- 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.
- November 2010
Could you create a play out of nothing in 24hrs? Come see the best theatrical talent in Cambridge do just that. Five directors, writers, producers, creatives & techies along with twenty five actors will form five groups and put on five new plays. This is the Cambridge version of the concept made famous by the Old Vic, which includes among their previous participants: Jim Broadbent, Joseph Fiennes, Josh Hartnett, Rosamund Pike, Kevin Spacey & Catherine Tate. Last year we were treated to some fantastic comedy and poignant drama, some category winners being offered professional jobs after their phenomenal performances. No one knows what will emerge on stage in the 25th hour, but there can only be one overall winner, as chosen by the intimidating judging panel, and you the audience. What will the groups come up with? No one knows.
- November 2010
“You can’t count on anything. Last time I made love I whiplashed my neck.”
Passing By is a charming romantic comedy about a love between two men whose hearts pull them together as their lives pull them apart.
An intimate and unmissable production of this rarely-performed, heart-warming gem from the pen of the award-winning Martin Sherman (writer of the inspirational Holocaust drama Bent and the mischievous motion picture Mrs Henderson Presents).
“Astonishing... witty, sometimes blissfully silly... moving, touching and sexy.” (Guardian)
“One of the most radical plays ever written. Quirky, funny, touching, romantic and revolutionary. It overturned my life. Perhaps it will do the same for others.” (Simon Callow)
“Witty and passionate.” (Ian McKellen)
“Brilliant.” (Daily Express)
-- Love isn’t forever. Love is just passing by. --
- November 2010
Danny wants to be a dentist. Cathy wants to be famous. And Adam? He just wants to be a part of it all. But Leah is scared. She feels that lately things have been getting out of hand and then something really bad happens.
When a group of teenagers discover tragedy brings harmony to their otherwise fractious lives, where’s the incentive to put things right?
The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club presents their 2010 Freshers’ lateshow: DNA. First performed in the Cottesloe Auditorium of the National Theatre in 2008, it is a poignant and beguiling tale with a very dark heart; a suburban Lord of the Flies for the iTouch generation.
The playwright, Dennis Kelly, won a prestigious Fringe First Award in 2009 for his play 'Orphans' and is best known as the writer of the hit BBC3 sitcom 'Pulling'.
"Grange Hill for the Skins generation." (4 stars, What'sOnStage.com)
- November 2010
The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club presents the finest new talent of the University in its Freshers’ mainshow, Relative Values.
A delightful comedy set in the early 1950's, Noel Coward's masterpiece highlights a delightful collision between starry Hollywood, stiff-upper-lip England and society's view of the perceived differences between the social classes. Havoc reigns when Nigel, the son of the Countess of Marshwood, announces his intention to marry the American actress, Miranda Frayle - to the absolute horror of his mother and servants of the house.
In the best Coward tradition, Relative Values lets the chaos escalate from one farcical turn to another, spurring delicious dialogue, skilful asides and hilarious repartee.
First performed at the time of the Festival of Britain at the Savoy, it ran for over a year, and remains one of Coward’s classic comedies of English manners.
“Wickedly Enjoyable” (Daily Telegraph)
- November 2010
Everything's normal, isn't it? People do break up all the time and it's nothing to get too worked up about. In fact, if there's a party on just after you might as well go to it anyway. Why not? Do you like parties? You know what goes on at parties. How well do you know your friends? How well do you know yourself?
This year's winner of the Marlowe/RSC The Other Prize opens the door to some disturbing guests -- and they're all best friends.
- November 2010
CUMTS are pleased to present RENT, the rock opera by Jonathan Larson, as their 2010 Michaelmas Musical! Based around the story of eight friends living, loving and protesting against poverty and AIDS together in New York in the 1990s, this musical captures the heart and spirit of a generation of struggling artists, addicts, and impoverished young people. Think bohemia. Think power ballads mixed with quiet touching moments. Think hope, despair and eventually triumph. Think RENT.
- November 2010
Have you ever wanted a soundtrack to your life? Come and see what having one is like…
Have you ever wanted a soundtrack to your life, Ever found that perfect song for that special moment? We have too. Here is a montage of scenes inspired by, written for and with, directed and performed to those wonderful pieces of music.
Come and see the work of Cambridge’s most impressive writers, directors and actors. Each has chosen a song that inspires them somehow. It might make them laugh, cry, shout and rage, or it may be their favourite morning radio tune. Together they have crafted scenes to the music, filled with people you could meet on any street, in any house; they could even be you. The characters live a moment beautifully set to music, music that becomes the soundtrack to their lives.
