Drama

Remember the media storm that followed Harry Potter letting out the wand as Alan Strang in the Broadway production of Equus? Well Week 2 sees Jonah Hauer-King fill The Chosen One’s boots at the ADC mainshow this week (Tues 27th-Sat 31st, 7.45pm). But as director Peter Skidmore said in an interview last week, “For audience members only out to get their fix of equine porn, it’ll be disappointing.” To those concerned: you have been warned.

Horse romances aside, also worth catching this week is Osama the Hero (Wed 21st - Sat 24th at 11.00pm), penned by the writer of Channel 4’s Utopia Dennis Kelly, it pitches itself as "a play about the necessity and danger of making truth. And watching it, you are forced to construct your own." Ooooh intriguing.

Particularly interesting is next week's trade, a brooding play on female sex tourism, the cast consists only of ‘The Regular’ (Judah Devoreaux), ‘The Local’ (Diamond Abdulrahim) and ‘The Novice’  (Lola Olufemi) (Tue 27 - Sat 31, at 9.30pm, Corpus Playroom).

Comedy

The Pembroke Players, in association with Pemwomen@30, host the first all female smoker, The Lady Smoker, at the Pembroke Cellars this Friday (23rd, 8pm). It’s a chance to see the best female comediennes in Cambridge and all profits go to Camfed, a charity that invests in educating girls in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, in the L-shaped icon known locally as the Corpus Playroom, comedy abounds in Week 2. Be sure to catch Picasso Stole the Mona Lisa, written by Jamie Fenton, which runs until Saturday (24th, 9.30pm) and has received a string of solid reviews, and the classic comedy fixture, Corpus Smoker (Mon 26th 9.30pm).

More tickets have been released! So don’t miss the brilliant Sarah Pascoe Vs History (8pm, The Junction) taking place at the Junction this Friday (23rd). In a recent interview with Varsity, the rising comedic star quoted Kurt Vonnegut's mantra, “the function of the artist is to make people like life better than they have before”. So not only expect to have your sides gruesomely split by her jokes, expect to feel good about it too. 

Film

The most anticipated film of the week (O, what an accolade to behold!) is A Most Violent Year. In a preview for Varsity Charlotte Saul wrote, “The air is smutty, the industry is greasy, and polluted Brooklyn is filthy with graffiti, but Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain mesmerize in their beautifully tailored, spotless coats.”

Other releases include Mark Wahlberg’s latest vehicle The Gambler which hits cinemas this Friday (VUE). With a deliciously punny tag like: ‘The Only Way Out Is All In’, who wouldn’t want to see it? But Peter Bradshaw gave it two stars. Make of this what you will.

Talks and Exhibitions

“In my beginning is my end… and in my end is my beginning”, Magdalene will be hosting an exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of T.S. Eliot, Honorary Fellow of the college. Displays will be open and free to all from 24th - 31st January.

It's time to dust off your Membership Card – has anyone actually been bothered to use it since Robert Downey Jr.? – and head over to the Union to hear Germaine Greer talk this Monday (7.00pm). The scheduled appearance of the academic, famous for the controversial book The Female Eunuch, has proved controversial with the CUSU Trans Campaign calling for her to be disinvited over offensive actions and comments characterized by the campaign as transphobic. As Dr Padman has since issued in a statement, “I hope the Union will give Germaine a fair hearing, but of course robustly interrogate her, as befits the academic community that is Cambridge."