- June 2026
The Revived Emmanuel Dramatic Society invites you to come see our May Week Play: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing! Who will come out on top in Beatrice and Benedick's 'merry war'? Will Claudio and Hero's marriage succeed in the face of Don Jon's meddling? And who will be proven to be the 'only love-gods'?
Don't throw your costumes into storage after the Emma May Ball, because this production is going to take the Master's Garden back to the roaring 1920's! Expect flapper dresses, masquerades, and a whole lot of jazz.
Hope to see you in June, in Emmanuel College's Master's Garden! Come for the party, stay for the hangover...
- November 2025
Can Kay Harker save Christmas now that the wolves are running?
After a seemingly chance encounter on a train, orphaned schoolboy Kay Harker finds himself the guardian of a small wooden box with powers beyond his wildest dreams. Caught up in a battle between two powerful magicians, Kay fights to save not just the people he loves but also the future of Christmas itself.
- February 2020
Police Corruption. Surveillance State. Raucous Comedy.
Inspired by true events, this fast-paced piece of theatre takes place in an unnamed police station where a farcical re-enactment of events is conducted to determine the true circumstances behind the mysterious death of a suspected anarchist who falls from a police station window whilst in custody. Was this a mere accident, or is it the deliberate product of a society plagued by foul play and deviance? This exposure of police activity is dramatised through bravado, ludricous comedy and devilish slapstick.
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is the most famous play by Dario Fo, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. This piece of extraordinary writing is rarely performed on stage and is a masterpiece in comic absurdity.
- February 2019
A unique and entertaining new play about bucket lists, life planning and the disappointing fact that you're not going to live forever. An interwoven web of stories, characters and moments - moments seized, moments wasted, moments you can never forget and moments you wish you could. From the logical case for kissing immediately to the crisis of filling a few afternoon, 'buckets' takes on a universal dilemma - how do you deal with the fact that time always runs out?
- August 2018
45 minutes of free (or £5 guaranteed ticket) stand-up from a comedian who's new on the scene and hoping this isn't all a terrible mistake. Will Hall is 22 and recently found his first grey hair: this is his story. His style has been described as 'anecdotal and observational' so expect stories about looking at things. The Tab called him a ‘bloody good comedian’, while Broadway Baby said he is an ‘upcoming to the likes of [David] Mitchell’. Come catch this rising star at Just The Tonic to see if they’re right or if he really DID pay those reviewers.
Previous Praise
“Will Hall stood out among the Footlights; his timing and stage presence was exceptional…phenomenally funny.” – The Bubble
“Sublime...the highest standard of new comedy” ★★★★★ - Broadway Baby
"Anecdotal talent is where Hall really stood out, delivering his act with a polished eloquence and rapid-fire pace" ★★★★½ - TCS
“Very tight…direct hits” ★★★★ - The Wee Review
"Had the audience in hysterics" - The Tab
- February 2018
On 31st January 2018, we lost the rights to perform a show.
Within five hours, a new idea was born.
‘Re: write // a collective work’ will fill the creative space that was made momentarily and hauntingly empty. We are devising an immersive piece of theatre in which we will dramatise the struggle to create, and the fear of both finding and losing your voice.
Our starting point will be this passage of Hélène Cixous’ ‘The Laugh of Medusa’ — ‘And why don’t you write? Write! Writing is for you, you are for you; your body is yours, take it. I know why you haven’t written. (And why I didn’t write before the age of twenty-seven.) Because writing is at once too high, too great for you, it’s reserved for the great – that is, for “great men”; and it’s “silly.” Besides, you’ve written a little, but in secret. And it wasn’t good, because it was in secret, and because you punished yourself for writing, because you didn’t go all the way; or because you wrote, irresistibly, as when we would masturbate in secret, not to go further, but to attenuate the tension a bit, just enough to take the edge off.’ We are not yet writers. But we are going to try.
The collective company will, by 22.02.18, have created a new work. By the end of each performance, the audience too shall have come together to create, without realising it, a collective work of their own.
Re: write will be documenting their process here: https://rewritecollective.wordpress.com/
Please find content notices and warnings here soon.
https://www.facebook.com/events/191600638256077/
- February 2018
Will Hall is 22 and recently found his first grey hair. In Netflix and Will, his debut stand-up show, he'll be asking whether it’s too late to turn it all around or if he’s better off just embracing his old age. Expect stories about love, life and an old Spanish tourist called Maria.
