Cambridge students head to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Sport may be dominating the headlines this July but come August, the performing arts will be looking to steal the spotlight as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe returns for 2024.
Heading north to spend August at the world's largest performance arts festival has been a long-standing tradition for Cambridge students and their societies. From comedy and acapella, to drama and improv, the 2024 Fringe will yet again showcase the diverse skills, talent and creativity of our student body.
Read on for a round-up of Cambridge student shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe and how you can watch them this summer.
Ctrl+Alt+Deceit!
Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society
This brand new musical from Ariella Gordon follows the kind, lonely and technologically naïve Aunt June, desperate to connect with her niece Andy. Andy suggests that June fill her time instead by finding friendships online.
Matters take a strange turn when June unwittingly finds herself on the Dark Web and befriending a low-level drug ring, the members of whom June mistakes for cooking and gardening enthusiasts.
Set to an upbeat funk/pop score, the story, at its heart, follows the relationship between Andy and June, who share a mother/daughter-like bond.
Read more in this interview with Ariella from Gonville & Caius.
Dates: Aug 12-24 | Time: 18:20 | Venue: theSpace @ Niddry St
Book your tickets for 'Ctrl+Alt+Deceit!' here
This Time We Have A Dog
The International Tour Show from the world-famous student comedy society is back bigger and better than ever (and with a furry friend to boot). This year's show will take in London, Manchester and Bristol as well as Edinburgh before heading abroad.
'This Time We Have A Dog', see the stand-up comedy troupe hit the road with their friend Lloyd The Dog, performing their best sketch show yet before sinister forces try to stop their comedy altogether.
Dates: Jul 31, Aug 1-6, 8-18, 20-26 | Time: 16:30 | Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Book your tickets for Cambridge Footlights 'This Time We Have A Dog' here.
For those seeking a mix of stand-up, songs, sketches and more, there's also the 'Free Footlights' show to see. With a different line-up every night, this hour-long performance provides an opportunity for current students and alumni to shine on stage. The best part? It's completely free, allowing Fringe-goers to indulge in a diverse range of comedic talent every day without breaking the bank.
Dates: Aug 1-11, 13-25 | Time: 12:30 | Venue: Just the Tonic Nucleus - Just the Sub-Atomic Room
Book your tickets for 'Free Footlights' here.
VEGAS
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
In this new dramedy by Louis Hadfield and Alice Roberts, good Kentish girl Poppy wakes to find herself naked next to her ex, who isn't really her ex, Scouser Freddie. Struggling to piece together the night before, they gradually reach the horrifying revelation that they are married.
Sounds pretty rock'n'roll, right? But this isn't Vegas, this is a B&B in Slough. Stuck together in the honeymoon suite, Poppy and Freddie are forced to confront what once went wrong and, crucially, decide whether to get an annulment. Oh, and they have an hour until they need to check out. What happens next? You'll have to wait and see...
Dates: Aug 12-17, 19-24 | Time: 17:25 | Venue: theSpace @ Venue45
Book your tickets for 'VEGAS' here
The Cambridge Impronauts
This short-form improvisation show includes famous games, such as Party Quirks, led by audience prompts. Celebrating their 21st birthday and sold-out shows in 2023, The Cambridge Impronauts return after seven years resident at the Gilded Balloon.
This year, to celebrate their coming of age, they are hosting a range of celebrity improv guests including Showstoppers, CSI and a member of Paul Merton's Comedy Store team.
The cast includes former and current Footlights, alongside a director from the National Theatre who just wrote a book on applying improv in drama with Katie Mitchell. Warm ups will be from a group of stand ups who have been training this year with Cambridge alum Jimmy Carr's director.
Dates: Jul 31 - Aug 26 | Time: 11:40 | Venue: Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose
Book your tickets for Cambridge Impronauts here.
Cadenza
Join Cadenza, Cambridge University’s premier a cappella group, for their fourth consecutive series of shows at the Fringe.
This year, Cadenza’s unique style of a cappella will take audiences through a day at Cambridge University, featuring a packed set of show-stoppers and chart-toppers with everything from club to classical.
From quirky spins on a choral evensong to spicy pop and jazz arrangements, including golden oldies and groovy contemporary numbers too.
Dates: Aug 19-24 | Time: 14:20 | Venue: theSpace @ Niddry St
Book your tickets for Cadenza here.
Squires
This new show, by Hannah Brecher, is an historical workplace comedy turned comedy of errors, as a group of unlikely friends come together under a common goal: to not be accused of murder.
Before there were knights, there were idiots who thought swinging a sword and being a hero were pretty much interchangeable. Squires looks at pressing issues like 'how crappy is a first job exactly' and 'can you speed run inventing the concept of gravity in a single afternoon'. The answer to both is 'yes'. Holy Grail meets Twelfth Night in a story of pigs, bisexual panic, bricks and accusations of heresy.
Squires will be coming to Fringe following sold-out shows at the Corpus Playroom. The Cambridge Tab called Squires "an amazing play" and "an absolute delight to watch"..
Dates & times:
Aug 2-10 at 11:45am | Aug 12-24 at 11:40am
Venue: theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
Book your tickets for 'Squires' here.
It's OK, I Still Think You're Great
Written by Raffaella Sero, this new theatrical comedy introduces audiences to Tibby, on her 25th birthday when she is throwing a big party: after years, her friends from uni are coming together — and they are all doing better than her.
This sparkling three-hander is about friendship, friendship breakups, breakup breakups, drama, drama kids, queerness, being an immigrant, rejection and William Shakespeare. Also, about the emotional roller-coaster of being in your mid-twenties and having no clue about pretty much anything ever.
Dates, times & venues:
- Aug 2-10 | 23:00 | theSpace @ Symposium Hall
- Aug 12-17 | 22:55 | theSpace on the Mile
Book your tickets for 'It's OK, I Still Think You're Great' here.
The Man Who Wouldn't Be Murdered
The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Murdered by Cambridge Footlights' Lily Blundell is a dark comedy musical, full of murder, jazz and drink, based on the true story of Michael Malloy and his infamous life, and death.
It’s 1932, prohibition has swept New York and Tony Morino owns a failing underground speakeasy in the Bronx. Business is so terrible, he hatches a plan – take out life insurance on the drunken, good-for-nothing new employee, Michael Malloy. However, it seems some people are far more difficult to kill than others…
A story of a descent into maddening obsession all told via a haunting and twisted 20s inspired jazz score.
Dates & times: : Aug 2-10 at 21:30 | Aug 12-17 at 21:50 | Aug 19-24 at 21:30 |
Venue: theSpace @ Niddry St
Book your tickets for 'The Man Who Wouldn't Be Murdered' here
The continued Cambridge presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a testament to the incredible talent of our students and the university's commitment to building an environment where they are able to discover, nurture and showcase their artistry.
From fresh comedy to captivating narratives and boundary-pushing improv to impressive vocals, Cambridge University continues to prove its status as a hotspot for artistic expression and talent.
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