rescued from the roadside? A stark and darkly comic dissection of a couple’s fidelity, this intriguing play is part domestic thriller, part word battle, and part game of stone/paper/scissors.
Martin Crimp is one of Britain’s most exciting and innovative contemporary playwrights – 'The Country' has been described by the Independent on Sunday as ‘a riveting piece ... by one who delights in his craft’.
- February–March 2012
There are two sides to every story…
Ever since he first saw her, Frederick Clegg has been obsessed with Miranda Grey. The repressed, introverted butterfly collector admires the beautiful, privileged art student from afar until he wins the Lottery and buys a remote country house, planning to bring her there as his ‘guest’. Having abducted and imprisoned her in the cellar he soon finds the reality is far from his fantasy and their tense, claustrophobic relationship leads to a devastating climax.
‘A fine psychological thriller…enthralling…an evening of compelling nastiness’. Daily Telegraph ‘Images will recur in your nightmares for years to come’ The list (Glasgow and Edinburgh)
- February 2012
It's a big day for Britain. Seb Coe's got a bloody tie on (plus suit - he's consistent/has a stylist) and Hitler's still dead. The Olympics are 'coming home' and it rests on the plucky shoulders of three display plane pilots to make sure the celebration befits the occasion. 'Pilot' is a one-set, one-act comic farce: a cockpit cock-up.
- February 2012
Les Justes is an incredibly powerful and dramatic play. Written by Nobel Literature Laureate Camus, Les Justes tells the story of a group of Russian Socialist Revolutionaries as they plan to assassinate a Grand Duke. It is a tense and emotional play in which anger and love characterise the relationships between the protagonists. Camus’ play makes us question the objectivity of right and wrong and shows us the terrifying potential of ideology and dogma. Les Justes is a straight play and it will be performed in English (not the original French).
- February 2012
A hunger artist. A silent artist. A lecture to the academy on apes by the most qualified speaker imaginable. A son who will do anything, anything to earn his Father's love. A man doing anything to earn a place in, and out, and in, and out of a woman's bed. But above all, the man who stands before the Law - a door he may only pass when...when...?
Welcome to the dreamlike world of Franz Kafka. Uneasy Dreams is an adaptation of the short stories and sketches of the iconic author of The Trial and The Metamorphosis; his fables turned into a fairy-tale carnival of outcasts and grotesques. Black humour and music mix to create an evening of horror, menace, and joyful weirdness.
Prepare to awake from uneasy dreams and find yourself transformed.
- February 2012
1950s New York. A longshoreman is screaming in the street, demanding respect before he loses everything. Eddie Carbone lives with his wife and niece in a world where he feels comfortable, in control; but it all changes when his wife's cousins, two Italian immigrants, come into his life and home and shake the very foundations of the family. Secrets surface, prejudices come out and the battle to be the alpha male begins. A tale of twisted knives, paper dolls and what it means to be a man. Miller's tragedy strips man bare and shows him with all his flaws with shocking consequences.
- February 2012
The machine can predict, with complete accuracy, how you are going to die. It gives no date, no specifics, only a slip of paper upon which are printed the words DROWNED or HEART ATTACK or CHOKED ON A PRETZEL. Machine of Death presents a world in which everyone knows how they will die. The stories based around this idea are morbidly interesting, but often amusing and thought-provoking as well.
Sid loathes Norma’s endless party games, but how far will he go to sabotage them when a machine of death gets involved? Can Dunmere be elected prime minister despite his embarrassing demise? And how will Simon cope, knowing he's going to be torn apart and devoured by lions? Join us to find out the answers to these questions, and more, in Week 3 at the Corpus Playroom.
- February 2012
- January–February 2012
Rookie is a ballsy new sketch show brimming with contradictions and those bloody women you love to hate. It features six of Cambridge's favourite female comedians, whom you may have seen in smokers, watching smokers, in the library and walking to the shop. Members of Rookie have previously been described as 'Funny,' 'Odd' and 'Stalkerish' (The Tab). So hang up your man gardens, dust off your lady boots and join us for an evening of lovely lady lol-fodder to get your cockles warm.
