- May 2007
“I’ve caught a cold. A germ. In my eyes. It was this morning. In my eyes. My eyes. Not that I had any difficulty in seeing you, no, no, it was not so much my sight, my sight is excellent – in winter I run about with nothing on but a pair of polo shorts – no, it was so much any deficiency in my sight as the airs between me and my object, the shades they make, the shapes they take, the quivering, the eternal quivering – please stop crying – nothing to do with heat-haze.”
Edward and Flora enjoy a happy country-side life. Goose for lunch, a garden flowering with clematis and convolvulus, and a plentiful supply of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Nothing could be more splendid. But who’s that shady figure lurking at the back gate? Is he really just a match seller? There’s a slight ache in Edward’s eye, niggling away at his very core, and nothing will make it go away until he’s found out…
- March 2007
http://www.forbiddenplanet.org.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/forbiddenplanetcambridge
‘Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!’
5...4...3...2…1…BLAST OFF!!
Join us on board the mother ship ADC for a journey into deepest space. Robots, mad scientists, and aliens all welcome. BEWARE, our journey may be treacherous. There may be asteroid showers and there may be monsters but that’s just what we’ve come to expect from space travel these days.
What is set to be the theatrical highlight of the Lent term, Return to the Forbidden Planet is a joyous mix of fun. This is Shakespeare's forgotten rock and roll masterpiece. The Tempest as a 1950s B-movie, bursting with 60s and 70s pop numbers including classics such as ‘Good Vibrations,’ ‘Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire,’ ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ and ‘Born to be wild’ . There is something for everyone aged 2 to 200 - human, cyborg or robot…
VISIT OUR BLOG - Regular posts from productionland and from Outer Space
http://blog.myspace.com/forbiddenplanetcambridge
Education
Space Cadets on a Mission of Discovery to the Forbidden Planet!
Saturday Week 8&9 Fun workshops based on The Return to the Forbidden Planet and The Tempest will be run on Saturday mornings before the matinee performances of the show.
10-11am – discovery into space- exploring the key elements of the show, set, costume, make-up, lighting and sound throughout the theatre while touring the theatre at your own pace
11am -12 noon- workshop on stage for Primary age children including singing, dancing and movement based on the show
12 noon-1pm- workshop on stage for Secondary age children including singing, dancing and movement based work on the show
ADVANCED BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL – book your place by calling the theatre on 01223 300085 or going online to www.adctheatre.com
Education packs focused on inter-textual links between Return to the Forbidden Planet and The Tempest are available for Primary and Secondary age children. To request an education pack and/or a free practical workshop in your school alongside your school booking please contact Hazel Sheard at hjs38@cam.ac.uk
http://www.forbiddenplanet.org.uk/
- March 2007
In 1941, the fathers of quantum mechanics and, consequently, the atomic bomb, met in Copenhagen.
Niels Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, in Nazi-occupied Denmark, entertain their old friend and colleague Werner Heisenberg, who is heading the Nazi nuclear program.
Now they are "dead and gone", they attempt to piece together that fateful evening, to make history certain, and to work out exactly why that meeting ended the two scientists' friendship - the friendship that discovered quantum mechanics and put human subjectivity back at the centre of the universe – the friendship that raised the awful spectre of nuclear annihilation.
Humanity was "Preserved, just possibly, by that one short moment in Copenhagen. By some event that will never quite be located or defined. By that final core of uncertainty at the heart of things."
Michael Frayn’s enthralling drama portrays the human faces behind quantum theory and the development of the nuclear bomb. History, ethics and science fuse and ask: can anything ever be certain?
- February 2007
NEW WRITING!
The residents of Perdido believe the guagua will appear any minute to rescue them from the banality of their provincial existence. But this soon becomes a farce of confused clocks and helpless men. The only thing to materialize is the white heat of the afternoon. The village square becomes a fly infested inferno. The enthusiasm of morning is replaced by the afternoon fever of frustrated dreams. The plot thickens. Track of time is lost. How long have these people really been waiting? How long have they left to wait? And what happens if they wait that long? An irresistible tragicomedy of a single day and a whole lifetime.
