- March 2026
Smorgasbord is an eclectic showcase of new writing at the Corpus Playroom. For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it's the event at the heart of the Corpus Playroom's calendar.
For this Smorgasbord, we are particularly seeking to give a spotlight to BME and/or LGBTQ+ writers, or those who haven't previously had their work audienced.
- March 2026
A power-hungry courtier, a massacre of a clan, and its sole survivor, an orphan.
Tracing its origin to the 4th century BC, The Orphan of Zhao was the first piece of Chinese theatre to be introduced to the West. Following the epic consisting of a political blood feud, a series of self-sacrifices, and a seemingly heroic and just conclusion, it is referred to as the Chinese combination of Hamlet and King Lear. To revenge, or not to revenge, that is not the question; the question is how and by whom the price will be paid.
The language in James Fenton’s adaptation is modern and lyrical, the choreography and songs delicate, and the chinoiserie aesthetic captivating. This new staging of The Orphan of Zhao at ADC Theatre will immerse the audience into the far, ancient China, while asking questions that are still burningly relevant.
- March 2026
When podcaster Terri Day reappears after her infamous public breakdown, she shocks her listeners by claiming to be an alien... and she’s stolen the only DNA test that can prove it.
Hiding out in a custom-built bunker after escaping the FBI at Area 51, Terri begins a chaotic livestream that captivates millions. But she’s not alone underground. Sharing her hideout is Alexis, an actual alien who chose to remain on Earth after an intergalactic exchange program- and they’re not thrilled about being held hostage.
Meanwhile, FBI Chief Spacial Investigator Cressida Womp leads the manhunt, driven not only by duty but by revenge: Terri also stole her painfully earnest teenage diary from Area 51’s “humanity capsule.” As Terri’s broadcast unravels into confession and conspiracy, she’s forced to confront her identity, her guilt, and the terrifying possibility that she might not be an alien at all.
Alien Breakdown Play is a darkly funny sci-fi thriller about loneliness, identity, and undiagnosed neurodivergence.
- February 2026
WHAT?! BME COMEDY!?
For one night only, we gather comedians across Cambridge in the Pelican Bar in Corpus Christi College, for laughters and stories and life lessons and tears (out of pure sadness ofc)!
We are committed to encouraging more authentic and engaging voices from performers who identify as BME all around Cambridge. From stand-up to monologue, from audience interaction to musical comedy, it is a night you cannot afford to miss!
ALSO! Come to the BME Comedy Writer's Room!
When: 19:00 Wednesday February 11th & Tuesday February 17th
Where: Sidney Sussex JCR
This writer's room will be a chill space to write new material, work on old stuff, learn/ teach tips, and just talk about all things comedy.
Pelican? More like Peli-can't stop laughing!
- February 2026
"I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives."
Elyot and Amanda are happily married; just not to each other. Five years after their tempestuous divorce, they find themselves in adjoining hotel suites on their honeymoons with their new, significantly younger spouses, Sibyl and Victor. The setup is a recipe for disaster: Elyot and Amanda’s three-year marriage was as passionate as it was explosive, ending in tragedy. Now, their unsuspecting new partners, already uneasy about their spouses’ pasts, find themselves caught in the crossfire.
- February 2026
Until you live the things you're dreaming they'll stay private, behind eyelids. So let it call your name - that thing inside you screaming.
Ted, Danny and Charlotte were thirteen once, with fists full of beer, feeling godlike. But they got older and realised - this is all there is. There really isn’t more. In a city where nothing much happens except everything, the worst of us thrive, and the rest of us stride on and on through the mess, the rust, the flesh, the lust, the lies, the breath, the dust…
Kae Tempest's Wasted navigates the nostalgia and disillusionment of a generation paralysed in a fast-paced world, exploring grief and wasted potential in a fierce, poetic journey through the night. Blending spoken word poetry with theatre, Tempest ultimately asks whether it’s ever too late to change, and what it means to live fully before time runs out.
