- July 2019
Home and family is something we all desire. The Summerhouse explores the need for belonging, brotherhood and love, with compassion and wit. Rose’s house was the best home Alan and Kurt ever knew, and years later they are reunited at their foster mother’s funeral, in the garden where they played cricket and fantasised as kids. In order to keep their precious home they have to do things they regret, challenging their brotherhood. Now that they are adults this drama exposes their complex memories and how far they will go to preserve their version of the past.
The young never appreciate the consequences of their actions, but whatever happened in the summerhouse, Alan and Kurt have to face the truth. Do all our misdeeds stay with us for ever, or can we put them in order to find peace?
The Summerhouse is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- July 2019
A private hotel in 1954 Bournemouth where shock and social disgrace are cleverly interwoven with the decay, furtiveness and fraying of established manners.
- July 2019
With a principal cast of four playing a minimum of 139 roles, The 39 Steps will be the most astonishing theatrical experience for everyone.
- June 2019
BAMEBRIDGE is a brand new production celebrating the rollercoaster lives of the BAME community within Cambridge. This carefully curated variety show will feature stories told through spoken word, poetry, music, dance, visual arts and theatre.
Be prepared for an unforgettable night never before seen in Cambridge as we celebrate our identities and tell the stories we want to tell.
- June 2019
Each night, 6 comedians will be pitted against each other to perform a series of obscure and meaningless challenges as ranked by our host, the Master of Tasks.
- June 2019
Can’t get enough of swamp creatures and space aliens? Vampire children and crazy conspiracy theorists? Want to see how we’d battle killer household appliances or have a secret fear of fish? Watch us bring to life a new cult classic sci fi horror movie before your very eyes!
The Cambridge Impronauts present Attack of the 50ft Improvisers! A thrilling improvised B-movie based entirely on your suggestions! Against all odds, our unlikely heroes will battle against otherworldly foes based entirely off audience suggestions. Buckle in for crazy characters, terrifying plot twists and horrendously dramatic death scenes. These movies will be shown for one night and for one night only…come along if you dare
- June 2019
Welcome to the Earth exhibit. No touching. No flash photography.
Join five real-life human beings as they take you on a whirlwind tour of their bizarre little planet, seen from the outside for the very first time! Forget everything you think you know and learn it all again in this spectacular, sketch-shaped trip through the kinks and quirks of life on Earth.
‘The most renowned sketch troupe of them all’ (The Independent) embark on another exceptional world tour, performing to over twenty thousand people across two continents. This year’s tour travels to London, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Cambridge, and many more. Don’t miss your chance to see the latest on offer from the group that launched many of the greatest names in British comedy, including Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, John Oliver, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Richard Ayoade, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins and John Cleese.
- May–June 2019
- May 2019
Half of young people in British prisons are BME (Black/Minority Ethnic). Political commentators say this is a gross indictment of our broken society; we think it’s a model of ethnic diversity the Cambridge Footlights should aspire to: #MakeFootlightsAPrison.
FootDarks are three of said comedy troupe’s finest stand-ups, and they’re all BME (we prefer “alt-white”). Find out why Danny Baalbaki believes white parents prefer dogs over their kids, how Patrick Sylla started a fight at the Tate Modern (and still got a better review than Jeff Koons) and how autocorrect got Hasan Al-Habib banned from a funeral (again).
These three Cambridge Footlights have finely crafted this stand-up show that is sure to leave you in stitches of laughter, unless of course you’re some kind of racist or one of Hasan’s parents
- May 2019
Bounce is a freshers’ sketch show with a core cast of 5 comedians, plus 9 cameos, who've worked together to devise an hour of monologues, character bit, shorts and sketches. Fun!
It's set in a DANCE STUDIO, so expect aerobics, tap, interpretive dance, dance therapy, children's birthday parties and MUCH MORE.
So get ready.
Step in time.
Get stretching and limber up!
Bounce.
- May 2019
Set in 1880s New York, well-respected gentleman and scientist Dr Givings has just started using his new medical tool, the vibrator, to treat ‘hysterical’ women (and some men!) in his operating theatre. Next door in the living room, his wife wonders what on earth is going on in the next room, while trying to care for their new-born baby. When Mr and Mrs Daldry arrive, bringing their wetnurse with them, Dr and Mrs Givings are forced to examine their own marriage, and what it means to be truly intimate.
Based on true historical fact, this play is a comedy about intimacy, marriage, and the vibrator.
