- December 2015
For one night only!
A dramatic read through of an original script written by a Cambridge student, after which the audience can offer feedback and criticism.
'Lock In'
Control is important for us all.
Yet, what happens when, after “one too many” alcoholic drinks, that control slips away? Who are you after three drinks? Or five? Or ten?
At around midnight on a weeknight, five people lock themselves into a London pub. Three young academics, a brash social-climbing accountant and an unassuming barman. Over the course of the session, they begin to discover who they really are.
Written by Colm Murphy
Directed by Haydn Jenkins
Tickets: £3.
- December 2015
"I’m just the crazy, unreliable narrator of my own story."
Haworth parish hall welcomes you to their weekly ‘Womens Aid’ meetings, held every Wednesday, six ‘til seven.
Featuring: Jane, the woefully under-qualified group leader; Tony, who finds sexual gratification in Channel 4 documentaries; Grace, her warden, who sings karaoke every Friday night; Isabel, whose growing baby bump is struggling to fit behind the Tesco till and Helen, who lives in the hall on the hill and always arrives with paint on her fingers.
See these classic Brontë figures strip off their corsets, break down the attic door and elbow their way in to the twenty-first century.
A dark comedy.
Byronic heroes not invited.
- December 2015
Dancing at Lughnasa is the story of five sisters living a fragile life in rural Ireland in 1936, told through flashbacks of the youngest sister’s illegitimate daughter, Michaela. Though the sisters’ tragic fates are revealed through Michaela's hindsight, the play is lightened by their mutual love and support, shared humour and moments of wild abandon when their erratically functioning radio brings the house to life with sweet blasts of music from a world outside their own.
Into this carefree yet precarious world come their long-lost brother Jack, who has “gone native” after years of missionary work in Uganda; Gerry, Michael’s adventurer father; and the news that their livelihood is threatened by both a changing world and a conservative community.
- November 2015
The Marlowe Society presents Hatch, a showcase of scratch performances of new dramatic and poetic works in progress from the hotbed of Cambridge literary talent.
A fantastic insight into fresh new writing in its infancy, there will be an informal post-show discussion for audience, performers, directors and writers to pick apart the evening’s work.
Hatch is a unique and exciting opportunity to be a part of a writing process.
Previous praise for HATCH throughout the ages:
'The Marlowe Society’s more active presence in Cambridge Theatre is much appreciated when opportunities like Hatch are the result.' Tab, 2015
'Wonderful makes for the most accurate description' TCS, 2014
'dark, alarming, and riveting' TCS, 2013
'Everything about it is just so lovely' Tab, 2012
'a gutsy enterprise' CTR, 2011
- November 2015
It’s 1956 and the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein are having their annual quiche breakfast. Will they be able to keep their cool when Communists threaten their idyllic town?
- November 2015
“I can tell the difference between who I am and a side effect.”
Four people are involved in a failed drugs trial for RLU37, a new anti-depressant created by the international corporate giant, Rauschen Pharmaceuticals. Doctors Toby and Lorna battle with the meaning of depression and the limits of medical science, as they administer the trial in an explosive professional partnership. Tristan and Connie, volunteers on the trial, soon develop a violent love for each other. But they are cannot get past one burning question: is their love ‘real’ or is it induced by the dopamine coursing their veins? Does it matter?
The Effect is a funny, passionate and moving depiction of modern medical science, depression and love.
Winner of Best New Play, Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards 2012.
'This is a provocative and challenging play ... it ends in an edgy gesture of good sense that made me feel like cheering.' - The Independent
'The Effect is a headlong delve into the mysteries of the human brain. And Prebble pulls it off with assurance, tickling our cerebellums in the first half, before tugging on our heartstrings in the second ... heartbreaking ... it has a heart as well as a brain.' - Time Out
- November 2015
Free speech isn't free without having a platform to say whatever you like. So now there is one!*
Five acts, one hour. This is Open Slather.
- November 2015
Panopticon n. A hypothetical prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners can at all times be observed.
Join three experienced Footlights laughter-generators for an evening of paranoid sketch comedy in the cramped and personal panopticon of the Corpus Playroom, where anything is possible and nothing is certain.
