- September 2011
“Now o’er the one half-world | Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse | The curtain’d sleep.”
One of the greatest works in Western literature, 'Macbeth' explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.
A barren, post-apocalyptic wasteland, dead trees, and broken mirrors. Cambridge American Stage Tour’s 2011 production of Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece presents a nightmarish vision of the future, where nothing is quite as it seems. Inspired by modern dystopian fiction, prepare to descend into a landscape of broken dreams and bloody ambitions, inhabited by murderers and madmen. In a world of royal isolation, amidst smiling courtiers and a promise of immortality, Macbeth is king of nothing.
Under the patronage of Dame Judi Dench, CAST has given sixteen students the opportunity to tour America over the past twelve years, establishing itself as one of the most prestigious tour shows in Cambridge, performing across the East Coast in cities from New York to New Orleans, Boston, Washington DC and Miami.
- June 2011
The biggest show of the year from "the most renowned sketch troupe of them all" (The Independent). Performing to over twenty thousand people across two continents, ‘Pretty Little Panic’ will travel around the UK, head up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then take on both coasts of America, stopping off in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles amongst other major cities. Make sure you grab a "must-have ticket" (The Times) to the show that has launched – and continues to launch – many of the greatest names in comedy.
- June 2011
A garbage island on the Mississippi river. A woman sits with a guitar and a boombox. A man washes up on the shore. Bubbles. Gorilla costumes. Raindrops and roses and ash. ‘Death happens. Get over it.’ A play with songs. Directed by Imogen Stubbs and Ben Kavanagh
- June 2011
Bourne. Bond. Inception. Action films think they’re pretty smart nowadays, with their shaky-cam and their men getting hit in the balls. Armageddapocalypse 2.5: Armagedinburgh holds up a mirror to their stupidity, and then smashes that mirror against their face, before hurling them into an erupting volcano. From the exploding pens of former Footlights James Moran and Lucien Young, we present the Edinburgh Fringe previews for a comedy that will showcase – and, in all likelihood, kill – Cambridge’s top performing and production talent*.
Building on the sell-out success of last year’s Armageddapocalypse 2: The Explosioning, catch this action-packed extended-edition before it punches the Edinburgh Fringe in the stomach. Watch as Jack Lang – the maverickiest agent in the Agency – returns to fight twisted genius Doctor Apocalypse and an array of combustible baddies. If we can make just one audience member explode, we know we’ve done our job.
Armageddapocalypse 2.5: Armagedinburgh – because last time, parts of Cambridge were left intact.
*A joke. We are scrupulous about health and safety matters
- June 2011
This Thursday for one night only!
COMEDY SLUTFEST *
An all-girl Slutwalk-themed comedy event
- June 2011
Following their sell-out successes of Sweeney Todd and Chess, Festival Players return to the ADC with their own interpretation of the smash-hit, multi-award-winning and totally irreverent musical The Producers adapted from Mel Brooks’ 1968 film of the same name. Brash, camp, totally over-the-top and yet at times surprisingly touching, the original musical won an unprecedented twelve Tony Awards (including Best Musical and Best Original Score) and was hailed as “a gift from the show-biz gods.” (Time Magazine).
Max Bialystock, once the king of Broadway is now notorious only for producing flops. Then he realises that if he could put on a show that’s so tasteless it’s guaranteed to fail, he could keep all the investment money! The all-singing, all-dancing spectacular Springtime for Hitler seems perfect – except there’s no accounting for taste! Fast-paced, colourful, brash and outrageously funny, The Producers is a show definitely NOT to be missed!
- May 2011
Can a poet and hip-hop artist learn to see eye to eye? Mark Grist and MC Mixy have spent the last year trying to find out. Since forming in 2008, the Dead Poets have been challenging the preconceptions of poetry and hip hop across the country.
Find out how Mark, an English teacher from Peterborough, struggles as he attempts to compete on the hip hop battle circuit and see MC Mixy’s attempts to be accepted by Peterborough’s poetry community.
The Dead Poets journey ends with Mark competing in a range of hip hop battles, winning several shock victories while Mixy manages to gain the title ‘Poet Laureate of Peterborough’.
