Student Writing

There are many opportunities to produce your own writing in Cambridge, with many Corpus Playroom shows, both main and late shows, being student written. In Lent 2022, there were 27 student written shows, from comedies and satires to dramas and musicals.

New writing is often programmed in the Corpus or the Larkum Studio, though there have been some fantastic ADC Late Shows too; whilst there isn't any rule against student writing in an ADC Mainshow slot, these are usually filled with more established shows. New writing is also commonly staged at venues outside of the ADC and Corpus Playroom, including Downing's Howard Theatre, Queens' Fitzpatrick Theatre, and Robinson's Brickhouse Theatre and outdoor Auditorium.

There is much opportunity for development and discussion of writing with rehearsed read-throughs staged a couple of times a term - e.g. in the ADC bar. Here, writing can be put in front of an audience for the first time as a workshop where actors present the bare bones of a show with no set and still using scripts in order to gather feedback. A number of writing competitions throughout the year also encourage new student material, including the Marlowe Other Prize, and the Harry Porter Prize for comedic writing. Similarly, events such as the Downing Festival of New Writing, the Marlowe Hatch Night, and the Fletcher Players' Smörgåsbord present showcases of short-form writing. The Marlowe society also run a weekly writers group for writers to discuss their work, workshop it and develop it further - a number of successful shows have been born out of this group.

Student writing doesn't have to stop in Cambridge though! CUADC and CUMTS both fund at least one newly written show to go to the Edinburgh Fringe each year and some students have self- or crowd-funded to stage a show in Edinburgh. Recently, there has also been an increase in shows going to other festivals, such as the Camden Fringe, the National Student Drama Festival, and some student shows have gone on to do runs in London; these are largely self-funded rather than being supported by any theatre society.