- October 2026
What is your earliest view of yourself and your body? How has it changed?
A verbatim play shaped by interviews of students about their bodies, how they feel about them, and what they are influenced by. The generation raised on a half-baked body positivity movement have watched it be torn down and are now reflecting on what they face in the mirror, with a particular focus on the impact of early childhood experiences.
- October 2026
America, 1969. Nuclear warning sirens go off, and teenage girls Judy and Carla hide in a bunker underground, waiting to receive radio communication informing them of a false alarm. Instead, they become cut off from the outside world, and are left with the unnerving unknown. Visions of destruction dance before their eyes, and their safe haven becomes suffocating as their fears and anxieties swell to a breaking point.
“To step out of the darkness, you must be able to bear the all-consuming light.”
Fallout is a story about two girls coming of age in an uncertain world teetering on the brink of destruction. Interspersed with dizzying and surreal dream sequences, the play asks us how we can come to terms with a future that always feels out of our hands.
- June 2026
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
‘Vows are but breath,
And breath a vapour is’ (V.III.65)
Dr Samuel Johnson heralded Love’s Labour’s Lost as one of the most Shakespearean of Shakespeare plays. It is a witty comedy and a great feat of linguistic sophistication which simultaneously laments the inadequacy of linguistic sophistication. It is brimming with poetry, and mockery of poetry. Taking place within the romance-brewing confines of a lush walled garden, we watch a group of male students forbid themselves from falling in love in order to commit to their academic pursuits. Yet this promise is abandoned almost as swiftly as it is made…
Us students may well identify with promising the ultimate academic come back only to watch it fritter away as the potential joys of a social life come calling. Shakespeare’s mockery of performative academics is all too familiar for a Cambridge audience, therefore, BATS is setting this version of Love’s Labour’s Lost in our very own Queens’ College, taking inspiration from Ian Judge’s version set on the Oxbridge punting lakes in 1914. However our version will hurtle into the present day, giving audiences a window into current Cambridge life in all its brilliance and occasional ridiculousness. Above the facades and false promises, love emerges as the greatest pursuit of all.
Join us in Queens' annual May Week Show, taking place upon the sunny lawns of Queens' Cloister Court, to bring to life Shakespeare's hilarious feast of language, lessons and lovers.
- March 2026
Queens4Queers is a brand new student led organisation aiming to bridge the gap between the student queer scene and the wider queer scene in Cambridge.
Following the success of our inaugural event hosting Bilal Hasna at our fantastic Fitzpatrick Hall venue, we are eager to welcome back the queers of Cambridge in a night of pride and celebration.
Queens’ for Queer Cabaret is celebrating queer performers and artists, opening up the Queens’ College Fitzpatrick Hall to host wonderful acts from all over the city.
We are thrilled to announce that we will be collabing with CLUB URANIA (check them out @cluburania on Instagram) showcasing one of their outstanding acts on our stage! We are looking for anyone who would like to share their art and come together as a community.
- March 2026
She can’t stay away.
She sold drugs.
She’s good at interrogations.
She drinks in the mornings.
She ate a rabbit.
She smashed up a shop.
She stabbed a man.
She used a hammer.
She had a baby.
She can’t find a mother.
She’s covered in blood and doesn’t know why.
Alice Birch's [BLANK], created in collaboration with CleanBreak, is a collection of 100 scenes based on verbatim interviews with women who have been affected by the criminal justice system. This unique production poses a challenge to theatre makers: devise a performance from Birch's scenes - the storyline, order of scenes and characters are entirely up for interpretation. BATS' [BLANK] will be created, directed and acted by an all female and non-binary company, resulting in three shows where each performance explores a different outcome.
- March 2026
A series of scenarios for the theatre, without characters or plot, attempt to deconstruct the shape-shifting figure of Anne, who is at times an urban terrorist, at others a movie star, and at others a machine.
- February 2026
There were three of them in the bed. Initially, before Gale left. They said something about breakfast, as far as anyone can recall. Of the two people left, some things are known to be true: one is doing the crossword, the other is hungover. One is very beautiful, the other does not like to be called that. Neither can remember the other's name.
Our protagonists, Beautiful and Darling, question what it means to name yourself and to trust another person with that name. As they struggle to keep headline news out of their bed, [Rib]cage examines genderqueer experiences, and what to do in a political climate where the status of your existence, and your existence itself, is a matter of contention.