Packed with witty wordplay, laugh out loud humour, and overflowing with creative energy. The Scotsman - hilarious.
‘Dynamite! Both your flows are impeccable!’ Steve Merchant
'Dead Poets' will take audiences of all ages on a journey from the classroom to the club in just under an hour. Packed with witty wordplay, laugh out loud humour, and overflowing with creative energy, Mark and Mixy will make you see poetry and hip-hop in a completely different light.
- May 2011
I Found My Horn (Varsity *****) will return to Cambridge for one night only on the main stage of the Sidney Sussex Arts Festival, on Saturday 25th June 2011. Starring Oskar McCarthy and directed by Jack Furness, the show was a huge success at the ADC this term as the Week 3 late show.
Here's the Varsity review: http://www.varsity.co.uk/reviews/3600
You can find out more about the festival here: http://www.sidneyartsfestival.co.uk/
And you can buy tickets here: http://www.adcticketing.com/
“It takes bollocks of Sheffield steel to play the French horn in public!”
Ever learnt a musical instrument? Then dropped it on leaving school? And secretly regretted it ever since? Then whether you’re a virtuoso, lapsed instrumentalist, music lover, or just looking for an uplifting break from the depths of your revision, this is the show for you.
Jasper Rees, seeking redemption after a lay-off of 25 years, clambers into the attic and uncovers the sixteen feet of treacherous brass tubing he never mastered in his youth. Picking up his old French horn, he sets himself an impossible task: to perform a Mozart concerto in front of a paying audience of horn experts. Madness? Perhaps; but for Jasper, there's no choice. It's now, or it’s never.
Adapted from the best-selling book, I Found My Horn has been called “irresistible” (Sunday Times), “delightful, warm, witty” (Mail on Sunday) and “inspiring, moving and quite hilarious” (Classical Music Magazine). Featuring some of the most beautiful horn music ever written, including live performance, this captivating one-man show comes to the Sidney Sussex Arts Festival determined to remind you that it’s never too late to conquer your demons.
- May 2011
In their Debut Spectacular, the Cambridge University Show Choir and goes all-out with a wide variety of song and dance from the most famous films, musicals and TV shows of the last century. With two shows - a Tuesday lateshow at 11pm and a Saturday matinee at 2:30pm - this is an incredibly fu nproject that lets all those involved display a wide range of talents.
- May 2011
CUADC is excited to bring this intellectual, romantic, tragic and comic rollercoaster to the ADC stage. Skipping between genres and between centuries, Arcadia explores the irreversibility of time, the conflict between Classicism and Romanticism, the struggle between chaos and determinism, the difficulty of ascribing historical certainty, rules and numbers to love, mathematics, physics, architecture, nihilism, lust, madness.... No amount of words can begin to capture the brilliance of Stoppard’s masterpiece that, aside from anything else, has the most captivating and moving story, and a rich array of brilliant characters.
One room. Two time periods.
The magnificent drawing room of a Derbyshire country house. The precocious 13-year-old, Lady Thomasina, is studying with her tutor. The infamous Lord Byron is an unseen house-guest looming offstage. As the people around her have affairs, threaten duels, shoot rabbits, and mutate the surrounding landscape into a ‘picturesque’ Gothic fantasy land, she begins to grow up. But her age never manages to catch up with her extraordinary mathematical genius.
The same room. Hannah, a garden historian, is investigating the past of the grounds. Bernard, a professor, is there to explore the sordid scandal involving Lord Byron that took place at Sidley two centuries ago. With the help of the current inhabitants of the house, they become consumed in the history of Sidley. As their investigations, discoveries and arguments unfold, the truth about Thomasina’s childhood at Sidley is ingeniously untangled, while past and present begin to intertwine with the same grace as her equations.
- May 2011
From the people who brought you The Seagull (2011), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (2010) and Madness Of George III (2009), coming to the ADC this spring, a thrilling new staging of David Mamet’s modern classic SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO.
‘You are trying to understand women and I am confusing you with information.’