- January–February 2012
Elektra's father has been murdered - and now she wants justice. Down in the fields outside the house, amidst the sound of old spirituals and work songs, she plots revenge upon the killer: her own mother. The final piece of the puzzle is the return of her brother Orestes. But when he finally arrives on a sweltering summer's day, can he be the hero she wants him to be? Ezra Pound & Rudd Fleming's visionary translation relocates the Greek tragedy in the Deep South of America, in a new take on this gripping tale of family feud and retribution.
- January 2012
You are so lucky | That we cannot remember | How to use doorknobs.
An original adaptation of Ryan Mecum's book, Zombie Haiku follows one lone survivor's journey through ruined houses, decimated cities and abandoned airports as they contend with exploding petrol stations and reanimated work colleagues. Bringing the humour, emotion and darkness of the book to the stage, this production blends physical theatre, music and (of course) haiku for an entertaining exploration of what happens when the living clash with the undead.
The city is dead | Streets are filled with people | Who aren't quite people.
- January 2012
Ben and Gus are waiting for an assignment.
Their Revolvers lie dormant.
The dumb waiter whirs into life.
A masterclass in taut dialogue and shifty, shifting dynamics, The New Arcadians are proud to present Pinter’s acclaimed black comedy, The Dumb Waiter.
- November–December 2011
Pierre Novellie, that guy from 'Now, Now' and 'The Mexican Standoff', has a show. Watch! In awe as he engages the audience with some stand up. Thrill! As he discusses interesting topics in an hilarious way. Gurn! As he tells ridiculous anecdotes from his life and then makes things up. Essentially I’m a doing a stand-up show, guys – come along and see! There will be prizes.
- November–December 2011
"He pats her... his patting becomes beating and he continues beating her even though she's screaming..."
Nancy’s existence is on hold until she finds her missing 10 year old daughter. Agnetha wonders if her work investigating the minds of criminals is starting to affect her own thoughts. Meanwhile Ralph, sitting on a bench, feels the hot sun on his face, and spies the next little girl he’d like to keep him company for a while.
Frozen dares to ask whether it’s possible to understand the minds of serial killers, and ultimately to forgive them.
Frozen has previously been performed at the National and on Broadway. It was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, and won the Theatrical Management Association’s award for Best New Play.
- November 2011
In Jeff Carpenter’s ongoing offence against theatre, now he tackles religion. Staging a kids’ nativity panto for students, expect showtunes, German Zoroastrian scientists, a horrendously evil King Herod, surfer-dude shepherds, and theological impossibilities at every corner! Will Joseph ever manage to propose to Mary? Will King Herod succeed in his plot to kill baby Jesus? Will the animals’ protest anthem be heeded? And will the hormonal dementia of a pregnant woman be the only way they get a room in the inn? Find out in Michaelmas’s most deranged and at times offensive Nativity Musical.
Previous praise for Jeff Carpenter includes: ‘This production has a lot in common with a terrible, terrible night at Cindies.’ – Tab
‘This was a travesty... I do not know what the director was trying to achieve.’ – Varsity
- November 2011
On Midsummer's Eve 1889, in a sweltering basement kitchen, Miss Julie asks her footman to dance.
"He's trembling, the big strong boy”...
From the Director who brought you Endgame, ('exhausting'…'brilliant' …'utterly enervating to watch' - Cambridge Tab, 'darkly amusing' …'wonderful', ***** Varsity), we bring you the dangerous joy of August Strindberg's Miss Julie, stunningly re-imagined by award-winning playwright Helen Cooper.
- November 2011
Duologues. The greatest invention in theatre since the monologue.
This will be the first ever annual Playroom Duologues Competition, in which dramatically-minded pairs shall battle it out against each other in a contest where you, yes you, are the judge. There shall be a cash-prize for the winner so it’s a given that there will be some raw and uncut passion on display. They’ll make us laugh, they’ll make us cry and they’ll make us question why anybody would ever bother with a soliloquy.
A must-have ticket for those of you out there that like the idea of drama but just can’t commit to the notion of a full-length show.
- November 2011
Beginning Middle End is a play based on real love stories, sent in anonymously and dramatised by 6 actors. The play consists of three couples' beginnings, middles, and ends.