To live these moments with them, come and experience Soundtrack to your Life.
- November 2010
Set in Belfast during the 1994 world cup, A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER follows Kenneth Norman McCallister, a Protestant Dole Clerk working in Northern Ireland who has quietly discriminated against Catholics his whole life. One Night in November he reluctantly finds himself at a crucial Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland football match and what he sees there makes him question the very beliefs he was raised with. Join him on his hilarious and poignant journey of self discovery as he challenges the sectarian dogma of his family and friends, leaves Belfast, crosses the border for the first time in his life, boards a flight into the unknown and tries to discover what it means to both Protestant and Irish.
- November 2010
The nature of war never changes, but war always changes the natures of those who have to wage it.
In the trenches of France in 1918, Captain Dennis Stanhope and his troops have been dramatically altered by their years of constant fighting in the worst conditions imaginable. Whilst still a fine leader, Stanhope finds that he cannot get through the day without whisky. Warfare has shattered his nerves to the point of collapse, yet he still carries on. Until an old school friend arrives in his dugout. Young Raleigh, who looked up to Stanhope as a role model and future brother-in-law, cannot fathom the changes that have occurred in his old hero. And Stanhope is terrified that Raleigh might just tell his family back home about the depths that Stanhope has fallen to. But with the Germans ready to attack any day, will there be any time left for either of them?
- October 2010
From Adam Lawrence ('undoubted talent' Varsity) and Phil Wang ('skillful and hilarious' Varsity) comes a TV show like no other, in that it's not technically on TV. Join the Life Doctor as he endeavours to fix the problems of three unfortunate participants. There will be laughs, there will be dramatic entrances, there will be product placement. This October, laughter certainly is the best medicine.
- October 2010
In deepest Mississippi, a storm is brewing. It’s Big Daddy Pollitt’s sixty-fifth birthday. His family have flocked to his forty-thousand acre plantation to celebrate. But they know something he doesn’t...
Since its Pulitzer Prize-winning premier and the motion picture starring screen legends Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, this searing razor-sharp examination of sex, lies and a family on the brink of collapse has been universally acknowledged as a modern classic. Now – hot on the heels of an Olivier award-winning West End revival – we present some of Cambridge’s finest talent in a fresh rethinking of this hilarious, sensuous masterpiece.
“Irresistible, stunning, superb theatre.” (New York Times)
“Dark laughter mingled with deep pain – a harrowing, blackly comic drama of dysfunctional family life.” (Telegraph)
-- I'm not living with you. We occupy the same cage, that’s all. --
- October 2010
‘I would rather have lost my legs, pulled out my teeth, gouged out my eyes, than lost my love.’
4.48 Psychosis, the final and most experimental play from controversial writer Sarah Kane, takes a look at love through the eyes of someone suffering from depression. At times more like poetry than play-text, events and thoughts are brought together to form a painfully honest tale of the darker side of desire, peppered with even darker humour. Disordered snapshots offer an intimate glance into the experience of fear, desperation and relentless hope caused by unrequited love, in a rare naturalistic interpretation of the play. This production explores the feeling that it might be worse to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, in this most dark, beautiful and unconventional of love stories.
‘You don’t need a friend you need a doctor.’
‘You are so wrong.’
- October 2010
Lights Camera Action!
The lights are on and the cameras are rolling for the latest exploits of Cherry and Blossom.
Witness the highs and lows of Hollywood life as the pair try and make it to the big screen. With song, dance and laughs along the way, the girls will take you on a tour of the golden age of Hollywood: from the melodrama of the silent screen to the opulence of the period drama, from the suspense-filled Film Noir to the joy-filled fifties musical.
Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be the cinema-trip of your life.
All right Cambridge, the girls are ready for their close-up
- October 2010
"The fires will be burning in Udaipur tonight..."
The British Raj in India is coming to an end. In the twilight of history, an entrenched colonial family prepares its last supper.
Eve has been missing all day. On the eve of James’ departure for England, the family gathers for a final farewell. Tempers fray as the oppressive heat of day climaxes in the stifling darkness of the Indian night. Someone is harbouring a dark secret. Outside, a storm is brewing. This poignant snapshot of a decaying empire is a pertinent reminder of the bonds of family, the power of love, and the struggle for identity that burns within.
"Nothing is ever really yours here. No matter how many times we stamp things, nothing is really British."
Patrick Garety’s lyrical new play comes to the ADC in a haunting and evocative production which celebrates the fervour of youth, and how the choices of a moment can shape our lives.
