If you’ve never made your way to the New Theatre to check out the university’s very own student theatre, this semester is definitely the time to do it. This season offers a huge variety of shows, and there will be something to suit every kind of theatre-goer. Whether you want the production value and spectacle of the theatre’s in-house season, or the more experimental and avant-garde Fringe season, this season promises to deliver some extremely high quality theatre. With tickets from just £3, it is a must-have experience for every UoN student and, here at Her Campus, we’ve sorted what shows will best scratch your theatre itch.
1. I want … compelling female characters
It’s no secret that the theatre industry and the plays it produces are pretty male-dominated. This year’s committee should be commended for how many great female roles this season has. These are not stock female characters who are inserted for the male hero to interact with, these are compelling, complex characters in their own right. Freak (2nd-5th November) follows two women who have a very different perception of sex which is revealed in a series of monologues, asking what sexual empowerment looks like in this day and age. Also be sure to catch W;t (30th Nov-3rd Dec), which centres around one brilliant woman’s battle with cancer, and the poignant life lessons she learns.
2. I want… light-hearted musical fun
Probably the show I am most excited for based on premise alone is DEAD (A Musical) (13th-16th Dec) – a musical set in a haunted house, where the ghoulish house-guests are thrown into complete disarray with the arrival of a young woman who is the human embodiment of the glitz and glamour of the 1980s. Original writing is always a treat, but it’s extremely rare that a musical comes along at the New Theatre, making DEAD’s promise of wacky-come-spooky fun all the more intriguing.
3. I want… classy old-school theatre
William Shakespeare’s As You Like it (7th-10th Dec) look to be a culturally rich and laugh-out loud evening of theatre. One of Shakespeare’s comedies that doesn’t appear on the theatre circuit as much as it deserves to, this play follows two cousins, Rosalind and Celia, who flee persecution into the Forest of Arden where they meet a host full of colourful characters and eventually find love. The show that made the expression “all the world’s a stage” famous, this show promises to provide an evening of classy hilarity.
4. I want… to be scared
If you like your theatre a bit grittier, Mercury Fur is pretty much as horrible as it gets. Set in dystopic London where “parties” allow wealthy patrons to carry out their sickest fantasies, this play deals with themes such as rape, child abuse, torture and murder in a hellish evening of theatre. Deliberately controversial, and full of moments of heart-stopping terror, it will be interesting to see the New Theatre’s take on such a famously dark script.
5. I want… relationship driven drama
Closer (9th-12th Nov) is a play which follows four people across five years of their lives, as they fall in and out of love with each-other in a complicated circle of betrayal and heartbreak. You may have seen the film starring Jude Law and Julia Roberts, and the play original carries the same dramatic punch. There’s also The Pride (18th-19th Nov) which tells the story of three people’s relationships and how they would be different in 1958 versus 2008, questioning our changing attitudes to sexuality.
6. I want… fresh student writing
As well as the musical, the Fringe season this semester is full of fresh student writing, with never before seen plays being performed with original casts. One of the most intriguing of these, The Greatest Thing You’ve Ever Seen (12th-13th Dec), tells the story of an aspiring film-maker who begins to lose his sight, in an intimate and original production written by Nottingham University student Tom Proffitt.
7. I want… laugh-out loud comedy
Alongside the compelling dramatic shows, the Fringe Season this year promises to deliver two comedic delights. All the World’s A Stage and Other Stories (28th-29th Nov) features three short absurdist plays, which combine metatheatre and farce into a theatrical experience like nothing you’ve had before. The Super Happy Fun-Time Trick Performance (5th-6th Dec) features six performers’ frantic efforts to entertain their audience (you) by any means necessary in a madcap evening of increasingly desperate distractions. Both student written, both promising big laughs, and both challenging the relationship between the audience and the actors, these two shows look to be a welcome break from deadline stress!
8. I want… shows that tackle feminist topics
The strong female cast list is complemented by the strong feminist topics being presented in several productions. The most eye-catching one is Contractions (14th – 15th Nov), a play which examines a woman’s working environment and its ownership over her body when she gets involved with a co-worker, questioning just how far a woman will go to keep her job in a tough economic climate. Many women have come across workplace discrimination, yet there is startlingly little theatre made about it.
9. I want… experimental theatre
A Beautiful Thing is a show that looks to be a unique theatrical experience. Relying on audience interaction and improv comedy, this show challenges notions of love and sexuality through bringing the audience into a narrative of a life artist and the subjects they become infatuated with. This is truly a premise that is challenging and innovative.
Edited by Jenine Tudtud
Sources:
http://newtheatre.org.uk/whats-on/
https://www.facebook.com/thenottinghamnewtheatre/
https://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/asset/Organisation/8528/nt_full_colour_l…