The number of student shows performed in Cambridge each week can easily breach double figures. With early and late shows at both the ADC and Corpus, smokers or one-off productions on a Monday or Tuesday night, and a whole host of college shows at Pembroke, Queens’, and everywhere else, there is great breadth and variety of plays, styles and stages. It would be physically impossible to see everything, but the calendar available on www.camdram.net will keep you up to date with everything theatrical.

The very start of the academic year in many ways offers the most to Cambridge theatre-goers. Shows that have toured the likes of Europe, America, Japan and Edinburgh return for the last hurrah of a home run. The touring shows command the finest casts, featuring some of the university’s most accomplished actors. Many of these will have graduated in June, making this your last chance to see them – as student amateurs, at least.

Once term gets going, it becomes part of every Fresher’s initiation to Cambridge theatre to miss the best shows as they sell out early. But let’s put initiations aside: heed this advice and book well in advance. Whatever your views on Christmas creeping into late summer, play the hypocrite and buy your Panto seats by the end of October, at least a month before it opens. The same can apply to some of the ADC blockbusters, but with no booking fees on website sales there is no excuse for missing out.

Allow a fortnight for Footlights smokers too. The Footlights count among their alumni every funny person in the UK except Rowan Atkinson, and the hour-long romps of sketches and stand-up from the world’s most famous student comedy troupe are immensely popular. Do consider the Monday night versions at Corpus Playroom, though – there’s usually no need to book, but the line-ups can be eerily similar.

As well as all the student offerings, Cambridge is home to the region’s main provincial theatre. Tickets for the professional shows at the Cambridge Arts Theatre may be that little bit pricier, but with weekend student tickets for ADC main shows hitting £10, you could have sat in the back row of the Arts stalls last term and seen the likes of Lenny Henry for not much more.

That said, Cambridge theatre is overall an inexpensive pastime. Student tickets away from the ADC have been at £5 since forever, and a quick glance at the Corpus Playroom website suggests this is not about to change. 

Alternatively, theatres offer free tickets to reviewers (and a guest). You can get involved in Cambridge theatre simply by writing reviews for Varsity, who always welcome new critics.

If you want to have your say, just contact the Theatre Editors on theatre@varsity.co.uk.