- January–February 2014
‘A woman who expends her energy exercising the brain does so at the expense of her vital organs.’
It is 1896 at Girton College, Cambridge, and Elizabeth Welsh is preparing for battle.
Girton is the first college in Britain to admit women. The girls there have risked everything to go to University. They study ferociously. They match their male peers grade for grade. And they leave empty handed.
While the men graduate and are awarded their degrees, the girls gain only the stigma of being a ‘blue stocking’- an unnatural, educated woman. They are unqualified and, worse, unfit for marriage.
Principal Elizabeth Welsh is determined to win the girls the right to graduate, whatever the cost.
CUADC presents Blue Stockings in its first University Production following a critically acclaimed debut at the Globe just four months ago.
This Lent, the blue stockings return to Cambridge to fight for their right to an education.
'The only thing a woman can own is knowledge... We must build our Trojan horse and infiltrate from the inside.'
- January 2014
A chance meeting in a service station. A dance-off in an arcade. A private escort with a box cutter. A new dark comedy.
Adam and Harold, two strangers, meet at a Welcome Break. As time ticks away the pair sip coffee, discuss fast food, and break the ice.
And Adam realises two things. The first is that Harold is not the private escort he claims to be. The second is that he's sure he's met Harold before. When the pair step outside and Harold pulls a boxcutter, Adam's past begins to catch up with him.
"Ok, finish your nuggets, I'll get this blood off my hands, then it's hometime."
- December 2013
It's back. Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24hr Plays have appeared all over the world, pushing theatrical talent to its limit and creating unforgettable performances.
What will happen when Cambridge is asked to create 5 new plays in just 24 hours to be performed in front an industry judge? The clock is ticking...
- November 2013
- November 2013
When Odysseus finally came home, after years at sea, he ruthlessly hanged twelve innocent maids. Whilst this was a mere footnote in Homer's original story, Margaret Atwood has given these women a voice, in her dark yet witty play: 'The Penelopiad'.
Presented by this year's freshest dramatic talent, in a challenging physical theatre adaptation - inspired by Frantic Assembly, see one of the world's most famous myths retold through Atwood's "cunning replotting and smart updating" (Mary Beard).
- November 2013
A village fete gone disastrously and farcically wrong. A mother trapped in baby talk. A blunderingly failed attempt at seduction. Five short plays; five instantly recognisable social encounters; five snapshots of tragically lonely and obsessed characters which will leave you “wondering whether you should be laughing or crying” (The Stage).
Cambridge’s newest acting and backstage talent presents five interlinked one act plays from one of the most successful and prolific modern playwrights, each offering a poignantly funny snapshot of human eccentricity and a cry for companionship.
"Buoyant ... sad, sharp and funny." - London Guardian
- November 2013
“I wanna climb back inside my mum. What’s wrong with that?”
The enduring story of Oedipus, the man who murdered his father and slept with his mother, is hurled from classical Greece into the “unimaginable wastelands” of present-day north London, as full of riots, filth and decay as ancient Thebes.
The twentieth century’s revolutionary master of stylised physical theatre, Steven Berkoff offers a searing and visceral reinterpretation of Sophocles’ enduring classic.
Don’t miss this intimate showcase of Cambridge’s newest dramatic talent.
“The bravest, most exciting and moving Greek tragedy in years” (The Sunday Times)
- October 2013
Sex, drugs and trance music. That’d be village gala day. Gala queen Phaedra is missing. Anarchist, waster and ex-daredevil motorcyclist Johnny “Rooster” Byron, infamous for his anti-social raves drawing the local ne’er-do-well youths, is suspected by Phaedra’s stepfather Troy of involvement. To add to Rooster’s problems, the council is sending a riot squad to evict him from his illegally parked mobile home in a wood next to the new estate. But Rooster is in good spirits. Seen by many as a menace to society, he provides safety for those from broken homes and the unconventional. He enthrals with stories of ancient myth and forest spirits. He may even be one. He is also an absentee father, has violent episodes and likes young girls. Crafted with deep intelligence and insight, fast, funny and sexy, see the “instant classic,” a vision of contemporary England that galvanized critics from London to New York.
This will be one of the first major performances of the work since it finished in the West End and Broadway.
- October 2013
Think Charm. Think Polish. Think Renaissance Man.
The tactless and ambitious headmaster of Cutler's Grammar School has high hopes for his latest Oxbridge applicants. Supply teacher Irwin is to teach the boys some style in the hopes of climbing the league tables by gaining places for the eight History Boys.