- May 2019
When Ali begins her new job at Magic's Supermarket, something seems a little odd. One journey into the walk-in fridge later and she finds herself in a strangely new world – full of consumerist creatures, conniving councils and clandestine conspiracies which shake her very perceptions of reality. Who lies behind the shop’s shelves? And what secrets are the self-checkouts hiding? By the end, there’ll be anarchy in the aisles and bedlam in the biscuit section.
Selected by Alex Horne as the winner of the Footlights’ Harry Porter Prize 2019, Market Magic promises to take customer service where no comedy has before.
- May 2019
What's it like to have 15 minutes of fame in the largest country on earth? The debut stand-up hour from British comedian and former Cambridge Footlight, Milo Edwards, tells the story of how he became a Russian TV star, had a gun pointed at him, and discovered that the way home is sometimes hardest to find.
Pindos is a show about celebrity, language, show-business, and sending dogs into space for the good of communism.
'Fantastic...had me in hysterics' (The Cambridge Student)
'Effortlessly funny' (The Tab)
- May 2019
"I picked up your shirts today - I don't know why. I think about you every minute. It's like I can still feel you."
Ghost: The Musical is a story about the timelessness of love, based on the (1990) hit film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Sam and Molly are out late one night, when they are approached by a mugger. A struggle breaks out leaving Sam shot dead on the street. Sam is then trapped as a ghost between this world and the next, unable to leave Molly who is left in grave danger. With the help of a phony psychic Oda Mae Brown, Sam tries to communicate with Molly in order to protect her.
Featuring smash hits such as With You and the Righteous Brother’s classic Unchained Melody, Ghost: The Musical asks you to question the power of love after death.
Book & Lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin. Music & Lyrics by Dave Stewart & Glen Ballard. Based on the Paramount Pictures film written by Bruce Joel Rubin. Original West End Production Produced by Colin Ingram, David Garfinkle, Adam Silberman, Land Line Productions, Donovan Mannato, Michael Edwards / Carole Winter. "Unchained Melody" written by Hy Zaret and Alex North, courtesy of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC. Orchestrations by David Abbinanti. Ghost: The Musical is presented through special arrangement with and all authorised performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), 122-124 Regent Street, 5th Floor, London W1B 5SA. www.theatricalrights.co.uk
- May 2019
This is a show about Man and men. Because we all have to pull together now.
We want to talk about masculinity and patriarchy but the words that exist aren’t good enough. So there’s music and dance too.
In this Fringe First winning show about gender and language two women play two women playing two men.
- May 2019
The Footlights bring you the funniest songs, sketches, monologues and stand-up in an hour of non-stop, back-to-back fun-filled hilarity. The material is always original and always varied. It can be soft and silly, rude and spiky, wordy and nerdy or a little surreal; whatever the style, it's always 'uproariously funny' (Varsity).
- May 2019
“Since the disaster we’ve all kind of… forgotten about ourselves. You know, the way we look? And some of us thought it would be a nice idea to have someone like you to come along and give us a talk on beauty tips - a demonstration - that’s all.”
Set eight months after the Aberfan Disaster, 'The Revlon Girl' tells the true story of a group of bereaved mothers who met every week above a local hotel to talk, cry and laugh without feeling guilty.
Feeling like they’ve let themselves go, and fearing that other people might think them frivolous, they secretly arrange for a Revlon representative to give a talk on beauty tips.
After an acclaimed, ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑-reviewed run at Brickhouse Theatre, the original team brings this delicate and profound story of loss, compassion, and carrying on to the ADC stage.
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2019/05/08/review-the-revlon-girl-124340
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
https://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/review-revlon-girl/
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
https://www.varsity.co.uk/theatre/17492
- May 2019
Kia’s got three weeks of first year left. She’s pretty clued up on everything apart from on one subject: sex and how to get it.
And so, she sets herself a mission - she’s got to lose her virginity while she’s still a fresher. Kia, on the pursuit of sex, enlists her best friend Sam to chart her failed sexual conquests, part due to her tremendous social awkwardness, and part due to her terrible sexual partners. Along the way, Kia must confront her relationship with (and dick pics of) her ex, test out dildos, swipe right, and find out the ‘silly’ sex questions that most people just google.
Inspired by (several people's) true stories, MAGNUM is a multimedia sex comedy about teenagers who end up in weird and wonderful situations, and the unbreakable power of the female friendship.
- April 2019
Laugh 4 Change is excited to have Ahir Shah headline our first showcase at the ADC Theatre.
