- August 2003
Visually striking, powerful, challenging. Euripides’s archetypal play for modern times: the war has happened before and will again. As ever, the women are left to sweep up what remains…
- July–August 2003
An Evening with Joe - Stalin the Musical is a rapid, revolutionary romp through thirty years of action-packed commie history.
The year is 1924 and following Lenin's death, Stalin and Trotsky battle for power and the hand of the alluring, er... Mrs Stalin. As with all naive, lefty pipe-dreams, things soon go awry. Of course, genocide and suicice hardly help these matters...
Yet Stalin, for all his perversions and purges manages, in true musical theatre style, to save the day. Ha!
Profound and challenging for the mildly intoxicated, this show brings Edinburgh all that is best in the genre of genocidal musical comedy.
- June 2003
Three old bufoons, three wily wives and three young suitors run rings around each other in two hours of Restoration jiggery-pokery. What is the best sort of wife? A witty one, a devout one or an innocent one? For the husbands in 'The London Cuckolds' the answer is none of them - all of them betray their husands. Trees are climbed, balconies are jumped, hapless lovers are wedged in windows, thrust into cupboards and hidden under sheets. With everything from bawdy jokes to cross-dressing, this is a bouncy, saucy, old-style Restoration farce and the first May week garden-show the ADC has put on for over 5 years. Singing, silliness and seduction in the idyllic surrounds of the garden at Westcott House (click for map): The perfect way to start a Mayweek evening!
- May 2003
Lance meets Percy on a train hurtling accross Europe. Percy is on a journey of discovery having realised his expensive university education has taught him pretty much nothing. Lance doesn't want to discover anything, he wants to live in his memories. Together the two men try to make sense of why they are there, aided by impromtu visits from Elvis and Richard Nixon among others. An original and thought-provoking piece of writing from one of Cambridge's finest new writers, the rehearsed reading of No Problems promises to be well worth seeing.
- May 2003
Only Ten Minutes to Buffalo tells the striking story of two friends on theiway to the place where all their dreams will be fulfilled. But does ‘Buffalo’ reallexist, and if so, can they be there in only ten minutesTaking you on a turbulent voyage into the realm of the absurd, this play is must for all those wishing to escape the stress of deadlines and the mundanrealism of exams. This production plays with the boundaries between the reaand the fantastical and touches upon questions of technological progress, throle of art and the meaning of life. One hour of charged chaotic calamity.
- May 2003
One of well-loved Yorkshire playwright Alan Bennett’s most hilarious plays, this riotous farce is the perfect antidote to Cambridge exam term The play, set in the 1960s, is a witty and fast-paced period piece revolving around the lives and loves of the Wicksteed family, pillars of the Hove community. Dr Arthur Wicksteed, GP, intrepidly pushes at the frontiers of the accepted doctor-patient relationship, occasionally crashing through them to the displeasure of his long-suffering wife. Their hypochondriac son Dennis (or is it Trevor? Arthur seems entirely unsure) has just three months to live, and is suffering from Brett’s Palsy, a rare and incurable disease complicated by a nasty case of lockjaw. His tragic plight attracts the attentions of Felicity Rumpers, only daughter of one Lady Rumpers, recently widowed and about to be confronted by her own less than pristine past. Then there’s Arthur’s sister Connie, whose ambition in life is to achieve a big bust, and who is emphatically not a spinster, just unmarried. Besides, there’s always Canon Throbbing, the local vicar, ever ardent in his 10-year pursuit of Connie and that’s before she orders a pneumatic breast-enhancing appliance. Still, at least one day his attentions may be rewarded – and it will all make a cracking piece on Anglican Sexuality for the ‘Church Times’As assignations go awry, wires get well and truly crossed and the pneumatic breastrun amok, chaos reigns in Hove.
- March 2003
Think sparkling; think shimmering; think splendour, and we're in the world of the burlesque dancer....welcome to Gypsy! Mama Rose, the eternal stage mother, is determined to achieve her daughters the fame she never managed. She abandons her home to push her daughters to live the lives of roaming vaudeville performers, driving them forward to further and greater fame and acclaim. But when Herbie, their agent, mistakenly books them into a strip joint, the fame one daughter achieves goes far beyond Rose's original intentions... Gypsy is based on the memoirs of the burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, and provides a fascinating cocktail of glitz, dance, surprise and intimacy that will make the Amateur Dramatic Club's Lent Term Musical a treat to behold. Featuring songs such as 'You Gotta Get a Gimmick', 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Everything's Coming Up Roses', Gypsy promises to dazzle and stun. Following on from the hugely successful Cabaret, 42nd Street, and Copacabana, once again, welcome to the world of showbiz and glamour!