- February 2007
"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxslip and nodding violet grows, There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight…"
Lovers, fairies and the worst actors in Athens find themselves roaming an enchanted forest, “ill-met by moonlight” in Shakespeare’s most magical comedy. Between the Mechanicals’ hilarious rehearsals of Pyramus and Thisbee and the prima-donna antics of Bottom the Weaver, we see young lovers chase eachother through the trees and fairies dupe one another with spells and enchantments. Fusing the magic of Shakespeare with ballet and an original score, this production will leave you laughing, tingling, and wondering what’s lurking in the shadows...
- February 2007
A NEW PLAY by FOOTLIGHTS President Tom Sharpe.
After a string of successful comic ventures (FAUST, GROW UP, CIRCUS, OUR DARKER PURPOSE) it's time for something a little more worthy. Funny, sure, but not just funny.
A spirit makes mad old Peter find some imaginary people, seemingly just so they can be slaughtered. Despite protesting its pointlessness, he finds it hard to stop himself complying. Skewed versions of old friends and relatives are summoned, all proving to be highly troublesome house guests. Things get totally out of hand, but we don't know which bits are genuine memories from real life, which Peter has changed in his mind for comfort and which have changed, of their own accord, to become far worse.
http://www.hangonmrbugson.co.uk
- February 2007
www.the-seagull.com
Young girl lives on shore of lake since childhood like you. Loves the lake like the seagull. Is happy and free like the seagull. Then one day a man turns up, sees her, and mindlessly destroys her.
This production of The Seagull by Chekhov will provide all involved with an incredible and challenging acting experience. Working on a production of a classic text is by no means easy and the large cast who take part will be expected to treat the entire process professionally. Crimp's version sees the text wholly renovated; it is shorter, leaner and more angular stripping away all the creaky 19th century theatrical conventions, such as monologues and asides. It requires a real depth of understanding from all involved as to create an engaging and emotive piece of theatre. This pared-down version of Chekhov's first great play reveals the full force of its comedy and cruelty. The Seagull should never allow an audience to relax what should underlie the production is a fluttering neurosis and ill-supported hysteria. It shows the tragicomic anatomy of unrequited longing.
Chekhov's setting provides extreme provincial dullness and creates a sense of extreme isolation. Isolated from culture, an alternative is never realised. The characters have no escape and are therefore pressed back on themselves and each other. The overall design of the production will reflect Chekhov's relationship with Beckett � restricted circumstances for the artistic purpose of confinement. The stark emptiness of the world will rely on fascinating the characters bringing the production to life. Out of the stillness, the environment of nothing, the characters create something; ideas, the artist, love they talk.
- December 2006
Dodgy deals with devils and dames.
The big fat Footlights pantomime is back: and this year it's going to be Hot as Hell.
What are your deepest desires? What are your wildest dreams? What are they worth? Three Wham bars? ALL your pogs? How about your EVERLASTING SOUL?
Come join us on the Faust-track to the Underworld and barter with temptress Mrs Topheles, fall in love with history's hottest tottie Helen of Troy, and quake before Satan himself.
It's big (it's massive) and it's clever (it's pretty clever), but above all FAUST will be full of thigh-slapping hell-arity for all the family.
Book now before it sells out. Come on, everyone: Go to Hell.
EXTRA PERFORMANCE ADDED THURSDAY 2.30pm !!
www.faustthepanto.com
- November 2006
‘Morning Glory’ merges the visuals of black-light theatre with the macabre and burlesque humour of the Parisian ‘ Grand Guignol,’ The play offers a tangible feast for the senses –combining its lyrical dialogue with filmic imagery and characterization. Through dark comedy the play dissects the psyche of its protagonist – a lone woman. This deconstruction is undertaken by sinister and cruel gargoyles, who offer a poetic chorus on the proceedings. By cutting away the unnecessary flesh ‘Morning Glory’ heralds the existence of a voyeurs paradise, a new level of unwelcome intrusion.
- November 2006
"We took six songs and we made a play about them..."
Six young people are moving into a shared house on a rainy autumn night. They explore each others ideas and feelings. Topics as diverse as leaving your parents to the number of kisses on a text message are discussed. “Something about life and music...” is a beautifully honest portrayal of life on stage.
