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Founded in 1855, the Amateur Dramatic Club (or ADC) is the oldest University dramatic society in England - and the largest dramatic society in Cambridge. The club stages a diverse range of productions every term, many of them at the fully-equipped ADC Theatre in Park Street, where they are the resident company. They also regularly stage shows at other Cambridge venues, annually at the Edinburgh Fringe and occasionally on tour abroad. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (813x394, 80 KB) Summary Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club Logo Created by Hugh Greenish, April 2006 Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (813x394, 80 KB) Summary Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club Logo Created by Hugh Greenish, April 2006 Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic... The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, UK and also a department of the University of Cambridge. ...

Activities

The ADC puts on around 20 shows every year. These cover a huge range of subject matter and playwrights, from comic to tragic, from Chaucer to Stoppard via Shakespeare and Beckett to name just a few. Although many are performed at the 227-seater ADC Theatre, where the Club is the resident performing company, recent venues have also included the Corpus Christi Playroom, The Octagon at St Chad’s, King's College Lawn and the Round Church. The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, UK and also a department of the University of Cambridge. ... Holy Sepulchre Cambridge . The Holy Sepulchre, commonly known as the Round Church, is a church in Cambridge, England. ...

Constitutionally, the club also has an obligation

to spread interest in the theory and practice of theatre, in all its aspects, by every possible means amongst those qualified to be members of the Club; to encourage the active involvement of the same regardless of previous experience; and to maintain interest in the running of the ADC Theatre.

To this end, the club puts on a programme of professional and student-run workshops for actors, directors and technicians as well as a series of late-night experimental pieces known as One Night Stands.

Membership

Anybody aged 17 or over, studying for a qualification at the University of Cambridge, or who is engaged in full-time study at any other educational institution within Cambridge is eligible for ordinary membership. From time to time special membership may be conferred onto people who do not otherwise qualify for ordinary membership. It is a requirement that anybody participating in a show put on by the club must have some class of membership status for insurance reasons. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ...

Committee

The Club is run on behalf of its members by a committee of fourteen students of the university. The President must have been a member of the committee the previous year and is elected by that committee, all other roles are elected by club members at the annual AGM, held in Lent Term. The committee is in charge of show selection and support, as well as organisation of one-off events such as the annual garden party and freshers' squash. Garden Party, a song by Ricky Nelson, criticizes his fans for not appreciating his new style. ...

The roles on the committee are President, Secretary, Junior Treasurer, Technical Director, Technician, Communications Officer, Directors' Rep., Producers / Stage Managers' Rep., Publicist and Designers' Rep., as well as two Actors' Reps and two general members. For the year 2007/8 the committee is

There is also a Senior Treasurer, who, by university statutes, must be a senior member of the university. This post is currently held by Andrew Thompson, the Senior Bursar of Magdalene College.

History of the ADC

The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club was officially founded during the Easter Vacation of 1855 by F.C. Burnand and a group of his friends, who had acquired back rooms in the Hoop Hotel on Jesus Lane during the course of the previous year. The University’s response to the project was reported to have been ‘unfavourable’, but this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those involved. The Club’s first presentation comprised of a series of short one act plays of varying quality, of which the Club’s first minute book reports that ‘the receipts were scanty, but a start was effected’.

Over the course of the next five years, the society grew slowly but steadily. A contribution of £5 from each of the Club’s members allowed the Club to pay for the renovation of their cramped and bare rooms, and in 1860 the new stage at the Hoop Hotel, roughly on the site of the current building, was opened.

Though the University’s approval was initially begrudging, attitudes towards the club changed over the course of the next 40 years, and by the beginning of the 20th Century the Club was a nationally renowned and respected group. Tragedy struck in 1933 when the Hoop Hotel stage was destroyed in a fire. Support flooded in, including messages of goodwill from the King, and a mere 18 Months later a new building was opened by the Club. The ADC Theatre, now the oldest University playhouse in the country, was reborn. The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, UK and also a department of the University of Cambridge. ...

The Club continued to run the theatre until it ran into financial difficulties in 1974 when the University took over the running of the theatre, as a department of the University leasing the building from the Club for a nominal annual fee. Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...

Past Members

Alumni include:

• Sir Peter Hall
• Sir Richard Eyre
• Sir Trevor Nunn
• Sir Ian McKellen
• Sir Derek Jacobi
• Sir Michael Redgrave
• Emma Thompson
• Nicholas Hytner
• Simon Russell Beale
• Eleanor Bron
• Sam Mendes
• Tom Hollander
• Miriam Margolyes
• Griff Rhys Jones
• Rachel Weisz
• Sacha Baron Cohen

For the Australian politician, see Peter Hall (politician) Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall (born 22 November 1930) is a British theatre and film director. ... Sir Richard Eyre CBE (born 28 March 1943) is a British film and theatre director. ... Sir Trevor Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a theatre and film director. ... Sir Ian McKellen takes a day out at Universal Studios, Hollywood, April 2000. ... Sir Derek George Jacobi (born October 22, 1938) is a British actor, knighted in 1994 for his services to the theatre. ... Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (March 20, 1908 - March 21, 1985) was an English actor. ... Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is an Emmy-, BAFTA- and Academy Award-winning English actress, comedian, and screenwriter. ... Nicholas Hytner (born May 7, 1956) is an award-winning British theatrical and opera producer and director. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is a British stage, film and television actress and author. ... Sam Mendes Samuel Alexander Mendes, CBE (born August 1, 1965) is an English stage and film director born in Reading, Berkshire, England. ... Tom Hollander (born 1967) is an English actor who has appeared in Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies and Pride and Prejudice. ... Margolyes as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Miriam Margolyes OBE (born May 18, 1941) is a British character actress. ... Griff Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a British comedian, writer and actor. ... Rachel Weisz (born March 7, 1971) is an Academy Award-winning English film and television actress. ... Sacha Noam Baron Cohen[1] (born October 13, 1971) is an English comedian, writer and actor most noted for his comic characters Borat (a Kazakh reporter), Ali G (a junglist-hip hop gangsta wannabe from Staines, England) and Bruno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter). ...

External links

• CUADC website