Instagram: @ribcage.play
The Tab Review: https://thetab.com/2026/02/20/review-ribcage-is-the-most-important-play-you-will-see-this-year
- February 2026
Your much loved 'A Cauldron of BATS' is back for another term. Except this time we are looking for it to be bigger, better, and battier than ever. Please join us in the Queens' Black Box for a night of student writing fresh off the (most likely proverbial) press.
- February 2026
Writing performance part of ‘A Cauldron of Bats' show case.
- January 2026
Looking for an amazing cast for an extract of Barnum, Booth, & Lincoln! 🎭✨
Step inside a circus tent made of memory, where P.T. Barnum guides us through the Booth brothers’ childhood—one chosen for the stage, one left behind—and the family fracture that will echo into American history. Expect Shakespeare, scripture, overlapping letters, and all the messy, beautiful emotions that come with love turning into rivalry.
Auditions are January 28th & 29th — we can’t wait to meet you! 💛🎪
For more details, read the full advert or contact asm217@cam.ac.uk.
- January 2026
The inaugural BATS devised theatre competition!!
Teams have three days to create their own theatre piece from scratch to perform on Sunday night. Everything about your piece is entirely up to you, including but not limited to: content, character, genre, staging, audience layout and more… So whether you have a story you’ve always wanted to tell, there are things you want to see represented in theatre that aren’t or you just want to be creative and have some fun with a group of people then Bats: In the Wings is for you.
- November–December 2025
BATS Lent term pitching is open!!
We are looking for fun, fresh, innovative and exciting shows to put on in Queens’ College next term.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dc-xj2M798Tyw3HvaBxehKjkP1VqEwafTI5gGy09tz0/edit?usp=drivesdk
- November 2025
Welcome to Cambridge, a small town where everybody knows each other and the pace of life allows the pursuit of love to take up as much space as it needs. Our tour guide is Suzanne, the town photographer, who lets us peek into her neighbors’ lives to catch glimpses of romance in all its stages of development. A play about love, nostalgia, the seasons and how we learn to say goodbye.
The first ever promenade play at Queens’ College!
- November 2025
Avi ran away the week before his Bar Mitzvah. Years later, now a painter, broke, adrift, and fixated on mermaids, he calls home asking for a loan. The condition? Come back. Finish what you fled.
He returns to find the house changed, his sister married into Orthodoxy, and a faith he no longer recognises woven into the walls.
Bathwater drifts between the surreal and the sacred. A play of submerged truths, tangled inheritance, and the murky thresholds between myth and memory.
- October 2025
“Even the game is dangerous.”
As soon as Madame leaves the house, the ceremony begins anew. Claire and Solange are sisters and maids in Madame’s household — and their only ambition is to get rid of her. They roleplay as maid and mistress, in a ritual always interrupted by the alarm clock before Madame can be murdered. But what happens when she comes home?
This psychological thriller, centered around unease and identity, lays bare the fragility of roles in theatre and life. In an experimental and immersive new production, which is focused on audience discomfort, physical theatre brings twisted dynamics to the fore and roles are examined from a queer lens.
- October 2025
A Cauldron of BATS is back, and battier (and more...cauldrony?) than ever. Join us in the comforting confines of the Queens' Black Box for a night of quick-fire soliloquies, comedies, not-so-longedies, and ever more varied offerings of marvellous student writing.
Application information to follow...
- June 2025
Set up on a blind date by a mutual friend, Rob and Rebecca are bound to get along. Yet as their conversation unfolds, Rob talks the talk while Rebecca holds on to a powerful secret.
If you have any questions, please contact Millie at silverstreetproductions@queens.cam.ac.uk
- June 2025
BATS invites you to an afternoon of love, laughter, and music in our beloved May Week Show! This year, Twelfth Night takes on a groovy new twist, transporting you to the ultimate 60s music festival. In the historic Queens' Cloister Court, disguises are donned, identities mistaken, and hearts set spinning, in a whirlwind of mischief and rock 'n' roll.
With a rich history of renowned alumni and special guest appearances, the annual Shakespeare play is the true highlight of the BATS calendar. Don't miss out on this unmissable May Week celebration: grab your sunglasses, best flare trousers, and colourful scarfs, and join us for Twelfth Night, a festival you won't soon forget!
- March 2025
Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped into the next room…
Who do you love? What do you want from them? How long do you have to decide?