“Something about life and music…” is a daring new piece of theatre exploring what it means to be here and now. You are unlikely to have seen anything like it before – it draws more from naturalistic films from the likes of Richard Linklater and Andrew Bujalski than from any theatrical tradition. Melancholic, empathetic and uplifting, this is theatre to enthral and inspire anyone who's ever felt anything at all.
Soundtrack includes; Ben Folds, Bloc party, Regina Spektor, Dashboard Confessional, Counting Crows, The Shins, Devandra Bernhardt, The Arcade Fire, Eels, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., Lambchop and many, many more...
www.myspace.com/aboutlifeandmusic
- November 2006
A group of students get together to perform a play, something called "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare. You won't know it, and they certainly don’t. The actors speak in a strange language called Dogg, but in their public school surroundings have worked at understanding the play; the extent of their understanding, however, is questionable.
The audience witnesses the effects of two worlds colliding; communicating in what the inhabitants think is the same lingo, but which quite clearly isn’t. Dogg's Hamlet is an experiment in theatrical language, an investigation of meaning, a comedy of confusion and a very silly play.
- November 2006
In one of Samuel Beckett's greatest plays, the ancient Krapp tries to make sense of his life, past and present, by recording all of his memories and experiences. He listens back to old tapes, astounded by how far he has progressed. We see that he has barely changed at all. The younger Krapp learnt that love does not work out uncomplicatedly or without loss; the older Krapp is just relieved that his sex life is better than a kick in the crutch. By turns both hilarious and moving, Beckett shows his understanding of the weight experience can bear on a man as Krapp is reduced to nothing more than a commentator on his earlier life. "Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back."
- November 2006
Who is responsible when a train crashes, killing or injuring hundreds of ordinary and innocent commuters? David Hare's shocking parable of British mismanagement tells the various 'true stories' of the most devastating rail disasters of the past two decades, providing a platform for the testimonies of politicians, rail companies and the many bereaved.
In this tragic and compelling tale, witty and acute observations mingle with dramatic graphic effects to create the ultimate emotional rollercoaster. When everybody is blaming each other, how can we tell where the truth really lies?
- November 2006
“A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face!” The small theocratic community of Salem is stirred in to madness after some young girls are accused of consorting with the devil. A terrifying witch-hunt ensues, fed by superstition, paranoia and malice, culminating in a violent climax. Miller’s classic parable of mass hysteria draws a chilling parallel between the Salem witch-hunt of 1692 and the McCarthyism which gripped America in the 1950s. It is a savage attack on the evils of mindless persecution and the terrifying power of false accusations.
This production is a Cambridge first, as it will be staged in the famous Round Church; performed in-the-round creating a powerful atmosphere which forces the audience to suffer the hysteria themselves.
- October–November 2006
This play is the story of Hester, Hester la Negrita, the mother, the worker, the oppressed black woman with a sense of humour the size of the States and no money to feed her children. The music is straining through the theatre, the set is banging and the people are shouting to the beat that jumps through everything, every seat, every head, every complacent conservative mindless mind. Hester la Negrita will jump through your head like a hip-hop migraine.
- October 2006
'Communities without fathers are vicious places to live and people who have money choose not to live there.' Charles Murray, The Sunday Times 2000.
'We sat and cuddled and cried. I sat rocking her like when she was a little baby. I sat rocking her for ages' Natalie, 'A State Affair'.
In 2000, Robin Soans and director Max Stafford-Clarke travelled to the Bradford Estate where groundbreaking playwright Andrea Dunbar had died tragically a decade before as a result of years of wife-beating.
'A State Affair' is the record of what they found...
Exploring abuse and misery driven by massively low expectations, 'A State Affair' is an example of the 'Verbatim' Theatre which Soans demonstrated to such effect in his recent play 'Talking to Terrorists'.
Its words are taken from real conversations, giving for one night only, honest and raw emotion, coupled with a rarely seen truth through theatre.
- October 2006
'I think that what happens in war is that suddenly, violently, without any warning whatsoever, people's lives are completely ripped to pieces. So I literally just picked up a moment in the play, I thought I'll plant a bomb and blow the whole fucking thing up.'