- November 2011
- November 2011
Bird Pie A rural massacre! Singing corpses! And pie!
On a farm far from anywhere a family is brutally killed. While bumbling police mishandle vital evidence, the gory corpses begin to dance and sing... This delicately judged drama jumps between the present time of the murders, and a poignant exploration of one childhood gone awry. With an audaciously shifting tonal range, a grotesque musical comedy meets a brutal exposé of love, loss and factory farming. What dark secrets is the schizophrenic sister holding back from her analyst? What sociopathic intimacies does the brother reveal on a camping trip in Snowdonia? What epiphanies have been so long hidden in the chicken shed? And what has any of this to do with pie? These questions and many others are answered by the outrageously daring winner of the 2011 John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan 'Other' Prize: Bird Pie!
- November 2011
"I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest stranger - anything that can blow your candles out! - for nowadays the world is lit by lightning.
Blow out your candles, Laura."
St. Louis. 1937. The Wingfields, trapped by poverty, struggle to survive. Stuck in a dead-end job, would-be poet Tom seeks solace in liquor and late night movies while supporting his mother, Amanda, and delicate sister, Laura. When he invites Jim O'Connor home to dinner, we are met with a man who has the power to shatter the family's illusions.
The world-famous Marlowe Society (“a powerhouse of theatrical expertise” – Sir Ian McKellen) presents Tennessee Williams’s most intimate dramatic masterpiece.
- November 2011
A chat show leviathan spiralling quickly toward unemployment. The newly-minted celebrity whose career he helped catapult to the heights. Two ridiculous men with enormous egos, met together in an attempt to film an hour’s worth of engaging conversation without making things any worse than they already are.
As the tensions and jealousies between old friends grow and the night descends, both on- and off-'camera', into a chaos of missteps, dwindling sanities and national scandals, the focus shifts from getting through an interview to ever being allowed into the public view again.
- November 2011
- October 2011
Chit-chat. Smalltalk. Just making conversation. Realising far too late that you should have ordered that panini. The murmur of cafe-talk, fuelled with talk of weather and lattes, comes shattering down in one blow during a perfectly lovely afternoon. But when convention is no longer convenient, where do you turn? From the author of Cambridge’s 24 Hour Plays’ ‘Best Writer’ and ‘Best Play’ comes Plank, a comedy that doesn’t really say much.
- October 2011
Tom Stoppard’s THE REAL THING, already a classic in modern drama, is an unforgettable exploration of love, art and reality. Winner of the Tony Award, Critics’ Circle Award and Evening Standard Award for Best Play, it has delighted audiences the world over and established Stoppard as one of the greatest writers of our time. At its heart, Henry—a playwright with high romantic ideals—aims at true love in both his life and writing. His relationship with the strong-minded actress Annie comes at a price he struggles to afford, but it affords us ‘two of the finest [roles] in modern drama’ (The Independent). Sparklingly witty yet profoundly moving, Stoppard's play muses and amuses as it asks us whether we can ever find true love, express love truly or capture 'the real thing'.
This new staging for the all-new Corpus Playroom comes from the production team that brought you SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO and MARGOT DE SADE, and looks set to be a highlight on the theatrical termcard this Michaelmas.
Find out more at TheRealThing.org.uk.
- October 2011
Hacker wants to be a protestor more than he wants to protest. His mind: the most revolutionary for a decade. His flat: the seat of the greatest protest operation in history. His friends: idiots. When he calls in the semi-sane Frank to help him, things get even worse.
- October 2011
'This has been the worst day of my life. So can you please get drunk with me?'
Ruth has just been dumped by her 'fucking boyfriend'. She, Dana and Jess spend their Friday night drinking, smoking and getting stoned. Joined by Jess's Dad Jim after being booted out of the family home the party-cum-crisis prevention evening collapses into chaos and maturity disappears with every shot of booze.
Having recently completed a successful run at the Royal Court, award winning young playwright Anya Reiss's new play is sharp and pacy, offering a hilarious insight to the dysfunction of young adult life.
