- March 2017
Rehearsed reading of the play 'Bromley Bedlam Bethlehem' - a play exploring mental health across 3 generations of a family living in (shockingly) Bromley.
- May 2016
"You can’t let yourself be hollow anymore... beneath this whole covering of bad jokes and self-references and these papier mache memories... Are you even sure that you exist anymore?"
Trimalchio is a tragicomedy about Mark, a young playwright drafted in to adapt The Great Gatsby for his billionaire best friend. While slowly sinking into the mind of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark finds himself dodging demons from his romantic past. Fourth wall breaks abound.
Papercuts is the ADC's rehearsed reading programme. Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- May 2016
- May 2016
Losing my Religion follows public intellectual and atheist campaigner Pritchard Fawkes, loosely based on a certain 'someone'. Finding himself championing the great cause against God, he soon finds himself hilariously wrapped up in a crisis of faith. Following tragedy in his own life and against apocalyptic currents, Pritchard slowly begins to find out he just might be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Papercuts is the ADC's rehereased reading programme. Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- May 2016
Joshua and Llewellyn tell stories. Stories which always end the same way. Stories which offer no relief. Stories for an audience of one.
They’ve been doing this for a long time now. Somewhere in the depths of a vast library filled with masks, Joshua and Llewellyn tirelessly weave old narratives into new faces. They tell and play out tales of all kinds: a fantastical child wanders lost in the forest; a priest receives a most unexpected confession; one man dreams of an impossible toilet.
But there is always the Worm. It watches them work, feeds on their labours, stretches their lives. They’ve been doing this for a long time now. Llewellyn remembers, but Joshua thinks; when the shelves are full and their work is over and the Worm is fat, they’ll find their way out. They’ll complete themselves.
They’ve been doing this for a long time now.
--
Papercuts is our new rehearsed reading programme.
We believe that the best way to help writers and their work develop is to get the script on its feet and spoken. Papercuts is produced in the Larkum Studio at the ADC Theatre, and is intended to let the writer see their work given a voice.
Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- March 2016
Which country is this?
Population paranoid about 1% of its citizens;
Press at odds with politicians;
Propelled towards war behind closed doors.
Answer: England. 1907.
Eddie is a well meaning and cash strapped minor Edwardian aristocrat. In the years before The Great War he is an acquaintance of both the King and the Kaiser and finds himself caught in gathering tension. He tries to build bridges, and with one innocent remark, he changes the course of history...
A lifelong soldier, later he's in command on the Western Front. Increasingly frustrated by events, disastrous leadership and the futile loss of life, he and one other commanding officer resist sending their men over the top on 1st July 1916. This remains the worst day in the history of the British Army. One man meets an ignominious fate while the other is treated as a hero and later becomes ADC to the King. Why?
- March 2016
- February 2016
An unscrupulous landlord lets the same flat out to two different men: a hatter who is out at work all day, and a printer who is out at work all night. When the hatter is given the day off and the two lodgers discover each other, the landlord’s scheme falls apart. But when the lodgers discover they have something in common, will they forget their quarrel?
Adapted by F.C. Burnand from a play by John Maddison Morton, and composed in 1866, this one-act musical farce was the first successful operetta by Arthur Sullivan, who later collaborated with acclaimed playwright W.S. Gilbert on such household names as The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and H.M.S. Pinafore, which continue to delight and entertain audiences of all ages today.
- February 2016
"Maximum Firepower"
Join us as once again the Impronauts battle it out in a fun, competitive showdown of quick scenes and long laughs.
Join our Improvisational Gladiators as they once again take to the arena to battle for your amusement. For too long, the Cambridge Impronauts have been weaving tales together in relative peace and harmony. But now, things are getting personal as a crack team of Impronauts will go head to head, duelling through sketches, skit, and songs, all completely made up on the spot, for your applause!
There can be only one winner, but who will it be? And to what lengths will they need to go to win your approval? Come along to marvel at the magnificence and madness of the Cambridge Impronauts. You decide the winner. The power is in your hands...
- February 2016
London, 1665: one man suffers love and loss in the shadow of plague. In this song cycle, drawn from accounts such as Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year', Mark Ravenhill’s wry libretto and Conor Mitchell’s experimental score sensitively explore questions of mortality and survival, whilst revealing sharp parallels with modern epidemics.