David Mamet's study of changing sexual mores in early seventies urban America follows the love affair of office manager Danny and commercial illustrator Deborah from first “encounter” to closure. They might have made a success of their relationship were it not for their choice of confidants, Bernard and Joan who persistently sabotage and undermine. The problem??? Bernie wants everyone, Joan just wants someone and Dan and Deborah want each other! Don’t miss this fast-talking, sexually charged urban comedy set in the singles scene of seventies Chicago. You’ll never forgive yourself!
- May 2011
Following a year of exceptional musical theatre success, CUMTS are proud to present their end of year Gala; 'Broadway, Baby!' Prepare to be dazzled bysome of the brightest and best of Cambridge's musical theatre talent. Whether you love the big showstoppers, or the heartfelt ballads, we can guarantee that there will be something to entertain you at this one night extravaganza!
- May 2011
A story of forbidden love, loyalty, guilt and the corrupting power of greed, Arthur Miller's acclaimed play 'All My Sons', revolves around Joe Keller and his family. Joe's factory is alleged to have supplied World War II planes with defective machinery, leading to the deaths of innocent pilots, a crime for which his business partner has taken the fall. One of Joe's sons, Larry, is thought to have been killed in action, but his mother simply cannot accept he is dead. Nor can she accept that Larry's fiancee is now in love with her other son, Chris. The confrontations that ensue lead to the uncovering of a world-shaking family secret, and tragic consequences that will further scar the lives of this family.
Following the success of previous productions of Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible' at the ADC, do not miss out on this stirring yet moving portrayal of a family in crisis.
- May 2011
Are you in dire need of an escape from the realities of adult life, from looming exams, or long and hard-working days?
Pheon Productions presents a solution:
Once Upon A Dream, with its twenty-piece orchestra, twenty-strong chorus, and star solo singers, offers you a unique chance to return to your childhood for an hour and enjoy a relaxing feeling of nostalgic cosiness. For you, the most talented musicians in Cambridge perform fabulous all-new arrangements of songs from such classic films as The Lion King, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Hercules, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and many more...
You are guaranteed to find your Prince Charming, win the heart of the perfect princess, shed a tear for lost youth, or just leave the theatre with a brief taste of happily-ever-after. Whatever part of your dreams is realised, Once Upon A Dream promises to be a night to remember.
- May 2011
"Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love."
Verona. 1948. The war is over. There’s a fight in the streets.
Some of the finest actors, technicians and creative forces from within Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club bring the agony and the ecstasy of the greatest love story of all time to the stage of the ADC Theatre in this year's fresh, visual and visceral Easter Term Shakespeare.
Beneath a world of bright lights, riches and romance lies an anarchic subculture of mafia warfare. The rival families of Montague and Capulet infect the streets with bloody violence. In a chance encounter, two young people fall in love.
Inspired by the films of Coppola, Pasolini and Fellini, the action will be set against a bleak Italian midwinter, flick-knives replace swords and the men wear sharp Italian suits. In the style of 'Sin City', black, white and red dominate the stage.
- March 2011
Cambridge University is delighted to be hosting the inaugural Inter-University New Writing Festival. The festival will bring together the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and UCL – each with well-established reputation for dramatic excellence – to find out who really creates the best theatre.
Each university will perform a 40-minute, brand new student-written play on the evening, and contribute one of their esteemed theatrical alumnae to form the judging panel.
The Cambridge production (cast and production team listed below) is "Burying Dad".
- March 2011
The Cambridge Footlights present the winner of this year's Harry Porter Prize for a one hour comic play. The prize was set up in 2003 in honour of the late Dr Harry Porter, who served as the Footlights' Senior Archivist until his death, and was the longest standing member of the Footlights Committee. Join us to herald the realisation of the latest Porter-winning playwright's comic vision.
This year the winner was chosen by the one and only Tim Key; a former footlight and winner of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award. He knows his laughs. Have a look at him here: www.timkey.co.uk
Written by Mark Fiddaman, this is footlights first: An all female, one-woman, production.
