Cambridge is lucky enough to have a plethora of performance venues from the beloved ADC Theatre and Corpus Playroom to the more characterful college venues and even the odd chapel. But for freshers joining this year it’s important to know that participating in Cambridge theatre, on stage or off, can take you far beyond the river, bikes and punts. Grab your passports: Camdram is going international.

Theatre does not stop for the holidays, and for theatre lovers (and here at Varsity) our attention normally turns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival during the summer. Lasting for nearly all of August it is understandably the highlight in every theatre enthusiast’s calendar. Cambridge University is particularly loved at the Scottish festival, with a total of seven shows featuring this year. Camden Fringe is London’s answer to the Edinburgh Fringe, and another event where Cambridge made their mark, with four shows running in venues across the city. But the award for the most unique escapade coming from Cambridge this summer is given to the Cambridge Gilbert and Sullivan Society who are about to perform The Pirates of Penzance at the Minack Theatre. Located in Cornwall, the Minack is an open air theatre constructed on rocky granite, with a panoramic backdrop of Porthcurno Bay and crashing waves.

“Participating in Cambridge theatre, on stage or off, can take you far beyond the river, bikes and punts”

So, in the UK these are the best opportunities to get your Cambridge theatre fix. But for those of you hoping to travel a little further afield, let’s talk about how Cambridge theatre can double up as a globe-trotting adventure. While Cambridge Footlights have put some significant pins in the map throughout their ongoing international tour show (The Footlights International Tour Show 2024: This Time We Have a Dog) there are other, arguably more accessible, opportunities to participate in student theatre while also getting a few stamps in your passport. The Cambridge American Stage Tour and the European Theatre Group are both student theatre companies that tour Shakespeare plays internationally. With patronage from big names like Dame Judi Dench and Stephen Fry and past members including Sir Trevor Nunn and Sir Derek Jacobi, they are a big part of Cambridge student theatre that can be overlooked amongst the term-time busyness.

The Cambridge American Stage Tour (CAST) are currently touring their production of Julius Caesar across the East Coast of America. Established in 1999, CAST tours annually with a cast and crew of Cambridge University actors and technicians. As well as performances, they provide opportunities for American students and young people to participate in Shakespeare workshops. The production will be returning to Cambridge in Michaelmas, so if you are interested in seeing the type of shows that are taken abroad, you can buy tickets here.

“These real-world opportunities not only shine on a CV but are a testament to the fact that the best way to learn in student theatre is through doing”

The ETG takes Shakespeare to Europe each December. This year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will tour Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France. They describe themselves as ‘an ambitious coach-bound operation; a company of 24 tours with professional lighting and sound equipment, costumes and an experimental set, enabling us to put on a show absolutely anywhere’. The group’s experimental approach helps transcend language barriers, creating immersive experiences for non-English speaking audiences (a significant hurdle when performing Shakespeare).

What strikes me most though about these tours are the off-stage opportunities. A student-run theatre company performing abroad requires immense planning and organisation, and this comes down to the work that is taken on by students as tour managers and producers. These real-world opportunities in theatre production, organisation and administration not only shine on a CV but are a testament to the fact that the best way to learn in student theatre is through doing. The ETG took four fresher techies on tour last year; when asked why this was, Jacob Gaskell, Tour Manager, replied, “that’s what theatre is. Letting people improve their skills.” (read the full interview here).

If you want to get involved with these international theatre experiences, it’s important to plan ahead. Auditions and crew calls for these tours often happen earlier than regular term-time productions (for example, auditions for this year’s summer CAST production happened in February). Keep an eye on the Cambridge Theatre Facebook page and follow the relevant Instagram accounts for the latest information.

These international opportunities offer valuable experiences in producing, performing and educating, but they also honour the spirit of Cambridge theatre that I hope incoming freshers soon adopt. That is, to quote the Bard himself, ‘The world’s mine oyster’.