Hector, their enigmatic "General Studies" teacher, seeks to prepare them for more than an entrance exam - life. Meanwhile he cannot refrain from getting too close to the boys he guides.
"Pass it on, boys. That's the game I wanted you to learn. Pass it on"
CUADC brings you Alan Bennett's multi-award winning masterpiece for the first time on the ADC stage. Hilarious and moving, The History Boys forces us to ask questions about education, truth, history and whether Oxbridge really is that important.
- July–August 2013
Looking for a show? So are they.
"So you’re calling this the profession of madmen, then? We’re all crazy?"
Pirandello's modern masterpiece is hurtled into the present day in this thrilling, visceral new adaptation by CUADC. When a rehearsal is interrupted by six characters swarming the stage, demanding that their tale be put on, what can a director do? He's got a slot booked on one of the Mile stages and there's flyering to be done.
When he eventually agrees, however, the limits of reality and imagination begin to blur as the characters are driven towards tragedy.
Come along if you have the time - after all, it's only a show.
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR returns to Cambridge after an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013.
The Characters are coming back.
"an outstanding production... never has Edinburgh seemed more metatheatrical" ★★★★ PLAYS INTERNATIONAL
- July–August 2013
The two greatest casinos in Las Vegas are at war. Agamemnon, jailed for ten years on charges of tax evasion, is about to end the feud with a devastating blow: the walls of Troy will fall. But when the dust settles and the king comes home, his triumphal return feels wrong. Clytemnestra is obsessed with a videotape, Elektra lives in virtual reality, and Orestes hasn't been seen in years. Under the brightest lights of the Strip a sickening crime, a bloodline's collapse and the rise of avengers mortal and divine will bring the House of Atreus to its knees.
In a new adaptation, Aeschylus' trilogy is updated and radically represented. Through innovative use of audio and video media this show takes a new approach to the spectacular nature of tragedy. Revenge has never looked so good.
After a spectacular run at the ADC Theatre, Oresteia is going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013.
- May 2013
“Find another genius, I can’t be one or become one. I can’t even tell how I’ll begin.”
With less than a week before the cameras roll on his new film, Guido Contini searches wildly for inspiration. Without a script and with his personal life in tatters, Rome’s most celebrated film director finds himself faced with what appears to be the ruin of his career, his marriage, and his sanity.
Set against the exquisite backdrop of Rome’s chic sixties, “Nine” explores one man’s struggle to establish a sense of his own identity through his art. Winning the Drama Desk Award for Most Outstanding Musical and the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, this sumptuous combination of naturalism, expressionism and film will seduce you into considering your own assumptions about art, identity, and romance.
- April–May 2013
Blanche DuBois is not all she seems. Arriving to stay with her sister Stella in the steamy French Quarter of New Orleans, she cuts the figure of a delicate Southern belle. But what’s her secret? Stella's no-nonsense husband, Stanley Kowalski, makes it his business to find out.
A Streetcar Named Desire is Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize-winning masterpiece; an explosive tale of lost dreams and indiscretions, brutish actions and burning lust.
This bold new production transforms the ADC Theatre into the city of New Orleans, surging with live jazz and teeming with life. Come under its intoxicating spell to witness the raw, unpredictable feeling of Williams' heart-stopping tragedy.
- March 2013
When Egyptian captain Radames captures the Nubian princess Aida, little does he know that he will be changing both of their destinies. Set against a backdrop of warfare, ambition and treachery, they are soon forced to choose between love for their nations, and love for each other.
Inspired by Verdi’s majestic opera, the timeless love story of Aida is retold by the creative team behind The Lion King. With music ranging from reggae and gospel to Elton John classics, including ‘Written in the Stars’, and with choreography inspired by everything from Latin to ballet, CUADC brings this Broadway hit to stage in a uniquely stylish and magical revival, taking the audience beyond the bounds of reality.
Winner of four Tony Awards, with a captivating story, electrifying score and beautiful design, this rarely performed musical is perfect for the whole family.