- March 2011
West Side Story, many would claim the greatest musical ever written, has delighted audiences worldwide since its opening on Broadway more than 50 years ago. With a score by one of the finest composers of the twentieth century, Leonard Bernstein, lyrics that launched the career of the great Stephen Sondheim and the iconic choreography of Jerome Robbins, this modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet returns to the stage in Cambridge for the first time in several years this Lent Term, in a production featuring Cambridge’s finest talent in musical theatre. Prepare to be entranced by the beautiful melodies of Tonight and Somewhere, the irresistible rhythms of America and I Feel Pretty whilst being dazzled by the spectacle of dance and fight scenes alike, as this definitive work in the cultural landscape of the last century comes to the ADC.
- March 2011
"An old Russian widow falls in love with a painting hanging on the hallowed walls of the Hermitage. What happens when it is sent to auction, and how far will she journey to get it back?"
When darkness falls and the curtain drops on the ADC mainshow, a troupe of fabulists emerge from the depths of the theatre to spin you a yarn. Using ancient props and costumes salvaged from productions past, marvel as they create a host of characters, plucked from our enchanted hatbox. Malevolent art historians and opportunistic chandelier salesmen come to life, with entrancing music played live on stage by our transvestite accompanist. This troupe might be poor as church mice but they are just as resourceful, showing that the theatre can be a rich place by little means...
Praise for last production: 'Imaginatively staged and brilliantly conceived…it artfully married nostalgia and innovation' (Varsity)
- March 2011
What are the odds that you would lose a mansion, all your money, most of your dignity and your wife in the space of one very miserable week? Unfortunately, they are pretty high for the likes of this particular homeowner. Welcome to the Footlights Spring Revue 2011, the sketch show which shows you that with a big house comes big responsibility.
The Footlights Spring Revue is one of the biggest comedy events in Cambridge. It's sold out for the last five years in a row, and 'Odds' promises to be another smash hit from the world famous comedy club.
- March 2011
This new one-act imagines the genesis of 'Frankenstein'. An innocent writing contest in Lord Byron's Swiss villa spawns surprise arrivals, rivalries and romance, and the world's most infamous monster. Byron, his companion, the Shelleys, and a surprise guest clash, picnic, and witness the birth of ... 'Frankenstein'!
- March 2011
I am writing, with sinful pleasure, a Comedy:
3 lovers, 2 celebrities, 1 Gun, no Plot & lots of Love.
– Anton Chekhov
More than a hundred years after its premier, we re-imagine Chekhov’s greatest play for a modern audience, in a new version by Simon Haines (“very funny” Germaine Greer).
Chekhov’s comedy and his cruelty is laid bare in a dark comedy about the regrets and romantic entanglements of a gaggle of actors/writers/artists gathered on a lake-side estate in pursuit of love, sex, fame – or simply a round of applause.
(Praise for Simon Haines' previous writing/directing:)
"A gratifying gem of a production." – The Stage | - "A little ray of sunshine." – TCS | - "Great new writing, flawlessly acted, and very, very funny... You won’t just enjoy it, you’ll remember it." – Varsity
~ You’re sixty years old, darling. Medicine won’t help. ~
- February 2011
The time and place are unknown. Two men climb down onto the stage, continuing on their journey. Neither them nor us know where they’re going, but there’s a writer in the sky who is telling them to carry on. Award winning writer of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", Milan Kundera presents “Jacques and His Master,” a play where past and present seamlessly overlap, and nothing is quite as you remembered it. The two men, Jacques and his Master, have both gambled with love, involving themselves in situations both criminal, perverse and downright bizarre. The memories of both characters are brought to life by figures from their respective pasts, forcing master and servant to confront the issues of guilt, and the thorny problems of who is ultimately responsible for one’s bad behaviour and bad luck.
- February 2011
‘I’ve got a new rule for you, mate, it’s called survival of the fittest, it’s called “fuck you – we’re the Riot Club”. Respect that.’
Posh is a play about power. The ancestors of the Riot Club boys used to rule the country, but times have changed. Over the course of a drunken dinner in the back room of an Oxfordshire pub, the pretences of the Club – of camaraderie, of harmless fun, of invincibility – are eroded and finally shattered, leaving the boys as they are – scared and alone. Posh isn’t merely an attack on a couple exclusive Oxbridge clubs, but rather about what lies behind them – elitism, arrogance, class, money, exclusivity and pack mentality on the one hand and weakness, isolation and fear on the other.
