- November 2011
Sondheim’s musical thriller, a modern day classic, tells the story of Benjamin Barker. Framed by the evil Judge Turpin him - in order to rape Barker's wife - he escapes and returns to London only to discover his wife poisoned herself and Turpin is to marry his daughter. He rents a room over Mrs Lovett’s struggling pie shop, selling - to quote - “The Worst Pies in London”, and plots revenge, which soon expands to include a much wider clientele.
Sweeney Todd deftly mixes horror with the blackest humour. A cast of Cambridge's finest actor-singers will appear in a brand new production that will be mesmerising, disconcerting and bloody good fun.
Sweeney's waiting.
- June 2011
‘What, would you restrain the freedom of speech? I vow I have no malice against the people I abuse. When I say an ill-natured thing, ‘tis out of pure good humour; and I take it for granted they deal exactly in the same manner with me.’
Speech may be unrestrained, but slander is wielded as a weapon of social control in Sheridan’s finely-tuned, witty masterpiece of restoration comedy (from the director of CUOS’s The Marriage of Figaro, February 2011). Bitchy and self-conscious, perfectly-timed and delicious, this play wears too much rouge and leers like your great uncle.
Join Lady Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mrs Candour and their school for scandal as they construct plot out of rumour, rumour out of plot. With comic scenes to rival Malvolio's letter-reading in Twelfth Night, this bitchy restoration drama of manners is comedy at its best.
'perhaps the most finished and faultless comedy which we have' (William Hazlitt)
- March 2011
When no heroes are left, who will save us?
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe 2010, the Medics’ Revue is back, bringing ‘The Fantastic Forceps’ to the Fitzpatrick Hall and providing an hour of riotous sketches and hilarious songs that are sure to tickle your funny bone. Featuring entirely original, and specifically non-medical humour from the pens of undergraduate medics and vets, this show continues to be a well-loved Cambridge tradition. Drawing upon current affairs, pop culture and the twisted imaginations of the next generation of lifesavers, the show promises to provide light-hearted entertainment as a perfect antidote to the end of term. Medics’ Revue promises to split your sides, and then stitch them back up again after!
- March 2011
The world's greatest physicist, Johann Wilhelm Mobius, is in a madhouse, haunted by recurring visions of King Solomon. He is kept company by two other equally deluded scientists: one who thinks he is Einstein, another who believes he is Newton. It soon becomes evident, however, that these three are not as harmlessly lunatic as they appear. Are they, in fact, really mad? Or are they playing some murderous game, with the world as the stake? For Mobius has uncovered the mystery of the universe--and therefore the key to its destruction--and Einstein and Newton are vying for this secret that would enable them to rule the earth.
- February 2011
Running to 4 star reviews last term (‘a masterpiece of madness’, TCS), BATS revives ‘William Fergus Stuart’ as their week 4 lateshow. Attempting to tell the story of its author’s life, the show explores and explodes autobiography, going after war, life, death, romance and struggling to find your heart.
- February 2011
- November 2010
THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND combines elements of metatheatre and farce with the 'whodunnit' formula of Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle and ludicrous comedy.
The play opens with two critics watching a play, presented with a group of characters trapped in the mysterious Muldoon Manor by adverse weather conditions and a lunatic apparently on the loose somewhere nearby
However, when one of the characters in the play is killed, Birdboot finds himself taking his place, and things only get stranger, as the lines between audience and play, critic and actor become bafflingly blurred.
- November 2010
Politics. Rebellion. Desire. All words. So what can they do?
For the characters in this play, the presence - or absence - of the right words can be life-changing. As a drama teacher is drawn into a staged version of his past, we see how saying what you really mean isn't as simple as it sounds, whether in London or Havana. But then you need words to tell a story, and perhaps they can help as well as hurt...
A new play by Paul Merchant.
