- June 2009
Madame Ranevskaya returns to her estate after five years away. Her family gathers for one last celebration before the estate, and its famed cherry orchard, must be auctioned and lost forever. But a possible solution is presented: if the family can break out of its ostentatious apathy, perhaps their orchard, and the way of life it represents, will survive the storms of change that threaten their comfortable world.
The Cherry Orchard is a document of a community on the precipice of demise. Punctuated with wry comedy and tragic undertones, the play explores the endurance of relationships when faced with fragmentation. A site specific piece in the iconic "Orchard" tea garden, in Grantchester, using the orchard as our backdrop, this shall be a unique imagining of Chekhov's play.
- May 2009
Excerpts from the winners of the Marlowe Masterclass competition, honed in a Masterclass led by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, will be performed in a Showcase at Soho Theatre for an invited audience of theatre professionals.
Performances, each lasting 10 minutes, written by:
Jennifer Boon Luke Butcher Josh Coles-Riley Emma Hogan Jessica Hyslop Iain Maitland Freddy Syborn
Please contact the Marlowe Masterclass & Writers' Rep, Nausikaä, for more information at marlowemasterclass@gmail.com
See www.marlowemasterclass.co.uk for biographies. weblogs and much more!
- March 2009
This exhilarating story of extreme passions, in both their most beautiful and ugliest forms, is brought to the magnificent Cambridge Arts Theatre by The Marlowe Society, now in its 102nd year.
Helmed by exciting young director, Charlotte Westenra, the production returns the play to its Verona setting, where immature passions and blood feuds explode in the fiery Italian heat to bring tragedy to the door of the city's most powerful families.
Westenra directed Manuel Puig's KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN at the Donmar Warehouse and has worked on its West End productions of FROST/NIXON and PIAF. Drawing on an exciting creative team who cut their teeth in arenas as dynamic and diverse as the Royal Shakespeare Company and Rio de Janeiro's Theatre of the Oppressed, and united with The Marlowe's electrifying cast, this fresh production is far more than just the 'greatest love story of all time'.
Youthful love provides the spark to ignite the generations of unchecked hatred in the searing Italian summer, "for these hot days is the mad blood stirring."
- February 2009
- November 2008
"My guide was trying to persuade me to buy his cousin’s leather goods but across the square I could see a crowd of people gathered round a kind of stage. As I approached I saw four policemen on the stage and one man with his hands behind his back. As soon as I saw the rope around his neck I started to walk away. I imagined I’d be able to hear the snap of his spine but all I heard was the crowd roar."
The son and daughter of a diplomat walk across the courtyard of their new house to meet their new stepmother. The children are divided in their experience of the foreign culture: one is repulsed, the other seduced. Soon an illicit love affair, imminent war, and the destruction of a sacred tree threaten the fragile tranquility of the courtyard.
Developed as part of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and awarded the Marlowe Society/ RSC Other Prize (2008), this is an eloquent and exciting piece of political theatre.
- June 2008
During May Week 2008, The Marlowe Society are presenting the world premiere of Comus: An Anti Mask, a new work in verse by the celebrated poet John Kinsella. Simon Godwin, a professional director, will be directing the piece. Simon is former Associate Director of the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton and has produced work at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Gate Theatre, BAC and in the West End. He is looking to recruit the show’s creative team from undergraduate and post-graduates students.
Two brothers and their sister, lost in a wood. Captured by the debauched Comus, and brought to his pleasure palace, she must battle against the forces of indulgence and pleasure. Can she sustain her purity?
- October 2007
The Marlowe Society’s centenary celebrations reach their peak with a production of Cymbeline, directed by Marlowe alumnus Trevor Nunn. Although he has never directed the play before, he acted in the 1960 Society production, directed by the legendary ‘Dadie’ Rylands, alongside fellow students Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi and Margaret Drabble.
‘The Marlowe Society has had more influence on the British theatre than, I think, anybody knows’ Sir Peter Hall
Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s magical romances, written at the end of his writing lifetime. It is full of narrative surprises: a wicked Queen, a pair of lovers, a cunning Italian, a Roman invasion, not one but two lost sons, a mysterious prophecy, and a gender changing heroine who fakes her own death – all reconciled in a virtuoso display of plot resolution in the last scene.
Past alumni of the Marlowe Society include Rachel Weisz, Griff Rhys Jones, Simon Russell Beale and Sam Mendes.
