- October 2023
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect !
Gregor Samsa has worked. And worked. And worked. All his life. As a travelling salesman, Gregor works relentlessly to support his struggling family. His mother, a worried and endlessly busy housewife who cares deeply for her family, his father, hyper critical ‘in-the-home’ tyrant who’s terrified of authority, and his little sister Greta, a promising violinist who looks up to him, find their home turned into a world of horror as Gregor wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a “gigantic insect!”. Whilst Gregor struggles to survive, keep any sense of mental clarity and desperately longs to return to human form, his family’s opinions swiftly devolve from sympathy to despair and hatred as they live in terror both of their son they so desperately relied upon, and in constant fear of his discovery. Berkoff’s adaptation of Kafka’s iconic novella explores the effects of a ‘money-driven’ society’s pressure on the individual and the strain it causes on family relationships in a powerful and moving way which will make you reassess what takes does and what should take priority in life.
- October 2023
“What happens to a dream deferred...does it explode?”
Inspired by Langston Hughes’ “Harlem”, this play tells the story of the Younger family, who struggle with what it means to be black alongside finding their place in a new and hostile neighbourhood. While Mama Lena and son Walter must negotiate a new influx of money and how that changes their position within society, daughter Beneatha tries to find love, questioning beauty standards on her own journey to find pride in her African heritage.
Will the Youngers find the key to living openly with pride for their blackness, or will they crumble under the pressure of their finances and please the neighbours who so desperately want them gone?
- August 2023
Four Cut Sunflowers: CUADC x Edinburgh Fringe play 2023
‘When light and dark converge, it is an act of creation…’.
It’s the late 19th century. Modernity is taking hold of Europe… Socialism, feminism and ‘modernity’ is fastening its grip, and conservatism and the classical tradition is on its way out.
This play follows the true story of Johanna Van-Gogh Bonger, the woman who single-handedly made Vincent Van Gogh one of the most influential figures in western art history. Formerly an unknown and marginalised figure, this play aims to shed light on her incredible and inspiring life, and reveal the woman behind the artist.
This is a story about desire, grief, guilt, passion and politics. It calls into question why we create art, and what it means to leave an imprint on the world.
- August 2023
The love of a cruel bull, a queen’s illicit affair, and her hybrid son, the Minotaur, a monument to her cursed lust. A bold, feminist imagining of Euripides’ lost play ‘The Cretans’, it’s time for Pasiphae to tell her own story.
Exploring how dance, movement and puppetry can come together with the Greek chorus to create a striking piece, Evie Chandler's follow up to her London debut 'Cow' promises to get right to the heart of what it means to love and lust.
- May 2023
'An idea for a story. A girl like you lives by a lake; the lake is everything to her, she's carefree, happy as a seagull. Then one day a man—quite by chance—notices her. And he destroys her.’
25-year-old Konstantin is preparing to stage his new play, starring his girlfriend Nina, on the shore of the lake they love. But as the moon and the curtain rise, the presence of his mother’s young lover, a famous writer, changes everything.
A hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of unrequited love, the relationship between desire and domination, and what it means to grow up. Amidst the destruction of the natural world, Chekhov’s first major play is restaged for a 2023 audience.
- March 2023
Kiss me, Kate is a joyfully jazzy musical set in Baltimore in 1948, in a theatre company who happen to be putting on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, whilst a similar story unfolds among the cast and crew. Egotistical leading man, director, and producer Fred Graham is forced to work alongside his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi, playing opposite one another in a new production of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. As the two bicker and fight, it becomes clear that they are, in fact, still in love. Throw comedy, big band jazz and dance into the mix and you'll get somewhere close to Kiss Me, Kate. This wonderful show includes the hits Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Too Darn Hot and Another Op’nin, Another Show, as well as lesser known gems such as I Hate Men and Tom, Dick or Harry.
- November 2022
In the midst of woeful underfunding and ridicule from local private school St Perfectton’s Prep, join the students and teachers of Grove Park Secondary as a mysterious pirate offers them the geography field trip of a lifetime. Will they find Billy Bones’ lost treasure? Will Jemima Hawkins fulfil her dreams of adventure and find the love of her classmate Lily? And will by-the-books Geography teacher Mr Livesey learn that there is more to life than longshore drift and oxbow lakes?
Geography Trips have never been more thrilling than in ‘Treasure Island!’, a story of swashbuckling, sea-shanty singing and self-discovery.
- November 2022
It's the 90s - Tony Blair has just won the election, Katrina and the Waves have won Eurovision, and no one knows who Harry Potter is. Oasis is king - Britain is the coolest place in the world.
At the local secondary school it's a different story. Tobias, the German language assistant, watches as this ordinary school goes through an era of immense change. Miss Belltop-Doyle can't control her year 10s, Mr Pashley has been put in charge of a confiscated tamagotchi, and Miss Turner is hoping that this muck-up day goes smoother than the last.
