- March 2013
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come and have the time of your life at this musical theatre gala for one night only. Sit back and witness our cast defy gravity with songs from a wide range of well-loved musicals. We promise you glitz, glam and all that jazz with a live orchestra and backing choir. We will rock you with this musical extravaganza! This is the moment to celebrate being alive so follow the yellow brick road to the ADC – you’ll have to pick a pocket or two to get a ticket.
- March 2013
Cambridge's brightest Footlights are decked out, dolled up and dressing down.
With unforgettable characters and the finest wardrobe this side of Narnia, they present a hilarious, gregarious new sketch show. It's bursting at the seams with imagination and wit, and guaranteed to leave you in stitches.
The Footlights Spring Revue is one of the biggest shows in Cambridge, and has sold out for the last six years. Made to measure by writers and performers from 'Act Casual', 'i am, i am', 'The ADC/Footlights Pantomime' ,'The Footlights Spring Revue 2012' and countless Smokers, 'Dressing Down' promises to be another smash hit from the world-famous comedy club.
- February–March 2013
Ever wondered what makes all the sound come out of your radio? “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” is a brand new comedy that will take you on a journey through the radio, as we follow the life of the man who lives in there. His life in the FM section of the radio is comfortable enough, but for one thing: he can never be with the woman he loves. She lives in the AM section of the radio, and the two sections of the radio are completely isolated from one another. Three writers from Trinity’s Magpie & Stump comedy society bring you an hour-long story of boy-can’t-meet-girl, bursting with sketches, music, and all the radio-related puns you can dream of.
- February–March 2013
‘Greetings prophet. The Great Work begins. The messenger has arrived.’ New York, 1985. A pill-popping housewife and her gay Mormon husband unite with an AIDS-ridden former drag queen and his conscience-stricken boyfriend amidst the backdrop of a lost America. As one of the most inspired American plays of our time, Angels in America - Part One: Millennium Approaches transports an audience from New York to Antarctica, merging the realistic with the surreal and tackling such dynamic themes as American ideology, AIDS, liberalism, race and sexual identity. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play is one of the most successful theatrical sagas of recent years. ‘A vast, miraculous play…provocative, witty and deeply upsetting…a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama…’ - Frank Rich, New York Times ‘An epic theatrical fever dream’ - Variety
- February 2013
What is the meaning of life? What are the side effects of drinks imbued with mysterious crystals? And what exactly is going on at the Lost Property office? Some of these questions, and more, will be answered, for those who are willing to find out. Lost Property is a new sketch show, (now better than ever) for Lent 2013, written by Simon Copley and Oliver Taylor.
- February 2013
For the first time, the finest of Cambridge’s musical theatre talent will be joining forces to create an original musical in just 24 hours! Following a similar format to the ADC’s incredibly successful 24-Hour Plays, nine creative teams will be given a theme for a musical and will have just 24 hours to compose and rehearse their song. Overnight, the composer and lyricist for each team will write their song and the following day their performers will learn it in time for their one-off performance at 11pm. The result will be a thrillingly eclectic and brand-spanking new musical. Come and be the first to witness what promises to be a spectacular celebration of new writing. http://www.adctheatre.com/whats-on/musical/the-24hr-musical.aspx
- February 2013
Amateur Dramatic Club presents ANTON: Ivanov and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn Weeks 4 and 5 mainshows, Lent Term @ ADC Theatre
...I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. I took one look and - snap! - I was caught. He said, 'Let's run off... let's go!' I stripped my life away just like you'd strip the dead leaves off a stem, and I went...
Two weeks. Two painfully funny and heartbreaking plays. Two translations by two renowned British playwrights.
One master of tragicomedy.
'Anton', a double bill of 'Ivanov' and 'Three Sisters', playing on alternate nights over two weeks. Bringing together one of his first and one of his last plays, CUADC presents a fortnight of raucous laughter and stinging tears.
A time will come when people will understand what it was all for, what the purpose was of all this suffering, and what was hidden from us will be hidden no more. In the meantime, though, we have to live...
