A Midsummer Reach Dream: Theatre in the university and at Reach Cambridge

Cambridge University is famous for many things; its architecture, history, research and of course being the unofficial homeland of Harry Potter.  Theatre in Cambridge is also one of its oldest traditions and the university has housed some of the world’s most renowned actors, actresses and directors throughout its illustrious 800 year history. Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Steven Fry, Rachel Weisz, Sacha Baron-Cohen and Gandalf have all graced Cambridge colleges over the years. This sizeable scattering of thespians is not entirely by chance. The university fosters a huge number of student drama societies and many colleges such as Queens and Corpus have their own spaces for student productions to be put on. Cambridge also contains Britain’s oldest university playhouse; the ADC theatre. The theatre dates back to 1855, and stands on the site of a pub in which university actors used to meet to perform their plays. Today the ADC continues to put on ambitious plays and musicals, directed and performed entirely by students. At Reach Cambridge we give all of our students the opportunity to see world-class plays and to perform in our theatre workshops. We travel to Stratford-Upon Avon – the birthplace of Shakespeare himself – to see productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and even visit the Globe in London to step back in time and view a play in the same setting as Shakespeare’s contemporaries. This year we were lucky to see excellent productions of Anthony and Cleopatra, The Roaring Girl and Henry IV. Our students also unleashed their formidable performing abilities at the Reach Cambridge talent show which a highlight of the course every year, and puts “Britain’s Got Talent” to shame. In 2015 we will continue to run our fantastic theatre trips and drama workshops along with the host of other excursions and activities Reach offers. I hope many of you will join us, and look forward to another Midsummer Reach Dream. In 2015!