- February 2011
Noises Off is a side-splittingly hilarious comedy following the loveable cast and crew of Nothing On as they attempt to take their show from final rehearsal to final performance. The pandemonium that goes on behind the scenes, the disasters that occur front-of-stage and the incestuous relationships that breed in between are laid bare in riotous detail to the audience.
Will Lloyd, the director, be able to balance two relationships with members of the company at once? Can practically deaf old Selsdon be kept off the bottle long enough to make his entrance? How will Frederick cope in a fight when the mention of violence gives him a nosebleed?
Come along and find the answers to all of these questions and more. With seven slamming doors, six breaking windows, three near-fatal falls, and an onslaught of mistaken entrances, cues and prop malfunctions, what could possibly go wrong?
- February 2011
QUEEN TO PAWN
Love does crazy things to everyone. But when the stakes are higher, so are the losses. The Alcock PLayers proudly present the premier of Jeff Carpenter's Dido and Aeneas, a brand new orchestration of Henry Purcell's great classic.
MAGIC AND HEARTBREAK
Dido is the queen of a great empire, tough, powerful, independent - but love is completely shut out of her life until the handsome hero Aeneas sails into town. Now there are dark powers at work, witches with agendas of their own. And Aeneas may not be quite so heroic as he looks...
A NEW VISION
This new interpretation updates the orchestration to a more modern sound inspired by twentieth and twenty-first century musical theatre - think Sweeney Todd and Wicked!
- February 2011
The sky is the limit as CUMTS presents Jet Set Go! The Cabin Crew Musical as their Week 3 Lent Term lateshow. The love lives of a transatlantic cabin crew soar to the stage in this high-flying new British musical comedy. This is the first flight for new girl Melanie, who has trouble finding her feet in the air. Attracting the attention of loveable co-pilot Paul, she causes turbulence among this crew of larger than life characters. Cheeky, charming and full of touching moments and catchy tunes, this show promises to be a hoot from take-off to landing.
- February 2011
Footlights Ben Ashenden, Alex Owen and Mark Fiddaman bring you a riotous explosion of comedic innovation. The Pin is a stream-of-consciousness sketch show about the little things that get out of hand.
The show begins with a single pin, and ends in fatal disaster. How can so much come of so little?
These three ex A-level students have done seven Footlights main shows between them, and been described as "Inspired" (The Telegraph) "Brilliant" (The Stage) "A cut above the rest" (The List) "Wonderful" (Fest) and once even "brought the house down" (The Independent) You won't see anything like this in Cambridge, especially if you don't come.
- February 2011
Spring Awakening tests what we perceive as right and wrong, as characters live in a dark, cruel world, saved by song.
Winner of the Laurence Oliver Award for Best New Musical and five star rave reviews in The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro & WhatsOnStage, Spring Awakening is the most exciting musical in a decade.
Ever wished you could just sing your heart out? Escape from the world? Well these characters do too. Watch as they discover their sexual awakening and throw off parental oppression. Based on Frank Wedekind’s groundbreaking 1890s play, banned for over 70 years for being too sensationalist, Spring Awakening has changed the face of musical theatre forever.
The contemporary songs express the anguish and ecstasy of the young characters, creating an exhilarating energy that drives this remarkably compelling and timeless story.
- January 2011
“This city is never silent. It has a throb and pulse of its own. It feels latent. It feels charged. It feels sprung. As though something remarkable is going to happen.
In less than an hour, everything will change.
What you need to do is stand well clear of the yellow line.”
Violently dark. Startlingly poignant. 'Pornography' takes us into the lives of six individuals and into the worlds that lie, in constant whirling motion, behind the face of the everyday. Through the voyeuristic and visceral, we watch them fall and fragment against the backdrop of London. A London speeding towards a shattering collision of exultation and horror, whilst we begin to realise what it means to be alive in the 21st century, and whether or not this kind of isolated, disconnected existence is really worth fighting for.