A group of friends rally around one of their own as he experiences unimaginable grief. But Syd loves Silas, Rob loves Yara, Yara is weary and Cal is hurting. And there’s something strange going on in the background of Silas’ photographs. Transferring from a sold out run at the Fitzpatrick Theatre in Cambridge to the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, The Healing Room is a tragicomedy exploring the intersection of grief, sex, intimacy and art.
- February–March 2025
'In painting one destroys everything…in life one can’t do it. The day to day crudities destroy all things one’s used to…known already. It’s a sort of rage…'
A play about form, history and friendship.
- February 2025
BATS and Magsoc bring you their first musical... ONCE!
Book by Enda Walsh
Music & Lyrics by Glen Hansard/Markéta Irglova
Based on the Motion Picture written and directed by John Carney
‘Once’ tells the enchanting story of a guy and girl, both dealing with their own lives in Dublin, who meet as a result of a chance encounter and the beauty of music. As their feelings for each other grow, so does the power of their music. This emotionally captivating musical has won the Academy Award, Grammy Award, Olivier Award and Tony Award.
- February 2025
A dance piece by Eoin McCaul.
- January 2025
After a sold out event last term, BATS is back with another night of new student writing showcasing talented writers from across the university!
- January 2025
Ben: That’s how they get away with it, they just lie. Nod their heads and lie, and we all go on with it...
Ben was sure he asked for two single beds. Tom says it's not that big of a deal, and they can just share the double. What does it matter, really? They've been friends for long enough.
As Ben and Tom wind down for the night, now seems like a good time for Tom to raise some questions around Ben's recent engagement to Holly... and his internet browsing preferences.
The Hotel Bed, based on the extract from the play of the same name by Jay Palombella, will be the first short film created under The BATS Company's new film production branch, Silver Street Productions. We would encourage all film-making enthusiasts to apply, even if this is your first time working in film, or are simply curious, as we would love to get in touch with all filmmakers across Cambridge.
*Please note dates/times listed above outline proposed shooting days, not screening times.
- November–December 2024
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI IS COMING TO THE FITZPAT AS THE MAINSHOW FOR MICHAELMAS WEEK 7
Arthur Schnitzler's seminal 1912 work, translated with vigour and flair by Samuel Adamson, will be landing in Cambridge between the 30th November and 1st December!!!
Vienna, 1900. A Jewish doctor prevents a Catholic priest from absolving a dying patient. A witch hunt ensues.
The play itself, which was banned shortly after its first performance in Bavaria, provides a gripping and intense depiction of the innate frictions between science and religion. The titular Bernhardi, having refused a priest entry to the room of a dying girl for fear she might realise the end is near and pass away in fear and pain, is subject to overwhelming professional and public scrutiny. The court of public opinion frowns upon Bernhardi even more spitefully once the fact of his Jewish identity is used as a mark of supposed bias against the priest he dismissed. In the face of a foul and pervasive antisemitism, Bernhardi struggles to be judged on his professional merit alone as those around him become increasingly polarized.
In an age where the 'town forum' froths with more fervor than ever before across all places of discourse, online or otherwise, Professor Bernhardi is a work which demands viewing. At its core, the play presents the highest stakes imaginable: the struggle for the human spirit to define itself in the face of forces desperate to confine and silence it.
- November 2024
One actor. One hour. No words.
- November 2024
Well in no particular order...
I love you, I need you, I want you, I go to sleep thinking about you and wake up with your voice winding through my head, I look at you and I can't focus, the whole world shimmers, I'm ashamed, I'm angry, I'm in love.
You kiss my mouth, you bite my lip, you draw blood, you're on fire, you're on fire, your eyes are flame, your hair is flame, the whole world shimmers and I burn and I burn with love -
We are thrilled to announce Martin Crimp's spoken word 'Cyrano de Bergerac' as BATS Week 5 mainstage SHOWSTOPPER!!
Set in the glossy, wooden stretches of the Fitzpatrick Mainstage, we invite you to join us as we play with the guts of the theatre - tearing out its ropes, its ladders, its lights.
From the company that brought you 'Closer', and 'Much Ado About Nothing', the BATS Company is back and bigger than ever with our first mainstage production.
Devise. Understand. Study. Explore.
As a BATS production, we welcome the challenge of Crimp's 'Cyrano'. This script and this company is anchored in the pursuit of creating ensembles of artists, who grow in support and development of each other throughout the BATS process.