- February–March 2003
Salome is one of Wilde’s most neglected plays; a masterpiece of language and a poetic journey that is rich in imagery. It presents us with a focal point of the deep rooted desire of humans. The play’evocative language seduces the audience, plays with them and ultimately raisetheir repressed desires as the characters on stage bring forth their own. Only in mirrors is it well to look, for mirrors do but show us masks" We use masks, not to hide behind, but rather to show the real character we, as humans, are afraid to portray.
- February 2003
The ADC brings you an evening of extracts from a style of theatrical performance which truly has something for everyone. Featuring a sneak preview of the Lent Term Musical, Gypsy, this promises to be a night of great Musical Theatre.
- February 2003
What if four children had been locked away in darkness and complete isolatiosince birth? What if, tonight, they were to be released? How would bodies and minds reared in darkness respond to the first words, thfirst lies, the first kisses?What if you got to watch? This disturbingly comic play strips away the mask of society to expose the conflict between nature and nurture in an uncensored and fantastically brash style for an hour of schizophrenic brilliance.
- February 2003
Stoppard’s masterpiece, Arcadia, is set in a large country house, anmoves between 1809 and the present day. Characters discuss Byron, love, thhistory of gardens, even chance theory in relation to grouse. The play is humorouand exuberant, an intellectual roller-coaster, ‘a drama of ideas’ that takes you captive from the first joke, and puts you down exhilarated and moved. It raises questions about whether we should live according to our heart or head, how history realties to the present, how people relate to each other, how scientifically can love (‘the attraction that Newton left out’be understood. Join us for an evening of flamboyant theatricality that promises to combine the wit of Wilde, the excitement of a literary whodunit and a heartfelt ache for time that can never be regained. A brilliant, brilliant play" Sunday Times "A masterpiece" DailTelegraph
- February 2003
What happens when you take an answer-phone message, a neurotic sister with a therapist and her Italian boyfriend from Swindon; mixed with the new office boss, a Chinese take-away, a dusting of old friends, and a can opener? Dinner at Marguerite's! An occasion to expect the unexpected and laugh heartily at the absurd but cherished intricacies of everyday life. A sparkling brand new piece of comedy writing, capturing an evening of gossip, revelations and delightfully witty banter between friends, washed down with fine red wine and tinned tomato soup. What's left to say, except "Bon Appetit"!
- February 2003
A blind man who sees only his garden, his power enduring even when his healtand seniority are lost. A son’s development profoundly affected by his fatherhis expectations, limitations and intractability. The figure of the patriarcdominates A Voyage Round My Father as it explores the emotional tensions of a complex family relationship, set against the backdrop of the traumatic first half of the twentieth century. Emotion is intense as each character attempts to deal with their inability to show love: so much remains unsaid. The acutely observed humour, intensely human characters and flawless dialogue make this play both amusing and profoundly moving. Original, often funny, but always deeply thought provoking; this challenging and compelling play is an insight into a world of shades of grey we can all relate to, but have probably never known how to express.
- January 2003
The ADC continues with its One Night Stands this term; tasters of different styles of theatre and themed selections of extracts. Ireland has been the source and inspiration of some of the best drama the world has ever seen. This evening, we take a journey over the sea to glimpse a rich literary culture at its dramatic best.
- December 2002
In an age in which Gods are anything but divine, and goat-men and centaurs roam the earth, Greece gets saucy, as music, dance and puns as ancient as mythology itself pour out of every urn. Philosophers, muses, furies and oracles take centre stage, as unlikely heroes Bacchus and Venus find themselves in a hair-raising, hilarious and myth-defying adventure to preserve the classical world from a fate worse than Oedipus. Funny, moving and downright silly, this year’s ADC/Footlight’s Pantomime ia completely original, wry take on ancient Greece, which promises to be hugfun for all ages. Beware of Greeks singing songs.
- November 2002
You’ve seen Victoria Wood’s stand-up shows, or maybe her TV sit-coms, but have you ever seen the famous comedienne’hilarious, but rarely performed stage play, Good Fun? Good Fun is just that, providing an enormously amusing evening of comedy theatrto suit all tastes. The fast-moving script, brilliant characterization anside-splitting story line will provide this year’s intake of comic talent thopportunity to show how good they really are.
- November 2002
The year is 1940 and the place London. However, this is not a London at war, but a London swarming with Nazi troops and controlled from Germany by Hitler. In this fascinating, rarely staged play Coward examines the chilling idea of what England might have become had the tide turned against the Allies in the Battle of Britain. This is a script which will both challenge and inspire the Freshers to produce what will undoubtedly be a thought-provoking and incredible evening of theatre.
