Cambridge Arts Theatre

A sure staple in Cambridge Arts Theatre's calendar is our Pantomime Script Read-Through... Every year, to mark the start of rehearsals, the cast, company and theatre staff gather to meet each other and read through the script for the very first time. It's always a fabulous way to get to know the team and to celebrate the start of our magical pantomime. The cast now begin two weeks of intensive rehearsals before Tech Week and the first performance on Thursday 28 November, watch this space! 

© Martin Bond photography

Based on Alice Sebold’s best selling novel of the same name, The Lovely Bones is a story of interconnecting worlds, the real world and the afterlife where the main character Susie Salmon finds herself after her brutal murder.

The Cambridge Greek Play is one of the most anticipated theatre events in the Cambridge calendar - attracting audiences from across the country.

Performed every three years, it is a tradition going back to 1882, many now well-known faces have performed in this tri-annual event including Tom Hiddleston, Ralph Vaughan Williams and James Mason. Ahead of this year's production we sat down with students Katherine and Theo to get a behind the scenes glimpse at this year's cast.

Next week we have the wonderful Victorian play A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde.

To celebrate we thought we would take a look at some of the ridiculous rules set out in the Moral Encyclopaedia and A Handbook of Etiquette for Ladies that you would be expected to follow if you wished to be considered a ‘proper’ lady!

Panto season truly feels like its on its way once our cast photoshoot is done and dusted! Colourful costumes are stitched, make-up is applied and our photographer sets up his equipment as our fantastic cast step into their characters for the very first time.

Monday marked the start of the Technical get-in for our Christmas pantomime Aladdin, where our fantastic Tech team work around the clock to fix dozens of lights, build numerous sets and prep the stage ready for 64 panto performances! Once the stage is ready, our cast, in-house band and Panto Babes come flooding in, and that's when our spectacular Christmas panto really comes to life. 

We thought you'd like a sneak peek of how our auditorium looks mid-way through this busy week in the Arts Theatre calendar...  

On Monday our spectacular pantomime cast, company and creatives and Arts Theatre staff joined together for our yearly tradition - the first script read-through! It is a great way to begin the rehearsal process, and a chance to see the beginnings of our magical family panto coming to life. 

Here's some shots of the cast in action...

©Jo Anthony Photography 

We're thrilled to finally show you our Aladdin cast in all their glory! The photographs from our cast photo shoot (see the behind the scenes blog post here!) are back and here is a first look at the cast, ahead of the opening preview performance at the end of November. The costumes look incredible (and very sparkly!) and the cast have well and truly got into the pantomime spirit.

The Autumn school term may only have just begun but the pantomime season officially started for us last week, as we invited some of the wonderful Aladdin cast to the Theatre for a photo shoot! Magical make-up was applied, sparkling costumes were donned and everyone jumped straight into the pantomime spirit.

On Wednesday 6 June, on the 74th anniversary of D-Day, the Arts Theatre team travelled to London to launch our production of David Haig’s fascinating wartime drama Pressure, following its hugely successful UK tour that started in Cambridge earlier in the year.

Pressure is the thrilling play about Group Captain James Stagg, the Scottish meteorologist tasked with predicting the weather conditions for the D-Day Landings.