- February 2013
- February 2013
Amateur Dramatic Club presents ANTON: Ivanov and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn Weeks 4 and 5 mainshows, Lent Term @ ADC Theatre
...I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. I took one look and - snap! - I was caught. He said, 'Let's run off... let's go!' I stripped my life away just like you'd strip the dead leaves off a stem, and I went...
Two weeks. Two painfully funny and heartbreaking plays. Two translations by two renowned British playwrights.
One master of tragicomedy.
'Anton', a double bill of 'Ivanov' and 'Three Sisters', playing on alternate nights over two weeks. Bringing together one of his first and one of his last plays, CUADC presents a fortnight of raucous laughter and stinging tears.
A time will come when people will understand what it was all for, what the purpose was of all this suffering, and what was hidden from us will be hidden no more. In the meantime, though, we have to live...
- February 2013
Mr. Hoppy has two great loves in his life: the flowers that grow on his balcony, and his neighbour, Mrs. Silver. The only problem is that Mrs. Silver gives all of her love to someone else: her pet tortoise, Alfie. One day Mrs. Silver asks Mr. Hoppy how to make poor Alfie grow a little faster and suddenly Mr. Hoppy’s happiness is only a dubious magical spell away…
But can the nosy, bassoon-playing next door neighbour, Humphrey, figure out Mr. Hoppy’s plot before it’s too late? Or will Mrs. Silver’s heart be stolen by a man who names his favourite chrysanthemum Gerald?
Told through the eyes of Alfie - the whimsical and embittered tortoise - ‘Esio Trot’ is a new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale of infatuation, deceit and celery, which poses the timeless question: should true love come before tortoises?
- February 2013
The CU Show Choir bring you a selection of classic numbers from the big screen. With their characteristic humour, charm and 12-part harmony, this will be a night of film music like you've never heard it before.
- February 2013
‘I’ve looked at all that - marriages and all that - and what do you get for it? What do you get?’
It's Bobby's 35th Birthday. He is sat in his New York apartment faced with the prospect of another surprise celebration courtesy of his “crazy married friends”. With a little help from his imagination, he begins to explore his bachelor experiences of love, relationships and monogamy. After all, who needs marriage when you've got friends like his and three great girls on the go?
Packed with show-stealing numbers including ‘Being Alive’, ‘Not Getting Married Today’, and ‘What Would We Do Without You?’, Company will ask you to ponder questions of love and commitment as Bobby’s musings come to life in this new surreal production.
- January–February 2013
35 Characters. 5 Actors. 1 Farce.
An Italian Straw Hat follows the hapless bridegroom Fadinard on his wedding day as he blazes through the streets of Paris and the idyllic French countryside on a futile quest to return a straw hat to a promiscuous young lady. Along the way Fadinard is followed by his pertinacious Father in Law and eight cabs of wedding guests throwing at the audience a whirlwind of relentless activity. Join these five intrepid actors as they are pushed to their limits to provide a dazzlingly multi-role extravaganza of a show. A celebration of vaudeville; it promises slapstick, dance, puppetry, a live band and cream pies. It will provide unadulterated mirth, joy and anarchy to the late night Cambridge audiences. Farce like you’ve never seen it before.
- January–February 2013
‘When you're caught between any kind of devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea can sometimes look very inviting…’
Terence Rattigan’s modern masterpiece portrays a day in the life of Hester Collyer. Caught in a cobweb of decaying relationships – to her husband, her lover, her landlady, her neighbours – she remains alone and hopeless in a small dishevelled flat.
One of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century, this new production of Rattigan’s beautiful play explores the biggest questions in the most human way.
- January 2013
A little while ago, not much more than a few days ago, I was a child who went about in a world of colors, of hard and tangible forms. Everything was mysterious and something was hidden, guessing what it was was a game for me. If you knew how terrible it is to know suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning elucidated the earth. Now I live in a painful planet, transparent as ice; but it is as if I had learned everything at once in seconds.