- January 2011
CUCDW annual dance show at the ADC. Eclectic mix of ballet, contemporary, hip hop, rock'n'roll etc.
- January 2011
The Way Through the Woods is an original telling of the Snow White story, which combines verse, music, dialogue and song to create an atmospheric and ambiguous tale. It explores the cyclical nature of life and the fundamental perils of childhood through a reinterpretation of this classic story, and weaves a thought-provoking narrative from influences which range from fairy tales to Faust.
Storytelling has always been intimately bound up with music and song, and perhaps nowhere more so than in folklore. As we settle down to a fireside tale in the depths of a winter's night, the specially composed score sets the scene, colours our perceptions and brings the story alive. In its blend of carefully drawn, familiar but surprising characters with original and integrated music, the piece acquires the flavour perhaps of Stravinsky's Soldiers' Tale had it been written by Neil Gaiman.
- January 2011
Footlights alumnus and Wolfson Howler regular Liam Williams returns to the ADC to perform stand up comedy. He is joined by current Footlights Phil Wang (Chortle Student Comedian of the Year 2010) and Dannish Babar to present this piece of gentle late-night art brut. The show will strive to be both 'modish' and 'good'.
Some quotes and noun phrases to convince you of the performers' collective credibility:
Liam Williams So You Think You're Funny?' Runner Up 2010, 'Amused Moose Laugh Off' Runner Up 2010 "There's something irresistible about Liam Williams... such a charismatic performer" (Tab) "Great voice, smart gags and a great sense of being right in the moment" (Chortle)
Dannish Babar "Stunning character, originality, confidence... had the crowd captivated" (Varsity) "An unattractive man who did a slow stand-up routine" (Cherwell, Oxford)
Phil Wang "A skilful and hilarious individual" (Varsity)
- December 2010
Bright lights and carousels, screams, swings, and thrills: The Taming of the Shrew is the story of showmen. In Shakespeare's celebrated comedy, it is the 1950s, and a travelling funfair has just rolled into town. On the
surface, it is a dream-world of riches, romance, and riot; but underneath it all lurks the anarchic subculture of these unsettled entertainers, living on the very edge of society. Here, corruption and wickedness
pervade, morality is a mere aberration, and nothing is quite as it seems. But appearances must be kept up, and the show will go on.
As the oldest and most prestigious touring theatre society in Cambridge, ETG tours a Shakespearean play, along with full set and professional lighting and sound equipment, around Europe by coach for just over two weeks each December as soon as Michaelmas term has finished. Full details of the tour and what it entails can be found at www.cuetg.co.uk.
- December 2010
Imagine literally as many rats as you can imagine. Now imagine they’ve all brought a plus one. You’ve just imagined the situation in old Hamelin town. The bumbling Mayor and his lederhosened lackies are powerless to stop them, until an eccentric and mysterious trouble-shooter – known as the Pied Piper – shows up.
The Piper amazes all with his rat removal skills. But when the Mayor refuses to stump up, the Piper takes his revenge by stealing all the town’s children! Hamlin’s only hope lies in a plucky, young hero and his ramshackle alliance, who together must brave the trail to the Pied Menace’s secret lair in Koppelberg Hill…
The ADC/Footlights Pantomime is the biggest, loudest and funnest show of the year, where Cambridge’s finest comedians, actors and musicians team up to blow a frankly ridiculous budget. So bring all the family along for ein über-Fest of REVELRY, ROMANCE and RODENTS.
- December 2010
Arabian Nights will be a newly devised production based on the ancient stories from India, the Middle East and North Africa of the Thousand and One Nights. In this saga King Sharyar is only prevented from executing his wife because of her extraordinary skill in telling stories, for the king has had a wedding every day followed by an execution the next day since discovering his first wife’s adultery. Every time the executioner comes awaiting the day’s victim, the king is so captivated by his new wife’s thrilling tales that he pardons her for an extra day in order to hear the end of the story. Arabian Nights will be performed by a small ensemble of actors, playing a multitude of characters, bringing to life the weird and wonderful tales and characters of these ludicrous fables in new, witty and imaginative ways.