- February 2026
It is the rather historically inaccurate “Medieval period” and twin princes Alexander and Leonard have never known who is the oldest and therefore has the right to be King. Their mother died shortly after their birth and their father was too busy watching the Medieval football highlights to notice who was born first. Supposed to tell them who he thinks should succeed him, the King dies before he gets his word out, leaving the battle for the crown wide open for these two rather incompetent brothers and their far more competent, cunning and witty wives, Alicent and Lorraine. Plots, schemes, slapstick fights, verbal battles, outrageous insults and a devious accomplice appear in this ridiculous 24 hour race for the throne.
A new comedy about sibling rivalry, a struggle for power and the women behind it, the true 'kingmakers'.
- January 2026
“To love. To be loved. Difficult things”.
In the haze of a late summer in a London garden, the apples have all fallen to the ground. It is the day of Daddy’s funeral, and two orphans find themselves suddenly alone, with nobody to cling to but each other.
Embracing the painful uncertainties that often characterise our closest relationships, A Breakfast of Eels paints a delicate and heartbreaking portrait of two young men desperately trying to navigate themselves, one another, and the world, in a time of grief.
From the duo company that brought you Being Friends, we are delighted to present the next instalment in our Robert Holman series: A Breakfast of Eels. Nominated for Two Off West-End awards, Holman’s beautiful two-hander was first performed in 2015 at the Coronet Theatre, in London, to critical acclaim.
“There is a shimmering through-line of unspoken hurt and non-alignment which positively aches” - British Theatre.
- November 2025
‘What good is theory? What good is an idea without the smallest inkling of relief?’
Raymond, an unemployed and vaguely paranoid man, is commissioned to write a manifesto for the suspiciously corporeal ghost of Russian politician Pavel Milyukov, founder of the Constitutional Democratic Party. Hijinks ensue. Love might just be in the air.
Weird, ominous, and oddly jolly, PERIPETEIA invites the audience to believe, if only for a moment, in ghosts, supercomputers, and the possibility of utopia.
- November 2025
The women of Athens have a problem. It's big. It's huge. And, by god, it's really really hard.
Lysistrata is a classic ancient Greek comedy about a group of women, sick of their husbands neglecting them and making ridiculous decisions. Led by Lysistrata, they join forces across Greece to propose a daring solution to their collective problem: a sex strike. It might seem mad at first, but soon they are causing chaos across all of Greece. With a design vision which shifts the play to the early 2000s, the WAGs of Athens in this production have decided enough is enough. 💋💋💋
- November 2025
Operation Market Garden is a powerful new piece of verbatim theatre, inspired by the wartime diary of a Welsh paratrooper captured during the 1944 operation of the same name. Blending real testimony with dramatic interpretation, the show centres the often-overlooked voice of a footsoldier—offering a raw, personal perspective on war, identity, and survival as a prisoner of war. This is a story of resilience and remembrance, told from the ground up.
- November 2025
"The drama critics won't go along with that - I mean we can't have the ultra-left hooligan winning hands down like that!"
Defenestration, freudian impersonation, and police corruption. This shockingly funny fast-paced show based on a true story is sure to make you laugh, cry, and question what's really going on in police headquarters. Set in an unnamed police station, we witness the farcical reenactment of the fatal interrogation-gone-wrong of an anarchist and its explosive consequences. Written 55 years ago, but still just as pertinent, Fo's masterpiece is a political farce for the ages.
- November 2025
A trampoline. A jigsaw puzzle. An orange peel. Which one of these ends a relationship?
Sophie and Leah have been happy together for a long, long time. But now there’s a problem. As their relationship fractures, lines are drawn, crossed and redrawn as the two attempt to navigate how to love someone you no longer understand. At times comic, at times tragic, ‘Lands’ is an absurdist exploration of obsession, apathy and the hills we’re willing to die on.
- November 2025
What would you do for freedom?
Classical tragedy meets Shakespearean love comedy in an intricate web of conflict, sex and betrayal.
