- February 2024
'Place like this - you know this - place like this gets in your blood. Once it's in your blood, you can't get it out.'
One night under Cardiff skies, four lost souls go searching for answers. After dark, when the city is quiet, their paths weave and collide. Their stories may be shocking, their morals may be ambiguous, but they all want salvation. When dawn breaks, their lives will go on, however there will be another night to contend with soon enough. Be prepared for a close-up glimpse into a heartbreaking world of choices and consequences in the Welsh capital. Can anyone really break free from their past?
- February 2024
‘You know, he would’ve done it himself if he could. He would’ve walked the whole way here, dug his own bleeding grave and laid down.’
‘But he didn’t. He asked us to do it instead.’
When Matt dies, he leaves behind a wife, a brother, and extensive instructions on how to make him a bog body. To complete this unusual final request Ada and Chris must first fake his funeral, smuggle his body to a remote Scottish island and finally bury him. Unfortunately, life (or more accurately, death) is never that simple and on this road trip Ada and Chris learn more about Matt, each other, themselves, and bog chemistry than either of them could have bargained for.
- February 2024
“I used to have dreams. Of disappearing into the jungle, and never coming back. And everything in the jungle would be upside down. Tigers would be blue, crows could be pink, mushrooms would glow, and nothing would be normal. But I was so happy in that jungle.”
Racked with homesickness in a strange, vast city, Jia Wei finds herself breaking down in the middle of a 24-hour convenience store -- until she is suddenly rescued by the charming Kim, a fellow customer, who shows her an unexpected kindness.
Soon, they begin to meet there most nights, and a romance quickly develops. Kim is enamoured with her - perhaps a little too much - and Jia Wei is persuaded to move into Kim’s grand mansion, nestled in the Malaysian countryside. However, this utopia turns nightmarish when Kim’s overbearing adoration takes a terrifying turn. Isolated and trapped in Kim’s dark house, will Jia Wei find a way out?
- January–February 2024
Imagine spending 19 years with someone you barely get along with over a single, continuous game of chess. What would you do? How far would you go to dissipate the boredom? In my new minimally-staged, mile-a-minute play, two mathematicians who drifted apart in life argue over and risk everything in death amid furious and hilarious wordplay and wit as a third mathematician and mutual acquaintance threatens to break them apart.
- January–February 2024
This re-staging of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party sees Stanley, a man we come to realise is suffering from dementia, across two days of his life and indeed his own birthday party. As chaos encroaches alongside the mysterious appearance of two sinister strangers, the space of the stage becomes unstable, and Stanley’s illness is reflected in the disorientation and absurdity that follows.
- January 2024
‘I may be a creature, but I am God’s creature!’
Margery Kempe is a normal housewife. She has fourteen children, a useless husband, and no education. But God has chosen her for a very special purpose. She’s been given the gift of tears, and she’s going to make sure you hear them.
As Margery’s raucous and ravishing visions of God begin to derail her life, she starts to attract more and more attention. And soon she’s on trial for heresy. But Margery won’t be quiet, and the visions won’t stop. In fact, they’re becoming more intense.
In this fast-paced, time travelling retelling of the autobiography of one of the Middle Age’s most incredible women, Margery takes to the stage to give us her life in her own words – tears and all.
- January 2024
Archie won’t use the lift. Lily draws on her Underground map. Everyone is afraid of heights and the future is vertical.
It is London between the wars and Archie and Lily have recently moved into one of the city’s first ‘skyscrapers’. Amongst the changing skyline, seen from above and traversed using the Underground network below, the two navigate an existence which places them increasingly further into the sky and deeper into the ground. 'Skylines' maps the attempts of ordinary people to come to terms with both the distance and closeness of their newly vertical lives and what it means to confront the future in a world where everything seems suspended.
- January 2024
What happens when you encounter an invention that could change the world? And who would you destroy to take control of it?
A Professor of linguistics, his prize PHD student and an ambitious computer science postgraduate wrestle for control of a new, logical language which will transform the way we communicate. Jamie Rycroft’s new play for Corkscrew Theatre explores both the current zeitgeist and the age-old human traits of ambition and greed. Let the games begin.
- January 2024
- December 2023
Set in 1997, over fifty years after the war that brought them together, three Special Operations Executive agents meet to record interviews for a television documentary investigating the murder of their colleague at the hands of the Gestapo.
As Leo, Vera and John wait to be interviewed in a beautiful English garden, drinking tea and doing the crossword, pleasantries give way to deeper darker subjects and a web of self-deception, lies and guilt begins to emerge.
Love, revenge and feelings of guilt are at the centre of this fascinating play and in an era when ‘alternative facts’ replace actual facts, we are reminded that the first victim of war is the truth.
- December 2023
- November–December 2023
Calling all intellects! The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is here, and simply aims to perform every single Shakespeare play (there’s 37 of them!) in 97 minutes.