Yellow is a new sketch-show from the writers of the 2012 Footlights’ Spring Revue: Donors, sell-out Edinburgh sketch-show BEARD, Rookie and numerous Footlights’ smokers.
“Original and brilliant” Three Weeks “Sickeningly talented” Varsity “Top 5 sketch-shows to see at the Fringe 2012” The List
- January 2013
Churchill Jazz Band is one of Cambridge's premier big bands, an established and popular group playing a huge range of charts from traditional swing and jazz to funk, latin and rock.
Comprising some of Cambridge's finest musicians with the experience of countless balls and events, join us for one night only in an evening that merges the traditional with the contemporary in a performance that'll have you tapping your feet and leave you wanting more!
- January 2013
"ENIGMA"! This is the name and theme of the Cambridge University Contemporary Dance Workshop Society's Anual SELL-OUT dance show this year!! Last year's Swagger was a success and this year we're aiming for BIGGER and BETTER! With even more of a mix of the different styles of dance and more creative, original concepts!
The show will run for 5 nights from Tuesday the 22nd of January until the 26th at the ADC theatre.
"Enigma" as a theme shows that amazing dancing talent cannot simply be put into one box. The show will be a mix and fusion of dance styles you normally would not see together, somewhat puzzling at first, but ultimately creating an exciting synergetic show, breaking limitations and providing quality entertainment!
If any of you would be interested in dancing in the show and/or choreographing anything (or participating in the technical team), then please email Lolia at le265@cam.ac.uk or Laura at lecw2@cam.ac.uk!
There'll be all kinds of dance styles to pick from: including hip hop, break dancing, afrobeats, contemporary, ballet, belly dancing, salsa etc..
- January 2013
All that glisters is not gold, Often have you heard that told..
Young hot-shot Bassanio’s in a hell of a lot of debt. His magic solution? To court and marry wealthy heiress, Portia. All he needs is a good suit, speedy boat and a loan of three thousand ducats. But if the loan isn’t repaid in time, money-lender Shylock will be demanding more than just cash…
This winter, Cambridge's longest-running theatre tour will be taking on Shakespeare's most controversial 'comedy'. Set in the urban playground which is contemporary Naples, this daring production will look with unflinching eyes at man's inhumanity to man, and the Western world's obsession with wealth and beauty, through the lenses of, amongst other things, Berlusconi's immigration policy, the shiny horror of reality television, and the inertia and despondency of Eurotrash youth culture.
- November–December 2012
Terry is a postman with a thousand memories at his fingertips. All he has to do is open them.
Post is a new tragicomedy, co-written by the president of the Cambridge Footlights, winner of Best Writer/Play, 24 Hour Plays 2010, and one of the team behind Act Casual (4**** - Varsity).
It doesn't take a lot to blur the lines between funny and sad, reality and fantasy. It just takes a stamp.
- November 2012
The CU Show Choir returns to the stage with an all-new collection of songs to herald the merry season.
Traditional Christmas numbers made glitzy and glamorous alongside not-so-traditional numbers given a festive makeover - none of your favourites are immune from the CU Show Choir's ever-humorous treatment this holiday season.
Crowned Masters of Show Choir at the UK's first inter-university Show Choir competition in 2012, the CU Show Choir are not to be missed in the exciting new showcase of music that'll leave you fa-la-la-la-la-ing all the way home.
- November 2012
It's back.
Since its inception in Manhattan's Lower East Side over 15 years ago, the 24 Plays have appeared all over the world, pushing theatrical talent to its limit and creating unforgettable performances. What will happen when Cambridge is asked to create 5 new plays in just 24 hours in front of a panel of industry judges? The clock is ticking.
- November 2012
"If You Please" is a French Dada-Surrealist play and is completely different from any play you will have previously acted in or come across. Written by Breton and Soupault, two titans of the surrealist movement, and first performed in 1920, If You Please takes hackneyed and clichéd plots and transforms them into thrilling and marvellous absurdity. It is the ADC week 7 late show and has a large cast with a good mix of male and female characters. This play promises to be an entertaining but testing project for everyone from beginners to the most experienced actors.
