- October 2018
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).
- October 2018
'I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia.'
Virginia Woolf meets Vita Sackville-West, the socialite wife of an eminent politician and 'pronounced Sapphist', one evening in the 1920s and before long they embark upon one of the most high profile of love-affairs in the literary world. Vita finds Virginia admirable and enigmatic. Virginia finds Vita intimidating but alluring. Both members of the Bloomsbury set, they share a love of language, of letter-writing, and of each other.
'Vita & Virginia' documents the notorious relationship between these extraordinary women as they experienced it over the course of twenty years. Adapted from the correspondence of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Eileen Atkins' careful composition of the blossoming romance is witty, tender, and utterly charming.
- October 2018
'It’s I who decides who my patients think they are. I know them far better than they know themselves.’
Murder is just the background at the private sanatorium, Les Cerisiers. The investigation into a nurse’s murder reveals not one of the patients is quite what they seem. Everyone is hiding a dangerous secret and all are drawn into an increasingly dangerous game to protect it and themselves.
Questioning the nature of sanity, the role of science and ‘expertise’ in society, and the responsibilities governments and individuals have to each other, The Physicists is a satire that puts our concepts of society under the microscope.
- October 2018
It’s thicc, white, and gets a bit greasy if left out in the sun too long… that’s right; it’s a seamless description of both the egg-based condiment Mayonnaise, and of the chicken-nugget-based English student Amaya Holman.
Putting the “hot” in potato salad and the “hell” into hellmanns, ‘amayonnaise’ will be a saucy (and slightly surreal) hour of solo standup comedy and song, chatting about mental health, body image, growing up, and the complex relationship between a young woman and her condiments.
Previous Praise for Amaya:
“laughs” - Varsity
“10/10” - A Dentist, on the number cavities Amaya had acquired since her last bi-annual check up
“She is persistently late, and oughtn't blot her scholarly reputation for want of an accurate watch” - camCORS
“big bobbies” - Man On Tinder
- October 2018
Bella and Will shot to fame in the noughties after they won smash-hit TV show ‘DUETS!’. But a decade on, Bella’s losing her voice, Will’s losing his religion, and neither of them can lose those extra pounds. Under the mysterious threat of an anonymous text, can they prove that they’ve still got it?
‘Reverse Cowgirl’ is a comedy about a pop-star double-act who have lost everything but each other. With nothing left but pride, can they take back the reins?
- October 2018
Three short(ish) plays about family - and food. From the writer of 'The Arm in the Cat Flap' ("trod the lines of silliness, sharp wit and poignancy with nothing less than brilliance and flare", ★★★★★ - TCS; "Geelan is an abundantly talented writer. He has an innate skill in finding the right balance of the bizarre without ever tipping it over the edge", ★★★★½ - Varsity).
HAM: Flo has made her stage debut as Mr Smee in a community centre production of 'Peter Pan'. She hopes for a civilised post-show family meal at a nice restaurant, hopes that her three narcissistic siblings might get along, and that for this one night at least, just a sliver of the attention might fall on her.
EGG: Jennifer and Georgia’s brunch party take an unexpected turn, as the dark details of their guests’ marriage are laid bare over scrambled eggs. (‘Highly Commended’ by the panel of professional judges at the Downing Festival of New Writing; “A sparklingly witty farce” - TCS)
CHIPS: When Liam’s dad dies, his career-driven mum now faces the mammoth task of making him dinner each night. They eat frozen chips, watch TV, and try to get to know each other.
★★★★½ - The Tab
"As a collection, Ham, Egg and Chips fits together like a dream. With abundant laughs and a big heart, this is joyous familial theatre at its finest."
https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2018/10/03/review-ham-egg-and-chips-114152
- October 2018
Remember that girl you fell in love with once? Remember how complex she was? And how you could never cure her, but her lack of character arc helped yours progress in the long run? Well, guess what. HERE SHE IS.
Ania Magliano (Funny Women Regional Finalist 2018, Chortle Student Comedy Award Semifinalist 2018) presents her debut solo show, exploring what it is like to grow up in a world that bases your worth on whether people fancy your or not. She hopes it will be funny, explorative, innovative and most of all that someone might think she’s fit.
- September 2018
"We should talk." From the master playwright of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" comes a double-bill of Homelife and The Zoo Story: stories of attempting to establish real human contact. They are stories of both kindness and cruelty, where what is gained is also lost. Come see the play that the New York Times described as “an essential and heartening experience….The Zoo Story is infused with a young man’s frustration and hormonal energy, while Homelife is the product of an older, more contemplative mind….If Homelife is an openhanded slap, The Zoo Story is a gut punch with a closed fist.”