Will comedy duo Rob and Tom accept outsider Oliver as one of their number? Will the two halves of the audience put aside their age-old disputes and finally unite in peace? Will the performers use the evening as an excuse to suddenly cut the lights and harvest your organs? No. We promise that won’t happen.
Panopticon is a brand-new sketch show from the cognitive entities that brought you Grizzly, Bafflesmash Presents: Back in the Cellar, The Footlights Harry Porter Prize 2015: Warp Factor, Booby and Bafflesmash Presents: Menagerie.
- November 2015
"He pats her... his patting becomes beating and he continues beating her even though she's screaming..."
Nancy’s existence is on hold until she finds Rhona, her missing 10 year old daughter. Agnetha wonders if her work investigating the minds of criminals is starting to affect her own thoughts. Meanwhile Ralph, sitting on a bench, feels the hot sun on his face, and spies the next little girl he’d like to keep him company for a while. The mother, the academic, and the perpetrator are drawn together, culminating in a shocking confrontation.
Frozen dares to ask whether it’s possible to understand the minds of serial killers, and ultimately to forgive them.
- November 2015
- November 2015
'Who gives a fuck about my insides? Can have a gut full of maggots for all I care, so long as I've got a suntan.'
The eternal tock of the clock is stopped. Lipsticked lips wrinkle and dry. Birds fall and rot and are stuffed and sold in antique shops. And every year, Cougar Glass turns nineteen.
In a dilapidated flat above an abandoned factory in East London, Cougar Glass is preparing for another vodka-soaked, cigarette-smoked celebration. Captain Tock hovers around the exquisite Cougar; plucking his grey hairs, cursing the shrieking birds, craving Cougar’s attention. But Cougar can only think about youth. Cougar is thinking about Foxtrot Darling, a teenager with fragile good looks, who is soon to arrive with his pregnant fiancée - Sherbet Gravel.
Darkly humorous, enthrallingly absurd and unforgivably frank, ‘The Fastest Clock in the Universe’ addresses the ache of ageing, and the destructive potential of our quest for eternal youth.
- November 2015
It's midnight on the Dartford Crossing. Roland settles in for another thrilling night supervising the toll-bridge machines; Andrea's pretty sure she's come to kill herself.
Two strangers on a bridge in the dead of night, a game of dominoes and a value ready meal- Neither of them wants to be there. Both think the other's crazy.
Still, it's nice to have the company.
Free Fall provides a gripping, provocative and darkly humorous insight into desperation, hope and human nature in the modern world.
- November 2015
'I heard y'all talkin' about killin' Momma. I think it's a good idea.'
Dallas, Texas. The Smiths are just like any other American family. 6 grand in debt to drug barons, they hire 'Killer' Joe Cooper, a detective-cum-contract-killer, to murder their estranged matriarch for her sizeable life insurance policy. When Joe demands a rather unusual retainer for his services, a simple plan spirals dangerously out of control.
Explosive, gory and darkly funny, this Southern Gothic pulp classic by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Letts (Bug, August Osage County) has been causing controversy, on stage and screen, since it premiered in 1993.
- October 2015
From the team that brought you the sell out hypnotism show last year, we present The Hypnotist: Séance.
The Corpus Playroom has been transformed into a bridge to the spiritual world, through which the audience can interact with the dead, via The Hypnotist.
Prepare to see, hear and feel the dead in this brand new hypnotism show.
Volunteers, who must be aged 18 or over, can refuse at any point
to continue taking part in the performance.
- October 2015
‘What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure – to experience the world as a dynamic presence – as a changeable interactive thing?’
Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home? This one-person, verbatim play tells the story of Rachel Corrie’s short life and sudden death, from the words she left behind.
The play is by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.
- October 2015
‘That was the trouble with Elyot and me, we were like two violent acids bubbling about in a nasty little matrimonial bottle’
Private Lives is a thrilling and witty comedy not to be missed. A divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, are each on honeymoon with their new spouses, Sybil and Victor. When Elyot and Amanda notice they are honeymooning in adjacent apartments, they realise that they still love each other and decide to run away together. Initially their affair seems to be going well, but with wits as strong as theirs arguments quickly ensue. It is only a matter of time before Sybil and Victor turn up..