- November 2010
"If they don't agree, then I will change their minds by whatever means I deem necessary. If you want to call it disease, or corruption, or whichever words seem appropriate, then go ahead." An empty, windowless room is where the human forms of Rape, Faith and Pain find themselves, cut off and without recollection of their arrival. In trying to escape, they find themselves going deeper into the isolation of their space, and their fruitless and disturbing efforts to learn about one another seems to draw the walls in as their predicament remains apparently without cause.
- November 2010
BATS presents:
The MISANTHROPE by Moliere, verse translation by Tony Harrison
Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens' College | Week 4 Mainshow
2nd - 6th November
Tickets: £5/£7
"Let real feelings shine out through our speech, a deep sincerity where guile can't reach."
Widely regarded as Molière's masterpiece, The Misanthrope is a wickedly scathing satire of high society. Still bitingly relevant today, it enjoyed huge success in the West End earlier this year.
In this brilliant translation by Tony Harrison, the urban, young intelligentsia jostle for status and respect in 1960s Paris. Decide for yourself whether Alceste,the proverbial misanthrope, is an honest man surrounded by flattering sycophants or an arrogant idealistic fool.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE HERE - http://www.adcticketing.com/
- June 2010
When Duke Vincentio leaves the law of Vienna in the hands of Angelo – his notoriously rigid deputy – the city looks like it will be cleaned up for the better. But when Angelo confuses law with justice his harsh penalty starts a chain of reactions that both provokes and captivates audiences of this engrossing drama. What exactly does Angelo want with the beautiful but chaste Isabella? And just where exactly has the Duke disappeared to? ‘Measure for Measure’ is an intriguing tale of power and corruption, lies and deception with the essential comedic elements of dressing up in disguise and a rather simple police constable. Not to be missed …
- March 2010
- March 2010
The Last Five Years, by composer Jason Robert Brown, combines an eclectic and beautiful score, with an intensely powerful plot, told in a strikingly unique and individual way. The story deals with the breakdown of Cathy and Jamie’s marriage, however, the audience sees Jamie’s account in chronological order, whilst Cathy’s experience is in reverse, the two characters meeting only once in the middle at their engagement and wedding. This is a beautiful and challenging addition to the Cambridge musical theatre scene.
- February 2010
This seminal piece of female drama is controversial even today. A group of monologues from people in all walks of life discuss different aspects of the pussy with humour, tenderness and rage. Titles include ‘Reclaiming Cunt’, ‘Hair’, ‘My Angry Vagina’ and ‘Because he Liked to Look at it.’ The production will take place as part of ‘V-Day’ - a worldwide feminist movement around Valentine’s Day to promote ending violence against women. All money raised from the production will go to women’s charities.
- November 2009
- November 2009
'...one flew east, one flew west, One flew over the cuckoo's nest'
When convicted villain McMurphy manages to cheat his way into serving out his sentence in a mental hospital, utter pandemonium ensues on Nurse Ratched's ward. Cheif Bromden, the supposedly deaf-mute patient, watches as the new addition refuses to bow to the rules and routines that had before been irrefutable, and slowly, as Nurse Ratched's rigid grip on her authority disintegrates, the other inmates begin to regain a sense of vitality. McMurhpy's rambunctious behaviour transforms life on the ward, but at what cost?
Dale Wasserman's 1963 stage adaptation of Kesey's classic novel brings to life this touching and revelational tale through the juxtapposition of scrutinising action and beautiful soliloquays. In an exhilarating exploration of the human mind and the concept of 'sanity' this production will not fail to engross.
- March 2009
‘The goldest throne in the world is still sat on by an arse’ said Montaigne, and the Earl of Rochester's SODOM examines this fundamental of fundaments with no little rectitude. The base instincts which govern our governors are expressed here through the nihilism of a poet who finds his only reality in sexuality. Relocated from Restoration decadence to political sleaze, Lewinsky dresses and Prescott leers, with songs, dances and Signior Dildo, this is what every play should be, this is to Shakespeare what Hollyoaks Later is to Hollyoaks.
