ADC THEATRE - NEW SEASON LIVE AND STREAMED

‘Macbeth’ served rare

Let rams’ horns be blown (vegan options are available). The new season launched by the ADC Theatre deserves fortissimo fanfares and to paraphrase the Bard, it is a substantial pageant. Soon the theatre itself will be open for socially distanced punters* but in addition, every performance will be live streamed to our homes. This is a brilliant move and I for one can’t wait to see what they have in store.

While many other theatre venues remain solidly dark where ne’er a chink of light can be seen, the student theatre in Park Street has let the light in on what looks on paper to be a very full theatrical season taking us right up to panto season (oh yes, it does.)

To give even more credit to the ADC, they have kept theatre-hungry audiences in touch throughout the pandemic with fascinating facts about the building and its related tiny space, the Corpus Playroom. We’ve had tales of mysterious and long-forgotten chambers and histories of the ADC going back to the mid 19th century. In the depths of the lockdown they offered a series of streamed-only performances reminding us that drama and comedy may be down but not out. They have in fact taken up the vital message that theatre may have been gone, but please don’t let it be forgotten.

So what’s on offer for the coming months? The first main show has a suitable title for the times: ‘Survival Strategies’. The blurb suggests a nod to Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ in which characters are trapped in a room together discovering that ‘hell is other people’. Here the characters are trying to survive in a bunker when the lockdown strikes. The show is described as a ‘musical comedy’ and is produced by ‘Eggbox Comedy’ so presumably there are much-needed laughs behind the grim reality.

Next up is the ADC’s own theatre troupe presenting ‘Last Summer at Bluefish Cove’, written in 1980 by Jane Chambers. It was a groundbreaking piece in the field of Lesbian theatre and follows the fortunes of eight women living in Long Island. It was the first to show lesbian women as fully rounded characters and presents their stories in a tender and moving way. It’s one I plan to watch and review for the Critique.

If you want a real cheer up as winter bites, I’m not sure that ‘Macbeth’ is the required tonic but Shakespeare’s crimson-coated tragedy is perhaps timely. Downing College present the play from 27 October and it will be good to have some theatrical beef even if served saignant.

By the 3 November we are back biting the Big Apple with a savvy musical called ‘Ordinary Days’. Adam Gwon’s sassy musical for four characters was first produced in 2012 and has made quite an impact around the world. It’s very much in that genre of sharp-tongued troubled Noo Yorkers facing an uncertain future as their young lives turn into maturity. It is packed with songs and promises to cheer the soul.

For night owlers, the ADC also presents a series of 11pm shows with the accent often on comedy. Their late shows begin with ‘The Man Presents: Womxn’ billed as ‘Cambridge’s finest lady and non-binary comics’.

I will write more about the latter half of the ADC’s new programme in a few weeks’ time and am really looking forward to reviewing some live local theatre. In the meantime, I am going to practice on that ram’s horn. Listen out.

*The new ADC brochure and website details the social distancing measures in place at the theatre. You book a group of seats in advance and are allocated them according to the number in your party. On arrival you are taken to your seats and kept apart from others. Face masks are to be worn; the bar is not open. All tickets MUST be purchased in advance including streaming tickets. For full details see www.adctheatre.com