The Last Five Years is a one-act autobiographical musical by Stephen Sondheim documenting the relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, an aspiring writer, and Catherine Hiatt, a struggling actress.
It follows Jamie from the beginning of the relationship and Cathy from the end, allowing the audience to experience the emotional turmoils of both characters in parallel time.
Featuring some of the most beautifully written music for the stage and an incredibly poignant storyline from the master of 'romantic disappointment and regret'.
This is a student directed production.
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It's small town Tennessee, 1916 and the circus is coming to town. In a time when Barnum is taking the country by storm and the railroad is connecting America as never before, Spark's world famous circus is touring the largest Elephant ever shown in a travelling circus. As the people of Erwin throng the streets to catch a glimpse of the opening parade, a seemingly random incident triggers a horrific sequence of events which will have repercussions for the people of Erwin and the circus long after the day is over.
Elephants Graveyard by George Brant examines one American town's desperation to be noticed. Based on a true story, the play exposes the human propensity for revenge and violence lying barely hidden beneath the social veneer.
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Toured to Edinburgh in summer 2007. A hugely satirical, endlessly hideous tale of two giants and their search for fulfilment. The fast-paced ensemble offered a hilarious investigation into binge drinking and therapy culture, tearing at icons of liberty and repression in equal measure. Directed by Richard Fredman and Rich Rusk.
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From: The Scotsman - Edinburgh Fringe 2007
Production: The Quest for the Divine Bottle
Company: Babolin Theatre (all drama students of Hills Road Sixth Form College Cambridge)
Date: August 2007“truly imaginative directing at work”
"creating visual impressions which surprise, shock and delight”
“wonderfully expressive”
“Physical theatre techniques are brilliantly orchestrated”
“an uplifting experience”
Mnemonic tells the story of a young man who is haunted by questions. His name is Virgil. Unable to sleep he sits and thinks, lies and thinks, paces and thinks. In the claustrophobic insomnia of his room he drifts between memory, fantasy and reality.
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Co-written and directed by Head of Performing Arts Richard Fredman. First commissioned for International Connections at the National Theatre in 2001 and subsequently toured to Edinburgh in summer 2002. A magical, comic and moving examination of the world's oldest Jewish community seen through the lens of Greek puppetry and Sephardi music.
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From: ThreeWeeks - Edinburgh Fringe 2002
Production: Les Juifs De Salonique
Company: Gomito Productions (all ex-drama students of Hills Road Sixth Form College Cambridge)
Date: 20 August 2002
An intelligent and respectful theatre piece tackling the complex and fragile situations and emotions that one of the oldest Jewish communities in Salonique experienced during WW2. Over flowing with diverse skills from singing to puppetry, the whole cast brings a deep amount of energy and passion to each of their roles, resulting in an outstanding sense of the real honour involved with a close community life. What makes this dark subject enthralling is the way in which it is told; ideas portrayed and driven home light-heartedly through jokes, re-enactments of legends and the Greek Karaghiozis puppet theatre. At the end we are again reminded that they were all only actors playing Jews for our entertainment, their acting though successfully leaves you numb and breathing heavily.
From: Edinburgh Guide published on EdinburghGuide.com
Production: Les Juifs de Salonique
Company: Gomito Productions (all ex-drama students of Hills Road Sixth Form College Cambridge)
Reviewer: Thelma Good
Date: 20 August 2002
Ensemble acting done this well! Only the youth of the faces of the actors reveal that this is not a professional troupe trained in one of the prestigious companies of Europe. This is the second English based youth theatre group I have seen showing some other much more experienced companies that the new generation are coming and they better watch out!
Les Juifs de Salonique opens with a shadow puppet theatre screen and in front a row of suitcases, a young man enters with another in his hand. "I am an actor," he announces as he puts the case down in its space. As he opens the cases all sorts of voices, some music and a very frightening live hand come out. Then the rest arrive, 15 of them and after owning up to all being actors too, they promise the change into acting will be subtle. It is a lovely light, playful approach to this material which many could have treat as gloom and horror only, directed by Richard Fredman and written by him and Ed Emery, their approach and direction make the piece much stronger than a dark piece would have been.
Telling of the imaginary story of a Jewish Theatre Company in Salonique in Greece it's set against the all too true story of how they were cleared out of a town many, many of them lived in by the German occupying power. It's must go see production and I award it a Good's Great.
The Street of Crocodiles is an imaginative and physical portrayal of Bruno Schulz’s life and work. It is a world of imagination and fantasy, where books can fly, people can appear from the dark shadows in the corner of a room and the mind’s dreams and hallucinations are just as real and poignant as reality itself.
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Joseph K’s mundane life as a junior bank official is interrupted when he is accused of a crime. What the crime is he doesn’t know and can’t find out. He must take action. He knows he must, but he can’t. The Trial is the story of a life, a life wasted and slowly ticking away.
