A group of Cambridge students have spent their summer break putting together a touring production of Romeo and Juliet. Previews will be held at the ADC Theatre this weekend (1 and 2 September, 2001) before the team crosses the Atlantic for a four-week tour of the USA. The production returns to Cambridge for a final run at the ADC in October.
A group of Cambridge students have spent their summer break putting together a touring production of Romeo and Juliet. Previews will be held at the ADC Theatre this weekend (1 and 2 September, 2001) before the team crosses the Atlantic for a four-week tour of the USA. The production returns to Cambridge for a final run at the ADC in October.
A group of Cambridge students have spent their summer break putting together a touring production of Romeo and Juliet. Previews will be held at the ADC Theatre this weekend (1 and 2 September, 2001) before the team crosses the Atlantic for a four-week tour of the USA. The production returns to Cambridge for a final run at the ADC in October.
The production is the work of CAST, the Cambridge University American Stage Tour. CAST is the University's newest dramatic society, founded in 1999 with the aim of staging an annual theatrical tour of the United States. They draw their inspiration from the Cambridge University European Theatre Group, which has been touring Europe annually since it was launched in 1958 by Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen and Micheal Deakin.
Last year CAST toured America with a production of Hamlet. Playing mostly campus theatres, this year the students will visit six venues in four US states, covering almost 3,000 miles. The venues vary enormously in size, layout and facilities, presenting significant challenges to the production team who have just 12 hours to arrange set and lighting at each theatre. The set contains no large structures, relying instead on a series of small pieces which can be moved around easily and can expand or shrink to fit the space available.
All of the cast and production team have been involved in term-time student drama, but this project has given them a longer rehearsal period free of the distractions of their study commitments. They have also been able to draw on outside support: the costumes are designed by Georgina Shorter, a graduate of Central St Martin's College of Art and and Design who has costumed feature films and West-End productions; and the play features an original score composed by Tarik O'Regan, the University's Composer in Residence.
As well as staging the production, CAST will also lead workshops for drama and literature students at the campuses they visit. At Frostberg State University they will do outreach work with students from the local high-schools.
UK dates
Preview
Saturday 1 September and Sunday 2 September, 2001 at 7.45pm
Tickets on sale at door.
Home run
Tuesday 2 to Saturday 6 October, 2001 at 7.45pm
Bookings: 01223 503333
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