ADC - WHAT WE'RE MISSING!

Who dreamt up January as the beginning of anything? The greeting ‘Happy New Year’ rings somewhat hollow in a month characterised by straggly doornail-dead gardens, swirling fogs and long cold nights. One thing usually brightens the lightless lode: the post panto revival of live theatre. This January is very different of course. The darkness has been extended. The ADC had recently announced its spring season. In a rich menu that only the super optimism of young people can serve up, the students decided to make each of their shows a live stream open to all. Something to thaw the most despondent of arts-less hearts. Sadly though as I write this, I learn that the whole season has now been put on -70 degree ice. What a jab to the bloodstream of hope!

Here though is my preview written before I heard the news of the shut down….even live stream is dead.

“The season kicks off with a suitably youthful theme – young love gone wrong. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is being presented by the European Theatre Group, a student company with a good track record. What better way to add bold pastels to a drab wintry Cambridge canvas than a transport to sunny Verona? Live stream or curtain up begins on 19 January.

Next up is ‘The Last Days of Judas Iscariot’. On paper this looks highly intriguing – a dramatic musing described as ‘an ambitious philosophical meditation on religion’. Its aim is to re-examine the bad guy of the Gospels and I for one will be streaming this into my living room.

Other shows which catch the eye include the deliciously named play, ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’ (2-6 February) and the musical ‘Astrid’ presented by the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society. More temptations come with ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ and a thoroughly intriguing play ‘The Writer’.

 Add in Cambridge Footlights Spring Revue (late Feb) and a wealth of late night ‘smokers’. The result is a programme rich with promise and a real cheer up for we stage-starved mortals. Maybe January isn’t so bad after all.”