- February 2009
The inmates are waiting. Nothing happens.
Time meanders. There are floors to clean, letters to write, time to spend in isolation. The rule is: ‘No Talking’. Friendships appear, develop and fail, briefly. The institution staff organise a Film Night, and the inmates watch the films. Nothing happens.
But then, at night, the inmates dream. We see flashes of daydreams and nightmares; of a time when they can leave their silent, monochrome world and escape into music.
With a score written and provided live by The Staircase Band (as seen in Suitcase Cabaret and the Gnädiges Fräulein), Film Night is a new piece of theatre using barely any words. Silent and still scenes contrast with vivid musical flashes, offering glimpses into the existence of the institutionalised, told through whispers and movement.
- November 2008
Take my hand and I'll lead you through the dark.
A theatrical journey for one.
Email sunkendeep@googlemail.com to reserve a space, stating which day you would like to attend.
- November 2008
'There is no holding back or reserve in the East End of youth as I remember... you lived for the moment and vitally held it... you said what you thought and did what you felt.' - Steven Berkoff
Berkoff's East follows the violent and lustful exploits of Mike and Les as they crash through the East End and the lives of those around them, competing for the affections of Sylv whilst Mum and Dad fight over the t.v. as their relationship disintegrates. This exciting production seeks to breathe new life into the play by combining a gritty, urban realism with Berkoff's special combination of speech, movement and spectacle.
- October 2008
One-off performance of the award-nominated production fresh from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe '08. Olivier Award-winning writer Debbie Tucker Green's Stoning Mary weaves together three eerily familiar storylines; sandwiched between adverts in our newspapers, lost amongst celebrities on our television screens, these are the lives of the voiceless, their stories too long unheeded and unheard. With bristling urgency, Green gives utterance to these vital stories and events jerk vividly to life, rendered fresh, immediate and incisive in this startling and thought-provoking play. Bursting onto the stage with raw energy, ringing with Green’s stark, percussive poetry, and gripping the audience with witty characters and fast-paced narrative, this is a show not to be missed!
"full of sharp observations about a violent and uncaring world" - Times "a linguistic gift" - Michael Billington, Guardian
- April 2008
Rachel and Peter are seventeen. They have been going out for six months and its love’s young dream. Then Rachel gets ill. She doesn’t want her mum to fuss; she doesn’t want Alice to pretend to be her best friend; and she certainly doesn’t want Alice’s boyfriend telling bad jokes at her bedside. The only person she wants is Peter, but Peter doesn’t know what he wants. 'When You Cure Me' is a bittersweet and poignant tale of love and misunderstanding, a story about discovering that what you say and do can be very different from what you think and feel.
- March 2008
“ I did not kill my father, but sometimes I felt I had helped him on his way. And but for the fact that his death coincided with a landmark in my own physical growth, his death seemed insignificant compared with what followed. He was a frail, irascible, obsessive man with yellowish hands and face. I am only including the little story of his death to explain how my sisters and I came to have such a large quantity of cement at our disposal.”
In the relentless summer heat, four abruptly orphaned children retreat into a shadowy, isolated world, and find their own strange and unsettling ways of fending for themselves. McEwan’s first novel is a excellent and honest portrayal of childhood, adulthood and sexuality. His narrative veers from the real to the surreal and is always unforgettably subjective. FallOut aims to create a theatre adaptation that does not simply reproduce the novel in a new medium, but to create a response to the work, finding the possibilities inherent in the literature that can be unlocked by the workings of the stage.
- June 2007
"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty According to my bond; no more nor less."
- March 2007
The Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio in collaboration with Clare Actors invites submissions of original works for theatre to be performed in the Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio (closing date for submissions: Friday 2nd February)
from: writers, directors, actors, and theatre-makers of all kinds.
3 days of original performance work by undergraduates and professional theatre practitioners
The Miscellaneous Theatre Festival will also include forum discussions, and a live-performance cabaret event in Clare Cellars. £100 top prizes to most original writing and direction.
Please indicate into which of the following three categories you would like to submit work (you may submit as many pieces as you wish ):
SHORT PIECES A complete dramatic piece, between 5 and 30 minutes in length.
FRAGMENTS beginnings, rough outlines, impossible projects, sketches, disjecta, between 3 and 15 minutes in length.
REWORKINGS Pieces which draw heavily upon the works of others, reworked, re-presented, cut-up or derived, between 5 and 30 minutes in length.
All submissions should be submitted via email or in hard copy to: Jeremy Hardingham, Drama Studio Manager, English Faculty, 9 West Road, Cambridge / jh580@cam.ac.uk
- January 2007
In conjunction with Amnesty International peripheral vision, a devised and fully collaborative project incorporating an exciting range of media from film and testimony to poetry and music, will look at the experience of displacement in the twenty-first century.
- November 2006
Beginning with a prepared reading of the 'Circe' section of Ulysses by James Joyce, a series of 8 workshops explore the difficulties for performance which this and other texts throw up, culminating in a public performance
- November 2006
- March 2005
- February 2005
INTRODUCING THE THEATRE OF TOM MURPHY: a round-table discussion with live
scenes from the theatre of an Irish outsider.
Introducing a mini-season of Tom Murphy’s plays in Cambridge, we would like
to invite you to a round-table discussion of his work on Monday the 28th of
February, at 5 pm in the English Faculty Drama Studio (Sidgwick Site). The
round-table will provide a general introduction to his work and place in
contemporary Irish theatre, with more detailed presentations and
discussions of live scenes from The Morning After Optimism (2-6th March,
10.30pm, Fitzpatrick Hall) and Bailegangaire (8-12th March, 10.30pm,
Pembroke New Cellars).
The speakers will be Dr Deana Rankin, Yvonne McDevitt, Liliane Campos and
Saraid Dodd. The discussion will be informal and all are welcome to take
part: no prior knowledge of Murphy is necessary!
‘On the Outside…’ Dr Deana Rankin, Fellow of Girton College, will introduce
Murphy and his position as an outsider in Irish theatre.
‘The Impact of EXILES (1912) by James Joyce on Tom Murphy’ Yvonne McDevitt,
director and Judith E. Wilson Fellow, will take a look at Joyce’s influence
on Murphy’s work.
‘A Theatre of Voices: voice acts and speech acts in Murphy’s Bailegangaire’
Liliane Campos, director of Bailegangaire, will analyse the tension between
voice and language in Murphy’s work. A short scene from Bailegangaire will
be performed for discussion.
‘The Morning After Optimism: should we show it to children?’ Saraid Dodd,
director of The Morning After Optimism, will give a director’s view on the
play. A short scene from The Morning After Optimism will be performed for
discussion.