- February 2016
After a huge sell-out success in "Impronauts Quickfire - Too hot for the ADC" the Impronauts are back with "Quickfire - Turning up the Heat"
Join our Improvisational Gladiators as they once again take to the arena to battle for your amusement. For too long, the Cambridge Impronauts have been weaving tales together in relative peace and harmony. But now, things are getting personal as a crack team of Impronauts will go head to head, duelling through sketches, skit, and songs, all completely made up on the spot, for your applause!
Can Peter hold on to his victory in the first round or will one of his apprentices rise up and strike down the master? There can be only one winner, but who will it be? And to what lengths will they need to go to win your approval? Come along to marvel at the magnificence and madness of the Cambridge Impronauts. You decide the winner. The power is in your hands...
- January 2016
‘Girl, Interrupted’, chronicles Susanna Kaysen’s stay in a mental hospital in 1967 after an attempted suicide.
18 year old Susanna was put in a taxi and sent to hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for you women, in the psychiatric ward renowned for its famous clientele, including the distinguished poet and author Sylvia Plath.
This is a new adaptation of ‘Girl, Interrupted’, written for the stage by Rosie Brown. Susanna’s story is explored in new and exciting ways, set to music composed specifically for this original production.
Mental health, gender, sexuality and non-conformity are examined in this predominantly female production, for the most part through the eyes of Susanna.
- November 2015
The Battle of Stamford Bridge is looming.
A single soprano enters the space. All of a sudden she is King Harald, then the ghost of Saint Olaf, then Harald's wives, then the men of his kingdom.
This exciting and short contemporary opera tells the tragedy of King Harald in a demanding and engaging ten minute performance.
This unique aural drama, as the soprano flits between roles and perspectives, will aim to engage and draw out Judith Weir's deeply engaging and unique music, convincing us all not only of each role but of the deep emotional responses behind them.
- June 2015
“I was surprised it didn’t rip; surprised I didn’t burst all the way from the nape of my neck down to the small of my back, like the seam of a ripe peach. The memory of you, it was suffocating.”
In a hilltop house overlooking the sea, three women drink wine and reconnect with their past. What happens when an unexpected dinner guest arrives?
CRACKED is a new memory play about the experience of abuse.
- May 2015
From the writer who brought you Ajax440, comes an imaginative and quirky retelling from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Moved to modern-day, the original set of star-crossed lovers find themselves on Tinder, looking for a meaningful connection. As romance unfurls across the realms of social media, connected by the truest of loves and the most infinite of broadbands, will they actually find that the screen keeping them together is the very thing keeping them apart?
'I can't wait til I can photoshop my actual face. What's that called? Surgery?
Papercuts is the ADC's rehearsed reading programme. Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- March 2015
24 hours, 9 old friends and 5 years' worth of tension. Starting at the end and moving back this play explores the complexities of the relationships you share with the people you most love and the inability to separate the past, present and future.
- February 2015
Watching You is a brand-new play written by Nathan Smith. Absurdist and dark it aims to explore the paranoia and addiction behind TV. With hundreds of channels at hand, and thousands of hours of new input released each day, its never been easier than to just sit in front of the box. But what message are they sending out, and would we notice if it changed?
You're invited to join our main man for a night of TV browsing, everything's on offer and everything wants your attention. Warning, though, you may not want to give it...
- February 2015
The magician Nathaniel Taumont is putting on a show, and everybody who’s anybody is coming to see it. Enthusiasts, wits and skeptics alike have gathered in a small city theatre, and eagerly await what they know to be a most unusual performance: Taumont, with the aid of two loyal assistants and a curious, inscrutable frame, is going to raise the dead.
Come and see the great figures of the ancient world, in all their imperial splendour, come once more to life before your eyes! Watch as the frame, with all its intricate workings, communes with spirits long departed, eager to impart their wisdom to a welcoming and sage modernity!
Pay no heed to the look of disquiet in their eyes, or to the trembling of their borrowed, bruised body. Taumont is a master of the stage, and this is all, of course, merely a performance.