- February–March 2013
‘Greetings prophet. The Great Work begins. The messenger has arrived.’ New York, 1985. A pill-popping housewife and her gay Mormon husband unite with an AIDS-ridden former drag queen and his conscience-stricken boyfriend amidst the backdrop of a lost America. As one of the most inspired American plays of our time, Angels in America - Part One: Millennium Approaches transports an audience from New York to Antarctica, merging the realistic with the surreal and tackling such dynamic themes as American ideology, AIDS, liberalism, race and sexual identity. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play is one of the most successful theatrical sagas of recent years. ‘A vast, miraculous play…provocative, witty and deeply upsetting…a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama…’ - Frank Rich, New York Times ‘An epic theatrical fever dream’ - Variety
- February 2013
Amateur Dramatic Club presents ANTON: Ivanov and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn Weeks 4 and 5 mainshows, Lent Term @ ADC Theatre
...I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. I took one look and - snap! - I was caught. He said, 'Let's run off... let's go!' I stripped my life away just like you'd strip the dead leaves off a stem, and I went...
Two weeks. Two painfully funny and heartbreaking plays. Two translations by two renowned British playwrights.
One master of tragicomedy.
'Anton', a double bill of 'Ivanov' and 'Three Sisters', playing on alternate nights over two weeks. Bringing together one of his first and one of his last plays, CUADC presents a fortnight of raucous laughter and stinging tears.
A time will come when people will understand what it was all for, what the purpose was of all this suffering, and what was hidden from us will be hidden no more. In the meantime, though, we have to live...
- February 2013
Amateur Dramatic Club presents ANTON: Ivanov and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn Weeks 4 and 5 mainshows, Lent Term @ ADC Theatre
...I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. I took one look and - snap! - I was caught. He said, 'Let's run off... let's go!' I stripped my life away just like you'd strip the dead leaves off a stem, and I went...
Two weeks. Two painfully funny and heartbreaking plays. Two translations by two renowned British playwrights.
One master of tragicomedy.
'Anton', a double bill of 'Ivanov' and 'Three Sisters', playing on alternate nights over two weeks. Bringing together one of his first and one of his last plays, CUADC presents a fortnight of raucous laughter and stinging tears.
A time will come when people will understand what it was all for, what the purpose was of all this suffering, and what was hidden from us will be hidden no more. In the meantime, though, we have to live...
- February 2013
Mr. Hoppy has two great loves in his life: the flowers that grow on his balcony, and his neighbour, Mrs. Silver. The only problem is that Mrs. Silver gives all of her love to someone else: her pet tortoise, Alfie. One day Mrs. Silver asks Mr. Hoppy how to make poor Alfie grow a little faster and suddenly Mr. Hoppy’s happiness is only a dubious magical spell away…
But can the nosy, bassoon-playing next door neighbour, Humphrey, figure out Mr. Hoppy’s plot before it’s too late? Or will Mrs. Silver’s heart be stolen by a man who names his favourite chrysanthemum Gerald?
Told through the eyes of Alfie - the whimsical and embittered tortoise - ‘Esio Trot’ is a new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale of infatuation, deceit and celery, which poses the timeless question: should true love come before tortoises?
- January–February 2013
‘When you're caught between any kind of devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea can sometimes look very inviting…’
Terence Rattigan’s modern masterpiece portrays a day in the life of Hester Collyer. Caught in a cobweb of decaying relationships – to her husband, her lover, her landlady, her neighbours – she remains alone and hopeless in a small dishevelled flat.
One of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century, this new production of Rattigan’s beautiful play explores the biggest questions in the most human way.
- November 2012
It's back.
Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24 Plays have appeared all over the world, pushing theatrical talent to its limit and creating unforgettable performances. What will happen when Cambridge is asked to create 5 new plays in just 24 hours in front of a panel of industry judges? The clock is ticking.
- November–December 2012
- November 2012
Burlesque! welcomes you to our Weimar-era, fortune-teller's lair to spend an intimate evening with Ryvita von Teese and her company of charming reprobates.
Bring the art of burlesque back to its roots of social satire, join us for a dizzying romp through musical numbers, sketch comedy and interactive cabaret.
All accompanied by our onstage drag band, Burlesque! is a chaotic variety jamboree and a stand-out production in a town where love comes to die.
- November 2012
'To begin at the beginning….'
Welcome to Llareggub, a sleepy Welsh fishing village where old and young potter and clatter through their day-to-day business, in a tumble of sounds and sights. Allow our gentle guide to show you the far-off dreams of Captain Cat, the sincere sermons of Reverend Eli Jenkins, and the longing love letters of Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price.
Written as a response to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagaski, Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices' celebrates the calm beauty of the world, through some of the most evocative poetry written in the English language. This work of Welsh genius is brought to the ADC stage by the freshest talent in Cambridge.
'We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood.'
- November 2012
'One false move and we'll have a farce on our hands'...