- November–December 2012
- November 2012
'To begin at the beginning….'
Welcome to Llareggub, a sleepy Welsh fishing village where old and young potter and clatter through their day-to-day business, in a tumble of sounds and sights. Allow our gentle guide to show you the far-off dreams of Captain Cat, the sincere sermons of Reverend Eli Jenkins, and the longing love letters of Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price.
Written as a response to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagaski, Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices' celebrates the calm beauty of the world, through some of the most evocative poetry written in the English language. This work of Welsh genius is brought to the ADC stage by the freshest talent in Cambridge.
'We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood.'
- November 2012
In 2011 Ben Ashenden, Mark Fiddaman, Alex Owen and Adam Lawrence hauled their Footlights tourshow Pretty Little Panic across the UK and America to massive critical acclaim. Now it's 2012: Ashenden, Fiddaman and Owen have stormed Edinburgh as three-man sketch collective The Pin, and Lawrence has a girlfriend.
Join the dogged writer-performers behind eight of the last eleven Footlights mainshows for one night only as they divvy up an hour between them, half to The Pin and half to Lawrence.
Don't miss this special one-off from two acts described as 'genius' (WhatsOnStage), 'razor sharp' (The Stage) and 'flawless, polished to perfection' (Broadway Baby).
- November 2012
'One false move and we'll have a farce on our hands'...
When rich merchant Herr Zangler jaunts off to Vienna to woo his new mistress, his beautiful young ward elopes with her penniless suitor and his two assistants decide that this is their last chance for a big adventure and go on 'the razzle'. Where are they all headed? To the same place, of course - in haste, in heat and in cognito.
Described by The Telegraph as 'an unremitting firework display of puns, crossword puzzle tricks and sly sexual innuendos,' Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle is a wonderful night of fabulous farce. See this year's freshest dramatic talent take on a muddle of mistaken identities, slapstick and romantic shenanigans in one of the funniest scripts ever written.
- November 2012
“I mean, there’s just no time these days, is there. Who can honestly say they’ve ever seen a child?”
It's tough times for kids' TV. Fired for “offending vegetarians”, Tammy Alligator relocates her jungle show to the wilderness of a rehab centre. With a cast of manic depressives and alcoholics performing under the guise of “Drama Therapy”, two ambitious kids’ TV presenters stop at nothing to make their dreams of fame come true.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Footlights Harry Porter Prize, Far Away From the Watering Hole is a dark new comedy with a poignant edge.
- November 2012
“There was a Cabaret. And there was a Master of Ceremonies. And there was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany. And it was the end of the world…”
It’s New Year’s Eve 1930 and the ghoulish Master of Ceremonies lures us into the smoky Kit Kat Klub where sexual experimentation and debauchery run wild. The American writer, Cliff Bradshaw has just arrived in Berlin and we follow him as he becomes lost in the hedonistic world of the cabaret and falls for the star performer, Sally Bowles. The boarding house owner, Fräulein Schneider also starts to believe in love when Herr Schultz, a Jewish greengrocer proposes to her. However, the show’s characters cannot escape the reality of growing Nazi terror and the sumptuous safe-haven of the Kit Kat Klub is put under threat. As Berlin implodes, so the cabaret descends from glamour to grotesque and the results are devastating.
- October–November 2012
The two greatest casinos in Las Vegas are at war. Agamemnon, jailed for ten years on charges of tax evasion, is about to end the feud with a devastating blow: the walls of Troy will fall. But when the dust settles and the king comes home, his triumphal return feels wrong. Clytemnestra is obsessed with a videotape, Elektra lives in virtual reality, and Orestes hasn't been seen in years. Under the brightest lights of the Strip a sickening crime, a bloodline's collapse and the rise of avengers mortal and divine will bring the House of Atreus to its knees.
In a new adaptation, Aeschylus' trilogy is updated and radically represented. Through innovative use of audio and video media this show takes a new approach to the spectacular nature of tragedy. Revenge has never looked so good.