The show will be hosted by the incredible Arielle Souma and will feature 5 student acts including
Patrick Sylla, Danny Baalbaki, Hasan Al-Habib, Matt Malone & Cansu Karabiyik
AHIR SHAH
Ahir Shah is a stand-up comedian whose sharp, intelligent brand of humour features a blend of philosophical inquiry, political vigour, and sweet gags. Ahir's current show, DUFFER, debuted at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it enjoyed a critically acclaimed sell-out run and earned Shah his second nomination in a row for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. DUFFER is a stand-up show about death and what comes before, life and what comes after, and Bohemian Rhapsody. It is currently on tour around the UK.
"Intricately crafted, profoundly moving, howlingly funny ... a blazing talent firing on all cylinders" ★★★★★ Daily Telegraph
"An outstanding show: politically necessary, personally eviscerating, and heavy on the laughs"
★★★★½ Chortle
"Astonishing ... by turns furiously nihilistic and desperately warm and loving"
Observer
★★★★ Sunday Times ★★★★★ The List ★★★★ Mail on Sunday
Nominated for Best Show, Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2018
ARIELLE SOUMA
Arielle is a force to reckon with and a dynamic "wild card" in a line up. She regularly performs for major clubs like The Stand, Glee Club, Top secret and Angel comedy club.
2017 NATYS finalist
2016 Frog & Bucket Manchester World Series finalist
2016 So You Think You're Funny finalist
2016 Fresh comedian of the year finalist
2016 Leicester Square new comedian of the year semi finalist
2016 Funny Women semi finalist
"Arielle Souma is just what the comedy industry needs and should be forced upon every audience until they buckle under her spell" Frankie Boyle
All proceeds of the night will go to providing relief aid for refugees in Greece.
- April–May 2019
‘Miracles are all right, Polly. The only difficulty about them is that they don’t happen nowadays.’
George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Saint Joan’ is an involving, thought-provoking journey to the very boundaries of faith and self-preservation. Joan of Arc is determined to fulfil the wishes of the voices in her head and lead France to victory against the English in the Hundred Years’ War. Her passion propels her to the elite circles of bishops and kings, but her naivety leads her to overestimate her allies and underestimate the determination of those whose way of life she threatens. It is a multi-faceted tale of dogmatism and trust that will lead you to critically assess the time we live in.
The Cambridge Student 5 stars
The Tab 4 stars
Varsity 3.5 stars
- April 2019
- April 2019
If you missed Viva's hit production of Brassed Off back in 2017, or perhaps you just want to relive the experience- then good news! Brassed Off will return to the ADC theatre in Cambridge this April!
- April 2019
Can science advance without ego? A fast paced and moving, award winning, play dramatising Rosalind Franklin's part in the discovery of the structure of DNA.
- April 2019
A dramatic reconstruction of the assassination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, by henchmen of King Henry II in 1170.
- March 2019
- March 2019
Worried about graduation? Getting on the housing ladder? Global warming? AI? The bees?? Self-driving cars eating you alive? Or just plain old nuclear annihilation? There’s plenty of things to be stressed about over the next decade. Why not find out how terrible (or non-terrible) things are going to be in advance? Come see 2030, the only druid-certified soothsaying sketch show! The cast and crew have travelled back in time 11 years to present to you a series of light vignettes/grim warnings all set in the near-future. With a script so responsive to developing news stories you’d swear the show had an improv component (rather than being genuinely clairvoyant), 2030 showcases the best of the Cambridge comedy scene’s writers and performers, working closely together to put together a vision of the future that’s so “uproariously funny” you’ll wish you were a decade older!
- March 2019
The comedy sketch show is a genre that has grown incredibly popular in Cambridge over time as we all love to see our favourite student comedians combine to act out the absurd and the hilarious for our entertainment. However, with such a diverse field of talent we're always left asking for more...
So, more is exactly what you're going to get. Following the success of this concept by the founders of Eggbox Comedy in 2016, under a strict time-limit of 23 hours, 30 of the finest student comedians in Cambridge will come together to produce not just one but FIVE sketch shows for your entertainment. From Stand-up and song, to improvisation and mime, come and see comedians of all genres combine to produce and perform jokes fresh from a frantic day of writing.
30 comedians, 23 hours and at the end of it all 60 minutes of glistening new comedy sketch show for you all to enjoy.
- March 2019
Following the success of 'The Greatest Show', CU Show Choir are back and ready to take you on a journey through time! Expect sick choreography with slick harmonies to match, as we give you music from throughout the decades!
Darwin better watch his back, we're here to give you a real lesson on evolution.
One audience member said "it was quite literally the greatest show"... we'll take that.
See you there!
