DMX, LTM, Q2Q… Of all the Cambridge theatre acronyms, I think ETG has been my favourite yet. Working on the European Theatre Group tour has been an incredibly rewarding adventure. Taking our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to schools and professional theatres is something I never imagined I’d do while studying, and the whole team was simply amazing.

The process has been a long one – for some more than others! Gemma and Katie, our fantastic tour managers, have been invested in the project since February. Our production manager, Emma, and director, Pauline, joined the team in April, and gradually we built up to thirty-three members, from our publicity and sound designers to the four technicians who learned tech for the first time on tour. Now, our journey is nearly over. We crossed into Europe at the start of the Christmas vacation and will soon return to the ADC for a home run from 21st to 25th January.

“Gradually, we built up to thirty-three members, from our publicity and sound designers to the four technicians who came to learn tech for the first time on tour”

I read the email offering me the role of assistant director at the end of a lecture on Macbeth, mid-Shakespeare term, all the way back in May. Since then, Shakespeare has been a constant presence: Pauline, Lily, and I spent the summer cutting the script and getting to grips with the characters (ten actors meant some serious fairy removal tactics!). Meanwhile, Lily, our education officer, and Amenie, our publicity designer, prepared the education pack to send to the schools we’d visit.

Michaelmas Term was a whirlwind – you might say it put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes. We advertised at the Freshers’ Fair for technicians and cast, then began auditions and applications immediately after. From there, rehearsals ramped up, lighting hire was arranged, and meal plans were formed. Titania cried “Music, ho,” and Matt, our composer, delivered. Speaking of, the lighting equipment also arrived – three days earlier than expected, much to the alarm of the tech team! The wonderfully talented Sophie designed costumes fit for fairy queens, while Xingbei, our stage manager, tracked down props. Emma admirably held it together when tasked with sourcing trees that could double as Athenian pillars and fit on the bus, and Lucy, our company manager, sent out the mother of all welfare forms.

“Titania cried ‘Music, ho,’ and Matt, our composer, delivered”

And that was all before the tour even began. Picture this: 5am, Saturday 7th December. Some of us had worked Selwyn Snowball; some of us had made the questionable decision of attending. Hungover or not, we all loaded up the bus for the first time, and Gavin, our driver, took us to Calais.

The tour flew by: in two weeks, we covered six venues, eight stopovers, eleven performances, and a potentially embarrassing number of cheese straws. On our busiest days, we did the ‘get-in’ at the theatre in the morning, performed two shows, then powered through the ‘get-out’ in the evening – and that’s without mentioning the ten education workshops designed and led by Lily! Despite the intensity, the tour offered us space to breathe, especially in being removed from Cambridge. Work didn’t totally stop – reading could be done on the bus (at least, that’s what I optimistically told my DoS) – but spending two weeks away from laptops and immersed in theatre was a gift. The experience fostered firm friendships and unforgettable memories.

“There was a real beauty in watching the play repeated so many times”

My favourite part of the tour was watching the play performed again and again. Each venue offered a unique flavour: from the towering trees viewed from a ground seat in Antwerp to the intimacy of smaller spaces in Leuven and Lille, which sparked the play’s comedy. Larger venues like Stuttgart’s Wilhelma Theater allowed Angus and Chris, our lighting designer and CLX, to pull out all the stops in creating the magical forest. There was a real beauty in seeing the play repeated so many times, each performance made fresh by its setting, timing, and the actors’ experiences. I found myself noticing new details in the language or lines I’d previously overlooked.

Most exciting of all, I saw the team’s confidence grow over the run. By the time we reached Lille, it was clear that these were professionals who knew what they were doing – and how to have fun with it. If you catch the home run, you’ll see this onstage in every actor who pushes themselves further with each performance. But it’s also visible backstage and offstage, in the community we’ve built.

If you’re interested in learning more about ETG, Gemma and Katie are hosting a short discussion and Q&A in the Larkum Studio at 6:30pm on Friday 24th January. Whether you have questions or are thinking of applying to join next year’s tour, it’s not to be missed.

Brilliant, beautiful, and slightly insane – there is no theatre experience I’d recommend more.

‘ETG 2024: A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ toured Europe throughout December and will return for a home run at the ADC Theatre from Tuesday 21st to Saturday 25th January at 7:45pm, with a matinee at 2:30pm on the 25th.

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