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"If good people are always obedient, wicked people will have it all their own way..." Polly Teale's version of the Charlotte Bronte classic adapted for Shared Experience Theatre Company was performed by the L6 Hills Road Enrichment Group. A highly physical and energetic production linking the imprisoned first wife of Mr Rochester to Jane's own stifled emotions.
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A passionate exploration of love and death in Spain and the powerful emotions they evoke...
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An hilarious romp through feminism and war. Originally a Greek play, this translation updates the action and examines the timeless occupations of man (war and sex), and how they can be controlled by strong women.
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Babolin Theatre in association with Gomito Productions presents:
LEAPING GOD SLY
Written by Richard Fredman and devised with the cast.
Port au Prince, Haiti. Babolin mix delightful storytelling with savage irony in the mercurial tale of the last child to be rescued from beneath the rubble. Cassandra lives in a world of music and stories woven by trickster Ti Malice. Mambo seeks to protect her from a dangerous world, while in his macabre subterranean lair the lowering Baron Samedi lurks.
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This year’s Cross College Christmas Show is Stephen Sondheim’s masterful musical version of ‘Sweeney Todd’, told by a vigorous ensemble in Hills Road’s trademark dynamic, highly physical style.
Through the mists of an icy winter’s night a hideous crime scene emerges. Ghostly, swirling shapes enact a tale of grisly revenge, as Sweeney returns to find his wife dead and his daughter at the mercy of the rapacious Judge Turpin.
The hilarious Mrs Lovett and the macabre Sweeney are two of the most extraordinary figures of the modern stage. Coupled with a superb score this promises to be a fabulous production.
Directed by Richard Fredman
“Lift your razor high, Sweeney
Hear it singing ‘yes’
Sink it in the rosy skin
Of righteousness”
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Upper 6 Theatre Studies production
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Martin Crimp’s Attempts On Her Life really is a play for today. This post-modern work reflects the way our world is mediated by screens and cameras, the way in which we encounter the world outside of our immediate experience in short snapshots of images and ideas. The absent central character could be a terrorist, a movie star, a holiday rep, an installation artist or even a car. The play swings from powerful epic drama to teenage sleepover, from moving personal stories to the musicals. Funny, engaging and often deliberately confusing Attempts On Her Life is a rollercoaster of a theatre experience and of early 21st century obsessions.
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Amadeus. As in Wolfgang. As in Mozart. The world’s most prodigious musical genius ever. The story of his mysteriously early death is brought vividly to life in this slick rendering of Peter Schaffer’s brilliant play.
Court composer Salieri, wrestling with his own mediocrity, senses the danger posed by the arrogant upstart Mozart and plots his downfall. Amadeus is a superb thriller, ingeniously interwoven with Mozart’s own extraordinary operatic plotlines and underscored by some of the most incredible music ever created.
Wednesday 13th July 4.30p.m and 7.30 p.m
Thursday 14th July 7.30 p.m
Robinson Theatre, Hills Road Sixth Form College.
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The course of true love never did run smooth. Ever. Never Ever.
'I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!' is the all-American, off-Broadway musical comedy about the trials and tribulations of people in love. And out of love. Of people finding love, losing love, and looking for it all over again.
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Six women, buried under the stresses of modern life, are given a stage to rant on. Amongst them is a disillusioned bride, a prostitute pining for the ‘good old days’ and a divorcee obsessed with cacti…
Split across two lunchtimes and with one evening performance, a group of U6 theatre students present BOMBSHELLS by Joanne Murray Smith.
Bombshells Part I – Tuesday 11th October, The Robinson Theatre @ Lunch
Bombshells Part II – Wednesday 12th October, The Robinson Theatre @Lunch
Bombshells Parts 1&2 – Wednesday 12th October, The Robinson Theatre, 7.30pm
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See ‘Cabaret’ as it has never been seen before. Enter the murky world of pre-war Berlin. Violence stalks the streets as we welcome you to the Kit Kat Klub, where literally anything goes. ‘Cabaret’ tells the story of strip tease artist and singer Sally Bowles and her lightning affair with ‘wannabe’ novelist Clifford in the dark and murky world of Berlin during the rise of Fascism. Staged in a startling landscape of doorways and passages, the cast and company of ‘Cabaret’ take you into the labyrinthine bye-ways of the human psyche, where, at the core, lurks the beast. And the beast has some great songs ……
Performances at 7.30pm on 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th December
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“… a helter-skelter portrait of a crazy world in which justice turns into a form of show business and in which even a savage shooting is something to be marketed” - The Guardian
“con men, pervy psychiatrists, bent cops, dodgy ministers, white trash nymphos et al are freed to become a garish, disgracefully amusing gallery of independent life” - The Independent
“a world of small town bigotry, suburban excess, hootenanny hot-gospelling and sexual licentiousness in a non-stop staging of scenery on castor wheels and flying television screens” - Whatsonstage
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