- October 2015
The Drury Lane Theatre, after-hours, 1828. Six years after the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and her stepsister Claire - ersatz lover of Lord Byron - reunite in an attempt to salvage their poets' dwindling reputations. Mary has written the truth about their history, and now Claire wants to stage it, perform between them the story of Byron and Shelley. And so, with all due fear, self-indulgence, and dramaturgical fiasco, they begin to do just that.
- October 2015
Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. They are brightly marked and have large, often colourful bills. The name of this bird group is derived from the Tupi word tukana. Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists hypothesize they do to establish dominance hierarchies. A toucan's tongue is long (up to 14–15 cm) adding to its sensitivity as an organ of taste. The colourful and large bill, which in some large species measures more than half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size, the toucan's bill is very light, being composed of bone struts filled with spongy tissue of keratin between them. The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth, which historically led naturalists to believe that toucans captured fish and were primarily carnivorous; today it is known that they eat mostly fruit.
“Toucan” is a world within your imagination.
A new sketch show from Footlights Guy, Sam, Jordan and Theo, who have collectively brought you Cirque De L'Extaordinaire, Pelican, Beluga, Hippo Concerto, Dystopia: The Musical, STIFF! (The Footlights Harry Porter Prize WInner 2014), Amygdala Wonderland, Sunset Eternal, The Marlowe Showcase, The Double, Laughing Fitz, numerous Footlights smokers, and many more.
Previous praise:
Varsity - "Highly original and truly hilarious"
The Tab - "The epitome of bizarre hilarity and joyous absurdity"
TCS - "Has half the audience dancing and the rest laughing"
- October 2015
When one man goes to war he leaves the city, his wife and brother. A year later only the wife and brother remain.
Christopher Shinn's new play asks what happens when people and events apparently thousands of miles away affect the heart and soul of a city.
“A political play and also a psychodrama about what Arthur Miller called the politics of the soul… The finest new American play I’ve seen in a long while” - New York Observer
- September–October 2015
For the ninth consecutive year the Pembroke Players Japan Tour will once again be be visiting Tokyo and Yokohama with a company of some of Cambridge’s finest actors, directors, and technical crew, to perform a Shakespeare play and give educational workshops in schools, theatres and universities.
‘They say this town is full of cozenage…’
Ephesus and Syracuse are in conflict. Any Syracusan found in Ephesus — a city known for disguise, deceit and sorcery — will be condemned to death.
One pair of twin brothers (both called Antipholus), and one pair of twin servants (both called Dromio) are separated at birth. When one Antipholus and one Dromio, both of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, they are thrown into a heady mixture of confusion and chaos: soon realising that in this city, things are definitely not all they seem.
'What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?'
Prepare for an intoxicating, entrancing Comedy of Errors, with live music and a stylish aesthetic inspired by Highsmith and Hitchcock. Enter a world of souks and bazaars, shady merchants, and figures hiding beneath wide-brimmed fedoras, a whirlwind of violent cross-purposes and social disarray, where the consequences of one’s mistakes may prove very dangerous.
‘I’ll say as they say and persever so, / And in this mist at all adventures go.’
- October 2015
Slip on some slippers, leave the kids by the fire, and shimmy yourself down to the Corpus Playroom for another evening of love, chat and laughter with the renowned king of broadcasting.
"...a masterclass in character comedy" - The Tab
- October 2015
...and another one begins.
'Switch' is a brand new sketch show with a dedication to continuity. 'Switch' is a brand new sketch show with a dedication to continuity. But not repetition. Repetition and continuity are evidently not the same thing.
It was once said that every joke is the set up of another - and so it is with sketches. This show aims to prove just how true that entirely fabricated saying is. Every sketch in 'Switch' will start in the exact same position as the previous one finished; performers may switch places, props may switch hands, but the flow of bodily geography will continue on uninterrupted. It will be your one constant, your comfort, and your guide.
BUY TICKETS NOW: https://www.corpusplayroom.com/whats-on/comedy/switch.aspx
One sentence ends...
