This year’s CUADC Publicist sat down with members of the four Freshers' Plays this year to hear about the process of putting on a show in Cambridge for the first time.
The Freshers Plays are shows put on in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term where everyone involved in every production is a 'Theatre Fresher', which means that they have never participated in a production in Cambridge as a student before. This provides a great opportunity for beginners to take part and receive training and support from older students, but also a great challenge to put together a complete show in a very short timeframe.
The CUADC ADC Theatre Mainshow Serious Money is being produced by Barash Tunahan, who described the process of putting on a show as ‘satisfyingly stressful’ as the turnaround period for the shows is a mere four weeks. From first impressions of the ADC Theatre as ‘amazingly big and amazingly overwhelming,’ Barash described the delight of working with the Serious Money cast and crew and feeling the support from the wider Cambridge Theatre community.
Serious Money by Caryl Churchill is on at the ADC Theatre at 7:45pm from 14-18th November, come along and see the result of the strong cast and crew of 28!
The CUADC Playroom Mainshow is Almost, Maine and the Lighting Designer Jude Hughes shared an insight into learning about tech at the playroom for the first time. Through some initial workshops run by CUADC and lots of practice with the lighting desk, Jude talked about coming up with creative solutions for the lighting that the show needs, and making the most of both the opportunities and challenges that come with the lighting set up at the playroom. Lily Butler (Producer) contributed that she found getting to know new people and watching everyone collaborate to create the show has been the most fun part of the process, and that everyone has grown as a group which has really helped to bring the show together!
Almost, Maine by John Cariani is on at the Corpus Playroom at 7pm from 14-18th November, buy your tickets to see how the team have reimagined the space for their production!
Party is the CUADC Playroom Lateshow, a show about a group of young people who create a new political party to try and save the world from itself. Cast member Martha Alexander spoke about how while she found the initial process of sending in a video audition quite stressful, she found the recall audition had a good friendly atmosphere. She also shared how much the cast of the show are similar to their characters and that they’ve all bonded as a tight-knit group surprisingly quickly! Director Tom Barry echoed the same ideas; trying to match the pace of the rapid deadlines has been tough but the rehearsal process has been quite relaxed with a lot of fantastic people coming together to create a show they can all be proud of.
Party by Tom Basden is on at the Corpus Playroom at 9:30pm from 14-18th November. The show’s director Tom Barry thinks ‘it’s quite good’ so you should definitely come and see if you think this is the case as well!
And last but not least is Beyond Today by Roseanna Dunn, the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society Freshers' Musical in the ADC Lateshow slot. Catching the Musical Director, Spencer Boya, Assistant Musical Director, Gabriel Owens, and Drummer, Norah Rouffaert, between rehearsals, they laughed about the chaotic nature of putting on a show so quickly but seemed confident that their cast and band will be ready in time, especially due to the open mindedness of the show's Composer. They all were enjoying working on an original piece of work so it’s really exciting to think of the first audiences seeing it in a few days' time.
The CUMTS Freshers Musical, Beyond Today, by Roseanna Dunn is on 15-18th November at the ADC Theatre at 11pm, and you can get your tickets now!
Book Tickets for the Freshers' Musical
To conclude, all four Freshers' Plays are on this week, so why not buy tickets to see some great shows and support the newest generation of students. If you book tickets to multiple Frehsers' Shows in one transaction, you will automatically get 20% off at the checkout. So what are you waiting for- tickets are available now on the ADC Website.