- March 2021
Join Smorgasbord as we present our first ever audio broadcast!
Smorgasbord is a biannual event celebrating the best of new student writing at Cambridge University. We provide a space for emerging writers to test out their new material, and we are particularly interested in writing that features a distinct voice, an interesting cast of characters, and a unique perspective.
Smorgasbord is a fun and captivating event highlighting writing, directorial and acting talent in the Cambridge theatre scene. The night usually features 5-6 short pieces, and is often followed up by a Q&A with the director and writer, which in this case will be done on Zoom.
- December 2020
N.B. this show has been cancelled
The folktales of the Mabinogion are some of the oldest and strangest in the literature of the British Isles, telling the mystical stories of ancient Wales; in this world, children have been known to turn into fish, and a wizardly mouse may well cast a spell on you. Mabinogion follows the birth and life of King Pryderi - whose name translates to modern-day English as 'Anxiety' - as he contends with mysterious deerlike visitors from the Otherworld, battling the undead armies of the Irish, and a rather heated argument with a neighbour over a herd of pigs. This show reimagines the four branches of the Mabinogi for a present day audience, and our merry troupe of performers will be using song, puppetry, and comedy to sift through the surreal stories of Pryderi of Dyfed and present them in fantastical ways such as you've never seen the likes of before. From the minds behind Fables for Robots ('a space of vibrancy and innovation... a performance that is genuinely refreshing' - The Cambridge Student, ****).
Mae tegell yn ferwi and ty'n barod.
- November 2020
Smorgasbord is a biannual event celebrating the best of new student writing at Cambridge University. We provide a space for emerging writers to test out their new material, and we are particularly interested in writing that features a distinct voice, an interesting cast of characters, and a unique perspective.
- October 2020
FORGIVE ME, I HAVE SOME BAD HABITS
Grit your teeth, take a breath and prepare to be sucked into The Confession Booth.
Now un-grit them and let out that breath because really, it was unnecessary to ‘confess’ to Father Monahan that they brought down StockPhotos by photoshopping Herbie’s grandma’s toe into the logo.
‘Sinners’ - a saucy, spicy and slightly comedy show about confessions
- February 2020
The iconic night of new student writing is back for one night only in the Corpus Playroom.
Get ready to laugh, cry, and have your thoughts provoked by this fresh crop of new Cambridge theatre, and bring a couple of Qs for the writer/director/actor Q&As!
- February 2020
Come on down to the bottom with this open ocean sketch show. Follow Michael Phelps as he seeks official recognition as a fish and watch Steve the anxiety salmon as he regrets becoming a dentist for sharks.
The ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising and now even the Corpus Playroom is underwater. Meet a vegan piranha, the only octopus in the ocean who can't multi-task and a puffer fish Prime Minister as we answer the timeless question of whether fish would drive cars or submarines? BYO snorkels and make sure you do not slip on the plankton on your way in. Swimming lessons available on the door.
- January–February 2020
“Look at the moon. How strange the moon seems! She is like a woman rising from a tomb. She is like a dead woman. One might fancy she was looking for dead things…”
Late night, unreal city. The Tetrach is hosting a wild underground banquet. Salome - daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judea - escapes from the oppressive atmosphere of the party and the lascivious gaze of her step father.
Under the transforming moon, bodies become otherworldly and enchantingly strange. Through Wilde’s rich and symbolic mastery of language, we experience the world augmented through the eyes of Salome, culminating in the rapturous and notorious 'Dance of the Seven Veils'.
This new Soma Theatre production captures the queer and ecstatic spirit of Wilde’s most neglected and misunderstood play. In a world fluttering between enchantment and disenchantment, the familiar and the unfamiliar come face to face, breaking down boundaries of gender and exploring what it means to truly ‘see’ one another.
- November 2019
When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate beside the paw prints of a gigantic hound, the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Dr Watson must travel to Dartmoor to unravel the mystery, and investigate the ancient curse of the Baskervilles. It should be elementary, but with seventeen characters, over thirty props, and only three actors juggling them all, we can promise it will be entertaining!