- October 2012
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, Ken Cheng, creator of Mark Liu and comedian, brings a one-off evening of stand-up to the ADC, featuring several support acts from the Cambridge comedy circuit.
Previous praise includes:
“formidable…wry, pragmatic brand of comedy produced floods (and, in my case, actual tears) of laughter” – Varsity
“the star act” – The Tab
“witty and intelligent humour” – TCS
"you were really good tonight" - drunk guy who mistook him for Phil Wang
- October–November 2012
December 2000: Enron, America’s seventh largest corporation, is heralded as a darling of the energy industry. Voted ‘America’s Most Innovative Company’ by Fortune magazine for six years in a row, Enron claims revenues of over $100 billion and employs well over 20,000 individuals.
December 2001: The Enron Scandal. Enron files for bankruptcy. Former employees are paid an average of $4,500 worth of severance pay and lose their pensions and medical insurance whilst top executives cash in stock worth over $115 million. The resulting inquest unearths political as well as corporate corruption, the effects of which are still felt in America today.
Just what happened? Exactly how did Enron destroy itself so completely and so rapidly? CUADC is proud to present this epic tale of corporate irresponsibility and human greed at its most dangerous extremes. One of the most important plays in recent years, Enron utilises gripping personal drama, surreal humour and even musical numbers to tell an unforgettable story that you’ll wish was fiction.
Ask why.
- October 2012
In the salons of Paris, an anonymous young girl plays the piano for the wealthy elites. Here she encounters the exotic, mesmerizing and stifling Marquis. A man of the world, with a mysterious past, he offers her the key to a thrilling future. The Marquis proposes and takes his virgin to a castle on the sea for their honeymoon. When he disappears after their wedding night, leaving the girl alone – save for the housekeeper, and a blind piano-tuner – he entrusts her with the keys to every room in the house. One door alone is forbidden, but the temptation of a tiny key may prove too much.
- October 2012
A heartrending drama about family, betrayal and forgiveness, spanning four generations and two hemispheres. When the Rain Stops Falling moves from the claustrophobia of a London flat in 1959 to the windswept coast of southern Australia, and into the heart of the Australian desert in 2039. Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play interweaves a series of connected stories as seven people confront the mysteries of their past in order to understand their future, revealing how patterns of betrayal, love and abandonment are passed on. Until finally, as the desert is inundated with rain, one young man finds the courage to defy the legacy.
- October 2012
If you like two-woman sketch-shows which are called BEARD, you'll love this: a new two woman sketch-show, called BEARD.
This ‘inspired’ (The List) hour of comedy returns from a five-star, sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe for a triumphant home run. Appearing on the ADC stage for two nights only, this ‘original and brilliant production’ (Three Weeks ★ ★ ★ ★ ★) is a must-see.
'Top 5 sketch comedy shows at the Fringe 2012' – The List
- July 2012
Two of Cambridge's favourite Footlights storm the stage for an anarchic hour of late-night musical comedy. No two performances are the same with these rakish troubadours as they catapult through a raucous repertoire of their finest songs. Both celebrated 'lynch-pins of hilarity ... comic geniuses' (EdFringeReview.com), make sure to be on the front row when these two decide to sing the next song about you. With the sharpest of wits and yards of comedic talent they are 'a definite one to watch!' (WhatsOnStage.com).
- October 2012
Award-winning composer and performer Jeff Carpenter has been the man behind the music in the cream of Cambridge theatre over the last three years; including the ADC/Footlights Pantomime 2011: Treasure Island, Babushka and Bereavement: The Musical. Now, for one night only, he's taking the opportunity to step into the spotlight himself, accompanied by a live band and the beautiful ADC grand piano.
Don't miss this eclectic evening of Jazz, Pop and Musical Theatre in the skilled hands of this remarkable musici an. Featuring Carpenter's brand new original compositions and stunning re-imaginings of well-known classics in his inimitable style, this will be a performance you'll never forget.
Following sell-out performances of his work in Cambridge, including his Egomania recitals, as well as a performance in the Royal Albert Hall with Jamie Cullum, buy your ticket and prepare for an exciting evening of music.