- October 2015
Beluga whales are highly intelligent marine mammals, who use echolocation to find blowholes under sheets of ice. The echolocation organ is called the melon, because it’s shaped like a melon. Belugas can live for up to 80 years, and are very vocal, communicating through high-pitched sonic songs, giving them the nickname ‘sea-canaries’. A Japanese researcher says he taught a beluga to talk by using these sounds to identify different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to communicate effectively with sea creatures.
“Beluga” is a one-person comedy show by Jordan Mitchell, a cousin of the whales and member of the Footlights.
Buy tickets for Beluga and Hippo Concerto (A Stand-Up Show) and get £2 off. Just enter the promo code: 'WEEK0'
- October 2015
A gritty new drama set aboard Britain’s last hope in a global war. It’s 2030 and the War of Treaties is entering its fourth year, as the disastrous shockwaves of conflict continue to rage across the globe, embroiling nation after nation in an unwinnable conflict. The West lies in ruins, the East equally so, both devastated by the first use of nuclear weapons since 1945. And yet both sides fight on.
A crew of five loyal servicemen and women are manning the control room of Britain’s last surviving nuclear submarine. They’ve been waiting silently in the South China Sea for 7 months, with no communications from London, when disaster strikes and the submarine becomes fatally damaged. With less than an hour to live, the crew must decide what their final act on earth will be. Would you launch the nuclear missiles on board?
The human condition unravels as loyalties and identities breathe and die in the final hour of HMS Salvation, Britain’s last surviving nuclear submarine in the War of Treaties.
- October 2015
Come and join Cambridge Footlight Theo Wethered (Cirque De L’Extraordinaire; The Double; Sunset Eternal: A Stand-Up Show; Pelican; Dystopia: The Musical (A Sketch Show); The RSC Chemistry Olympiad 2012 Silver Award) for a night of comedy at the Corpus Playroom.
Through the medium of stand-up, sketches and humorous stories you’ll be taken on a journey of growing up, pursuing the meaning of life, but more importantly, escaping reality.
Previous praise for Theo:
“A dizzyingly broad array of skills… this was an act that had it all. 5 stars” – The Tab
"Highly original and truly hilarious” 4 stars – Varsity
Buy tickets for Beluga and Hippo Concerto (A Stand-Up Show) and get £2 off. Just enter the promo code: 'WEEK0'
- July–August 2015
- July 2015
Which is your favourite fandom? Does a Baker’s Dozen fit into the TARDIS? Could Satan be defeated by Cards Against Humanity®? Does one ring truly rule them all? Why does dubstep sound like Transformers having sex? If a fangirl implodes and a fanboy explodes, which one will “squee”? Did someone say Loki? What would you do if a fellow survivor told you to look at the flowers? He-Man® asks “What’s going on?” Do you know the answer to these questions, because it’s all geek to me. Thankfully this sketch show will sort your Muggles from your Bronies.
- July 2015
A double bill of plays by Gytha Lodge: Otherwise & Avoidance.
Harry and Hugh both know where they are. But that's about it.
Harry has woken up in a police interview room with no memory of the heavy night before. Trying to prove himself innocent of he-knows-not-what, he begins to bring his patchy memories to life. But his attempts begin to unravel when his characters won't play ball, and he becomes desperate when it's revealed that the crime they want him for is murder.
For Hugh, moving into a new flat was simply a means to a new job. But all is not straightforward. An unexplained hole in the floor is swallowing increasing numbers of things, beginning with a pot-plant named Nigel.
Two darkly comic plays; two missing weekends; two struggles to find the truth. But is the truth worth it if it will tear everything apart?
Praise for What Really Happened at the Weekend:
**** “An excellent and ambitious production... My attention was held throughout the 55 minutes, and this fact alone speaks loudly for both the story and the production.” – Catherine Meek, FringeGuru, on Otherwise.
**** "A tight, clever production of a twisted, dazzling, roller-coaster script.” – ThreeWeeks, on Otherwise.
“An intelligent and amusing play with an element of truth/dare and surprise, exploring an existential theme.” – NDFA One Act Playwriting Competition judges on Avoidance.
“A suspenseful, heart-in-mouth production: perfectly cast, and acted with real smarts and intensity.” – Mike McCahill, The Sunday Telegraph, on Otherwise.