Packed with verbal ingenuity and slapstick comedy, this farcical retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is as relentless as it is hilarious. Prepare for a detective story like no other, as this ridiculous romp through the desolate moors will leave you howling with laughter.
- October 2019
The iconic night of new student writing is back for one night only in the Corpus Playroom.
Get ready to laugh, cry, and have your thoughts provoked by this fresh crop of new Cambridge theatre.
- October 2019
"If you're there, I want to talk. If not... that's fine. I want to talk anyway."
Valerie's sure that she knows what happened the day that Dean and Melanie died. An accident took the lives of the two people she loved most in the world, and she was left to pick up the pieces and try to move on. If one last conversation would help her get on with her life, isn't it worth a try? Even if both of them have two very different accounts of the tragedy, and she's given more questions instead of answers? It's amazing what you can achieve with some electric candles, an empty beer bottle, and some photographs.
Produced in association with Fletcher Players
- October 2019
Winner of the Cambridge Shorts/Fletcher Players New Writing Prize
'I want to cry but I can't, isn't that funny?'
When Beth receives some difficult news from her GP, she’s forced to confront a painful reality - one which she fears will haunt her for the rest of her adult life.
Beth is a short film about motherhood, long train journeys, and the coping mechanisms we use to stay afloat.
- June 2019
“There is too much love of pleasure among the upper classes as it is.”
A tea party in a country house. Three tumultuous pasts. One scandalous revelation.
Wilde’s glittering depiction of the superficial bubble of late 19th century high society falling to pieces in the face of American idealism is brought to life in the fittingly sumptuous Corpus Christi Old Court. Picnics strongly advised.
- June 2019
Three women. One beach. One conversation.
Written in her distinctly rhythmical prose, debbie tucker green's 'trade' examines the ways in which we financially and emotionally trade with each other. On the hot sands of an idyllic Caribbean resort, three women discover how their lives are connected by a single man in a fascinating examination of the relationship between first and third world countries, tourism and the power struggle between women.
- May 2019
Doctor Faustus is irreverent, chaotic and riotous fun. In a post-theistic age, the play ask questions of the modern conception of humanism: is immortality an achievable goal in the 21st century? What constitutes personal fulfilment, and to what lengths will one go – and should one go – to achieve it?
Faustus experiences hallucinogenic highs, balanced against moments of personal crisis and breakdown. With original compositions and jazz funk choreography, this show recollects something of the spectacular quality of the ‘Marlowe effect’ experienced by the play’s original audience.
Embrace the chaotic world of Faustus’ creation - and all its implications.
- May 2019
King Agamemnon is long dead. His wife and her new boyfriend were his murderers. But his children are starting to come of age- children who grew up surrounded by death and conflict. Electra who grieves, bloodthirsty Orestes, and Chrysothemis, who has moved on too quickly.
With a score of original electronic music, and a chorus of slam poets, this brand new adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy injects an urgent profundity into Electra's fraught psyche.
This is the tale of a young girl, floored by the crosswinds of her feuding family, grappling with loneliness, abandon, and a debilitating desire for revenge.
"Blood might be thicker than water, but it's got nothing on dust."
- April–May 2019
“In the quantum multiverse, every choice, every decision you've ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.”
Marianne and Roland meet at a barbecue. It's overcast but not raining. They don't hit it off. In the next scene, they are at the same barbecue, it is raining, and they become friends.
'Constellations' by Nick Payne is a thoughtful and tender two-hand drama which demonstrates various iterations of what a relationship could be if small details change. Tracking the two characters as they fall in love in different circumstances, this play encourages us to think about the choices we make, the choices the universe makes for us, and what is inevitable in a relationship regardless of our decisions.
- March 2019
The Cambridge Footlights and the Fletcher Players are back, with a brand new panel show! For one night only, two teams of top Cambridge comedy talent will compete to become the masters of McCrum - for this year at least...
- March 2019
‘Readers and Books’ is a (very) short film about a book that wants to be read… and the lengths it will go to to achieve this.
Runner up in the Cam Shorts/Fletcher Players New Writing Prize
- February 2019
Smorgasbord is back for Lent!