Sarah Kane
Slaughtered by the press when it first opened, Blasted, is the most controversial and talked about play of the last 20 years. You can't beat Sarah Kane's 'sustained onslaught on the sensibilities for sheer, unadulterated brutalism'. Not a play for the faint hearted, Blasted, is sure to provoke a searing debate between audiences at the ADC. Imagine an expensive hotel room, imagine it being blown up. Blasted pushes the medium of theatre to its furthest limitations. It is an essay on extremity, on desire, fear and barbarity, it defies any definite situation which prevents us from neatly defining it as something alien to us. The play's horror is inescapable, it avoids attribution to any single scenario or character type, the brutality that will unfold on the ADC stage will be both recognisable and applicable to you, as much as you attest otherwise. Let your morbid fascination manifest. Blasted's violence is a reality, a reality this production will force us to accept.
- August 2006
Joseph K is under arrest. As he struggles to work out what he has been accused of, and why, it emerges that the authorities themselves don’t know. The establishment is answerable to no one; his colleagues at the Bank don’t care about him; the women he meets are cheap; relationships and sex are meaningless. No closer to understanding the situation, Joseph is summoned to court and stands trial.
Weaving in mime and choral speaking, the actors slide from one character into another; one minute playing Joseph’s crooked laundry woman, or the heavies who come and arrest him, the next forming a chorus which surrounds and oppresses Joseph with their snarling speeches. Engaging in a poignant battle with the endless absurdities of the establishment, Berkoff’s acclaimed adaptation of Kafka’s most celebrated novel promises to be a thrilling theatrical event.
www.the-trial.com
- August 2006
A sleazy and menacing post-modern cabaret, where Pinter’s Revue sketches sit beside new writing, the tuneful noises of a jazz band and sketches from the comedy cannon. Finally, in a flurry of movement and excitement, the stage becomes theatrical, a set is laid to the rolling syncopated rhythms of the drum kit, and Sweeney Agonistes - T. S. Eliot’s barely performed masterpiece - knocks the audience for six.
- July 2006
Rape, murder, revenge and honour in the wars of 15th Century Spain. The village of Fuente Ovejuna is being used as a base for a military expedition. The commander abuses his power and position, especially with the peasant women. Eventually he abducts and assaults the mayor's daughter on her wedding night. The villagers are outraged and take action, but their methods and results are far from predictable... The 2006 Town and Gown production, supported by the Amatuer Dramatic Club, will see Steven Siddall, director of 15 Arts Theatre productions, working with actors and technicians drawn both from the University and the local talent. A fantastic opportunity for students to collaborate with older and more experienced practioners, 'Fuente Ovejuna' will be a powerful and visually exciting production.
- June 2006
The ADC Mayweek show is taking your favourite Disney classic and adding an edge of sex, violence, fear and innovation. ‘The Jungle Book’ will transform Emma Gardens into a sexual fantasia of David Lynch inspired madness. Through the jungles humid mist one is never sure where their mind has taken them. Could it be a seedy strip joint, a grimy metal club or are you surrounded by yobs from a derelict urban oasis. Everything is ambiguous; everything is elusive. As we follow Mowgli through the realms of the ‘jungle’ we meet Big Issue selling Baloo, a pole dancing snake Kaa, a libertines-esque rock group ‘The Monkeys’, and a group of elephants in the midst of dementia. The tension is high, with the ominous presence of the bi-curious sexual predator, Shere Khan. ‘The Jungle Book’ promises to be like looking through a kaleidoscope of non-sensical madness. Vividly imaginative, it will use physical theatre to truly bring the vibrant jungle animals to life. On a hot lazy drunken Mayweek afternoon- walking into Emma Gardens will be like stepping back into the psychedelic trip you had at King’s Affair the night before. Enjoy the classic songs and old tale with a bit of spice and humour- it will be the most fun to be had at a Mayweek Show.
- May 2006
"Torture. Barbarism of all sorts. Starvation. Chemical warfare. Public hangings. Mutilation of children. Raping of mothers. Raping of daughters. Raping of brothers and fathers. Executions of entire families. Executions of entire generations of families. Amputation of private organs. Decapitation. Disembowelment. Dismemberment. Disinternment. Eradication of wildlife. You name it... It's a question of destiny..."