Devised by the Wardrobe Ensemble, and performed by a cast and crew of Cambridge University theatre freshers, Education, Education, Education is a love letter to the school system, childhood nostalgia, and really bad club music. Things can only get better.
- November 2022
Anton Antonovich, corrupt mayor of an unnamed Russian town, loves authority - but hates responsibility. So, naturally, when he learns that an anonymous Government Inspector has been sent to visit the town, he panics. Discovering that a bureaucrat newly arrived from St. Petersburg has been set up in the local inn at the crown’s expense, the mayor and his cronies go to extreme lengths to appease him.
Considered one of the greatest satirical plays of all time, Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Government Inspector’ still serves as a cautionary tale for those seeking power and authority.
- November 2022
Girton College, 1896. Headstrong and brilliant, Tess Moffat arrives in Cambridge in pursuit of her academic studies, even though female students are denied the right to graduate. The new cohort of ‘blue stocking’ women face a tumultuous year of misogynistic professors, disgruntled male peers and a disapproving public. But even as they navigate this university steeped in tradition, they find themselves amongst a growing political movement calling for change, and a vote that would finally allow them to enter the world as graduates.
Jessica Swale’s exceptional play is a heart-warming and humorous exploration of the rights for education, the cruelty of the class divide and women’s suffrage.
- October 2022
A new performance art piece, examining the power of silence.
- October 2022
‘I cannot live without my soul’. Cathy and Heathcliff are a pair whose very names are synonymous with passionate desire: the ardent flame of their love, set against Gothic mists and earthy, rugged moorland, effloresces with fresh vibrancy in Andrew Sheridan’s entrancingly poetic rendering of Wuthering Heights. With all of the sustained intensity of the original text, Sheridan’s script conjures a thrilling, dream-like environment in which exterior and interior worlds blur. With inner lives coalescing amidst snatches of song and hauntingly fragmented dialogue, Sheridan’s reformulation of Brontë’s masterpiece lends a classic tale an arrestingly modern edge.
- August 2022
Real, Mad World is a brilliant piece of new writing following the joys, heartbreaks and absurdities of trans life. Laura, transgender woman and playwright, wants to be a mother more than anything. Faced by the children that she cannot bear, she writes herself into another life with a womb, cisgender husband and kids. But Lindsay, Laura’s partner, is waiting at home with a glass of wine and plans for Trans Revolution Now.
Selected as the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club 2022 Fringe Play, Real, Mad World is a funny and tender study of how we treat the people we love.
- August 2022
Jewish teenagers Esty, Allister, Danny and Sara are sitting in a revision session about to take their GCSEs when the terrorist alarm rings. And this time it might not be a drill. Trapped in their RS classroom they have all the time in the world to think. Flipping back and forth between their different perspectives, in the past and present day, they must decide, if they come out the other end, what they will do differently, what risks they will take and most importantly what lines they are willing to cross. Set in Manchester 2016 during the rise in antisemitism, Life Before The Line is a deep insight into what it means to grow up during politically charged times. Selected as the CUADC Edinburgh Fringe 2022 play. Praise for "Life Before the Line":
“If I could give this a score above 5 – it is more than well-deserved – I would, but I suppose I’d have to settle on a 5/5 this time. An unmissable performance and a truly spectacular show. I cannot recommend getting a ticket to this enough.” - The Tab ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“The conversations were so engaging that my eyes were glued to the stage, and the pairing of Lever’s script and Ben Phillips’ minimalistic direction was completely harmonious” - Varsity ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Praise for Fringe Run:
"Top Tier Fringe material" - Jake Mace, Binge Fringe Magazine, Editor and Chief ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"A revelation... I feel I am a better person for seeing it"- Richard Stamp, Fringe Guru, The Wee Review
"Strong and heartfelt... Keep an eye out for Lever's name in the future" - Edfringe review ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- June 2022
Gather around and I’ll tell you a tale!
Oral storytelling is a universal part of human culture and is one of our most ancient artforms. There’s a certain magic in being transported away by spoken word, whether into a familiar tale or a new one.
The ADC is hosting a relaxed evening of storytelling. Come and hear original stories and retellings of traditional tales from students in a cosy setting.
- May 2022
We love and we hate, we lust and we mourn. And in the face of these immensities, do you still care? Do you still want what you want? Time can't stop us, death can't stop us, war can't stop us! The power of Vanity Fair!
Amelia is kind and gentle. Becky is ambitious and rebellious. Amelia longs for love. Becky wants wealth and popularity. Despite all their differences, when both women are swept up by the tides of romance, money, gossip, power, war, and death, they quickly discover that their fortunes can fall just as swiftly as they rise. In the world of Vanity Fair, only one thing is certain: that nothing is certain.