The Fletcher Players present a fresh selection of brand new student writing at the Corpus Playroom. Running on and off since 1997, Smorgasbord provides writers a platform to test their writing on an audience, gives actors and the directors the chance to showcase their talents, and lets audiences engage with Cambridge's talents in a Q&A session.
Come along for a relaxed, interesting night which will unearth some previously unseen gems.
- February 2019
Adapted from Virginia Woolf’s novel, 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature’ playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Orlando, a beautiful charismatic nobleman, enjoys a lifetime of adventures, love and debauchery, spanning five centuries. At the midpoint of this period, whilst serving as ambassador to Constantinople, Orlando wakes from a seven-day sleep to find he has become a woman.
A dreamy adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s famous tale, Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando is a magical and poetic dance between gender and through time, a fantastical world in which courtly movement and biographical narration combine to tell the story of someone who lives outside of human expectations, and enjoys twice the experience that humanity has to offer.
- January–February 2019
"Here, there’s lots of money to be made in the business of opening graves. I’m serious. Farmers should be forgetting about crops and moving into the graveyard trade. It’s all about prime real estate for the dead nowadays."
A cloudy day in West Belfast. It’s Dennis’s funeral. Everything seems normal. The priest is drones on, the crowd half-heartedly pat their eyes with hankies. Then Uncle John orders an Indian takeaway (at eleven in the morning) and hijacks the sermon. There are only two remaining vacant graves in the family plot – and he will not miss out on one. Cue a morbid dogfight with vindaloos, Belgian girlfriends, and handbag-wielding octogenarians.
This piece of new writing by Connor Rowlett treads the line between morbid farce and naked drama as it explores the lives of a Northern Irish family who just can’t seem to change the subject from death.
Writer/Director email: cr579@cam.ac.uk
- January 2019
“Suddenly I felt very Shakespearean. Very Game of Thrones.
No longer was I the son of Stephen Bewley.
I was the bastard son of Stephen Bewley.”
Charlie is on a train from Glasgow to London Euston when he finds out that his mum is a brilliant liar. The man he has called ‘Dad’ for 21 years is not, in fact, his biological father. With one Dad in remission from prostate cancer, and another about to be released from HMP Brixton, Charlie is not sure of anything anymore.
Funny and moving in equal measure, 'Bastard' is a brand new one-man play about fatherhood, inheritance, and a talking unicorn.
- November 2018
The Cambridge Footlights and the Fletcher Players come together to bring you a brand new festive panel show! For one night only, two teams of top Cambridge comedy talent will compete to become the masters of McCrum - for this year at least...
- November 2018
A two-hander sketch show containing an oblivious schoolmaster, an overly analytical Sherlock Holmes and an interview with the first British 'astronaut'. In between sketches Lewis and Kit try to come to terms with what happened in Monaco all those years ago...
- October–November 2018
Siblings Daniel and Peppy have lived in the same house in South East London since they were children. Now adults, they are recluses; surrounded by a lifetime of memories lost in the chaos. They are isolated from the outside world until, following a misunderstanding, that world rushes in.
Deborah Bruce's humorous yet moving play reminds its audience of the importance of showing people the simplest kindness. It provides an insight into those left behind by society, and leaves the audience on a gentle tone of hopefulness.
- October 2018
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, best friends Emmeline and Leo are still really lonely. It’s not like, an “issue”, per se? It’s just making them both quite depressed. So they’ve decided they’re going to find a lover. One each, ideally.
Join this Cambridge comedy double-act for an hour of characters, sketches and desperation as they search for the perfect man. Because there’s someone out there for everyone, right? All you have to do is hunt them down.
Manhunt follows Leo and Emmeline, as they embark on a quest to find love. Realising there is massive boyfriend-shaped hole in their lives, they make a pact to seek out romance. The pact turns into a game; the game turns into a competition; the competition turns out to be one of the ones where no one wins, and they end up back where they started. Over the course of the hour, Emmeline learns the hard way why you never flirt with a ferris wheel operator, Leo gets catfished on Ocado, and we witness more than one relationship counselling session with 80s pop sensation (and Oscar winning actress!) Cher. Through it all, we meet extravagant characters, navigate the pitfalls of modern dating, and put on a fast-paced, empowering hour of comedy that is ‘funny, sad and inventive – by the end, you will be completely seduced’ ★★★★★ (ThreeWeeks).