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd.
- September 2018
Three one-act comedy plays. And sausages. From the wild west, a spooky undertaker, to a superhero retirement party.
- September 2018
- August 2018
"I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely..."
Sixteen years of waiting. Three thousand miles to cross. One story, waiting to be told.
Prospero has waited through years and across oceans. The loss of her Dukedom in Milan and the betrayal of her brother cannot go unpunished. But as the storms of old politics rise again, lovers take their first embrace and fools plot murder, the clock is ticking - and for Prospero to succeed even spirits above and monsters below must have what they desire.
Gather around our light, and let us tell you the story of Prospero's life.
- August 2018
Two meetings Two noses Two nationalities Two women Two clowns: Biscotte (French) and Margareth (English). A delightfully educational, horrendously challenging intercultural relationship.
- July 2018
Two parallel realities find Finola alternately setting up home with DIY enthusiast Matt and exploring the world with adventurer Nick. Whichever lifestyle she has found herself drawn into, Finola wonders if she could have cut her cake without it crumbling. This innovative new play, with its interwoven simultaneous plots, is the work of writer, Julia Bolden and director, Richard McNally, both active members of WRiTEON - The Cambridge Scriptwriting Forum. In 2016, Richard directed the critically acclaimed Butterfly Effect, of which Julia was one of the nine writers
- July 2018
- July 2018
The Darling family children receive a visit from Peter Pan, who takes them to Never Never Land where an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook is taking place.
- July 2018
Inspired by and including Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio broadcast based on the novel by H. G. Wells
An alien invasion throws humanity into chaos in the classic sc-fi novel The War of the Worlds, but all it took to cause real-life panic in the streets was Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation, which listeners took for news. In the days following the broadcast, widespread outrage was expressed in the media. The programme's news-bulletin format was described as deceptive. Now, ten years later, the WBFR radio ensemble recreates the events surrounding the infamous evening, including the full original broadcast. Complete with commercials and sound effects, this radio-play-within-a-radio-play is an homage to the form's golden age and a timely reminder of what fear can do to a society.
- July 2018
All office fire wardens Baxter, Lisa and Kirsty want is a little danger. They soon start to wonder... what if there was an actual fire?
- June 2018
A heist built from your suggestions. What will we steal? How will we steal it? It's all up to you!
- June 2018
Immigration, immigration, immigration. No, you haven’t stumbled across Nigel Farage having a stroke on Question Time. Instead we’re here to discuss the show that would induce said stroke: SECOND-GENERATION.
SECOND-GENERATION is a sketch show that will look at the trials and tribulations of living between multiple cultures in Modern Britannia.
This sketch-show will showcase the hilarity that ensues as cultures mix and showcase some fabulous Cambridge talent.
- June 2018
It's May 1997. Tony Blair has won the election and Katrina and the Waves have won Eurovision. Channel 5 is a month old. No one knows who Harry Potter is. Britain is the coolest place in the world.
At the local secondary school it's a different story. Miss Belltop-Doyle can't control her year 10s, Mr Pashley has been put in charge of a confiscated tamagotchi and Miss Turner is hoping that this muck-up day goes smoother than the last. Tobias, the German language assistant, watches on. Things can only get better.
Education, Education, Education is The Wardrobe Ensemble's love letter to the schools of the 90s and asks big questions about a country in special measures, exploring what we are taught and why, and where responsibility lies.
- June 2018
A parable of poetry from across history and around the world, all focused on one animal - the cat. Graceful, wondrous, wild, weird, vicious, cruel, kind - cats have a little of everything, which might explain why humanity is so ambivalent towards them! This performance of poetry and short fiction follows humanity's treatment of this animal from amoral innocence to experienced compassion. It's playful, it's silly - but watch out, it's got claws.
- June 2018
If you are reading this then I implore you to stop now and read no further. For if you are in a chipper mood, or even just mildly content, I fear there would be nothing more dampening to your happy life than to see this show. Our story follows a group of innocent children who have just lost their parents in a terrible accident. I wish I could tell you that these orphans were relocated to a new home with a loving guardian where they lived happily ever after, but I am afraid I cannot. For if you have ever lived in the real world, as I have, you would find it a most improvable place - A phrase which here means a place where Improvisers make up very funny drama on the spot from audience suggestions. Their scenes will tell the tale of poor orphans, quirky guardians, secret organisations, hidden conspiracies and dastardly villains. Oh no, do not go and see this show... for it is sure to be A Series of Improv-able Events.