'The Acid Test' is the second play from Anya Reiss, whose play 'Spur of the Moment' premiered at the Royal Court in July 2009, winning her the award for Most Promising Playwright at both the Evening Standard and Critics Circle awards. Anya completed the Young Writers Programme at the Royal Court and wrote her first play when she was 17.
- October 2011
- October 2011
In this Pinter double bill, two very different couples engage in a series of struggles to separate fact from fiction.
The Lover (1962) humorously contrasts the bland domesticity of a suburban marriage with the eroticism of an illicit sexual encounter and explores the limits of a relationship built on fantasy and make-believe. While Richard initially accepts his wife’s infidelity, his attempt to put an end to her affair forces the couple to confront the significance of the eponymous lover’s position within their marriage.
In Ashes to Ashes (1996), Devlin forces Rebecca to reveal uncomfortable details about her past, only to discover that the boundaries between personal memory and public grief aren’t as stable as he thought.
- October 2011
A singer of death chants, breakdowns and haunted waltzes – a boiling stew-pot of vaudeville, blues, garage and lies.
A night of theatrical parlour tricks, airs, ditties and tall tales.
Joe Rubini is a Birmingham junkyard poet, armed with a reel-to-reel tape machine, death-defying ancient guitars and a menagerie of electrical oddities. For one night only. On stage. In person. The nation’s favourite vaudeville punk artiste will regale you with songs, stories, story-songs, a spiritualistic musical séance and ghost show. And I mean that most sincerely folks.
‘Like an archive recording of a telephone conversation between Robert Johnson and the Devil’
‘A mysterious troubadour haunting the recesses of the stage.'
***** THE TAB
- May 2011
- May 2011
Fifteen years after she last spoke to them, ELEANOR SANS is visited one night by two friends from her time at The University©. Whilst ELEANOR has become an extraordinary designer of ever more sleek and modern fonts in a wealthy London firm, CHRISTOPHER QUERL and KATHLEEN CURLINGTON have spent the last twelve years warming their seats as academics at the high brow institution which saw them through their time as undergraduates. When the initial niceties are over, incidents from their past come surging forward, and the evening moves towards a disturbing denouement. A funny and disturbing play about the meaning of an education.
- May 2011
How far would you go for love? for art? What would you be willing to change? What price might you pay? Such are the painful questions explored by Neil Labute in 'The Shape of Things'. A young student drifts into an everchanging relationship with an art major while his best friends' engagement crumbles, so unleashing a drama that peels back the skin of two modern day relationships, exposing the raw meat and gristle that lie beneath.
- May 2011
Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children, written in response to the siege on Gaza, met with controversy and acclaim at its Royal Court premiere two years ago.
This unforgettable theatrical experience sees Churchill’s fascinating moment of stirring political theatre meet with the voices of student playwrights who have crafted their own responses to her piece. The result will be an unmissable occasion of varied, engaging, and ultimately impassioned theatre.
Admission is free of charge. A collection will be held for Medical Aid for Palestinians.
- March 2011
Henry and Sonia are having a turbulent evening with Arnaud their six year old son; but when Henry's influential yet obnoxious boss, Hubert, and precious wife, Inez, arrive on the wrong night for dinner, the fact that there is no food in the apartment (merely an ample supply of Sancerre and cheesy wotsits) is only one of the nightmares that the couples face. Add to this Hubert's often brutal treatment of Inez; his lust for Sonia; Inez's weak head for alcohol; Henry's discovery that his professional work may be going up in smoke; Sonia's equivocal attraction towards Hubert; and the ghastly behaviour of the invisible Arnaud - and the stage is set for a catastrophic unravelling of civilised behaviour.
- March 2011
* 'Utterly brilliant in conception and performance. See this!' (Cambridge Tab) The List Edfringe.com Theatre Guide London Broadway World Varsity TCS The New Current
'Worthy of the RSC' (The Stage)
Join the critically acclaimed Movement Theatre Company as they tour their beautiful rendition of William Shakespeare's final tale. Drawing on the narrative styles of the Commedia Dell' Arte and combining stunning masks, live music, dance and puppetry, this promises to be a fantastic evening's entertainment suitable for all the family.