--
Papercuts is our new rehearsed reading programme.
We believe that the best way to help writers and their work develop is to get the script on its feet and spoken. Papercuts is produced in the Larkum Studio at the ADC Theatre, and is intended to let the writer see their work given a voice.
Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- February 2015
Execution is a new thriller set in a criminal syndicate. After a disastrous heist, Michael has been told he must murder Tim, the man supposedly, and perhaps deliberately, responsible. But Tim has information that complicates what should be a routine operation, and soon both men are locked in a tense power struggle, and at least one of them will not leave the room alive.
- February 2015
Welcome to a world away from the world, as George transforms an abandoned flat and grabs everything at his disposal to tell you the story of his life.
Hours of tape recordings, cupboards of costumes and boxes of props weave together a life of teaching English as a foreign language, trainspotting, and a meticulous obsession with the great grey cityscape outside.
- February 2015
"God and the Devil tread in my footsteps. I feel breath on my neck and
wings above my head"
"Great… He’s lost it"
The New Mexico Desert.
In the half-remembered borderlands of empire four Spanish soldiers wait for the captain who will bring them home.
But a century of colonial oppression has taken its toll on the land, and a stranger has come knocking who will cast long shadows on their world.
A one-night Papercuts rehearsed reading in the ADC Larkum on Friday of Week 3.
- January 2015
As part of Papercuts there will be a rehearsed reading of two scenes from a theatre adaptation of Henry James's ghost story The Turn of the Screw.
The ghost of a past governess haunts Bly Manor. Trapped in a Gothic world of secrecy and intrigue the new governess battles to maintain her sanity as the ghosts of Bly encroach further on her life.
- November 2014
Arthur seems to be a well-meaning, attentive husband. Miryanna is his wife, slowly coming to realise the truth about her husband's dealings, comes to realise the true purpose of her existence in Arthur's eyes. At Sixes and Sevens is a devastating exploration of a failed drive for individuality, subverting all idealistic considerations of the human condition.
This performance is part of the ADC's Papercuts series. Papercuts is produced in the Larkum Studio at the ADC Theatre, and is intended to let the writer see their work given a voice.
Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
- October 2014
In amongst slates of cold metal, A. sits at their desk shuttling data files to and fro. But, in a moment of clumsiness, a cascade of drives fall and upset the delicate balance of the mess and unearths a single photograph. Who is that? Where's that come from? What does that go with? 'Clutter' is a new play that looks at information, memory, and identity. There might be yoga.
- October 2014
Emily lives a comfortable life with her high-flying boyfriend, complete with outdoor swimming pool and inflatable dolphin. But when her unstable past tries to catch up with her, will she be moved to see everything in a new light? And what about the waves?
A snapshot of intersecting lives, as they try to fit together.
This is wave.
wave is this year's first instalment in the ADC's Papercuts programme of rehearsed readings.
- June 2014
Julie Atherton is coming to the ADC for one day only to lead a Musical Theatre Masterclass - including tips on singing, audition technique and advice on how to survive in the 'the business'.
Julie has had an incredibly broad and impressive career in Musical Theatre, starring in several shows from Fame to Sister Act, Avenue Q to The Last Five Years. As well as this, she is a founder member of the Notes from New York company, and has released two of her own solo albums.
She will be instructing a few performers individually, but the event is open to the public who are welcome to participate in the Q&A session which will follow.
- May 2014
“The next stop is coming up. I am going to get up and I am going to get off. And you are not going to stop me.”
Clive’s trip home on the night bus takes a disturbing turn when nineteen year old May sits down next to him. She calls him a pervert. He misses his stop. As they travel together to the end of the route, Clive and May learn more about each other than they had bargained for. Round and Round, a new play by Hannah Greenstreet, tests whether a chance encounter can lead to a real connection, or whether it can lead to something worse.
This rehearsed reading is part of the Papercuts series.
- March 2014
Dijana Polančec knows exactly how much she is worth.
'1000 Euros because that is how much Babac paid for me. To put this in easy language, that is like two and a half iPhones.'