Will Hall is a stand-up and sketch comedian who has been countless Footlights shows since he arrived (back when all his hair was still brown) as well as appearing at the Fringe last year in the sell-out two-man show Studio 9. Don’t miss him for one night only in his debut stand-up show, which critics are already describing as "an hour".
Previous Praise
“Will Hall stood out among the Footlights; his timing and stage presence was exceptional…phenomenally funny.” – The Bubble
“Would not be out of place as an upcoming to the likes of Fry and Laurie or Mitchell and Webb…the highest standard of new comedy” ★★★★★ - Broadway Baby
“Very tight…most of them are direct hits” ★★★★ - The Wee Review
“Will Hall is particularly funny” - TCS
"Had the audience in hysterics" - The Tab
- February 2018
- January–February 2018
Dear Lupin is the stage adaptation of the comic, caustic, and charming collection of letters sent by racing journalist Roger Mortimer to his wayward son, Charlie - nicknamed Lupin - spanning two and a half decades of their lives.
The play follows both their stories as Charlie, an Eton dropout, embarks on an array of jobs and years of “drunken hedonism” whilst Roger, a renowned horse racing correspondent, tries to keep his son on the straight-and-narrow.
This is a touching portrait of nostalgia, joy, and regret that delves into addiction, bereavement, and the time-worn yet unbreakable bond between a father and his son.
- November 2017
In the middle of the Mojave Desert, dozens of miles from the nearest pavement, a lone phone booth stands on a dirt road. One evening, in the mid 1990's, the phone starts ringing...
MOJAVE is a devised piece of multimedia theatre which incorporates a live DJ score, physical theatre and projection to tell this incredible story. Based entirely on real transcripts and audio recordings, we follow Goddfrey ‘Doc’ Daniels as his singular obsession with calling a phone number in the back of a magazine leads to the world’s first viral cult sensation. MOJAVE tells the true story of the Mojave Desert phone booth: how it was discovered, how it rose to cult status and how it became a place where being miles away from the nearest sign of civilisation was the only way to feel connected
- April 2017
"I have called you together Gentlemen, to impart a very unpleasant piece of news". This little Russian town is in utter disrepair. It is covered in cobwebs, stained with blood and loud howls are heard at the full moon. The Mayor calls an emergency meeting in the dark, dusty town hall to tell his townspeople of their impending doom: an inspector is coming. They tremble in fear at the news and desperately try to please the man whom they believe to be the inspector, showering him with praise and affection. He is, in fact, nobody of the kind.
Gogol’s 19th-century play “The Government Inspector” is indisputably Russia’s greatest comedy. Translated into modern-day English and transposed into a gothic style, it is a rip-roaring comedy of mistaken identity, corruption, cobwebs and horror.
- March 2017
A 20-year-old, Pakistani inner-city girl Husna arrives at K.K. Harouni’s residence in Lahore. K.K.Harouni hails from an established land-owning family in Pakistan. He is elderly and powerful. The purpose of Husna’s stay is to learn typing, nevertheless right after her arrival, Husna and Harouni begin a sexual relationship. As the plot unfolds, Husna, originally a distant poorer relative of Harouni, learns to locate her social class among layers of servants and Harouni’s relatives. The plot reveals the corruption and tension deeply set in Pakistani land-owning society through Husna’s lens and the result of this injustice primarily for women in lower classes. At the end, Harouni dies leaving Husna humiliated and confused. The play is a tragi-comedy and is set in modern times.
The play is an adaptation of a short story by an American-Pakistani writer, Daniyal Mueenuddin. Daniyal’s collection was named “In Other Rooms, other Wonders” after this story. His collection was selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
- March 2017
Clara and Ben are ‘casually sleeping together’, caught up in a turbulent and destructive relationship, apparently devoid of love. Clara is distracted and distant. Ben is desperate to open her up and develop a closeness between them.
As the barriers between Clara and Ben break down, physical violence and violent love destine the couple for mutual destruction. Set on one rainy afternoon, the intimate bedroom exchange focuses on their unhealthy, habitual pattern and inability to communicate. But, their apparently meaningless and mundane conversation actually delves down into the core, and deeply affects each of them. Here, loneliness takes the form of love.