- March 2009
“Is there no instance of a friend turned false? Take heed of that: no love by proxy, Julio.”
An extremely exciting opportunity to be part of an imaginative production of Shakespeare’s ‘lost play’. For years, Cardenio has been surrounded by mystery and the subject of heated debate as to the true authorship...However, for the first time we present an original re-imagining of the play by Bernard Richards; perhaps as close as we will ever get to the truth of this lost work.
- February 2009
Sophrosyne is a play about family and evil. It is Robert's 60th birthday. He lives with his boyfriend, his mad mother and her parrot. His two warring children come up for the celebrations: his son grows penises on the backs of rats, his daughter believes in God. Robert wants to talk about sex. No one else does. A child has been lost and a poem written, and Robert wants to put a glory-hole through the fourth wall. No one quite knows what to say. We can see the strings of madness, inherited voices and murder.
Sophrosyne is written by the joint winner of the Other Prize 2008, Freddy Syborn. His previous plays include Tragedy Circus, A Beast For Thee, Now the late last winter, Indivisible, and Flesh-Eating Jacobean Zombies. Of A Beast For Thee, Varsity said "I really can't think of a better new play I've seen at Cambridge. As both writer and director of this forty-five minute piece, Freddy Syborn skillfully avoids all the usual over-earnest pitfalls of 'student writing' and instead constructs his own strong and impressive theatrical language."
- November 2008
A small town in 50s' France - A Rhinoceros stampedes through the streets, mildly upsetting our hero, Bérenger. At first he is undaunted by the rhinocerisation trend but as the whole of humanity begins to follow the fashion and transform into rhinoceri he desperately tries to hold out and remain human.
A hilarious romp in the darker recesses of the 20th Century.
- November 2008
- May 2008
Footlights' famous evening comedy shows hit Queen's this easter term in association with BATS.
- March 2008
Twenty years after forming a society during their teens called “the disciples of James Dean,” five former members hold a reunion dedicated to looking to the future, but find themselves rooted in an unresolved past. Tensions mount as secrets are revealed and an unexpected guest returns to reveal the truth about love, life and James Dean. Past and present merge in the two separate time periods in which the action is set, adding comedy and poignancy to this innovative work.
- March 2008
Two short plays, one about the sexual tensions of a lesson which veers into violence, the other about the difficulty of kicking a man to death when you are holding a pot plant. Short, quick, cheap and entertaining, these plays promise to be entertaining and experimental.
This double-bill is a joint venture between BATS and the Lady Margaret Players.
- November 2007
The story is about an affable man Elwood P. Dowd and his imaginary friend Harvey, a 6 1/2 foot tall rabbit. When Elwood starts to introduce Harvey, a pooka, to guests at a society party, his society-obsessed sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter Myrtle Mae and their family from future embarrassment.
When they arrive at the sanitarium, due to a comedy of errors, the doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey, it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors, including renowned Dr. Chumley, his medical partner Dr. Sanderson, and the head nurse Miss Kelly.
Only just before Elwood is to be given an injection, Dr. Chumley's Formula 977, that will make him, as his taxi driver says, into a "perfectly normal human being; and you know what bastards they are!" does Veta realize that she'd rather have Elwood be the same as he's always been — carefree and kind — even if it means living with Harvey the pooka.
- November 2007
'...no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves. Nora: It is a thing thousands of women have done.'
Over a century ago it caused a scandal never been seen before on the European stage; it was banned from British theatres; it changed the portrayal of women on and off stage forever. Yet even today, the shock that 'Ibsenism' brought into contemporary society all that time ago, the issues he explored are still relevant and highly emotive. In the infamous central character, Nora, Ibsen epitomized the human struggle against the humiliating constraints of social conformity, an issue which still holds sway over each and every one of us today.
- November 2007
What would you do if you received late-night phone calls from a stranger wanting to know if you clean your shoes with furniture polish? What if the same stranger turned up on your doorstep? Would you let him in? Would you offer him olives? What would you ask him to do with the pips?
