As another year of Cambridge theatre draws to a close, we look back on the productions that moved us to tears, made us laugh out loud, surprised us, and left us in awe of their technical brilliance. From intimate dramas to riotous comedies, the depth and diversity of last term’s shows remind us why theatre continues to hold such a special place in the university’s cultural fabric. Here’s a roundup of the shows that defined Michaelmas 2024.
Which show touched you the most last term?
- SHAN TAN-YA: Jules Coyle’s Managed Approach takes the spot for me, with its painfully relatable depiction of a mother and daughter oscillating between moments of tenderness and misdirected anger as they struggle to understand one another’s expectations. The disintegration of their relationship was all the more tragic to watch knowing how much they cared about one another whilst being unable to articulate it. The cast’s committed performances conveyed the complexity of loving someone so much that you risk driving them away.
- MILLY KOTECHA: Perhaps emotions are always heightened when you are directly involved in a show, but Toad Patrol at Downing’s Howard Theatre (which I was lucky enough to take part in) definitely had the waterworks flowing for me every night we performed it. The story was so grounded, seemingly an exploration of university friendships, but with very dark undertones that were revealed as the play went on. It was a painful privilege to be a part of it.
- CHLOE CHAPMAN-DEAS: I was unable to look away from The Effect for its entirety; the gripping authenticity of the small but mighty cast had no problem demanding tears. Unfaltering vulnerability and pure relatability were the very fabric of the show. Leads Rafael Griso and Olivia Khattar, with stunning execution, extrapolated the intimacy and tension from their artificial dilemma with ease.
- BETHINN FEELY: Robert Holman’s Being Friends was the first show I ever watched as a fresher; perhaps that’s why I felt so touched by it. But despite my personal experience the show managed to achieve a subdued emotional core. Lead actors Rafael Griso and Jaysol Doy provided an intense intimacy that simultaneously felt overwhelming and enrapturing. It was difficult not to feel moved by the intricacies and vulnerabilities of both men through their developing friendship in a time of crisis.
- MILLIE WOOLER: Last term’s production of Negotiating With the Dead proved deeply touching in its depiction of the loss of Florine’s (Marta Zalicka) partner. Whilst elements of this particular subplot were rather familiar from many end-of-life narratives in the media, depicting death as all-consuming and life as something increasingly distant, Zalicka delivered a riveting, painful performance as an archaeologist coping with grief.
…and which show made you laugh the most?
- BETHINN: When I walked into the ADC to watch this year’s freshers’ musical, The Back-Ups, I was expecting some so-so musical numbers, a few exaggerated performances and a couple of light laughs. I was surprised, however, by just how well the humour in the musical was executed. The writing managed to tie in Cambridge in-jokes with pop culture in really novel ways (a difficult thing to achieve in Camdram). But good writing is nothing without good actors to execute it, and here the show was brilliant. The excellent comedic timing of the cast, using every opportunity to get the audience to laugh in-character – even when they were at the back of the stage with no lines – meant the freshers’ musical hit the nail on the head with its humour.
“But good writing is nothing without good actors to execute it, and here the show was brilliant.”
- SHAN: I had never seen the film or show of Sister Act before – and one memorable costume change during the first act finale had me almost screaming with laughter. It was a joyous affair all around, with some stand-out comedy moments – including the deceptively funny, if pretty dark routine of the villain song “When I Find My Baby”.
- MILLIE: While many criticise Shakespeare’s comedies for lacking the humour implicit in their title, Corpus Playroom’s production of As You Like It had the audience howling with its ramshackle, school-production frame. The actors truly handled the sometimes difficult material in order to return the play to its original, Shakespearean brilliance.
Which show really surprised you?
- ZACH LONBERG: As I sat down to watch Our Town Needs a Nando’s, I won’t lie, I’d been led by the poster and synopsis to expect something light-hearted: a nice, breezy escape into the lives of high school girls. What I got rivalled The Wire for urban tragedy – it made the harrowing Fences, which I’d seen the week previously, look like an episode of Family Matters. Anchored in five outstanding performances, it traced the everyday bleakness in the lives of five schoolgirls stuck in a town in North Wales. The themes - spanning everything from social deprivation to eating disorders, sexual abuse, queer isolation and the care system - made for a difficult but utterly absorbing watch. I couldn’t look away; by the end I was close to tears, desperately wishing for the five to find their way out of the dead-end town that has given them nothing in life: no aspirations, no opportunities, no protection - not even a Nando’s in which the pass the days of their small-town ennui. Within the closed walls of the Playroom, this cast and crew did incredible justice to the operatic highs and lows of girlhood.