- May 2022
The origin story of the Pied Piper - the classic folklore as a Mime. The Pied piper was once a troubled child. Their mischievous nature got them attention they didn’t want. In adulthood, the piper is now famous for their tunes. The piper learns about the issues at Hamelin and decides to pay a visit. The mayor at Hamelin explains the problem and promises a reward. The piper accepts and they lure the rats. The mayor decides to not pay the piper. The piper swears revenge. Will their plan work out? Happily ever after or never after?
Mime is finally here at Cambridge. Come experience the extravagance and magic this form of silent comedy brings to a dark tale.
- March 2022
Singin’ in the Rain brings you the classic, golden-age movie musical adapted for the stage, featuring some of the best-loved comedy routines, toe-tapping dance numbers, and classic musical theatre songs: “Good Mornin’”, “Make ‘em Laugh”, “Broadway Melody”, and the show-stopping title number “Singin’ in the Rain”. The show captures the Hollywood movie transition from silent pictures to the new ‘talkies’, following film co-stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. When Monumental Studios turns silent ‘The Dueling Cavalier’ into an all-singing, all-dancing ‘The Dancing Cavalier’, they are faced with a problem – Lina’s shrill and squeaky voice which might just end her career. As Kathy Selden, an aspiring actress, steps in to save the studio, she begins to fall in love, leaving Don Lockwood with difficult decisions both on and off screen. Pouring with laughs, charm, romance, and wit, expect high-energy dance routines and classic songs from the movie, added with its spectacular stage effects for this year’s Lent Term Musical!
- March 2022
‘SWIM’ is the winning script of Cambridge Creatives x CUADC’s scriptwriting competition. When Cass is sent by her Dad to visit her older sister, Thea, at university, in the hope that this will help her out of a tough time, they struggle to get along. This short film focuses on an emotionally precarious relationship between sisters and how, in just over 24 hours together, they learn to be in each other’s company again.
- March 2022
Multi award winning play Moderation tells the story of two ex-social media moderators who meet again years after quitting their job when one decides to sue the company that exposed them to the traumatic material which left both with different psychological scars. For one of them, who has become unable to touch the ground, the prospect of digging up the past has little appeal. For the other, whose drinking led to a head injury that has damaged their ability to remember things, reconstructing what happened seems like the only way to heal. Based on real accounts, Moderation reveals the true impact of watching the worst things on the internet for a living.
The play won this year’s CUADC Playwriting Competition, winning £200 and a run in the Larkum Studio. It was also co-winner of this year’s Cambridge Creatives Playwriting Competition, which was judged by industry professionals Sally Abbott, Luke Barnes, and Alexis Zegerman.
- January 2022
Jewish teenagers Esty, Allister, Danny and Sara are sitting in a revision session about to take their GCSEs when the terrorist alarm rings. And this time it might not be a drill. Trapped in their RS classroom they have all the time in the world to think. Flipping back and forth between their different perspectives, in the past and present day, they must decide, if they come out the other end, what they will do differently, what risks they will take and most importantly what lines they are willing to cross. Set in Manchester 2016 during the rise in antisemitism, Life Before the Line is a deep insight into what it means to grow up during politically charged times.
- November–December 2021
Welcome to Rapunzel! In a land where art has been banned and all the Dames have been banished, can this kingdom be brought back to life?
In a dastardly plan to keep them away from his crown, the evil King sends his nephew and niece, Prince Victor and Princess Stella, on a quest to save Rapunzel from her dragon-guarded tower in the hopes that they perish. Along the way they instead encounter adventure, hilarity, and friendship. Join Victor and Stella on their way to save Rapunzel and, ultimately, the entire kingdom.
Rapunzel brings live pantomimes back with a queer and colourful bang. A celebration of individuality and self-love, Rapunzel is not to be missed.
- November 2021
- November 2021
This November, the ADC Theatre’s Freshers Mainshow is Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘A Small Family Business', taking you to the 1980s where Jack McCracken, a man of principle in a corrupt world, gets the chance of a lifetime - to take over his family’s furniture business. There’s just one problem: he’s just found out his family is, how do you put it… criminally gifted. After being approached by a private detective armed with revealing information, the morally straight Jack must figure out how he and his corrupt family can survive. The tangled world of Jack and his family of thieves and cheats guarantees to make you both hold your breath and burst out laughing.
Everyone involved in this production is new to Cambridge theatre, so this promises to be an exciting show for all who are keen to show their support for the next generation of Cambridge thespians. ‘A Small Family Business’ promises to be a big week in Cambridge theatre!
- November 2021
- October 2021
Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner – talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans.
Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle that they are desperately trying to escape.
- October 2021
Am I the devil? ...You don’t need be the devil, I been hurt by men.
