What’s On At The Theatre

Week 4 has arrived, whispering in our ears about deadlines and meetings with dissertation supervisors. Ignore Week 4, and go to the theatre instead. THERE’S JUST SO MUCH ON!

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Betrayal
Corpus Playrooms, 7pm, Tue 5th – Sat 9th February, £6/5

Some plays have to live with the burden of high expectation, and this is one of them. Positive words such as “arresting” and “compelling” were used about this production of Pinter’s classic, but then so were phrases like “silly fluff”. Not outstanding, but still pretty good.

Bright Club
The Portland Arms, 7.30pm, Fri 8th, £7

A one-off comedy night. Here’s the description from Camdram: “Come join Cambridge academics, researchers and general enthusiasts of there subjects for an evening of comedy about their work”. They’ve misspelt ‘their’, but apart from that it sounds bloody intriguing.

Coco
Corpus Playroom, 9.30pm, Tue 5th – Sat 9th Feb, £6/£5

Most people will enjoy this; it’s short, stylish and “alarmingly well-crafted”. But once it sinks in that this pair were fascists, the charm of this little Nazi love-in begins to wear thin.

The Comedy of Errors
Cambridge Arts Theatre, 7.45pm/Thurs & Sat 2.30pm, Wed 6th – Sat 9th, £15/£20/£25/£12.50

As the Cambridge theatre scene goes, this is an all-star production, and one of the biggest we’ll see this year. Minor niggles aside, it’s professional and engaging. Into Shakespeare? Off you go.

Company
ADC Theatre, Tues 4th to Sat 9th February, mat £10/£8, otherwise £12/£10

Musicals are the Marmite of the theatre world, but our reviewer loved this one from legend Stephen Sondheim, even if she conceded that the cast’s acting proved somewhat “superior to their singing”. A minor detail.

Esio Trot
ADC, 11pm, Wed 6th – Sat 9th February,  £6/£5

You’d have to be made not to love Roald Dahl, and arguably mad not to love tortoises. This light-hearted production is “refreshing in its unpretentious embracing of fun”, and a nice change from all that grim stuff we normally get around here.

Hollow
Homerton College Auditorium, 7.30pm, Thurs 7th – Sun 10th, £5

Another double bill of new writing, inspired by Sarah Kane, Tennessee Williams and Euripides, apparently. It’s far, far away in Homerton but if you want to support new writers (and fancy a long stroll) maybe it’s for you.

No One Man, No Cry
Pembroke New Cellars, 7pm, Tue 5 – Sat 9 February 2013, £5

Oldies amongst us will remember the rather bonkers ex-Footlight Adam Lawrence from back when He Used To Be Somebody. Back with an “original, funny and dexterously crafted” show, he’s still worth an evening of your time.

Truthspeak
Pembroke New Cellars, 9.30pm, Tue 5th – Sat 9th, £6/£5

A double act of new writing with a political edge. Part of it was a “devastating reply to the hyper-moralistic critiques of poverty”, whatever that means. At times it’s rather blunt and predictable, but our reviewer thinks the characters and dialogue made up for it.