- May 2007
A bloody, bawdy comedy set in the Elizabethan theatre-world.
The once successful writer Robert Greene is struggling with the failure of his comedy Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. Meanwhile Brummie upstart Will Shakespeare's new 'docu-drama' Henry VI is wowing them at the Rose. Kit Marlowe steps in to help alleviate his friend's financial burden with a little 'creative opinion shaping' against the Flemings. However, in a world of literary rivalry, plague and spying...someone's bound to get hurt...
Presented by The Marlowe Society on its 100th anniversary.
- November 2006
Winner of the Royal Shakespeare Company / Marlowe Society Other Prize for new writing.
Family tensions are exposed and explored by five actors with four chairs. A collection of broken pieces, alarming dramatic fragments peaking through their respective lives. Fathers, mothers, daughters, sons and lovers treat each other oddly and badly. Relationships collapse or stagger on, love turns to manipulation and comfort becomes an irritant.
Luke Roberts, writer of the 2005 Harry Porter Prize winning comic play Evelyn Budden: Auctioneer, retains his eye for the absurd in 1, 2, 3, 4, (5), his first full length serious play.
As one of Cambridge’s oldest student drama societies, the Marlowe prides itself on being welcoming and innovative, linking the thriving world of Cambridge drama to the professional theatrical scene through collaborations such as the RSC / Marlowe Other Prize.
“A truly mind-blowing piece of theatre” – TCS, 9/11/06
“Book your ticket now. Luke Roberts’ writing doesn’t just take your breath away, it winds you, and it is goose-pimplingly well performed by a sickeningly talented cast. 5 stars” – Varsity, 10/11/06
- June 2006
In this adaptation of Hughes' incredible retelling of the Metamorphoses, a large cast will relate the fantastic transformations of Arachne, Narcissus, Midas and the rest. In the pastoral surroundings of Jesus College Chapel Court, the company will become forests, spiders, lakes and Bacchic revellers.
Now I am ready to tell how bodies are changed
Into different bodies.
www.talesfromovid.co.uk
- March 2006
'Sin will pluck on sin'
King Henry VI is dead - stabbed in the tower by Richard of Gloucester - and the bloody Wars of the Roses are finally at an end. Edward IV is on the throne, his new queen Elizabeth at his side and flanked by his younger brothers, reunited in their victory. The wounds of civil war, however, are slow to heal and will begin to bleed again as one man keeps his eye fixed firmly on the crown...
A creative team led by director Tom Cornford and designer Lucy Osborne join a student company to create a vivid re-working of the young Shakespeare's first hit. This classic tale of terror and the pursuit of power launched the career of David Garrick and imprinted Laurence Olivier on our imagination. As the Marlowe Society approaches its centenary, come and see the next generation of theatre-makers bring it screaming into a new century.
- November 2005
"You're a public school boy, Harry. You live on secrets" Winner of the RSC's Other Prize in Cambridge, Camera Obscura is new writing at its finest. Harry insults his fiancee's autistic sister at a party and is terrified it's been caught on film. He knows someone must have seen it - after all, he's the one responsible for London being overrun with CCTV cameras, a London where there's no space for secrets. But you can always rely on a friend to help you out, right? And Anthony pays good money for tapes that should never have been made of things that should never have taken place. Harry's easy moral convictions are put under pressure in the course of an drug-fuelled evening, exposing old school rivalries, sexual competition and horribly misjudged loyalties. CAMERA OBSCURA examines the flipside of a good education, where the Old Boys are tied together by secrets so nasty that they must never come out.
- June 2005
. . . in the year 1850 ... there was not any Fair left worth a Mayor's proclaiming. After that year, therefore, no Mayor accompanied the gentleman whose duty it was to read a certain form of words out of a certain parchment under a quiet gateway. . . . Bartholomew Fair was proclaimed for the last time in the year 1855.
John Timbs, Curiosities of London, 1867
"A pimp and a scab?"
Marlowe 100: a century of drama 1907-2007
To kick of its Centenary celebrations, the Marlowe Society brings you its 2005 May Week Play... BARTHOLOMEW FAIR, by Ben Jonson
For One Glorious Day Only, Cambridge will play Smithfield and revive the infamous Bartholomew Fair, 150 years after it was last proclaimed by the Lord Mayor. In a Wild, sprawling promenade production of Jonson's 1614 play of the same name, Willing Audiences and Unsuspecting Tourists alike will mingle with Vagabonds, Toysellers, Puritans, Puppeteers, Prostitutes, Pickpockets, Morris Men, Fortune Tellers, Hobby Horses and the whole Gin-Soaked cacophony of Hog-Roasts and Boisterous Exuberants...
