Every viewer of Gilmore Girls has a strong personal feeling about Rory, whether it’s sympathy for her experience of Golden Child Syndrome or intense cringe at her exclamation of “He’s not a married guy. He’s Dean! My Dean!” But whether you consider her a typical over-hated female TV protagonist, or despise her ultra-short Yale bob with the fire of a thousand suns, few people can dispute the efficacy of her oft-mentioned favourite organisational method, the perennial pro-con list. Having said that, I will be employing said method to evaluate the various strengths and weaknesses of two of Cambridge’s most beloved and popular theatrical spaces, in order to provide guidance for student directors and producers. One is the Corpus Playroom, often the site of breathtaking two-handers and other small-scale but emotionally significant student-written pieces. The other is the ADC Theatre, home of the panto and the Tennessee Williams adaptation alike.

“Few people can dispute the efficacy of the perennial pro-con list”

Corpus Playroom - Pros

The Corpus Playroom has a more intimate, one-on-one feel to it. When you’re seated in the front row, you receive the sense that you’re in the same orbit as the lead actors. If they were to lock eyes with you, you would feel as much as part of the performance as anyone else. Closer examination of individual design choices, such as lighting, sound and costuming, can be undertaken by an audience that’s at a closer proximity to everything. Suspension of disbelief is, perhaps paradoxically, easier. Because we are in a more confined setting, we must automatically employ our own imagination more effectively to reorientate ourselves in ancient Greece or some expansive, fictional universe. It puts us back in touch with the childhood thought-travel that has been somewhat diluted over the years by Google and social media use. 

Corpus Playroom - Cons

The pitfall of the aforementioned intimate feel can be a sense of suffocation. Every laugh, breath and shuffle feels close, loud and immediate, which is magnified by the space constraints of the stage itself. Actors may be made more nervous or self-conscious by the knowledge that their friends and loved ones are in the audience. It’s hard, after all, to simulate the throes of passion or pretend to slit someone’s throat when there’s a good chance you could accidentally collide with Nan’s patella.   

“This could be potentially instructive for Cambridge students deciding which space to use for their own envisioned production”

ADC Theatre - Pros 

The capacity for a larger audience in many ways equates to a capacity for greater audience-performer complicity; more laughter, more gasps, and a more powerful standing ovation at the climax. Musical and other design choices tend to be bolder and take place on a grander scale, to accompany more meticulously thought-out dance numbers etc. This is enabled by the ADC’s more extensive facilities. I myself was given the opportunity to play saxophone in the band for The Drowsy Chaperone, a parodic jazz-age musical performed at the ADC in 2023. It was a highlight of my university experience so far, and probably would not have been offered to me in another setting. 

ADC Theatre - Cons 

It’s annoying when I (inevitably) forget my glasses and can barely see a blimmin’ thing on the stage, which may as well be in the land of Far Far Away. But I suppose that’s a me problem, not a constitutional fault of the theatre itself. Because there is greater scope for ostentatious design choices, focus can sometimes be pulled from the nuances of the performances. Exchanged glances and subtle vocal choices don’t matter as much when you have chorus lines and painted backdrops to marvel at. Unfortunately, but perhaps unavoidably, there is greater opportunity for technical difficulty when the technical opportunities on offer in the first place – regarding voice amplification, sound effects etc. – are more extensive. 

The competition was tight, but ultimately, the Corpus Playroom, with its L-shaped mystique and ability to get up close and personal, just ekes ahead. This could be potentially instructive for Cambridge students deciding which space to use for their own envisioned production. That said, both venues bring all manner of creative and interpretative colour to the student theatre experience, and facilitate communal love of the dramatic arts. Happy play-viewing (or directing)!