Set against the backdrop of a 17th-century witch hunt, Vinegar Tom depicts the lives of women on the fringes of society. Alice sleeps with a mysterious man. Joan throws curses at her enemies with her old tomcat by her side. Susan is burdened with an unwanted pregnancy. As these women’s lives intertwine, they find themselves subject to all the horrors of hysteria, superstition, and patriarchy as they are pressured to confess - are they a witch?
- August 2021
N.B. this show has been cancelled
Locked away in Baghdad Mosque is a beautifully intricate Quran, complete with 6,000 verses of elaborate calligraphy and 600 pages of decorative motifs – a marvel in artistry that would surely be celebrated by Muslims and artists around the world if it were not written in Saddam Hussein’s blood. Now its artist lives in the US, where he restores old paintings for a living, but in every step, he’s still followed by the walking, talking, blood-drenched Quran that has haunted him since.
- June 2021
-Do you think this is the year we become real playwrights?
-We haven't had an audience larger than the cast since 1587, and that was back when we were doing erotic puppet shows in Saffron Walden.
Tom and Rob languish in a bedsit situated somewhere between 1590s Deptford and undergraduate accommodation built in the 60s. They're greasy, cold, and fancy themselves writers; Rob drinks too much and Tom is bad.
‘The Parnassus Players’ is an original student-written comedy, set within a fusion of the 21st century student theater scene and the theatrical world of 1590s London. It follows two budding writers, Rob and Tom, in their struggle to navigate the scrappy underworld of Shakespeare's London and attain literary stardom.
Join these vagrants for an innovative satire and celebration of live theater! We're talking queer Elizabethan romance, goofs, gaffs, the Phantom of the Opera, and more bawdy puns than you can shake a pickled herring at!
- May 2021
CW: Sexual Assault
The Passion is a new piece of student writing about sexual assault and relationships. Set in a student flat in Cambridge, the play follows the reconciliation of Dan and Tony, a former university couple, over a single afternoon during Freshers Week. However, when it is revealed that Dan’s motives concern an incident which occurred during their relationship, the afternoon soon becomes a heated discussion about memories, self-deception, and the realities of assault. The Passion is a story about the things that go unsaid in a relationship, and the implications we make of other people. It features a cast of two, and is comprised of three acts.
- May 2021
Fleeing a world he has rejected, Robin finds solace in his music and the sanctuary of his remote family home. But as his kingdom begins to crumble around him, how far will he go to save it and at what cost?
Polly Stenham drags us far into the depths of Robin's mind, unearthing dark family secrets on the way. As the extent of his suffering is slowly revealed and his sanity is called into question, Robin plummets into a spiral of self destruction as he fights to keep his world from falling apart....
- March 2021
Sleeping Beauty is rudely awoken from her slumber. Marry Prince Charming?! Thanks but no thanks - a better adventure is calling.
Join our hero as you've never seen her before as she enters the world of work under evil bosses, Jake and Will Grimm, and on her very first shift must undertake a dangerous mission to find an escaped Panto Horse and save her colleagues' jobs. She sets off journeying through a series of absurd pantomimes in pursuit of the horse, only to discover that everything is not as it seems...
Sleeping Beauty and her friends must work together, find the horse and ship the baddies off - next day delivery.
- February 2021
It’s 1935. Alma Martyr, a lovable English professor, and her secret gardener fiancé Castor are preparing for a romantic weekend getaway at her parents' woodland cabin. However, a mix-up with dates leads to four of her best students joining them for the weekend. There’s sweetly innocent Daphne, pompously cruel Leopold and laughably keen Lance and Laurie. Unwise preconceptions and misunderstandings abound – unrequited love and mutual hatred leading to such entanglements! Carnage ensues, as rivalries among the students and complex love affairs lead to games, disputes and a dramatic conclusion...
- December 2020
The sequel has arrived. Are you ready to enter the void?
The spiritual successor to Lacuna Ridge is finally here. We left the show wondering if X went home. She did - but she’s still trapped in the realm. Join us for another fantastical adventure with X as she goes on the most dangerous journey of her life. Are you ready to enter the Void?
- December 2020
Ella Hickson’s ‘Eight’ explores a generation defined by apathy, and what it takes to feel.
Danny sleeps next to corpses, Millie bonks for king and country, and Miles thanks a terrorist for his new life. This series of monologues carefully sketches a cast that is alternatingly repulsive and fascinating.
- November 2020
“We’re doing what so many people told us we were incapable of doing: holding our leaders accountable for their disastrous and dangerous actions.”
In 2015 a landmark lawsuit asserted the US government had knowingly infringed upon the rights to life and liberty by encouraging activities which cause climate change. Those who brought this case: 21 young people aged eight to nineteen. Suffering from displacement, drought, famines, wildfires, many felt forced to drop out of school for fear of their future. Now struggling with the pressures of holding hope, they continue to fight. This is their story, told in their words. It is a story of bitterness and terror, but also triumph and love, for each other and our home.