Sam Shepard's 'States of Shock' charts a mealtime encounter between an army veteran, his mutilated companion - Stubbs - and two civilians. With the invention of death, anti-state blasphemy, and the threat of a good solid spanking, this lacerated encounter leaves no stone unturned and no turn unstoned.
Is aggression the only answer? Without the enemy we're nothing. Soldiers aren't toys, are they? The situation has to be faced! If you keep thinking of home, you won't slip into doubt.
- May 2006
How many times have you locked eyes with someone across a room, and wondered 'what if?' In that moment, you may live a hundred relationships, but in the end, it's just a fantasy. These two plays examine the boundary between that fantasy and reality, asking the audience to join the fictional lovers in suspending all belief and going for an emotional roller coaster ride. While 'The Yalta Game' warns how dangerous it can be to blur the boundaries of love too much, 'Sure Thing' shows that there could be someone out there for all of us. Love is a dangerous emotion, leading us to taking risks that we would never normally take. Not every story can have a happy ending, can it?
- May 2006
1789; the British government strikes upon a novel solution to prison overcrowding - ship the problem to the underside of the world…
True patriots all; for be it understood, We left our country for our country's good
Supplies are running short; theft, prostitution and violence are rife. Whispers of mutiny abound in the ranks of criminals and gaolers alike. A young lieutenant, vying for the governor's attention, has an idea. With only two copies of the script, rehearsals for the first Australian performance of “The Recruiting Officer” commence...
And none will doubt but that our emigration, Has prov'd most useful to the British nation.
Winner of the 1988 Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award and based on the novel by Thomas Kennealy (author of Schindler's List), Our Country's Good is a modern classic. At once poignant, funny and uplifting, this is theatre at its best.
'Rarely has the redemptive, transcendental power of theatre been argued with such eloquence and passion.' Independent
www.ourcountrysgood.co.uk
- March 2006
'Some enchanted evening' the ADC will be transformed into an island paradise.
Sailors, palm trees, beautiful music, show-stopping numbers and shrunken heads! South Pacific tells two parallel love stories threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. Through Rodgers' beautiful music and Hammersteins' thoughful libretto, the audience will be spell-bound.
- March 2006
For one night only some of the lesser-known and rarely-performed works of Beckett's considerable canon appear on the ADC stage.
In this collection of eight short pieces which question the very nature of theatre, Beckett foregrounds the invomprehensibility of the world and other people, disables communication and smothers emotion. Thought-provoking, unsettling and often hilarious, by disorientating both the audience and his characters Beckett conjures a theatrical experience which is not to be missed. Offering a rare insight into some of the most experimental work of one of the twentieth century's literary giants, this promises to engage both Beckett devotees and virgins alike.
- March 2006
Eddy is stuck in a metropolis of piss-artists, violence and greasy toast. He escapes. Gets married, gets himself sorted. But he’s only gone and bedding his ol’ mum and killed his Dad. He’s screwed. But what can you do? Berkoff’s reworking of the Oedipus myth graphically smacks you around in a cutting-comic journey through central London with melodies of the lost but never forgotten and ensemble acting of the first order. A seaside slap-stick façade of tragic hubris and grief through the broken lens of the oppressed working classes of Thatcher’s 1980s Britain. It’s a cesspit. Right?
- February 2006
'The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?'
Vienna of the retrofuture: a sleazy, pilled-up world of transsexuals and large-scale deviance. A young man is sentenced to death for sexual indiscretion and when his fundamentalist sister goes to plead for his life she is drawn into a lethal game of sexual cat and mouse with the Duke's corrupt deputy. Meanwhile the Duke, in the apparel of a monk, visits the overflowing prisons. Heads roll and hips swing; genders bend and dogs howl. The corridors of power are splashed with blood, the streets with trash, and the prisons with vomit.
Shakespeare's funniest and most problematic comedy is given a facelift, squeezed into stilettos, and thrust onto the ADC stage in an awe-inspiring tidal wave of karaoke, pornography, electro-punk, and singing nuns.
Please visit http://www.measureformeasure.org.uk
OPENING NIGHT OFFER: 2 for 1 drinks for cross-dressing customers!