When rich merchant Herr Zangler jaunts off to Vienna to woo his new mistress, his beautiful young ward elopes with her penniless suitor and his two assistants decide that this is their last chance for a big adventure and go on 'the razzle'. Where are they all headed? To the same place, of course - in haste, in heat and in cognito.
Described by The Telegraph as 'an unremitting firework display of puns, crossword puzzle tricks and sly sexual innuendos,' Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle is a wonderful night of fabulous farce. See this year's freshest dramatic talent take on a muddle of mistaken identities, slapstick and romantic shenanigans in one of the funniest scripts ever written.
- November 2012
‘Don’t tell me to cheer up. People only tell you to cheer up when they’ve run out of sympathy’.
An unexpected and unplanned reunion forces a family to take a brutally honest look at themselves and at their achievements in life. Described by The Daily Telegraph as a British equivalent of A Death of a Salesman, The Bullet is, in the words of the author, ‘about the pathological need to go home and then – once you get there – the pathological need to leave again as quickly as possible’. The CUADC are proud to present the first ever Cambridge University Fresher Show to take place at the Corpus Playroom.
- October–November 2012
December 2000: Enron, America’s seventh largest corporation, is heralded as a darling of the energy industry. Voted ‘America’s Most Innovative Company’ by Fortune magazine for six years in a row, Enron claims revenues of over $100 billion and employs well over 20,000 individuals.
December 2001: The Enron Scandal. Enron files for bankruptcy. Former employees are paid an average of $4,500 worth of severance pay and lose their pensions and medical insurance whilst top executives cash in stock worth over $115 million. The resulting inquest unearths political as well as corporate corruption, the effects of which are still felt in America today.
Just what happened? Exactly how did Enron destroy itself so completely and so rapidly? CUADC is proud to present this epic tale of corporate irresponsibility and human greed at its most dangerous extremes. One of the most important plays in recent years, Enron utilises gripping personal drama, surreal humour and even musical numbers to tell an unforgettable story that you’ll wish was fiction.
Ask why.
- October 2012
In the salons of Paris, an anonymous young girl plays the piano for the wealthy elites. Here she encounters the exotic, mesmerizing and stifling Marquis. A man of the world, with a mysterious past, he offers her the key to a thrilling future. The Marquis proposes and takes his virgin to a castle on the sea for their honeymoon. When he disappears after their wedding night, leaving the girl alone – save for the housekeeper, and a blind piano-tuner – he entrusts her with the keys to every room in the house. One door alone is forbidden, but the temptation of a tiny key may prove too much.
- October 2012
Sophie Scholl has gone down in history as one of the world's greatest heroines. Her bravery in the name of freedom, and the face of terror, will never cease to inspire people all over the world. Now the first stage adaptation of the Academy Award-nominated, German film brings her powerful story to Cambridge. As a member of the passive resistance group, The White Rose, Sophie is determined to rouse the German people into action against the Nazi regime. After being caught distributing so-called 'seditious' leaflets, she must endure a gruelling interrogation process and a brutal trial. But even the most tragic fate cannot sway her unstoppable quest for justice. This heart-rending tale brings to life a passionate desire to live in a free and democratic society. This is the story of Sophie Scholl, the woman who defied Hitler.
- October 2012
Follow Jamie, New York novelist finding his first success, and Cathy, actress still finding her feet, as they fall in and out of love over five years.
As he tells his story from beginning to end, she tells hers backwards, and the result is an intensely personal look at both sides of the relationship: witness simultaneously the thrill of first romance and the disappointment of heartbreak, in a combination that is at once uplifting and devastating.
In an exciting new venture, CUADC and CUMTS proudly present Jason Robert Brown's celebrated musical at the Corpus Playroom. With award-winning music and lyrics by the legendary writer of Parade and Songs for a New World, this unique two-hander will see the Playroom become an intimate off-Broadway theatre.
'No one can give you courage; no one can thicken your skin. I will not fail so you can be comfortable, Cathy; I will not lose because you can't win.'
- August 2012
"We broke the hare's neck And made that place, for a moment, The most important place there was," (from 'Interruption to a Journey' by Norman MacCaig)
A powerful and expressive piece of theatre, this performance explores those moments in life that make us stop and remember what is truly important. Devised from Verbatim-style research and Norman MacCaig's poem 'Interruption to a Journey' this play combines naturalism with physical theatre and music to create a haunting and beautiful tale.