This uproarious and highly physical sketch comedy takes the audience on a breath-taking and whiplash-inducing rollercoaster through all of the Bard’s magnificent plays, presenting them in a way you never have seen, or even imagined, them before. Importantly, the play is extremely spontaneous and appears to the audience as almost an improvisation. Mistakes are scripted, the fourth wall is demolished and there is fabulous audience participation. Wildly funny and with madcap actors running around, this show will be fantastic fun.
- November 2023
One tragic night, three separate accounts of the same story ... but which one is real, if any are at all? Witnesses are only human, and no matter how hard one tries, emotion and past experience will always cloud the way in which we remember. Inspired by the work of Frantic Assembly and Florian Zeller, this devised piece will take you on a creative journey of speech, physicality and technical exploration to venture in the less-well defined spaces of theatre in a truly unique performance.
https://www.instagram.com/lighthouse_corpus/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
- November 2023
The Hair Shop is a play that shines a light on the black feminine experience.
It discusses the trials and tribulations that black British girls go through growing up in England, and the ways in which sisterhood and community aid them through it. These events mostly play out in The Hair Shop - a setting that is emblematic of the black feminine experience to so many.
The play enables a glimpse at experiences that are often lived quietly and redirects attention towards the struggles that are ignored. Whilst doing this, tension is alleviated by comedy and a beautiful friendship that lightens the mood of the play, showing how essential these relationships are to these communities.
- November 2023
- November 2023
https://www.instagram.com/almost.maine_corpus/
- November 2023
Another night, another new case…
There’s been a murder in town. Who? How? Where? That’s for you to decide!
Follow a hardboiled detective in this improvised noir murder mystery, as they meander, bluster and blunder their way through the case, and ultimately attempt to deduce the audience’s suggestions and solve the murder. Stake out seedy dive bars and stroll the perpetually rainy streets. Meet a rogues’ gallery of mobsters and mafiosos, crooked coppers and sleazy suits. Will our intrepid investigator crack the case and bring the perp to justice, or will the murderer successfully shift the blame and slip the noose?
- November 2023
- November 2023
Winner of CUADC's Playwriting Competition - Overall Winner
It’s commonplace: bombs go off at night and people disappear before dawn. None of that’s newsworthy. Everyday proceedings have their complications; some are fatal, some are more irritating. It’s a messy business - keeping the peace, controlling the masses, making sure everybody and everything is held on a tight leash.
Once, there were wars abroad. Now, there are wars at home. There’s fighting on the streets, and paperwork piling up on desks. These days money is scarce and food is scarcer. Any job is a job, if you keep your eyes and ears closed. And yet here we are: bringing love into a world of hate.
Cohen is a psychiatrist… was a psychiatrist. Now he needs a job. Soon, he will come face-to-face with a revolution, and a little too close with his past.
- November 2023
I resented you deeply. I trusted you beyond reason.
Dominic is a talented neurosurgeon, a devout Catholic, and a devoted husband to his wife Cathy, with whom he is expecting his first child. But his idealism is tested when he reunites with Emily, an old medical school colleague whose daughter Felicity has recently been diagnosed with cancer. As he oversees Felicity's case, Dom feels the carefully drawn lines between his personal and professional identities begin to dissolve. Doctor, parent, sceptic, patient – an operating theatre becomes a Church becomes a home. Where is that faith owed to a God and to a girl; to his family and to his patients — and where is that faith owed to himself?
- October–November 2023
“I was looking at the road and I was thinking, as I often think, in the evening, when I am on the doorstep and I am waiting for the rain to come, I was thinking of the years we had lived there, all those years like this, us, you and me, the five of us…”
In this original English translation of Jean-Luc Lagarce’s 1994 play, five women await the return of the prodigal son, ‘the little brother’, who left many years ago. Suddenly, he is back and sleeping in his childhood bedroom, exhausted from his travels. But has he really arrived? And why did he leave? Now, waiting for him to wake up, the five women whisper their own story. In a time suspended between two periods of waiting, the homecoming and the awakening, this lyrical tale of split memory narrates the realities and fantasies of a family in mourning.
- October 2023
- October 2023
Smörgåsbord is the Corpus Playroom's own eclectic bi-annual showcase of new student-written theatre.
For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it’s the event at the heart of the Corpus playroom’s calendar.
We particularly seek to give a spotlight to those who haven’t previously had their work audienced, and to anyone who feels that they have an underrepresented narrative or cultural lineage to bring to the fore.
Come and sample a platter of the most exciting new theater in town!
- October 2023
"You are going to die in an hour and a half. You are going to die at the end of the play."
A King only has until the end of the play to live. How will he spend this final evening of existence?
From the walls of the palace to the workings of the solar system, the universe is falling apart. His kingdom has crumbled; his room is cold. His first wife remains unflinching; his second wife is obstinately optimistic. King Berenger’s 400 years of life are coming to an end, whether he accepts it or not. Who could have seen this coming?
Ionesco's darkly comedic play takes an absurdist look at a once-powerful King grappling with the futility of life and the inevitability of death.