"It is not profane!"
FROM 5pm join us for a Juggling Spectacular, Morris Men, Live Music and a Wrestling Tournament - featuring Puppy the Wrestler! Ursla's Booth and Roast Pig Establishment will provide Food and Drink all evening, whilst Punk Alice will be on Hand to Satisfy your most Carnal Longings
AT 6.30pm stay with us for the MAIN FEATURE - Mr Benjamin Jonson's play, Bartholomew Fair - performed by the Most excellent Marlowe Society Players, and starring Puppy the Wrestler!
All for the Bargain price of £10 (£8.50 students and concessions), with Hog Roast and Free Drinks at Ursla's Booth thrown in For Good Measure. EMAIL Bella Watts (aw334@cam.ac.uk) to reserve tickets - and Hurry! Places are limited and they won't last long! BOOK NOW to avoid crushing disappointment.
"The wares are the wares of devils; and the whole Fair is the shop of Satan!"
This production is kindly hosted by Robinson College, in association with The Brickhouse Theatre Company
- February 2005
Two sets of identical twins – separated in a shipwreck at birth – unwittingly cross paths in the magical city of Ephesus. Plunged into a whirlpool of confusion, a series of chance encounters leads to mistaken identities at every turn: claimed as husband, friend and master by complete strangers, each begins to wonder whether he is losing his wits. Meanwhile, sucked precariously into the muddle are a pair of spirited sisters, who discover that love at first sight isn’t easy when two men look the same!
Be swept away as this sensational story of family and true love unfolds. Following the success of The Taming of the Shrew (2003) and Twelfth Night (2004), Cambridge University’s critically acclaimed Marlowe Society invite you to join them for a carnival of magic and mayhem in this enchanting romantic comedy.
London-based director Laura Baggaley is no stranger to Cambridge theatre, having directed Romeo and Juliet for the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival in 2002. Her previous collaborations with designer Simon Kenny include an acclaimed production of Carmen for Hampstead Garden Opera in 2003. Last summer Laura directed for the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, working with Cambridge composer Rebecca Applin, who has also created an original score for The Comedy of Errors.
The Marlowe has a long-standing reputation for producing top-quality drama, and is known for launching the careers of theatre luminaries such as Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellan and Sam Mendes. More recently, Daniel Stevens starred in the Marlowe Society’s production of Macbeth, where he caught the eye of Sir Peter Hall. Dan can currently be found playing Orlando in Hall’s London production of As You Like It.
- November 2004
Rostov's house is the winner of the prestigious RSC Other Prize, awarded to
the best piece of new writing to emerge from Cambridge over the past three
years.
The date: the 26th of October 1917 and last night, the world revolved. Six
soldiers of the red army arrive to arrest Rostov, a deputy to the state
Duma who has been accused of crimes against the people, only to find he has
'left the house for the theatre'.
Over the course of one night they search the house, wandering through
disconcertingly repetitive rooms and as the light changes they are immersed
in the 'other world' of Rostov, the Revolution and its ideals becoming
increasingly distant and vague. Love, brotherhood, death, the tsar, French
novels, religion, the petrifying coincidence of an open window?
The surreality of the night is brought to an abrupt close as an order of
execution is issued and each man must decide on which side of the line he
will stand.
- June 2004
The Marlowe exults itself in presenting the greatest show on Earth!in Cambridge! For the first time ever!with the exception of one time before! Its first May Week show for years - an all-singing, all-dancing, all-donkey spectacular: 'THE GOLDEN ASS', in the beautiful surroundings of Sidney Sussex Gardens.
When Lucius, an insatiably curious young man of extraordinary appetites, plunges into the carnival of vice, sorcery and madness of ancient Thrace, he quickly finds himself transformed into a fully-functional ass, and hurtled into a series of misadventures with bandits, adulterers, slave-drivers, cultists, and the circus. All the wickedness and depravity of human kind, joyously presented from an ass's eye view.
Clowns, jugglers, traders, dancers, musicians, poets, thinkers, bandits, old women and an extremely curious donkey...'The Golden Ass' is the ultimate May Week experience --- and an evening you're not likely to forget!
Come and see the amazing donkey man...
- March 2004
- March 2003
