Local drama group CADS is preparing to present a comedy double bill at this year’s Royston Arts Festival and they’re both plays with a Shakespearean twist.
Local drama group CADS is presenting a comedy double bill at this year’s Royston Arts Festival and they’re both plays that show Shakespeare as you’ve never seen him before.
Ruby of Elsinore, by American Bruce Kane, sees the eponymous court hairdresser cutting the hair of (and exchanging banter with) Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet and even the ghost, while To Be, or Not to Bother? – a brand-new play by David Tristram – has the members of the Little Grimley Drama Society attempting to put on an evening of iconic scenes from the Bard with minimal resources and even less talent.
The group is delighted to announce that the shows will be performed at the new Royston Venue, for which CADS has provided both financial assistance and technical advice. Director Michael Young says, “It’s going to be interesting to stage a show at the new Venue! CADS hasn’t performed there for several decades but we’re looking forward to seeing what the newly improved facilities are like, and also to putting on a show at a theatre closer to the town centre.”
The Royston shows will be performed on Thursday 17th, Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September at 7.30pm and both have also been submitted to the Cambridge Festival of Drama on the following Thursday, 24th September.
This is the first time CADS has entered two plays for the Cambridge festival, though it has had considerable success over the years with single entries, most notably in 2021 when Strangers on a Film won second prize, with Martin Maynard also winning the Best Individual Performance award.
Tickets for the Royston performances go on sale from Saturday 1st August. They cost £15 each or £12 for concessions (juniors, seniors and full-time students) and can be ordered via a link on the CADS website at www.cadsroyston.org.uk or by call the CADS Box Office on 07856 599 039
Tickets for the Cambridge performance will be available at £10 each from the festival website: www.camdramfest.org.uk