★★★★★- ThreeWeeks
★★★★★- EdFringe Review
★★★★★- Varisty
★★★★- Broadway Baby
- October 2018
Join us for this evening of new writing! The Fletcher Players bring you Smorgasbord: a festival showcasing some of the most exciting and original extracts from emerging student playwrights.
Hosted at 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 between 5 and 10 minutes in length.
- October 2018
Come enjoy an evening of comedy from one of the most underrepresented groups in the Cambridge comedy scene, with a stunning line up of BME performers. There'll be laughs, and friendship, and also more laughs. And also free wine!! Who could resist!?! Not you!
[ Tickets only £3! ]
If you want to take part then just send an email to Alex (af608@cam.ac.uk) or Bella (ah914@cam.ac.uk) for a slot!
Did we mention free wine?
Bella & Alex x
- October 2018
“Theatre should be grand, vulgar, simple, pathetic – not genteel, not poetical.”
So said Joan Littlewood, artistic director of the infamous Theatre Workshop and developer of the seminal 'Oh, What a Lovely War!', first performed in 1963. Born of a revolutionary collaborative process, this so-called ‘epic musical’ shook a nation with its visceral portrayal of the first world war. Both riotously entertaining and profoundly affecting, there is no other play which combines the same level of cultural significance and timeless appeal. Come to be enraged, come to be entertained – come and be part of 'Oh, What a Lovely War!'
4.5 stars from Varsity: https://www.varsity.co.uk/theatre/16259
5 stars from The Tab: https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2018/10/15/review-oh-what-a-lovely-war-114512
Listed in The Tab's top five shows of Michaelmas 2018: https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2018/12/03/tab-roundup-michaelmas-theatre-highlights-118438
- October 2018
Three short(ish) plays about family - and food. From the writer of 'The Arm in the Cat Flap' ("trod the lines of silliness, sharp wit and poignancy with nothing less than brilliance and flare", ★★★★★ - TCS; "Geelan is an abundantly talented writer. He has an innate skill in finding the right balance of the bizarre without ever tipping it over the edge", ★★★★½ - Varsity).
HAM: Flo has made her stage debut as Mr Smee in a community centre production of 'Peter Pan'. She hopes for a civilised post-show family meal at a nice restaurant, hopes that her three narcissistic siblings might get along, and that for this one night at least, just a sliver of the attention might fall on her.
EGG: Jennifer and Georgia’s brunch party take an unexpected turn, as the dark details of their guests’ marriage are laid bare over scrambled eggs. (‘Highly Commended’ by the panel of professional judges at the Downing Festival of New Writing; “A sparklingly witty farce” - TCS)
CHIPS: When Liam’s dad dies, his career-driven mum now faces the mammoth task of making him dinner each night. They eat frozen chips, watch TV, and try to get to know each other.
★★★★½ - The Tab
"As a collection, Ham, Egg and Chips fits together like a dream. With abundant laughs and a big heart, this is joyous familial theatre at its finest."
https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2018/10/03/review-ham-egg-and-chips-114152
- June 2018
Cambridge, 1980. Psychedelic colours, flared trousers and disco music.
Truffles is a big personality with an even bigger stomach. Having arrived in town with one master, he is so confident in his abilities (and so desperate for his next meal) that he gets a job with a second. Unfortunately for him, his two masters' lives are far more intertwined than he realises. Trying to juggle two demanding jobs, it all becomes too much like hard work for our lovable fool...
Goldoni's classic farce returns to Cambridge for May Week! Set in 1980s Cambridge, The Servant to Two Masters is sure to resonate with audiences. Staged under the June sun in the peaceful Master's Lodge Garden of Corpus Christi College, it is the perfect way to spend a May Week afternoon!
- June 2018
“I dreamt about this last night. I dreamt that I was packing boxes in boxes in boxes.”