- June 2015
A sketch show about everything you learn in your history books...or is it? History is usually written by the victors, but this time it's being written by losers. Literally.
- June 2015
WEEK 7 CORPUS LATESHOW
9:30 PM
The Well Of The Saints is a play in three acts by J.M. Synge. Drawing from sources as diverse as French Farce and Irish Folklore, Synge tells the story of two blind beggars, who have their sight restored, only to discover they might not like what they see. A rare opportunity to see a playwright performed who Samuel Beckett described as a 'profound influence'.
BOOK TICKETS NOW: https://www.corpusplayroom.com/whats-on/drama/the-well-of-saints.aspx
- June 2015
In the hilariously tragic confines of one small room in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, four people are waiting for the end to come. Hamm presides over all, blind and chair-bound, while his degenerating servant Clov tends to the pointless tasks that make up their routine and define their existence.Within two dustbins live the cripples Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s parents, completing one of the most bizarre quartets in theatre.
Bleak monotony, cutting wit, physical comedy and profound insights into human life merge together in this fantastic picture of the ending process. Tears and laughter are mutually dependent, a combination best summarised, as is the play itself, by Nell: ‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness’. Probing the darkest depths of what it means to be human, Beckett’s Endgame is a comic exposition of all our hopes and fears in the face of death.
- June 2015
You remember it well.
That sinking feeling before the interview, the panicked flick through the thesaurus to make yourself sound clever, the misconceptions, the self-doubt, the sexual confusion, the deceit, the vodka.
Being a fresher was never easy.
So why not cure that post-exam hangover by forcing yourself to re-live those equally horrendous and hilarious moments in ‘The Fresher Sketch Show: Revue of the Year’
We bring you the freshest and newest of Cambridge comedy talent, so come along and indulge.
- May 2015
Love is undeniably the most potent force known to humanity. The Ancient Greeks had many different words to describe its plentiful forms. Through seven of the most powerful words this compelling new play explores contemporary interconnected stories set in Cambridge.
Heart-warming moments demonstrate how love can keep a couple together despite age and sickness, or bind a family together unconditionally. Meanwhile, burning passion and love-sick intensity threatens to tear lovers apart and bring their lives to ruin. In moving scenes, one woman finds out if the mindfulness she teaches can actually help her through a silent crisis.
This riveting play reminds us of the importance of having empathy for humanity and how we are unified through our shared experience as human beings. The play has been written by a team of seven writers and was developed using a devising process.
- May 2015
Erik is a boy whose life has always been defined by violence. With an abusive stepfather at home, and his position as ringleader for a gang of abusive boys, it seems he cannot escape from it. After a heist gone wrong, his headmaster calls him in, accusing him of being the leader of a terror-regime, and states “You are evil, people like you must be destroyed…”
Erik is then shipped off to the exclusive, expensive Sveaborg boarding school, thinking he is given the change to reinvent himself, to lead a new way of life. But the Student Council and their regime of demeaning and degrading humiliation and principles of “responsibility for each others’ upbringing and discipline” soon test all of Erik’s patience and faith. Their cruelty seems to know no bounds, and seems to have no opposition.
Can you resist evil without resorting to evil yourself? Does doing evil things make you evil, or is it the other way around? This chilling production will make you question the very nature of “the evil”.
- May 2015
Maureen lives with her aged mother, Mag, in rural Galway, Ireland. The tensions in their damp kitchen simmer and sizzle like the porridge which rattles away on the stove. There are strange folk songs on the radio and a suspicious smell in the sink that might be related to Mag's urine infection.
A possible escape for Maureen means abandonment for Mag which she won't be accepting lying down. After twenty years in the old house, things are finally coming to a head.
Romantic, uproarious, and terrifying, The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a comedy of mothers, daughters, and lovers which has twisted and curdled.
- May 2015
Ageing denizens of Cambridge comedy Milo Edwards and Charlie Palmer are joined by some of their favourite comedians who are soon to leave the warm bosom of Cambridge for the bleak wastes of the outside world, also known as Dalston.
Join them for an hour of laughter, reminiscences and mourning for the loss of youth. Free tissues will be provided.