- March 2019
The international, award-winning musical Legally Blonde follows the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl whose life is turned upside down when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her to 'get serious' and go to Harvard Law. Refusing to let her dream life slip away, Elle becomes determined to show him how serious she can be. She charms her way into Harvard but when she arrives she struggles to gain the respect of her peers, professors, and most importantly, Warner. With the help of a few good friends, she quickly realises her potential and sets out to prove herself in this new world.
This laugh-out-loud musical will take you from the lavish golf-courses of Malibu to the hallowed halls of Harvard Law as we follow Elle on her journey to discover you don't need to conform to other people's idea of 'serious' to win a murder case.
- March 2019
Hail and hearken, gentle audience! Have you heard the ancient legends of King Arthur? Of Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table? Of their Quest for the Holy Grail? Of Lancelot and Guinevere’s forbidden love? Of Morgan Le Fay, and Merlin the wizard? Well, there are many more stories still to be told - especially the ones we haven’t made up yet…
The Cambridge Impronauts present The Once and Improvised King, an all-new cycle of Arthurian legends made up each night based on audience suggestions. An entirely improvised retinue of knights, ladies, enchanters, trusty squires, wise elders, incognito noble youths raised in obscurity, champions, fools, hermits, marvels and monsters shall embark upon a quest of the audience’s choosing. Battles shall be fought, things shall be found, and loves shall be loved. And maybe we’ll fulfil one or two ancient prophecies along the way. That happens, apparently.
- March 2019
The Footlights bring you the funniest songs, sketches, monologues and stand-up in an hour of non-stop, back-to-back fun-filled hilarity. The material is always original and always varied. It can be soft and silly, rude and spiky, wordy and nerdy or a little surreal; whatever the style, it's always 'uproariously funny' (Varsity).
- March 2019
Like ‘The Doll’s House’, ‘Hedda Gabler’ explores the trope of the married woman stuck in a loveless and constricting marriage and social situation, but gives it a refreshingly new and darker twist. Hedda is a victim of patriarchal society but she is angered rather than subdued by that fact- she acts out on the world and people around her, whether they deserve it or not, in a perverse but horrifyingly empowering act of revenge. A feminist anti-hero, the remarkable (and realistic) complexity of her character and psychology allows the play to transcend its 19th century setting and to become a nightmarish cautionary tale for all oppressive societies - in each new context it is revived and revisited it forces us to reflect on aspects of our own world and selves, and, perhaps, the darker parts that we’d rather ignore.
- February–March 2019
"No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.
And slowly, but surely, they drew their plans against us."
Jeff Wayne's 1978 concept Album "The War of the Worlds", combining the iconic 1897 story of alien invasion with prog rock, orchestra and electronic music, was an instant success that remains a bestseller today.
This live version will combine ambitious music and tech with live song and performance, to recreate an alien invasion within the ADC auditorium.
- February 2019
This one night only event will showcase a range of pole dance performances from members of the Cambridge University Pole Society (CUPS). As a society, we are dedicated to removing the stigma that surrounds pole dancing, and showing its true colours as an expressive, beautiful sport and dance style. As well as solo performances, the showcase will include group dances, which will be used to tell stories and re-enact famous scenes from film. This showcase will present a highly eclectic and impressive demonstration of the talents of the CUPS performers.
- February–March 2019
The Ritz was fully booked. Claridge’s was condemned. You had to book five nights at the The Last Resort. Bad luck. But you’re here now. The concierge has… yep… he’s nicked your bag. Oh god. It’s going from bad to worse. But at least the Footlights are here to provide you with a two-act sketch bonanza - beat that, Travelodge.
The annual Footlights Spring Revue stands out as one of the biggest events on the Cambridge comedy calendar, and this year we’re shaking things up a tad. Written, performed and directed by finalist members of the Cambridge Footlights, check in to the ADC Theatre for this year’s Spring Revue - a mixture of brand new sketches and some of the best bits of from our performers’ writing.
The rooms are vacant, the students are vacant, but the seats are filling up! Remember your booking reference - and don’t leave a bad review on TripAdvisor - as you join the Cambridge Footlights for their 2019 Spring Revue “Last Resort”!
- February 2019
Just when you thought the Christmas and New Year parties were over, CUMTS presents you with the gift of Gala. For just two nights, CUMTS brings you an evening of pure musical theatre decadence. Dressed to the nines and accompanied by a full orchestra, the finest of Cambridge's musical theatre talent will be performing all of your favourite musical theatre classics alongside the latest Broadway hits, all dazzling with glitz and glamour...
