Oli Rew, Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (CUADC), tells me that this term’s ADC lineup will be “the most varied programme we’ve had in a long time.”

Indeed, plays like The Magic Flute, a rare ADC staging of opera, and Bacchae, a dubstep physical theatre spin on a Euripides play, promise to be colourful additions to the standard ADC fare of Shakespeare, Footlights and West End hits.

“There’s opera, musical theatre, panto, Greek tragedy… It’s going to be an exciting season,” says Oli, a fourth-year chemical engineer at Pembroke whose Cambridge theatre experience spans over 20 productions.

The CUADC, founded in 1855, is the resident company and owner of the ADC Theatre, and the oldest student dramatic society in the UK.

As Junior Treasurer, Oli oversees CUADC show budgets and helps decide which shows the ADC should fund. Every term, he and a selection panel of four representatives from the ADC Theatre, CUADC and The Fletcher Players review applications to run shows sent in by student directors and producers. Out of over 100 shows that were pitched to the ADC for this term, around 40 will be staged.

While factors such as passion, experience, and the quality and feasibility of individual shows are taken into account, Oli stresses that “it’s not about putting on the best shows, but producing the best season” – ideally, a balanced and diverse mix of shows.

The programme is shaped and constrained by the applications which come in. Referring to the choice of main shows this term, he said: “People might say we’ve been quite commercial, what with Frost/Nixon and The History Boys. But this is a direct result of the shows that people have applied with.”

Besides, shows like The History Boys are “a guaranteed sell... and we need to at least break even every year.”

Oli relishes being part of the Cambridge theatre world. As well as being Junior Treasurer of the ADC, he is also a committee member of the Pembroke Players and the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society (CUMTS). One of the things he likes most about Cambridge drama is the “incredible variety of everything going on, and the high standard,” although Oli admits that physical theatre is something that the ADC could do more of.

Nevertheless, Cambridge theatre has already evolved greatly over his three years here. Oli describes the process of applying to put on new shows as “fairer and much easier” than before.

“There’s also more musical theatre, more experimentation, and the number of shows going to the Fringe is always increasing … Four years ago, if someone asked whether a show like Jerusalem would be on, the answer would be ‘no’, because it is quite demanding in terms of set.”

He attributes all this to how the ADC has grown more daring and ambitious over the years. “The mindset has changed.”

While this may be the case, there are still people who accuse the ADC of being exclusivist. Oli, who scaled the ADC ladder from the bottom by starting out with smaller plays, finds this accusation unfair.

“Directors always want to pick the best people, given the amount of pressure for the show to do well, and the time constraint.”

Referring to the problem of nepotism in theatre, he continued: “In some cases, that is true, it’s down to the directors. But elsewhere in Cambridge, nepotism is just as bad… it happens in life everywhere.”

How to get involved

First-years can get involved in freshers’ plays such as Alan Ayckbourn’s Confusions and an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, both at the ADC.

Steven Berkoff’s Greek, another freshers’ play, will be on at the Corpus Playroom. “It’s a smaller show, and a great opportunity for people to get into a role without the pressure of being in the ADC,” says Oli.