- November 2002
BLOOD. DESIRE. REVENGE. Tragedy fuels tragedy when Tereus rapes his wife's sister, Philomele. Erotic, elegant, violent and magical: Timberlake Wertenbaker stunningly adapts this powerful Greek myth to create a compelling and thought-provoking drama. Amidst the intimacy of the Octagon, let sixteen actors guide you amongst acrobatics, masked plays and frenzied Bacchic rites.
- November 2002
Where is the line drawn between war and murder? This is the question facing Radajan Burivic, a Serbian soldier trapped in a recurring nightmare from which he cannot wake up. Plagued by figures from his past, he refuses to take responsibility for his part in horrific acts of ethnic cleansing, and is forced to re-live the massacre at Srebrenica in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. A commanding piece of new writing from Cambridge student Christopher Bull which forces its audience to try and understand those who commit such acts of barbarity.
- November 2002
Come and support the Freshers as they make their first footing on the ADC Stage. A variety of extracts chosen by those involved, and including sneak previews from this year's Freshers' Shows. For one night only!
- November 2002
An award-winning television series, Talking Heads looks wryly at the everyday quirks of human life. Now the Amateur Dramatic Club brings three of the best of these monologues to the Corpus Christi Playroom. Bed Among the LentilsSusan is the wife of the vicar. And an alcoholic. Plagued by her husband's female 'fan club' and the pettiness of the church flower arrangers, she finds solace in the arms of an Indian grocer. Her Big ChanceLesley is an actress. A serious one. So when she has the opportunity to star in a film she grabs it with both hands. Oblivious to the true nature of her starring role, her insistence on her 'professionalism' is touchingly comic. A Chip in the SugarGraham lives with his elderly mother. Utterly dependent on their relationship he is bitterly jealous when she begins a friendship with another man, and their orderly, well-structured life is threatened. NB: These performances replace David Hare's The Blue Room as previously advertised.
- November 2002
Simple: an afternoon break on the usual bench (well it's the weather for it) and a good book. A stranger who forces eye contact. Questions that make you need to loosen your collar. Stories that make you forget where you are and how to get home. A set of pornographic playing cards, some empty photo frames, a dog and a trip to the Zoo. As the park empties and New York goes home, Peter falls under Jerry's hypnotic power. His is a world where televisions murmur empty messages from above to people lost in the lodging houses of New York. Jerry no longer knows how to pray.
- November 2002
Mother Courage and her Children follows the armies of the Thirty Years War back and forth across Europe, selling provisions and liquour from a canteen wagon. The war devours her children one by one. And yet she carries on. Written by one of the most important theatrical innovators of modern timesit is widely acknowledged as amongst the greatest plays of the twentieth centuryThis epic tale, spanning twelve years and most of Europe, is at turns touchingfunny, tragic and bitterly ironic. Written in 1939 as a warning about the futilitand horror of war, the play, with its setting of a war of faiths, is stilrelevant today. This production will mix theatre and song using Paul Dessau’original score and will seek to bring out the power and subtlety of one othe strongest theatrical statements ever made.
- November 2002
This Halloween, something very spooky is happening in the ADC Bar. The Amateur Dramatic Club brings you the best of scary drama, hair-raising poetry and devilish prose in a one-night-only show to reduce even the bravest souls to quivering wrecks... Come if you dare...
- October–November 2002
From the pen of Brian Friel, Ireland's greatest living playwright, Translations is a powerful historical drama which captures the emotional and social conflicts arising in a small Irish town during the British colonial takeover. Comic confusion and tragic romance play a crucial role in this play about the power of communication: How does one express the emotions of love, jealousy, hatred and pain when stripped of understanding and common speech? Watch as tensions rise and a fascinating melee of relationships develop in this poignant and moving exposure of the decline of the Irish culture and language. Are there certain barriers love cannot cross? Be prepared for an evening of entertainment, education, challenge, and passion - one you won't forget in a hurry.
- October 2002
Speak No Evil brings you an hour of comedy from three of Cambridge's best known stand up comedians: Ruth Pickett, Lloyd Thomas and Tom Tilley. Gain a view of the world through the comic's eyes, at times shocking, at times tragic, always funny.
- October 2002
For the third year running, the ADC presents an improvised night of hilarity from its sharpest comedic minds. Last year a member of the crew was forced to break up an onstage fight - so who knows what's in store this time? Audience participation encouraged...
- August 2002
In this new and chilling production of Puig's exceptional play, two men - each scarred by secrets and self-hatred - search for their own kind of beauty in an otherwise hopeless world that has rejected them. Encarcerated in a Buenos Aires prison, Molina tries to escape the realities of his cell through the metaphor of a film he thinks he has seen. Valentin struggles with his own demons, clinging to an ideology that maybe he never believed in the first place. First performed by Mark Rylance and Simmon Callow, Kiss of the Spider Woman contains two of the most challenging male parts in modern theatre. Threatening and fascinating, and accompanied by an original score, the ADC's production asks again and again the haunting questions: what does it mean to be beautiful, and what is the price you have to pay to achieve it?