- February 2006
What if beauty wasn't a gift? What if radiance was a disease? 'The Drowned World' is one of the most exciting plays of the 21st century and explores a dystopian future where the 'cowardly,' and 'graceless' rule, and where the eradication of beauty is their goal. 'The Drowned World' addresses questions about the nature of persecution, torture and living in an authoritarian state. But at the same time, it is personal, questioning whether love and humanity can survive in extreme circumstances.
Written in 2002, Gary Owen's play won the George Devine award and a Fringe First. 'The Drowned World' promises to be a stunning and unmissable piece of theatre.
- February 2006
Four women present four pieces of drama, 'A Woman Alone', 'The Same Old Story', 'The Rape', 'The Whore in the Madhouse': comic, grotesque and tragic, all triumphantly attesting to the power of female sexuality, and individuality.
This exploration of Abuse, Desire, Harassment, and Oppression will take the audience to extremes of laughter, fear, pain, hope and despair.
A housewife who 'has everything any woman could want' evaluates her roles as wife, mother, mistress, object of desire, slave. And woman. A woman falls pregnant to her left-wing, intellectual lover, whom she cannot persuade to be considerate of her. A young woman is abducted, tortured and raped by three men in a van, and is dumped in a park. A prostitute relates her story to a psychiatrist interviewing her in a mental institution.
- February 2006
The genesis of a Cambridge spy is as thrilling, disturbing and moving as you probably never imagined. Forget BBC teatime dramas. This play gives us an arrestingly intimate vision of those infamous figures as teenage boys, with all their wit, passion, swagger, sex drive and dreams. Julian Mitchell's play magnifies the furious drama of any adolescence into a disarming social and political diatribe. He illuminates the absurdity and barbarity of a 1930s public education, showing us the scandalous consequences of such an upbringing, not only for these boys, but for our country.
- February 2006
"You have an agenda, we have an agenda. I am not interested in your feelings or your motivation, but your actions"
After receiving a failing mid-term grade, a university student confronts her teacher in his office. After the meeting becomes physical, she files a complaint of sexual harassment against her professor.
David Mamet's explosive 1993 play arrives on the ADC stage in a bold torrent of searing eloquence. Set in a university context it questions everything about the higher education system. It pulls its audience this way and that, leaving them feeling somewhat violated. Its first production did just that, causing a sensation and dividing couples over its depiction of political correctness gone haywire. By using time distortion, this production promises to be truly original and highly provocative. With its violently paced and poetic dialogue, Oleanna will certainly have a hard hitting effect on you. Not a word is redundant, every moment is tense, and engaging. It is always disturbing, frequently menacing but only at the end breaks into violence. The control is immaculate. The ringing of a phone becomes a battle cry, words become weapons, and an ordinary meeting becomes a war of wills and ideologies. Watch these two familiar characters tread a sexual minefield. Anything may trigger it off.
- January–February 2006
“What’s the point in revolution without general copulation?” howl the inmates of the insane asylum of Charenton. Narcoleptics, nymphomaniacs, and narcissists, are acting out the persecution and death of the revolutionary leader Marat under the direction of the infamous Marquis de Sade; depravity, sexual perversion, violence, song and dance are the order of the day.
- January 2006
It's all over. Jerry's five-year affair with his best friend's wife has been discovered and his life lies in ruins. But what made him start on the road to self-destruction? In Betrayal, Nobel-laureate Harold Pinter takes us from the end of the affair to its beginning, chronicling the petty deceptions that accumulate to destroy three lives. Beneath their conversation lies a dark subtext that is always threatening to break the surface and shatter their complacency.
Visit www.robertandme.co.uk
- December 2005
The Footlights/ADC Pantomime is back, and this time it’s Epic! Set amongst the great pyramids of Egypt, the towering columns of Rome, the succulent olives of Greece, join Spartacus on his journey from zero to hero, from slavery to bravery, as he gladiates his way to freedom.
Featuring a smouldering Cleopatra, a well-meaning but insane Emperor and a loveable Pantomime Horse, this is a show for all ages.
Complete with original songs, this fantastic new production comes from the most exciting comedy writers in Cambridge, and features some of its leading performers.
www.spartacusthepanto.com
- November–December 2005