War is coming. Sophonisba, a young noblewoman, is caught at the heart of a conflict between two mighty powers. Plans to wed her beloved are scuppered when she is sent away to marry a political enemy. Isolated and far away from both the man and country she loves, Sophonisba must do what it takes to fight back.
- October–November 2025
“As I often say to myself, in order to make a story, or indeed, a life, one must surely ask oneself, at least to start with… who am I?”
Finding the courage to be yourself. A play of radical acceptance, following the life of young Orlando as they navigate growing up, love, life and loss all the way from the court of Elizabeth I, right up until the 1920s. If a life lived for hundreds of years was not enough, Orlando goes from living life as a man, to living life as a woman.
Written for, and based on, Woolf’s lover, the enigmatic Vita Sackville-West, Orlando is a lyrical love letter to queerness and self-discovery. A tender portrait of a person who lives as much as the world has to offer and more.
Bartlett’s bold adaptation celebrates the continuing importance of Orlando’s story, in a new and inclusive, whimsical and moving tale.
- October 2025
Welcome to the Royal Court! As members of the court you will watch and judge three comedians as they are forced to be Jesters for their Monarch. Over a number of fun and chaotic rounds the jesters will have to prove their abilities to the Monarch, but also to the court, as at any time audience members can vote to stop the current game and move on to the next.
Court Jesters is a chaotic panel show that promises big laughs, chaos and feudalism!
- October 2025
Smorgasbord is the Corpus Playroom’s eclectic showcase of new student-written theatre. For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it’s the event at the heart of the Corpus Playroom’s calendar.
We particularly seek to give a spotlight to those who haven’t previously had their work audienced, and to anyone who feels that they have an underrepresented narrative or cultural lineage to bring to the fore.
- June 2025
Rothko, an ageing artist struggling to stay relevant as the new decade of the 1960’s looms, hires Ken, an eager young apprentice. Ken starts out in awe of Rothko and his so-called ‘genius’ but those feelings begin to change as he gets to know the man behind the canvases. Tackling the complicated relationship between the master and the apprentice, the old and the new, art and the artist, Red is an intensely expansive and tense examination of what it means to create.
- June 2025
Seb is changing. Into what, he’s not sure. He longs for the cold damp earth, for the latex of the gimp suit he’s been wearing to writhe by the side of roads. The locals in his small village fear him. He’s on the run. And the worm within is getting louder…
‘Seb Vaughn, Seb Vaughn, you’re one of us
Return to the earth, you must, you must’
Folk horror meets body horror meets real life weirdness in this absurd and touching new play. Loosely inspired by real events, and driven by a current of tenderness and compassion, The Shropshire Wyrm explores what it’s like to be queer in small town England.
Also it's about gimps. And worms. And gimp-worms.
- May 2025
"And, you know what? There will come a day when you’ve holed yourself so deep into your letters that not even we’ll be able to find your way out for you!."
Adapted from the 2024 play by Sophia Orr
Everyone knows Jane Austen. Ever winning the race of Britain's favourite female writers, her wit and humour and wisdom in all matters of society and romance seem to know no bounds, as charisma flows from her every word.
And everyone knows a 'Jane'. Everyone has a favourite, yet-to-be-prolific, yet-to-write-anything author, constantly struggling with writer's block, mental blocks, and the eternal romantic cockblock of 'far too high standards'.
And everyone knows they would never want to be 'Jane'.
Faced with constant scrutiny in the polite society of 1800s Bath and the painful flashbacks to her romantic failings, Jane begins to barricade herself into her own mind, a barricade which can only be pierced by the written word.
Enter Emma. Emma Watson. The heroine of Jane's latest scrawlings and now also the heroine of Jane's own life.
With Emma as her increasingly constant friend, saviour, and comforter, Jane's real, past, and fictional worlds begin to blur, and the worry grows whether she will ever find her way back to the present.
- May 2025
Blank Canvas is a celebration of longer-form new writing works in development, platforming new and underrepresented voices in the theatre scene. With support from the Fletcher Players committee, Blank Canvas is proud to present semi-complete stagings of new works that deserve to be seen by Cambridge audiences. Blank Canvas has a different show on every night - follow Fletcher Players on social media for further announcements.
