- 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.
- June 2006
On a small island in the Adriatic, the exiled wizard Prospero exacts a magical revenge on his enemies that has been eleven years in the planning. Join fools, fairies and princes for BATS’ fifty-ninth May Week Shakespeare play.
In a setting not too distant from Whitehall Palace, where James I watched the first performance in 1611, we bring ‘The Tempest’ to Cambridge. Sit outside in the sunshine for a production that marries the conventions of Jacobean theatre with modern technology to present Shakespeare’s valedictory play; part comedy, part wistful musing on life, love and power.
- March 2006
Sparkling performances to delight and entertain...'Ahobrase' is a show of comedy, music and dance acts, sketches and monologues for a one night cabaret in association with BATS on 8th March.
This will be an evening of fun and high quality entertainment...and all the money goes to charity.
The cabaret will be in aid of a vocational school for abandoned and abused girls in Elmina, Ghana.
- February–March 2006
10 People are trapped in an isolated house - all of them accused of being murderers who have escaped justice. In the drawing room, a large tapestry spells out an old nursery rhyme: "Ten little Indians, sitting down to dine/One choked himself and then there were nine...". The ten guests of the mysterious Mr Owen laugh the accusations off as ridiculous. Then one of the ten chokes to death at dinner and then there are nine... "Nine little Indians staying up late/One overslept himself and then there were eight..." then seven... then six... As their numbers collapse, the crowd realises that one of them must be responsible for these outstanding and psychotic murders. But with no detective at hand, only the suspects can solve the case. They're all equally suspicious though and most of them won't survive the night... A baffling and outstanding puzzle from the Queen of Crime is brought to the stage. Christie rated this as the finest mystery in her canon.
- November–December 2005
'PAPER FLOWERS' is a tight two-hander, written in 1969 (the year the Communist leader Allende, came to power) by one of Chile’s greatest living playwrights explores the gulf between ‘Los Rotos’ (the broken ones) and the repetitive life of the affluent middle classes. The play is constructed with exceptional skill and is a sophisticated fusion of magical realism, absurdism and black comedy. I’m looking for two committed and open minded actors who wish to challenge themselves and enjoy exploring these two complicated and intriguing characters. Together we will make creative use the rehearsal process to produce a piece of theatre which does justice to the play’s unique and exciting explosion of longing, power games, silence, humour and desperation.
ROLES:
EVA: A lonely middle class widow who paints flowers alone in the botanical gardens. She tries with all her might to reach out and offer her love to Beto, a man whom she finds both socially and sexually threatening and compelling. When we first meet her, her life is ordered, repetitive and empty:
“That’s what my life is, eating and more eating, morning noon and night. I sometimes think that life is nothing more than a permanent meal, with pauses in between to get bored again”
BETO: An enigmatic figure from the slums by the river; dressed in rags, prone to severe fits of shaking and a disarming ability to evade questions about his past. He is a forceful presence, often fluctuating between monotonous utterances, brutality, childlike pathos and intensely poetic speeches:
“Love is broken bridge, with a broken tooth, with a broken crank. It flies within the world’s four walls, cracking skulls. Love is a three legged dog! A tramp with one hand and two bananas!”
The action is set in Eva’s ordered and neat living room, beginning as she enters with Beto carrying her shopping. What unfolds spans a tense few days in the house where we see Beto gradually colonise Eva’s world and impose disorder and havoc: rearranging, reconstructing and destroying the furniture and gradually filling the room with his dark, enormous, ragged paper flowers.
- November 2005
A provincial town, a dreaded inspection, mistaken identity; a provocative farce. Nikolai Gogol's timeless comic masterpiece brought to you by BATS' brand new talent.
- November 2005
-"I am a heterosexual"
-"I wish you wouldn't use these Chaucerian words."
A London psychiatric clinic becomes a world of carnivalesque chaos when rampant libidos, mistaken identities, undressing and cross-dressing create layer upon layer of mischievous confusion in Orton's farcical masterpiece. The less than reputable Dr. Prentice makes his advances on a would-be secretary and sets in motion events that blur boundaries of gender, decency, and sanity.
'an icon of modern drama' - The Guardian
'A truly classic sex farce that keeps up an almost relentless stream of great gags.' -Sunday Express
'A breakneck comedy of near operatic complexity' - Metro
- November 2005
There's nothing quite like onion in The morning to bring back a grin Oh Gardi's, we love you so...
It's a normal night outside of Gardi's, but all the usual suspects have started singing... BATS presents the stage-show of a Cambridge legend! This is an eclectic student-written musical, based around the almost-closure of the famous eatery last year, and presenting the audience with a slightly bizarre snapshot of student life – deadly smokers, earnest Christians, assassins and all. Expect mad capers, high jinx, and a bloody laugh and a half...
- November 2005
A hilarious and heady comedy of confusion and crossed wires. This fourhander set in the 1960s is the play that made Ayckbourn his name in the theatre.
- August 2005
- June 2005
To reserve tickets email csf24@cam.ac.uk with your name, number of tickets, and contact tel. no
- May 2005
Mr Blake kidnaps a family for his annual birthday and tries to swap places with the father. The daughters are angry; the mother doesn't seem to care; and we can't tell what the father thinks because he's bound, gagged and imprisoned somewhere. He’s probably quite annoyed though.
Familiar familial homilies are literally unwrapped and set on fire before your thighs in this new Tragi-comedy; which we prefer to call 'Comedy', taking the 'Com' from 'Comedy' and the '-edy' from 'Tragedy'. Edgy, dark and innovative, this runner-up to the Footlights' Harry Porter Prize was judged by Bill Oddie to be 'err...'. Find out if you agree.