The Larkum Studio provides a malleable canvas for it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now by Lucy Kirkwood. As disturbing as it is radiant, it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now is an immersive journey through the landscape of Dijana’s life; a volatile terrain of optimism, bravado and the painful reality of life as a trafficked sex-worker.
Presented by Old Labs Productions and the Dryden Society
- October 2013
This new play by Marika Mckennell is an urban, gritty and darkly comic trajectory of a boy who is just trying to live, draw and smoke. A rehearsed reading of the text will be performed at the Larkum Studio for one night only as part of the ADC 'Papercuts' program. Come along, grab a drink from the bar, and watch new theatre in its purest form.
'Papercuts' the ADC's new rehearsed reading program and is intended to let the writer see their work given a voice
- October 2013
The most helpful of helplines. For when you need that little push.
I HEAR YOU is an unsettling piece of new student writing conerning attitudes towards suicide. This is a rehearsed reading in the ADC Larkum Papercuts program.
- January–February 2013
- June 2012
Are you dreading summer exams? Worried about the economy? Fed up with the collective speech impediments of the shadow cabinet? Then why not come along to an evening of musical comedy and political satire with Ed Clarke? A regular on the London circuit, Ed has performed for celebrities and a host of foreign dignitaries. Ed is in the Larkum Studio for four nights on the second stop of his 2012 'Giving Ed' tour.
- February 2012
Ava and Daniel lead separate lives in Liverpool. Both facing difficult decisions, for once they each find someone that listens.
Moments is the story of how a few chance encounters can impact on the rest of our lives. A play about the comfort of strangers, what we’re willing to share and what we keep to ourselves.
‘Do you really need to know someone to tell them your story?’
- November 2010
One actor. Two stories. Twenty characters.
Based on the public readings of Charles Dickens, 'Pickwick & Nickleby' promises a night of absolute insanity with a sound literary basis. First enter the nineteenth-century courtroom for a gripping case of thwarted marriage, scorned passion and the sordid truth about warming-pans. Pickwick stands trial, Buzfuz gets contentious and the Judge is deadly drunk. Then it's off to darkest Yorkshire for a class with Wackford Squeers. Deduce the regional spelling for 'window' or he'll take the skin off your back... As though spearheading some crazed Victorian séance, one desperate actor will resort to every trick imaginable to lure Dickens's ghost to the stage.
Come bask in the humour, horror and boundless heart of England's greatest comic writer. It's the character actor's audition from hell, and you'd be mad to miss it.
You can follow the production's progress online at www.pickwickandnickleby.blogspot.com.
- February 2010
Behold! A COMPLETELY SILENT SWASHBUCKLING PIRATICAL ADVENTURE, live! Never has such a thing been attempted by humankind! Based on the lives real pirates, and brimming (brimming!) with the deafening howl of silent gales, the tempting jingle of silent treasure, the deafening roar of silent explosions, the pitiful cries of silent maidens, the erotic singing of silent mermaids, the boom of silent canonfire, rumbunctious silent drinking songs, silent bravado, silent love, silent rivalry, silent swordplay, silent dead people, silent hats, silent weevils in silent biscuits, really cool silent facial hair and the clamour of silent battles, this unique, mighty, rollicking, almost dangerously exciting once in a lifetime piece of insane theatrical daring is coming to the Larkum Studio in real, genuine, tangible form from 10th to the 13th of February! Huzzah!
- January 2010
A tortured apprentice clockmaker, a deadly mechanical knight, and the sinister Dr Kalmenius, who some say is the devil himself. Put them all together on a cold winter’s evening and what do you get? An unstoppable story of gothic proportions.
Adapted from the novel by award-winning author Philip Pullman, this unique family show is performed in the intimate surroundings of the Larkum Studio using physical theatre and shadow puppetry to bring to life a fantastical tale of wolves, castles and forests.
But be warned: this is not a safe tale: it's twisty turny. Once you wind this story up, nothing will stop it. Tick tock, tick tock…
“This talented company is telling the story with verve and swiftness and clarity, and with the right sort of fairy-tale freshness. It’s a real pleasure to see a director trusting the story so fully and letting the events make their own impact. I hope the audience enjoys it as much as I do.” – Philip Pullman on Mutabilitie’s adaptation of ‘I Was a Rat!’