Boasting a typically irresistable blend of wit and menace, 'The Collection' is a lesser-known Pinter classic that is guaranteed to charm, shock and delight. Come and experience the thrill of Late Night Pinter.
- November 2007
"A nice little promising life there, I thought and a nasty mess somebody's made of it." One evening the Birling family sits down to dinner to celebrate the engagement of their daughter. Prosperous and content, they could not be more satisfied with life. Unexpectedly the doorbell rings, an Inspector has come to inquire about a young woman who has committed suicide. A young, pretty woman by the name of Eva Smith but they none of them know her, of course.
Slowly but inexorably, the Inspector connects them to the young woman, shattering their illusions about themselves and their lives.
"An Inspector Calls" is a challenging play by a well-known playwright that is searching and poignant but underpinned with understanding and humour. It offers the actor well-drawn, complex characters and brilliantly written dialogue in a suspenseful, dramatic situation.
- June 2007
Egeon is the father of twin boys, both called Antipholus. Both boys have a servant - both called Dromio. Egeon is separated from his family, and the twins from each other in a shipwreck.
Egeon arrives in Ephesus looking for his family. Antipholus and Dromio arrive in Ephesus from Syracuse in search of their long-lost twin brothers, Antipholus and Dromio. Antipholus, married to Adriana, and Dromio, servant, live in Ephesus. Antipholus and Dromio are surprised to find that everybody recognises them. Antipholus and Dromio aren't.
Confused?
Suddenly the strangers find themselves greeted like old friends, Antipholus finds that he has acquired a wife, and everyone in Ephesus seems to be behaving very strangely...
- March 2007
In this play the usual conditions of light and dark are reversed: when the lights are 'on' we see nothing but darkness; when they are 'off' we see the characters behaving as if they were in a black-out. Carol and Brindsley, an engaged couple, have invited a millionaire to see some of Brindsley's art, and in an attempt to impress him have 'borrowed' antiques from a neighbour. Carol's formidable father is also expected. The lights fuse, and chaos gradually ensues as the arrival of various unexpected visitors effectively wrecks the evening.
- March 2007
Written by one of Spain's greatest playwrights, 'Yerma' tells the story of Yerma, a passionate but childless woman living in rural Spain, and her unhappy marriage to the cold and indifferent Juan. Her desperate desire for motherhood becomes an obsession that eventually drives her to commit a horrific crime.
An original translation of Lorca's text by Alex Moyet.
- November 2006
Tired of her cheating husband the Prince, Snow White decides to pack her bags and get an education at Queens' College, Cambridge. However, there's trouble afoot: Something that lurks in the shadows of Cripps Court has been killing off the builders. Now it's down to Snow White and her dwarf friends to destroy this evil before it wreaks havoc upon the upcoming bop...
- November 2006
Ten characters. Ten encounters. "Sheer theatrical viagra."
- November 2006
All is not well in the Ankh-Morpork Opera House. A ghost stalks the dark corridors, leaving strange letters for the management and...killing people. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, two Lancre witches investigate, and are soon involved in all kinds of skulduggery, mayhem and ear-splittingly loud singing.
- November 2006
1968: three couples, whose lives are overshadowed by a demanding film producer, escape his clutches and flee to Amsterdam for the weekend. Safely ensconced in their hotel room, the uneasy equilibrium that has existed between them is searingly exposed as the alcohol starts to flow....
From the same iconoclastic writer who changed the face of modern theatre, "The Hotel in Amsterdam" is an eloquent expression of the fragility of friendship; it is about yearning for chances and the sting of success.
- November 2006
One sunny evening, ten-year-old Rhona goes missing. Twenty years later her mother, Nancy, is still set in a state of frozen hope. Agnetha, an American academic, comes to England to research a thesis entitled "Serial Killing: A Forgivable Act?". And then there's Ralph, her scarred kidnapper in this Tony award winning play. Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three embark upon a long and dark journey which finally curves upward into the light.