- June 2018
“I dreamt about this last night. I dreamt that I was packing boxes in boxes in boxes.”
Dean is housebound, compelled by his severe obsessive compulsive disorder to repeat meticulous rituals and reach self-set targets. His sister, Tamsin, has her own unrealistic quotas to meet: working on a zero-hour contract in a warehouse, packing boxes for hours on end to provide for them both. When Dean is wrongly declared fit for work, the pressure increases as their benefits are cut. Suddenly their strength and relationships are tested to the absolute limit, as the demands put on them to keep their heads above water go from being almost unreachable to completely impossible.
Winner of the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Katherine Soper's Wish List is ‘a quietly essential and moving play' that tenderly enforces the essentiality of love when you’re trapped in a system that’s seems to be set against you.
This production will be collecting donations for Mind CPLS, a local charity that provides services which offer support for those recovering from mental health challenges, promote positive mental health and tackle mental health-related stigma and discrimination within our communities.
- June 2018
Alex can talk to ants, he got to the semi-final of season 2 of CBBC's Bamzooki, and he knows the guy who wrote 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' (shout out to you Eric). But no one knows any of these things, as Alex finds it hard to talk in social situations. Even worse, there seems to be a mysterious Narrator constantly pointing out his flaws and failures. Watch as Alex takes on surreal characters to express himself, battles The Narrator and struggles to find a voice of his own.
Join Footlight and Chortle Student Comedy Award 2018 finalist Alex Franklin in his debut one-man show for an hour of narrative comedy with a heart. Expect strange characters, sketch, dance, and Neil Buchanan from Art Attack.
“Light-hearted, gloriously silly and really very funny.” - ***** Varsity
'The second game was more one-sided than the first, with Oxford’s jungler wreaking havoc while Franklin, arguably Cambridge’s best player in the first was unable to stave off a number of two-on-one attacks early on.' - Varsity (4-1 loss)
"This prized Salmon himself is played by Alex Franklin. He excels in this role." - ****1/2 Sam Brown
- May 2018
Women. What are they good for? Creating an hour of hilarious character comedy for your enjoyment at the Corpus Playroom, of course! You saw The Man Presents: Women and The Man Presents: More Women. You loved them both. Now it's time for The Man Presents: Even More Women! If you like 'acerbic feminist comedy' (The Tab), you're in for a bloomin' treat!
The Man Presents Even More Women is a showcase of Strong Female Characters who have a story to tell. This night of comedy monologues will exhibit some of Cambridge's finest talent and this time there's a twist - no man. We concluded that even one man on stage was One Too Many so this time the narrative is left up to The Women. Who knows what might happen? We certainly don't. But it will probably involve A LOT of laughs. And maybe an elk.
This is Good Girls, Written Bad(ly).
★★★★½ - The Tab
Got a bad case of boredom and misogyny? The women will see you now.
- May 2018
“Do you know, all the time you were away, I didn't have one telephone call. I consider that very frightening.”
In the office of a London University, lecturer Ben Butley is slowly destroying his relationships with everyone around him. Over the course of a day, he wriggles out of responsibility, both professional and personal, filling the ever-growing silence around him with childhood nursery rhymes.
Jealously. Bitterness. Beatrix Potter. Simon Gray’s dark comedy explores the real dangers of toxic masculinity through the study of one day in the life of a flailing academic.
- May 2018
Meatball is a brand new hour of brutally honest comedy from Footlights regular Emma Plowright covering growing up, FOMO and spherical meat. Blurring the line between what you should say outloud and what you should just think on a bus and then take to your grave, Meatball is an hour of SSRI-induced highs and anxiety-ridden lows.
Previous Praise for Plowright:
'singular ability to make the banal and bizarre bits that make up our everyday lives, and, in particular, adolescence, into something utterly hilarious.’ – (★★★★½, Varsity)
'characteristically and presciently hilarious' – (★★★★½, Varsity)
- May 2018
there is an instinctive revulsion against taking a human life
and that revulsion lies in our hearts
and that revulsion can be conquered
video game designer paul has created ‘Killology’ - a game where players are rewarded if they kill their opponents in the most tortuous and creative way possible.
when teenager Davey gets brutally murdered in ways not dissimilar to those in the game, who’s to blame?
flittering between three monologues, gary owen’s “deeply troubling” ‘killology’ examines the relationship between violence, masculinity, fatherhood, representation, and blame in the 21st century, and poses deeply challenging questions about desensitisation and technology
first performed at the royal court in 2017 to rave reviews, killology is a visceral and harrowing piece of new writing
- May 2018
‘I’ve got to try right? Because we’ve tried everything else.’