For more information visit www.ourdarkerpurpose.com
- March 2005
Rosie, an ageing whore, and James, her life-companion cum pimp, set out in search of their ideal selves in a fairytale forest. Rosie and James encounter Edmund and Anastasia; chaste, virtuous, poetic, beautiful and optimistic- gender perfected. In a dysoptian midsummer night's dream forest chase, the characters shamelessly stalk love and identity, violently bouncing between the worlds of metaphor and reality. Extreme doses of life's aspiration mixed with vulgar images of sex and death leave Rosie and James' questions unanswered, giving them only the ultimate hangover from wasted optimism.
- March 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
INTRODUCING THE THEATRE OF TOM MURPHY: a round-table discussion with live
scenes from the theatre of an Irish outsider.
Introducing a mini-season of Tom Murphy’s plays in Cambridge, we would like
to invite you to a round-table discussion of his work on Monday the 28th of
February, at 5 pm in the English Faculty Drama Studio (Sidgwick Site). The
round-table will provide a general introduction to his work and place in
contemporary Irish theatre, with more detailed presentations and
discussions of live scenes from The Morning After Optimism (2-6th March,
10.30pm, Fitzpatrick Hall) and Bailegangaire (8-12th March, 10.30pm,
Pembroke New Cellars).
The speakers will be Dr Deana Rankin, Yvonne McDevitt, Liliane Campos and
Saraid Dodd. The discussion will be informal and all are welcome to take
part: no prior knowledge of Murphy is necessary!
‘On the Outside…’ Dr Deana Rankin, Fellow of Girton College, will introduce
Murphy and his position as an outsider in Irish theatre.
‘The Impact of EXILES (1912) by James Joyce on Tom Murphy’ Yvonne McDevitt,
director and Judith E. Wilson Fellow, will take a look at Joyce’s influence
on Murphy’s work.
‘A Theatre of Voices: voice acts and speech acts in Murphy’s Bailegangaire’
Liliane Campos, director of Bailegangaire, will analyse the tension between
voice and language in Murphy’s work. A short scene from Bailegangaire will
be performed for discussion.
‘The Morning After Optimism: should we show it to children?’ Saraid Dodd,
director of The Morning After Optimism, will give a director’s view on the
play. A short scene from The Morning After Optimism will be performed for
discussion.
- February 2005
Warmest greetings are extended by Lawrence and Beverly Moss to their cul-de-sac neighbours. Five intensely dysfunctional adults will perform, for your viewing pleasure, a carnival of loveless sexual frustration; masks are to be worn. The evening will entail party games, canapés, and certain voyeurism. Body bags will be provided. This is the event, this is the middle-class – welcome to suburbia.
- February 2005
'Apocalypse: The Musical' is set to be the most funky musical in Cambridge next term- God and Satan decide it's Apocalypse time, and elect a milkman and a whore to recruit for their cosmic armies in the war to decide the fate of the universe. Who will succeed? Will Satan manage to sabotage the milkman's efforts with a band of gospel-singing nuns, or will the chorus cows deliver him from their misguided attempts to lock him up in their convent? And what if the milkman and the whore were to... meet?
- February 2005
How far would you go for the person you love? How much would you change? 'The Shape of Things' is a provocative, acerbic play which exposes how superficial the relationship between a man and a woman can . The play deals with four university students trying to seek acceptance. It is a savage indictment of the modern 'makeover' culture, showing how far people force others to conform to perceptions of beauty with a blurred view of 'art' and 'reality'. Writer Neil LaBute has been described by the New Yorker as 'the best new playwright to emerge in the past decade...'.
- November 2004
The Queens' Fresher's Pantomime Returns! Written by and starring the
gloriously talented and beautifully supple new freshers, the Pantomime has
been around almost long enough to be classed as a tradition. Following on
from the unconventional 'The Nativity' and 'The Man in the Iron Mask', this
year's (currently under construction) will contain laughs, songs, innuendo
and no small amount of thumb-nosing at prominent Queens' figures. Support
your friends, boo the baddie, hide as the dames try and flirt with you -
all of this and more is in store.
- November 2004
- November 2004
From a fractured childhood in the chateaus of the French countryside, to an
old age trapped in the final, brilliant flash of Parisian society, before
war extinguishes its lights. Marcel has spent his life watching. Now is the
time for telling. Telling a tale of glamour and corruption, decadence and
depravity.
It has been a one-hundred year journey from Proust's astonishing memoir,
which blew off the doors of the salons of the privileged, to Harold Pinter
and Di Trevis' final script, which challenged theatregoers around the
world. In the first production since its groundbreaking run at the National
Theatre, BATS production takes the story onwards, marking a new chapter in
cutting edge Cambridge theatre. A night to remember.
- November 2004
How can peace be found in war? How can sanity be found in madness? BATS
present the stage premiere of 'Shooting the Chandelier' written by David
Mercer, named 'foremost political writer of his generation’ by The Theatre
Review. This exciting multimedia production showcases the best new talent
of Cambridge. Set in a ruined mansion from which the ongoing Second World
War is strangely absent, images of memory and a vanished world are used as
the backdrop to an intimate study of jealousy and pain. Conceived as a
television drama, this is a stage transfer not to be missed.
- November 2004
Jessie’s epilepsy prevents her from holding a satisfying job, her marriage
has ended, and her son is a petty thief who isn’t speaking to her. She
lives with her mother, Thelma, in a small house in the American backwoods.
Jessie decides to do something about her unhappy existence and announces
that at the end of the evening, after painting Thelma’s nails, she will
kill herself. What follows is as inevitable as it is heartbreaking, as
Thelma’s increasingly desperate attempts to save her daughter’s life
illuminate their life together. This electrifying, Pulitzer Prize-winning
play is a paragon of twentieth-century tragedy.
