The play Stuart: A Life Backwards has raised over three thousand pounds for the homeless.

In total, the play raised £3,243 through a number of initiatives: a sponsored sleep-out on the weekend of the 21st January by the cast and crew, requests for donations from audience members on the doors, and a donation to equal to 50 per cent of ticket profits from Corpus Christi dramat society the Fletcher Players.

The play focuses on Stuart Shorter, a ‘chaotic homeless’ who lived in Cambridge. The book detailing Stuart’s life was written by his friend Alexander Masters, who attended St Edmund’s college. The book was adapted into a play by Jack Thorne, who graduated from Pembroke. It has also been converted into a TV film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy.

Speaking to Varsity, Tom Bevan, the producer of the play, said: “We are thrilled at the amount of money and awareness we were able to raise through the project, and would like to thank everyone who supported our efforts or came to the show. A number of the team plan to continue with arts and drama workshops at both Wintercomfort and Jimmy's next term.”

Helping the homeless?

He talked of the ways in which the experience had positively affected those involved in the play, saying: “Theatre here can be a lot of things and the way we worked together on the sleepout, attending sessions at the shelters and collecting sponsorship alongside usual preparation for the show brought us together in a brilliant way and hopefully reminded other students that by using the incredible resources on offer at this university - including the opportunities in theatre - a lot can be achieved in a short space of time.”

He also expressed his hopes that the play had had broader positive impacts, saying that the cast and crew “were very pleased to attract more local people than students to the show and have Stuart's family and his biographer involved in a post show talk - as well as raising money we hoped to break down some of the boundaries between local theatre goers and students, something which was certainly aided by the local nature of the story.

He concluded: “Homelessness is certainly not going away and engaging in stories like this, which delve into the complexities of an individual's case, help increase awareness and tackle some of the gross ignorance we have seen recently in Cambridge.”

The money will be given to two homeless charities in Cambridge, Jimmy’s Night Shelter and Winter Comfort. Jimmy’s offers short term, emergency accommodation, as well as other services such as a Controlled Drinking Project, and supported housing. Winter Comfort provides various services, including a welfare service providing amenities such as breakfast, showers and drop in advice, services to aid personal development, and activities to help users build their self esteem.

It was estimated that about 152 people were sleeping rough in Cambridge in 2015/16, while 418 households were thought to be lacking permanent accommodation