Our cast will be training through devised workshops, which will be led by a series of fantastic practitioners. We will be inviting a special guest from Frantic Assembly's Ignite to host workshops in lifts, fight choreography, and 'the frantic method'.
For our production team, we have organised specialised training from the Almeida's lighting designer, and a bespoke workshop from Scott Fleary - the set design and construction team for the National, Barbican, Old Vic, and Lyric theatres. We are incredibly fortunate to have received such a wealth of support from industry professionals.
- November 2024
In 2014, the UK’s first legalised red-light district opened in the Holbeck area of Leeds. Sex workers in Holbeck were able to operate with police supervision and without fear of arrest between the hours of 8pm-6am. This initiative was known as the Managed Approach. Managed Approach, the stage play, merges verbatim interview material into a plotline that portrays the dynamic between a mother and daughter who live in Holbeck.
- November 2024
England is in crisis, but its Prince is in a pub. Join his crew of rogues led by the notorious Falstaff as they rave and revel - for their England may not always be so merry...
Excavated from Shakespeare's Henry IV, FALSTAFF! is the ultimate tragicomedy. Our play is about fathers and sons and the roles that we play, whether as King, mentor, or friend. It's a play about what it means to perform a role, where we will attempt to reconstruct Shakespeare's Merry England just to take it apart and see how it ticks. The first BATS production in memory to take place in Queens' Old Hall, get ready to explore medieval England in an appropriately medieval setting. Take a seat in Old Hall, transformed into a tavern, transformed into a royal palace the way a Prince may play at being transformed into a King - when we take off the jester's hat with all its bells, we shall see it is not so different from a crown.
With a 3 performances in Week 3 (evenings Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd of November, and a matinee on the Sunday to boot), FALSTAFF! is one to watch out for! Follow us on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/oldhall_falstaff/
- October 2024
SHORT FILM
Oh those bright young things...
Born of a compound of grief and relief,
How they dazzle and shimmer and daze
Pia’s twentieth birthday. The start of a decade of glitter and glare; there must be a reason it’s roaring. Soph, for one, cannot wait to turn twenty. Pia couldn’t care less.
Like a moth to a flame, Soph dotes on her friend with delight, planning her a birthday party like no other. But appearances can be deceiving, and you can’t dote forever on a dream.
- October 2024
BATS presents its first showcase of new student writing!
The night's 'cauldron' will consist of 15 minute extracts from new student plays, comedy, story telling - all original pieces written by students and performed in our wonderful black box studio.
Join us for an intimate night celebrating original work by talented students writers!
- June 2024
BATS invites you to an afternoon of blistering romance in our yearly beloved May Week Show. Set amongst the flora and fauna of Queens' Cloister Court, this production promises to entice you into the winding drama of Much Ado About Nothing. As we transport you to a small island, in the south of Italy, betrayals, dalliances, and passions are sure to get heated!
With a rich history of renowned alumni and special guest appearances, the annual Shakespeare play is a real highlight of the BATS calendar. Don't miss out on this tempting May Week affair!
- March 2024
Brought to you by 'BATS - The Company', Patrick Marber's 'Closer' is a beautiful four-hander, which at its heart, asks us why, who and at what cost we can love.
‘I’m grateful to her. She changed my life. She’s completely lovable and completely unleavable.’
Set in the blaring, woven streets of London, Closer follows the lives of four individuals, as their desires intersect, run in parallel, and ultimately annihilate one another. Closer makes us question, what is desire? What is jealousy? Where do we draw the boundaries between need and want, between cruelty and honesty.
‘It’s the only way to leave: ‘I don’t love you anymore, good-bye.’
- March 2024
miracle on w. 50th street explores the details and intricacies of leaving one's home, and coming back again. It ponders questions of freedom, belonging, and connection as its characters intersect and part ways across the globe.
This workshop production of the play will marry rehearsal with performance, creating a unique opportunity for its audience to be a part of the creative process of a new play.
- March 2024
In a unique double-bill, BATS brings you David Mamet’s Prairie du Chien and Stephen Jeffreys’ Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad. On a 3AM train passing though Wisconsin a traveller tells a tale of jealousy, murder and the supernatural; at night, outside the gates of the last British fort in Afghanistan, four buglers stand guard, awaiting their fate, sounding the advance. These plays present us with charged moments of fear and uncertainty, and the sudden catastrophes that can spring out of them.
- February 2024
“You’re not my type. You’re not particularly funny and you’re a bit too intense for me. But I think you have the potential to be marvellous.”