This play is a one-room drama that combines physical theatre with intense naturalism to portray the familiar struggle of Clara and Ben. With the stage and script both stripped bare: ‘Come Back to Bed’ is a performance of raw emotion and physicality, as two people are pushed to their limits.
- March 2017
Come down to the Emma Bar for a hilarious night of a comedy featuring some of the best comedians in Cambridge. Line up to be announced - stay tuned!
£3 entry on the door
- February–March 2017
- October 2016
'Someone's after you, you're hunted.'
Meet the Howie Lee and the Rookie Lee, two men with nothing in common except a last name and an ill-fated spiral of events. Celebrated Irish playwright Mark O'Rowe's 1999 critically acclaimed drama is a two-hander of two halves, taking a nightmarish dive into the darkest depths of human behaviour. Known for his intense, lyrical verse and blistering imagery, O'Rowe litters this visceral tragedy with ruinous violence and surprising comic twists.
- August 2016
Minky [mijnki]
Reminiscent of a semi-aquatic stoat-like carnivore. ‘Hmm, minky.’
A coating of soft downy hair. ‘That minky’s really growing on me.’
The smallest finger on a male human hand. ‘Send money, or they’ll send you my minky.’
Minky is a sketch show from Cambridge comics: Yasmin, Kyle and Henry. Strap your hypothetical feet into your actual shoes and hurry along.
‘A masterclass in character comedy’ (TheTab.com).
‘Under the glare of the severed head, we realise, in a final dreamlike twist, that what is soft underfoot is, in fact, crushed peas' (Varsity).
- June 2016
Kenneth Watton, five-time [###SYSTEM ERROR####]M.ï√°c@fireside3>â¶åûÛÔWarm///wet///GñIP¨ûêüúü$///winner of love/Ω®ú)42424242/shining array of guests. This may well be your last opportunity to see í’‰¨’=¸ôH¿~Œ±M"ù2óP'îÜ¿ [Sandra, what’s going on where are my] «àÇ£x˛∑í-?±0D+˛YPƒ slippers: flÓóàøÄ*≤t’|ZÁ most famous beard. Cast away your catalogues >ˇª˜àŸnHP©—Ë°ÚÛ€"U9YcUœEèıRŒ come all, to the Cprous Playroom! ‘;∆ˇ?®ê&ÆD$’TtNfl›ß62 the man himself.
Retiring host Kenneth Watton stretches out the laugh lines one last time. Join a sparkling line-up of guests for a final fling with the madrigal maestro.
- March 2016
"You should be wiser than mortals, being Gods’
In a world at the whim of jealous gods, relentless passions and tongues too quick to fall on mortal curses, Phaedra, wife of Theseus, stands alone and tormented. Mad with love for her chaste stepson and sickened by her own desires, Phaedra struggles to preserve her integrity and resist the fate doled out to her by deities who scorn the humans they deign over, and who are never far away. All the while, her suffering is watched at a distance by mortals drawn instinctively to her distress who, despite themselves, cannot turn their eyes away from the unfolding spectacle.
Euripides’ problematic drama was first performed cf. 428 B.C. The play screams across the space of 2000 years, continuing to unsettle and intrigue modern audiences. What is seen cannot be unseen; what is heard cannot be soon forgotten.
- February 2016
‘As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.’
Berkoff’s Metamorphosis, adapted from Franz Kafka’s 1912 fable Die Verwandlung, is a gruelling and pertinent commentary on the role of the worker in society. Gregor slaves relentlessly to provide for his family. His self-neglecting existence eats away at him, until he becomes a metaphor of his state: a giant beetle, a creature so lowly that it eats its own excrement. Exhausted of empathy and disgusted by him, Gregor’s family leave him to waste away, and Gregor becomes a martyr for a system which took but gave him nothing. Does work really pay, and who pays the greatest cost?
- February 2016
"It’s just another place to live. Ireland – America – what’s the difference?"
Tomorrow morning, Gar O’Donnell flies to Philadelphia.
Tomorrow morning, he leaves behind everything and everyone he has ever known.
Tonight, he has doubts.
Watch private hopes and fears unfold in public in Brian Friel’s poignant examination of family ties, leaving home and escaping the past.
