Holly Lunt – Student Theatre

This week, HOLLY LUNT talks about her mixed experiences with the theatre scene in Cambridge.

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Hello to everyone reading my fourth column! This week I’d like to talk about Cambridge’s bustling student theatre scene: the ADC.

I’ve not spent much time at the ADC, but recently something happened that I think is really worth talking about.

It was the end of last term and I was queuing up to audition for a play that was going to be on the following term. I went in to audition and read out the script that had been provided. Later that night I was in the bar upstairs in the theatre. The same man who had handed me the script for the audition came up to me and started touching me on the arm. At this point I panicked. I’ve broken my arms at least twice so knew I was sensitive in that area. Fortunately he stopped touching me on the arm and moved away for a bit. I breathed a sigh of relief.

This is the ADC Theatre, if you hadn’t seen it already

But, later that night he came up to me again and started asking me about my experience of student theatre. I told him that the productions I’d seen had been riddled with technical faults and actors clearly more keen on boosting their profile than getting their lines right. He took offence to this and started to shout at me, telling me that I hadn’t seen enough productions and that actors often get their lines wrong because of nerves. He was really shouting. I’d never seen anyone as angry as he was for the entire evening.

The argument went on and on. I thought it was never going to end. At one point I glanced at my watch and saw that it was almost midnight. Obviously I needed to be at the top of castle mound within a few minutes, so I told him that I had a boyfriend and ran out of the bar. I’ve not seen him since but apparently he’s a big name on the acting scene.

I didn’t get the part, which was a shame, but maybe it was for the best. To be honest I don’t really do much acting in Cambridge because my supervisors get angry when I take on large non-academic commitments. When I do undertake big non-academic projects I have to work hard to hide the fact that I’m involved from them, for instance by changing my name or making sure I’m not on the posters.

This is an example of a poster for a play that I wasn’t in

The main thing I don’t like about the ADC, though, is the lack originality in the scripts. I’ve seen at least three plays this term and I don’t think there was a single plot that differed from a normal script. So, to end my column this week I’d like to present a few ideas for scripts that I’ve had which I think could really shake things up. Here they are:

1. A man discovers that his energy levels are falling so sees the doctor. But the doctor turns out to be a fake and things spiral out of control.

2. Two children fall in love with the ghost of their mother but it turns out that she isn’t a ghost at all. Things go from bad to worse when a mysterious World War 2 German turns up at their door step and reveals things aren’t all they seem.

3. Three female pilots suffer sexism in the Victorian era and decide enough is enough. With a role reversal things change forever, but just how long can they keep things up before the airport controllers find out?

Holly x