- August 2012
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club presents AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare
An ALL-MALE PRODUCTION of the timeless comedy, touring to the EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2012
“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts…”
Performed with an all-male cast, as it would have originally been staged, this CUADC production of As You Like It will be a festival of ludicrous metatheatre. Join the inhabitants of a corrupt modern-day court as they are thrown into the idyllic wonderland of Arden…a rollercoaster theatrical experience, where everyone is in Elizabethan costume.
‘…fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world…’
Rosalind and Celia just want to find somewhere to charge their iPods (the former likes Beyonce, the latter…definitely Katie Melua), but they have to get into Globe-garb, and listen to the sonorous lilt of the Renaissance lute. As they wander deeper into the countryside, they fall further and further into the past and find themselves in a completely different theatre. Court wrestling becomes WWE, Rosalind and Celia have to shed their Louis Vuitton and get into corsets, and Orlando can’t get any signal on his Blackberry, so he’ll have to try his hand at tree-carving.
‘There's no clock in the forest…’
This is Shakespeare at its most inventive, most ridiculous and most playful. CUADC’s As You Like It is a modern rendering of the play, but will be (teasingly) faithful to the hilarious, heart-breaking and highly energetic performances of the original Elizabethan stage.
- June 2012
Following its run at the Corpus Playroom, Zombie Haiku was selected to be one of twenty shows performing at the International Student Drama Festival.
You are so lucky | That we cannot remember | How to use doorknobs.
An original adaptation of Ryan Mecum's book, Zombie Haiku follows one lone survivor's journey through ruined houses, decimated cities and abandoned airports as they contend with exploding petrol stations and reanimated work colleagues. Bringing the humour, emotion and darkness of the book to the stage, this production blends physical theatre, music and (of course) haiku for an entertaining exploration of what happens when the living clash with the undead.
The city is dead | Streets are filled with people | Who aren't quite people.
- May 2012
A master of language, cleverly accessible and humane, brilliantly calculated, David Ives is perhaps the funniest writer of short plays in America today. Struggling with love, problems of communication and defining their true self, his hilarious and tormented characters must deal both with the complexities of ordinary life and large metaphysical issues. Discover what happens when you can reset conversations with strangers, find out what is at the bottom of the black holes called ‘Philadelphias’ and realize how made up languages can solve social anxiety. The world of David Ives is enchanting, perplexing and very, very funny.
- May 2012
King Richard II’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, lies murdered. Unable to arbitrate between his cousin, Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray – who each accuse the other of responsibility for the crime – King Richard resorts to exiling both. After Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt dies, Richard then seizes his exiled relation's rightful inheritance in order to finance a lascivious court and mismanaged foreign wars.
Discontent mounts, soon breaking into open rebellion
"Landlord of England art thou and not king"
Bolingbroke will claim his due. But what will be left for Richard if Bolingbroke takes the crown too?
"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me"
Drawing inspiration from the famous revival of the play at the Globe Theatre shortly before the Essex Rebellion in 1601, CUADC are proud to present Richard II – a mesmerising and enthralling beginning to Shakespeare’s History plays.
- March 2012
CUADC presents the 2012 Lent term two week musical: Footloose.
City boy Ren is forced to move from Chicago to the small southern town of Bomont, where he experiences a considerable culture shock.
A few years before, a tragic accident killed five teenagers causing local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore to place a ban on dancing and rock music. With his rebellious spirit and love for dance Ren challenges the status quo, attracting the attention of the minister’s troubled but beautiful daughter Ariel.
Will Ren succeed in bringing some life back to this repressed town?
With songs such as the title-track, “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”, this show guarantees to have you dancing in the aisles and kicking off your Sunday shoes.
- February–March 2012
“Can’t act! Can’t act! Listen to the woman! You’re blonde, are you not? You have no education, have you? Can’t act! You underrate yourself, my dear!”
Pierrot and Columbine have been performing their scene for a long time. Pierrot is the sad clown, pining for the love of the clever serving wench Columbine. They sit at a long table decked out with a splendid banquet of plastic food and deliver their lines. Tonight, though, their little comic scene is interrupted. They are kicked off the stage, replaced by a pastoral scene starring two shepherds who can’t quite remember their lines. When the script moves towards an unpleasant climax, however, they can’t seem to stop acting it out.
Edna St. Vincent Millay, a bisexual, chain-smoking lyric poet, was the first female poet ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. First staged just after the end of the First World War, this unusual play, never before performed in Cambridge, conceals a searing appraisal of the human condition. It is “amusing, brutal, and brief.”