THURSDAY - 'Go to Hell' - A visceral contemporary reimagining of the Greek myth of Hades, Persephone and Demeter, focused on gender dynamics and mother-daughter relationships
FRIDAY - 'If Walls Could Talk' - If walls could talk, what would they say? Find out in this homoerotic story of love and faith — is love ever truly enough, or are hearts made to be broken?
SATURDAY - 'Nobody!' - Nobody! follows Debbie as she tries to balance her friendships with aspirations of fame, narrated through Emily Dickinson’s poetry
- March 2025
Smörgåsbord is the Corpus Playroom's own eclectic bi-annual showcase of new student-written theatre.
For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it’s the event at the heart of the Corpus Playroom’s calendar.
We particularly seek to give a spotlight to those who haven’t previously had their work audienced, and to anyone who feels that they have an underrepresented narrative or cultural lineage to bring to the fore.
Come and sample a platter of the most exciting new theatre in town!
- March 2025
All Mags Crypt ever wanted was to be recognised as the world's best witch in the world's worst village. But when the witch-finders accuse an innocent woman of witchcraft instead, Mags gets jealous - really jealous. Can she overcome her pride and save the woman, or will she let professional envy get the better of her?
A new comedy about female friendship, jealously and male incompetency. Copious amounts of dung and grown adults in cat costumes guaranteed.
- March 2025
Four girls, a sheep, a corpse, and a vote that could change everything. What could possibly go wrong?
December 1947, days before the University of Cambridge will vote on whether to allow women to receive degrees. The women’s colleges buzz with anticipation, aware this could change everything for them, but also that the stakes are sky-high. So when Florence accidentally runs over an infamously misogynistic fellow with her bicycle, the choice seems obvious: cover up the manslaughter by any means necessary. After all, what’s hiding a corpse in a cupboard when weighed against finally getting degrees for Cambridge women? As Florence and her friends Betty, Celia, and Lyla undertake increasingly farcical measures to prevent anyone - from the university itself, to a potential love interest - finding out, they reckon with the university’s ingrained prejudices, and question whether one vote can really undo seven centuries of control by grumpy old men. Sometimes, pushing for change can take sisterhood, a little criminal activity, and… a sheep?
- February 2025
Actors Orla and Freddie are cast in the main roles of a new west-end production of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ but Orla is immediately suspicious of her underqualified co-star – sparks of anger, rather than romance, fly between the two. As rehearsals for the show begin, Orla, Freddie, and their fiery director, Laurie, all discover fragments of their own relationships within the play. Emotions rise, and personal tragedies, secrets and grudges surface. Tension begins to stifle the company, threatening to topple the production altogether.
- February 2025
- February 2025
A father with cancer, a recent breakup, moving back home to rural Washington and a large unexplained rash down her back are just some of the problems Mae is having to face. As her life tumbles around her, her struggles are abated a little when a sinister, sexy cowboy starts to invade her dreams and fantasies. You Got Older is a dark, hilarious exploration of family and sexuality during the most desperate of personal crises.
- January 2025
Join us for a magical evening of storytelling in the blanket fort as we delve into historical legends and moments of magic. This year our theme is the other-wordly from around the world and would love to hear stories from your home country or take inspiration from all across the globe!
Once upon a time… Storytelling at the ADC returns to the Larkum Studio with a warm and relaxed evening of mysticism and tales set inside a snug blanket fort. Come and hear our storytellers bring warmth and joy to a bleak and cold evening as they take you on an adventure across time and tradition. Weaving threads of contemporary and ancient writing together, Storytelling at the ADC can promise all blanket fort guests “a realm of wonder and delight” in “a perfect fireside experience.” (Varsity 2023, 4 stars)
- November 2024
'I wish there was something else, but there was... the excitement that all of us deny. Because excitement is not – no, not an appropriate response.'