- JOSH PRITCHARD: I’m almost alarmed at how engrossed I became with pool (no water) – a macabre portrayal of artistic obsession and the dangers of homogeneity within a friend group. The cast’s excellent ensemble work took me back to my old Saturday morning drama clubs, but seeing it here inflict both thrill and terror on an unsuspecting Playroom audience was an experience I will hardly forget. A (bloody) delightful show that stuck with me long after the nightmares ended.
- MILLY: This year’s CUADC/Footlights Panto surprised me with how much enjoyment I got out of it! Having not watched a panto for many years, I feared that the Christmas magic inside of me had dulled, but I quickly found myself laughing along with the audience on opening night of Snow White.
- MILLIE: Undoubtedly for me, the production of the term was Timon of Athens at Trinity College. It reminded me of the pure joy there is to be had in the complexity of some of Shakespeare’s best tragedies. Every moment reminded me of yet another dimension of the play that had made me relish my first reading. Quite frankly, I had forgotten how much I loved that play upon first reading it, and an inferior production could have spoiled it for me completely.
- BETHINN: The show that went in the most unexpected direction for me was Mind: The Gap. An intense psychological character study, a murder, and a plot to frame a friend, the show was packed full of ideas, keeping the audience constantly on their toes for what could come next. Whilst this was sometimes overwhelming, I was never bored by the twists and turns in the plot of Mind: The Gap and honestly could not have guessed the play’s ending from where it began. Writer Lily Sneddon has a particular strength for plot twists.
Which show blew you away with its tech?
- BETHINN: Folie Circulaire required a lot from its lighting operators. Quick flashes between blue, green and yellow lights, changing on vocal cues, and mixing multi-coloured lights; the lighting played a major role in the tone and ideas of the play. Considering the massive job that the lighting crew had to take on and the pivotal role they played in the show, the smoothness with which these changes were carried out was impressive. The lighting was seamless, and the balancing of colours managed to create a disjointed feeling for the disconcerting play without being overwhelming.
- ZACH: As far as set provides for storytelling, Emma Chandler’s design in Uncle Vanya was really intriguing, with vines ensnaring tree trunks at the back of the stage. In a play that has always been presciently eco-conscious, it added a new dimension to staging the 19th-century Chekhov in 2024. Vanya’s sacrifices to keep his brother-in-law’s estate going were made all the more poignant by the effect that nature was already eating away at his life’s work. His losing battle against the encroaching wasteland brought the futility of it all home.
- GINA STOCK: It couldn’t be a technical roundup without a mention of Angus Cha’s incredible lighting design in Sister Act. If you were not one of the privileged few to attend the sold-out run, you missed out on a feat little known to the ADC: choreographed LED strips which lit up in time to the vibrant Sister Act score, as well as a rig which only complimented the stained-glass set pieces, making the show a complete spiritual experience in more ways than one, thanks to Isabel Beresford-Cole’s soaring vocals.
“If you were not one of the privileged few to attend the sold-out run, you missed out on a feat little known to the ADC: choreographed LED strips”
Which leading actor gave the performance of their Camdram career?
- SHAN: Among a very capable cast, Eanna Ferguson really impressed me as Kate, Abbie’s mother, in Managed Approach – a woman haunted by the bitterness of the past and determined to carve out a better future for her daughter. In her many gripping monologues, she exuded such warmth and wistful self-awareness that it was even more devastating when she later lashes out in a terrifying loss of control. Altogether it was a brilliantly graded performance.
- JOSH: Having been disappointed with previous productions of Julius Caesar, watching Eyoel Abebaw-Mesfin’s mesmerising performance as Mark Antony assured me that this play was in the right hands. A calm, quiet and collected foil to Eddie Adams’s delightfully melodramatic Caesar, Abebaw-Mesfin’s performance of “Friends, romans, countrymen” quickly became one of my favourite monologues that I’ve seen on a Camdram stage, fully deserving of lending our ears to.