- December 2015
- October 2015
Slip on some slippers, leave the kids by the fire, and shimmy yourself down to the Corpus Playroom for another evening of love, chat and laughter with the renowned king of broadcasting.
"...a masterclass in character comedy" - The Tab
- June 2015
Grizzly is a new stand-up show at the ADC on June 18th that will eat your face off and potentially amuse you. Featuring badass young whippersnappers Jamie Armitage, Eleanor Colville, Tom Fairbairn, Rob Oldham and Orlando Gibbs. This show is for one night only so it's the hottest ticket in town - don't miss out on the funny.
- June 2015
Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' under the mystical branches of Emmanuel College's Oriental Plane Tree.
- February 2015
A night of merriment in the Emmanuel bar with a flock of Cambridge's finest comedians on the bill.
- February 2015
Kenneth Watton (six time carrier of the British Broadcasting Bowl) extends a warm invitation to the recklessly somnambulant to join him, and several respectable guests, for a late evening of wit, chat and revelry.
Gather your best bed linen and journey back in time to the proverbial land of mahogany slippers and received pronunciation. Bring your own snook.
- November 2014
- November 2014
“My mother- almost on her deathbed- no, on her deathbed, made me swear that I’d never be a slave to any man.”
July 1945. The eve of the Labour election victory. In the courtyard of an English country home, the servants celebrate. Down in the kitchen, dizzy with the hedonism of a new social era, the daughter of the house, Miss Julie, seeks out her father’s chauffeur. Together, the two embark on an evening of passion and betrayal.
- March 2014
Taken hostage by unseen captors in Lebanon and trapped in a cell, three western men from very different backgrounds struggle to stay alive and to stay sane. Every day, as they battle against despair, they use imagination as a powerful weapon; balancing their grim existence with powerful moments of hilarity and fantasy.
Based on the experience of real hostages Brian Keenan and Terry Waite, both held in Beirut in the 1980s, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me is a moving tale of human resilience and spirit.
- November 2013
A rip-roaring jewel of French Farce performed (in English, thank God) by the Emmanuel College Freshers
- July 2012
Electra’s daddy’s been killed. Her mummy’s fucking the murderer. The smell of their sex is everywhere, corrupting her breath. At night she dreams of blades and flesh, but come dawn she’s like a little girl. Until something inside starts to change. Blood. Milk. Dirt. Soon there’s a man knocking at her door… In a post-freudian world, revenge is a sexual awakening.
It's the 2504th performance of "Oedipus Rex" and Chorus 6 wants to call it quits. But the tragic hero isn’t quite ready to let go. As the plot begins to unravel at the seams, the characters start to question the purpose of tragedy itself and engage in a series of heated struggles to separate fact from fiction.
Introducing Terrible Edgar’s “The Complex” series, these thought-provoking reimaginings of familiar tales promise to be a Fringe highlight for anyone interested in Greek tragedy.
If you thought you knew Sophocles, think again.
- January–February 2012
Elektra's father has been murdered - and now she wants justice. Down in the fields outside the house, amidst the sound of old spirituals and work songs, she plots revenge upon the killer: her own mother. The final piece of the puzzle is the return of her brother Orestes. But when he finally arrives on a sweltering summer's day, can he be the hero she wants him to be? Ezra Pound & Rudd Fleming's visionary translation relocates the Greek tragedy in the Deep South of America, in a new take on this gripping tale of family feud and retribution.
- November 2011
- November 2011
- February 2011
How hard could a wedding amongst friends be? Plenty of booze, plenty of food, plenty of room to sit. Just make sure you choose your guests wisely.
A newly-wed couple’s reception seems destined for merriment. In the intimacy of their new house with their respective families and friends, surrounded by home-made furniture, and the prospect of their life together, the party seems well on its way. Except no one’s got anything to talk about. As conversation drags around such party-friendly topics as choking and wood-glue, the tension rises, and the guests’ attempts to liven the atmosphere pushes nerves and furniture to breaking-point. Newly-weds with a shameful secret. Family members without scruples. Parents with terrible stories. And couples full of resentment. All thrown onto a stage literally on the verge of collapse. One of Brecht’s first outings on the stage, this unlikely, uncomfortable comedy is one of his lesser-known works, and will be a one-off event performed IN THE ORIGINAL GERMAN for all to experience the play as it was written.