Young mum Kat is a woman on a mission, but when she kisses her daughter goodbye one morning no one could have anticipated the consequences - least of all herself. Unable to comprehend her actions, Tommy, Catherine and Jo each try to pick up the pieces - but, as the years go by, should Kat concede all her bridges have been burned?
Winner of a Bruntwood Prize Judges Award in 2015, Parliament Square is a dazzling exploration of family, fantasy, and what it takes to change the world - and how far one woman will go to light that spark.
- May 2018
‘University Challenged’ is a new quiz gameshow format taking elements of University Challenge, QI, Just A Minute, Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You to take a comical look at the nature of knowledge. Two teams battle it out over a series of rounds based on the impossibility for most people of answering the kind of questions on University Challenge. The humour is derived from the ignorance of specialist fields of the contestants versus the difficulty of the questions, forcing them to substitute humorous answers. The teams are comprised of four comedians, changing each night. A Jeremy Paxman-esque host oversees events and rips into people accordingly.
From the makers of Speechless and Pearly Gates, 'University Challenged' is the perfect antidote to the drudgery of revision term intellectualism.
- May 2018
GET IN LINE FOR…… QUEUE! A brand new freshers' sketch show.
Every day, millions of people around the world join a queue. Here in Britain, we’ll take any opportunity to form an orderly line, whether it be waiting for a ride, a new passport or as a fresher about to be given your first accommodation… queues are filled with wonderful, weird and wacky characters, just waiting to be explored.
Brought to you by a team of budding fresher comedians, it’s time to join the queue to end all queues! Please stay within the allotted area of the Corpus Playroom at 9.30pm, and wait your turn for a fabulous night of fresh, silly and surreal sketches and character comedy!
Cue Queue, where we celebrate the journeys, rather than the destinations and explore one of the funniest concepts in the world and ask burning questions like: seriously, why are 80% of the letters in queue redundant?!
- May 2018
In a campus of a small New England University, Martha and her husband George arrive home from a party at Martha’s father house. Despite it being 2 am the pair are expecting guests for a spot of after-party drinks; the new biology professor and his wife Honey.
As the alcohol flows, the stage is set for a night of drunken debauchery and revelations. George and Martha compete to find new ways to humiliate and fight with one another in front of Nick and Honey. Battle lines are drawn as these unsuspecting guests are dragged into a private hell of a marriage.
Let the games begin.
- May 2018
A night of musical theatre like no other to round off another fantastic year. It's like one of our ever-popular bar nights, only bigger and better! There will be solos, duets, group numbers, and a chance to say goodbye to any leaving CUMTS.
Complete with Corpus Pub, it's guaranteed to be an entertaining night for all!
- May 2018
- May 2018
'I used to have an imagination too, you know.
All it does is get you into trouble.'
Nineteen-year-old science genius Luke finally has some peace to work on the extraordinary box in her living room, holed up in a dingy flat on a near-abandoned Middlesbrough housing estate.
After her unbalanced brother Rob introduces her to a wealthy out-of-towner they're thrown into a dangerous world that threatens to tear the siblings apart and unleash the power inside her invention.
Brilliant Adventures is a fast paced tale of family, addiction and breaking the laws of physics.
- April 2018
Neural Notwerks is back from its alpha run, beta than ever! We've got an all-new set of sketches using more advanced technology than before - we present to you our second showcase of mismatched computerised malapropisms, generated and printed live, on stage, at the Corpus Playroom!
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Neural networks are computer algorithms that can learn from information you feed them, then spit out new material, be it Bible verses, Trump tweets, Star Wars scripts, or anything else with a large enough body of work and a consistent enough style. The problem is, artificial intelligence... isn't all that intelligent. The results are both uncannily right and tragically wrong. Don't worry about Skynet just yet.
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8/10 from TCS
"lively, well-paced, and unexpectedly hilarious"
"the cast was very good and displayed impressive improvisational talent"
"a veritable cornucopia of dirty jokes"
https://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/theatre/0038212-review-neural-notwerks.html