“Abebaw-Mesfin’s performance […] quickly became one of my favourite monologues that I’ve seen on a Camdram stage”
- ZACH: ’Twas the season of ensemble casts last term I feel, from the stellar performances in Fences at the ADC to the actors from Nando’s and pool (no water) at the Playroom. Also, shoutout to the Mundy sisters from Dancing at Lughnasa, each bringing their role vividly to life. As far as individual performances go, though, I thought Martha Alexander was outstanding in Skylight in the first week of term; being the start of a new academic year, I feel this production at the Playroom was something of a hidden gem; many missed out, much to their loss.
- BETHINN: Harry Lloyd Yorke as Anthony in Folie Circulaire was brilliantly disconcerting to watch throughout the show’s runtime. The creepy, unsettling choreography and distressed movements balanced perfectly with the characters’ anguish and emotional desperation. A performance that could so easily have felt ridiculous, fake, or cheesy was instead played with an unexpected vulnerability that made the uncanny character still one that drew the audience’s sympathy, sometimes alongside their fear. Yorke had a particularly strong script from writer Martha Alexander, whose writing explored the complexities of fear, terror, anger and frustration that muddle together in the experience of mental illness. But Yorke was the perfect choice to bring this complexity to life.
- LEON: I felt Sirous Nekovee-Fitzgerald gave a deeply moving performance in Dungeness, bringing emotional depth and sensitivity to the play’s more serious moments. Their portrayal was layered and heartfelt, drawing the audience into the character’s struggles and inner world. Sirius’s ability to convey raw emotion with subtlety added a profound resonance to the production, making their role one of its most compelling elements.
…and finally, which supporting performance stole the show in your eyes?
- ZACH: Call me biased as Sonia is my favourite character in Chekhov, but I thought Gaby Albertelli was the heart and soul of Uncle Vanya at the ADC. Playing the role with perfect gaminerie, she was easily the common denominator between the production’s standout scenes, doing more than her share of legwork opposite some of the other cast on stage. There we so many scene-stealers this term though, like Louis Davidson in Sister Act and Tabby MacLachlan in The Crucible (Best Supporting Actress Oscar when?). And obviously, we need to talk about Toby Trusted as the Evil Queen in Snow White - a perfect combination of costume and character work achieving something elevated beyond the sum its parts into an outstanding show feature. I still can’t get Grismerelda’s outfit out of my head - or their sharp, drawn-out screech of Magic Mirrooooooorrr. Gowned and gagged, truly.
“Gaby Albertelli was the heart and soul of Uncle Vanya at the ADC”
- JOSH: Considering how central Reverend Hale is to The Crucible, I thought the show simply wouldn’t have worked without Leo Kang. In a production already bursting with talent, his portrayal of Hale’s journey away from religious despotism was absolutely masterful. A greatly rewarding performance to watch, particularly when paying close attention to his mannerisms throughout – as I certainly was!
- BETHINN: Brabantio likely isn’t the first character to come to mind when you think of Othello. I think the fact this makes the notability of Helen Brookes’s performance even more impressive. Brookes nailed the comedy early on, a difficult thing to in a play so tragic. Yet she also masterfully balanced this tonally with the rest of the play – seamlessly switching the character from a ridiculous father figure to a serious antagonist to Othello.
- MILLIE WOOLER: Irisa Kwok has been a stellar actor throughout Lent term. Seeing them first in Negotiating With the Dead on Wednesday night at the Corpus Playroom, I was more than surprised to see them again on Saturday night in As You Like It. Across the two plays, they juggled several characters with expert precision, never dipping in the energy of their many performances. It must have been an exhausting week for them, but they proved themselves more than capable.
- LEON: Adaya Brandon delivered a standout performance in Dungeness, skilfully bringing a touch of humour to the play while maintaining the seriousness of its themes. Her character provided moments of comic relief that felt natural and well-placed, offering a sharp contrast that heightened the emotional impact of the story. Her timing and subtle delivery added a new layer to the production.
As we look ahead to 2025, there’s a quiet excitement for the stories yet to be told and the stages yet to be lit. Here’s to another year of theatre that moves, surprises, and brings us closer together.