- August 2002
This new piece adapts tales from Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. These classic medieval tales will be set in the new context of a seminary in 1950s Catholic Italy. Our group of seminarians and nuns smoke, tell dirty jokes, and enthusiastically exchange and enact medieval tales among themselves. They become involved in the tales as if they have been recast in the weird and disturbing interior workings of each other's imaginations. Familiar tales are interspersed with some unknown gems: Well known tales likthat of The Wife of Bath, and the deadly tale of Chaucer’s Pardoner are mixed in with the riotous and strange inventions of Boccaccio. We will be performing tales like that of Ferondo, a jealous husband who is convinced by an abbot that he is in purgatory and beaten for eight months (while the abbot has it away with his irresistible wife). You will also see the tale of the cockerel, Chanticleer, as you have never seen it presented before! Don’miss an extraordinary performance of some compelling medieval tales!
- May 2002
Ha ha ha ha, Ho ho ho ho. Ben Elton is one of the leading comedy writers otoday. See him at his most hilarious - the ADC is showing side-splitting extractof his best dramatic work. Escape exam stress, dump the revision and join ufor "An Evening of Elton!"
- May 2002
In 1944 Sartre created Hell. Hell, not of red hot pokers and lakes of sulpur, rather three people whose desires and needs continually torture each other. Better a hundred gashes, better the whips, the vitriol, than this phantom sufferinthat grazes and carresses and never hurts enough." Jean-Paul Sartre wrote this play to illustrate his existentialist philosophy; people's desperation to define themselves through others. Everything is perfectly crafted to tie the three main characters into a relentless vicious circle. Written towards the end of Nazi occupation in France, this play iunderstood as a work of protest. but more than that, it symbolizes the sense of captivity and despair that was only just beginning to lift in Europe. This period production creates a web of tension so dense it's almost palpable. It will leave you dying for a resolution.
- May 2002
Two old artists - Beauchamp and Martello - sit together in their attic apartmenarguing over which of them murdered their friend Donner, who now lies in crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs. Donner's irritating domestic habitand the bitter angst of their artistic rivalry seem viable reasons for murde- don't they? The tape loop of time is set running, as we are transported acrosthe 20th century to the artists' youth in World War One, and so to their lovof one woman - Sophie. The questions are about human relationships and representationcharted across a century where the human figure has been abstracted by arand dismembered by war. This is "alternative" Stoppard, in a play that nevelooses sight of the blackness of life or its inherent comedy. " Let's cheer ourselves up by inventing verbs for various kinds of fatality!"
- March 2002
Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl... Barry Manilow's sensational COPACABANA takes to the ADC stage for the first time this Easter, in the first ever staging produced outside of London. Set in 1940s New York at the world famous Copacabana nightclub, this multi-sensual musical extravaganza transports us back to an era when 'music and passion were always in fashion'. The story unfolds through the imagination of an aspiring present day songwriter. While creating the world's next big hit, he conjures up the heart-warming tale of hopeful showgirl Lola Lamar as she is launched into the path of stardom as a Copa girl, with the help of Tony Starr, a bartender with dreams of his own. However, the course of true love runs far from smooth, since the villainous Rico has other plans for her, whisking Lola away to be the star of his Tropicana club in Cuba. Sassy New York is replaced by sultry Havana, as love and romance become embroiled in jealousy and murder. The action comes alive amidst vibrant costumes, spectacular sets, and sensational choreography. With glitz and glamour aplenty, the show-stopping numbers and thrilling musical score make for an unforgettable evening of good old-fashioned feel-good entertainment.
- February 2002
- February 2002
We'll drown in a sea of mourning... In 1936, Federico García Lorca completed one of the finest works of 20th centurdrama, and was shot by the Fascists in a grave he was made to dig with hiown hands. Not far from the site of this violent death in the hills outsidGranada, the real Dona Bernarda continued to exercise tyrannical rule oveher unmarried daughters. A stern woman, her daughters going by like shadowdressed always in black, who was to give rise to one of the most challenginand captivating characters in Spanish drama. The House of Bernarda Alba is Lorca's captivating Spanish tragedy of repression, desire and sexual longing. Stunningly lyrical, touching and at times shocking, we invite you to witness this disinfected womb, this crucible of repression; a cold and silent hell in the middle of the African sun.
- February 2002
In the basement room of a deserted house, two men wait impatiently for instructions on a job they must do. But their predicement takes a surprising turn as bizarre messages are sent from the supposedly abandoned floor above. One of Pinter's earliest plays, The Dumb Waiter is both a dark farce and a suspense thriller. Combining humour with tension, Pinter forces the audience into the role of detective in a drama where vital questions are left unanswered.
