Corpus Christi Playroom
Opened in 1979 by Caroline Oulten and Mark McCrum, Corpus Christi's unique "L" shaped studio theatre was run for 22 years by the Fletcher Players solely for student drama. In that time the theatre has fostered talent such as Hugh Bonneville, Sam Mendes, Emma Thompson, and Stephen Fry (who is now our patron). Since September 2001, the Fletcher Players have been working closely with Cambridge's
professional theatre, the Arts Theatre, to open up the venue for the wider Cambridge community, as well as to improve the possibilities for student productions. The Corpus Playroom is now run jointly, as a cooperative venture, by the College, the Arts Theatre and the Fletcher Players. It's dedicated to student theatre during term-time and to community projects during the vacations.
All applications to perform in term time at the Corpus Playroom should be directed to the Fletcher Players committee. There are upto 16 slots available during Michaelmas and Lent terms (one early and one late show per week) with a further 4 available slots in Easter term. The ability to perform matinees is available subject to prior consent from the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Technical Information
Location: St Edmund’s Passage (behind the Cambridge Arts Theatre).
Seating Capacity: 80
Safety stewards required: 2
Audience Seating: 2 blocks of seating at 90 degrees to each other in the L-shaped studio
Backstage: Communal dressing room with cast toilet and sink facilities.
Entrances/exits: One door onto centre-stage from a passageway going to the dressing room. Entrances can also be made through the audience using the main entrance.
Lighting
12 lanterns available as standard, and 12 dimmer channels.
The
lighting desk is a Zero88 Alcora, which has 99 memories that need to be split between whatever shows are in that week.
Two of the bars directly over the stage (the two nearest the
lighting desk) are lower than the rest, which means lights on them can cause shadows. The other bars are a bit higher and are hidden by a ridge in the roof.
A common set up to achieve a wash is one Fresnel on the bar nearest the
lighting desk, and two on the bar over the front of the audience on the other side. These will light the stage pretty well, but the corners - especially the corner between the two groups of audience - can be difficult to light well this way.
If you need extra channels, then an extra DMX compatible dimmer can be run by the desk. A 13A power source is present; if you use this, you will need to plan the extra channels carefully so they don't all switch on at the same time. It is thought that there is a higher-power outlet (32A or 63A) available, located below the installed dimmers. The Arts Theatre does not have any suitable dimmers, but you can hire one from the ADC. The ADC lantern hire charges are also slightly cheaper than the Arts Theatre's.
Sound
1 speaker for each audiance, driven by an Amp under the tech position.
Single CD Player and Twin tape deck available. MD player optional (if not in use in Arts Theatre).
All controlled by a 6 channel mixer in the tech box.
For more information please see www.corpusplayroom.co.uk
Last edited Wed 27th Sep 2006 by Nathan Weaver
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