Four artists are invited to their most famous friend's house, after ten years apart, for a night of reminiscing and celebration. However, celebration soon turns into horror, when the host suffers a horrifying accident. Soon placed into in a coma, the group battle with an intense array of emotions; the suppressed resentment, the duty to care for a friend, and how just maybe, their 'friend's' suffering could be their next work of art.
'pool (no water)' a visceral and shocking play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.
- November 2024
Negotiating With The Dead is returning to Cambridge this Michaelmas!
You are a singular stroke of a letter in a word of the great Epic of these Crusades. Your rebellion will be counted as a tremor in the hand of a chronicler. The story has already started; This tale must be written. Do not presume to have a say in it.
A historical fiction drama split between the modern day and medieval crusades, 'Negotiating with the Dead' follows an archaeological team discovering ‘The Templar’s Cross’, a fictional medieval relic supposedly as famous as the Holy Grail. It is a discovery which the archaeologists have dedicated their lives to finding, and now, one archaeologist, Florine, has begun to hallucinate the Crusaders who once searched for the same relic – as she does, the play devolves into an exploration of how faith can be manipulated by corrupt figures for political and personal goals (e.g. expansion of empire, war, power, greed) and how this behaviour often works in direct opposition to the goals and motivations of the faiths they claim to represent.
Winner of the Pembroke Player's Playwriting Competition 2023.
- November 2024
'And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.’
Rosalind and Celia have spent their childhoods telling stories, dressing up, putting on puppet shows, and creating plays. But when Rosalind is banished to the Forest of Arden, play is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Their toy puppets become a means of disguise, and a chance for freedom.
A charming new take on Shakespeare’s comedy of youth, love, and finding yourself, As You Like It will whisk you a way into the whimsical world of the Forest of Arden, where anything is possible. Perhaps you’ll fight a lion, or marry a clown, or even fall in love with a puppet…
- October 2024
Brutal. Infamous. Slimy.
He's a theatre critic.
Meet Bob the Leech.
Join three actors as they hopelessly attempt to impress this bloodsucking parasite ...
- October 2024
Smörgåsbord is the Corpus Playroom's own eclectic bi-annual showcase of new student-written theatre.
For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it’s the event at the heart of the Corpus Playroom’s calendar.
We particularly seek to give a spotlight to those who haven’t previously had their work audienced, and to anyone who feels that they have an underrepresented narrative or cultural lineage to bring to the fore.
Come and sample a platter of the most exciting new theatre in town!
- May 2024
3 lost souls wander aimlessly through the forest, before setting up camp for the night and telling each other stories to entertain them. Welcome your storytellers, a band of travelling figments of imagination who bring to life an array of British folklore, from simple to horrifying. Until the worlds and the monsters created within them return to bring the lost souls home.
- May 2024
Before there were knights, there were idiots who thought swinging a sword and being a hero were pretty much interchangeable.
In this original quirky comedy, a group of medieval squires, led by dreamer Lance, grapple with the realities of their lowly existence. When a new squire, Phil, arrives, the group's mundane lives take an unexpected turn. Little do they know that Phil is short for Philippa, and she is running from a past that just might catch up to her.
While Phil tries to hide her identity from what is rapidly becoming the world’s most awkward love triangle, the squires get to work training for an upcoming tournament and engage in the classic debate of magic v. science. A series of disparate events, including inventing the concept of gravity (suck it da Vinci), spirals into a murder that demands an elaborate cover-up.
We are looking for a hilarious and formidable cast and crew for our Corpus run before heading to Fringe. If you are interested in being a part of our company for Cambridge, Edinburgh or both, please apply!
- February 2024
Smörgåsbord is the Corpus Playroom's own eclectic bi-annual showcase of new student-written theatre.
For over a decade, this evening has been a rite of passage for emerging student playwrights in Cambridge, and it’s the event at the heart of the Corpus Playroom’s calendar.
We particularly seek to give a spotlight to those who haven’t previously had their work audienced, and to anyone who feels that they have an underrepresented narrative or cultural lineage to bring to the fore.
Come and sample a platter of the most exciting new theater in town!