- October 2023
How can everything just stop like this? What is coming next? Will the world ever be safe again? Locked down in her room, these questions swirling in her head like snow on the mountaintop, she reminisces on the years before the pandemic, grappling with these ‘unprecedented times’ in the face of the world as she knows it coming to a halt. Memories of the Brexit vote and first boyfriends, Trump and Chemistry homework all blur into one chaotic recollection, as she tries to come to terms with the new state of the world, and whether she can make peace with it and finally come out of isolation.
- October 2023
- October 2023
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect !
Gregor Samsa has worked. And worked. And worked. All his life. As a travelling salesman, Gregor works relentlessly to support his struggling family. His mother, a worried and endlessly busy housewife who cares deeply for her family, his father, hyper critical ‘in-the-home’ tyrant who’s terrified of authority, and his little sister Greta, a promising violinist who looks up to him, find their home turned into a world of horror as Gregor wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a “gigantic insect!”. Whilst Gregor struggles to survive, keep any sense of mental clarity and desperately longs to return to human form, his family’s opinions swiftly devolve from sympathy to despair and hatred as they live in terror both of their son they so desperately relied upon, and in constant fear of his discovery. Berkoff’s adaptation of Kafka’s iconic novella explores the effects of a ‘money-driven’ society’s pressure on the individual and the strain it causes on family relationships in a powerful and moving way which will make you reassess what takes does and what should take priority in life.
- October 2023
Be Happy. Be Angry. Be Sad. Be Apathetic. Be all four at once.
The Four Seasons of Tyler Branch shows the same day in the life of Tyler in four different versions, each with its own unique Tyler. In each version his life has gone a little different, but the people in his life remain the same. His sister still knows how to get under his skin, right when he’s busy elsewhere. His mother still interferes haphazardly on the most important days of his life. And his childhood friend is still hanging around, for reasons nobody can quite tell. Each version has different consequences, different outcomes, and one very big thing in common, something Tyler doesn’t want to talk about…
- October 2023
Diagnosed as a child with a severe mental illness, Anna was heavily medicated on an abundance of pills. Now, as a young adult, she wonders what life would have been like without them. However, in her attempt to rediscover her interrupted passions, she threatens the delicate balance her mother has fought to maintain.
The Almighty Sometimes is a vivid and sensitive exploration of the reality of mental illness, for those who experience it firsthand, and for those who love them.
- October 2023
Blank Canvas is a brand new creative writing venture by the Fletcher Players!
In Michaelmas Week 0, the Fletcher Players are organising a table read for new and untested scripts by emerging Cambridge student writers. The idea is to create a low-key, welcoming space for scripts to be performed in front on an audience, who can then offer their responses. The focus is very much on providing a positive and nurturing environment where feedback can be sourced and given constructively. Pleased to announce that the programme is as follows:
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TUESDAY 3RD OCTOBER:
6:30pm - "One and a Part" by Toby Collins (approx. 50 mins)
7:40pm - "I miss SOPHIE" by Evie Chandler (approx. 55 mins)
WEDNESDAY 4TH OCTOBER:
6:30pm - "Angelus" by Jacinta Ngeh (approx. 120 mins)
THURSDAY 5TH OCTOBER:
6:30pm - "Oranges, Cut into Six" by Yen Min Ting (approx. 80-85 mins)
8:15pm - "Skylines" by Isabella Bottle (> 40 mins)
FRIDAY 6TH OCTOBER:
6:30pm - "302" by Theo Chen (approx. 45 mins)
7:35pm - "Turpitude" by Catherine McLean (< 90 mins)
SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER:
6:25pm - “The Lover’s Choice” by Irisa Kwok (approx. 5 minutes)
6:30pm - “Soul Surprise, Some Advice” by Jacob Tucker (approx. 30 mins)
7:20pm - “Mages & Misadventures” by Bear Stephenson (approx. 50-60 mins)
8:30pm - “Untitled (A Trans Magdalene Play)” by Evie Chandler (approx. 50 mins)
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- September 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- July 2023
- July 2023
N.B. this show has been cancelled
The Way Ahead centres around a couple-one an actress/ composer, the other a playwright, struggling with their relationship-who are on a quest to find the secret ingredient that allows a work to stand the test of time.
Can it be found? BE SURPRISED.
A strange encounter forces them to face hidden truths. A sacrifice must be made.
The play is set in the north west Highlands with a semi-mythical feel, and has surreal elements.
It explores different times/spaces, memory and the nature of relationship, with humour and compassion.
An uplifting journey into other worlds? BE PREPARED.
- June 2023
'I shall drag myself through the flames of hell; and from the ashes I shall be born anew.'
Self-proclaimed people's champion Alex Franklin attempts to carve their face into comedy's Mount Rushmore, and blow the whole thing to smithereens.
An absurdist, chaotic, musical, lightning-fast, generation-defining show that will be talked about by Alex's therapist for years to come.
As seen/heard on Channel 4 / HBO Max / BBC Radio 4.
'Undeniably ludicrous comedy gold' **** (Entertainment-Now.com)
'Eclectic, risk-taking and inventive' (Scotsman)