Dean is housebound, compelled by his severe obsessive compulsive disorder to repeat meticulous rituals and reach self-set targets. His sister, Tamsin, has her own unrealistic quotas to meet: working on a zero-hour contract in a warehouse, packing boxes for hours on end to provide for them both. When Dean is wrongly declared fit for work, the pressure increases as their benefits are cut. Suddenly their strength and relationships are tested to the absolute limit, as the demands put on them to keep their heads above water go from being almost unreachable to completely impossible.
Winner of the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Katherine Soper's Wish List is ‘a quietly essential and moving play' that tenderly enforces the essentiality of love when you’re trapped in a system that’s seems to be set against you.
This production will be collecting donations for Mind CPLS, a local charity that provides services which offer support for those recovering from mental health challenges, promote positive mental health and tackle mental health-related stigma and discrimination within our communities.
- June 2018
Alex can talk to ants, he got to the semi-final of season 2 of CBBC's Bamzooki, and he knows the guy who wrote 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' (shout out to you Eric). But no one knows any of these things, as Alex finds it hard to talk in social situations. Even worse, there seems to be a mysterious Narrator constantly pointing out his flaws and failures. Watch as Alex takes on surreal characters to express himself, battles The Narrator and struggles to find a voice of his own.
Join Footlight and Chortle Student Comedy Award 2018 finalist Alex Franklin in his debut one-man show for an hour of narrative comedy with a heart. Expect strange characters, sketch, dance, and Neil Buchanan from Art Attack.
“Light-hearted, gloriously silly and really very funny.” - ***** Varsity
'The second game was more one-sided than the first, with Oxford’s jungler wreaking havoc while Franklin, arguably Cambridge’s best player in the first was unable to stave off a number of two-on-one attacks early on.' - Varsity (4-1 loss)
"This prized Salmon himself is played by Alex Franklin. He excels in this role." - ****1/2 Sam Brown
- May 2018
there is an instinctive revulsion against taking a human life
and that revulsion lies in our hearts
and that revulsion can be conquered
video game designer paul has created ‘Killology’ - a game where players are rewarded if they kill their opponents in the most tortuous and creative way possible.
when teenager Davey gets brutally murdered in ways not dissimilar to those in the game, who’s to blame?
flittering between three monologues, gary owen’s “deeply troubling” ‘killology’ examines the relationship between violence, masculinity, fatherhood, representation, and blame in the 21st century, and poses deeply challenging questions about desensitisation and technology
first performed at the royal court in 2017 to rave reviews, killology is a visceral and harrowing piece of new writing
- April–May 2018
Winner of the Lent Shorts/Fletcher Players New Screenwriting Prize
A funeral?... Suppose it makes sense to bury her. Couldn’t just leave her lying in the front garden. It’d scare off the postman.
Mother is dead. That is, Mother the Tortoise. Killed in a freak accident this morning, her funeral will be held at the bottom of the garden this afternoon. All it takes for our narrator to make her pet’s burial is to hop on a train and cross town. There is one small problem. She has not left her room in three weeks. Going home may prove difficult.
A comment on anxiety, loneliness and the distance we will go for our reptilian friends, “The Tortoise” tracks a day in the life of a narrator whose battle with the world outside is almost as terrifying as the battle with the voice inside her.
- April 2018
'The Arm in the Cat Flap' is a new farce by Noah Geelan.
A group of students take a weekend trip to the Suffolk countryside. But when events don’t go entirely to plan, relationships start to unravel and things are not always entirely as they seem. Where is Mel’s other shoe? Is the mysterious latecomer really who he says he is? And where on earth is Jackson Buckley?
This story contains: board games, alcohol, Suffolk local radio, fallouts, mistaken identity, an industrial amount of pasta and more than one late arrival.
★★★★★ - TCS
"trod the lines of silliness, sharp wit and poignancy with nothing less than brilliance and flare"
"Noah Geelan’s superb script is so well-crafted, it would be easy to believe it was the latest piece of a seasoned playwright. "
★★★★½ - Varsity
"Geelan is an abundantly talented writer. He has an innate skill in finding the right balance of the bizarre without ever tipping it over the edge"
