Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural performance took place in June 1883. For some months before the name "Footlights" was chosen, the group had performed to local audiences in the Cambridge area (once, with a cricket match included, at the "pauper lunatic asylum"). They wished to go wider than the University Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC), founded in 1855, with its membership drawn largely from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, and its theatre seating only 100. They were to perform every
May Week
May Week is the name used in the University of Cambridge to refer to a period at the end of the academic year. Originally May Week took place in the week during May before year-end exams began. Nowadays, May Week takes place in June after exam ...
at the Theatre Royal, Barnwell, Cambridge, the shows soon open to the public. A local paper commended the club's appeal to the "general public, the many different classes of which life in Cambridge is made up".
The club grew in prominence in the 1960s as a hotbed of comedy and satire, and established a permanent home in the basement of the Cambridge Union. Having established a tradition of performing at the annual
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
, the club entered the mainstream when its members formed half of '' Beyond the Fringe'', the hugely popular stage revue which toured Britain and America in 1960. The 1963 revue then followed in the footsteps of ''Beyond the Fringe'', appearing in Edinburgh and London's West End, before travelling to New Zealand and the United States, where it made appearances on Broadway and '' The Ed Sullivan Show'' and received a full-page review in '' Time''.
The first woman to be given full membership was Germaine Greer. She joined in October 1964 on the same day as
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Russell Davies. There had been women before that time who had been allowed to join in, including Eleanor Bron in the late 1950s, but Greer was the first to be billed as a full member. Apparently Tim Brooke-Taylor was instrumental in having women admitted. She was part of the Footlights' 1965 revue ''My Girl Herbert''.
Over the next decade, Footlights members came to dominate British comedy, creating and starring in shows such as '' Not Only... But Also'', '' I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'', '' At Last the 1948 Show'', '' That Was the Week That Was and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'', forming comedy groups such as
Monty Python
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satire boom
The satire boom was the output of a generation of British satirical writers, journalists and performers at the beginning of the 1960s. The satire boom is often regarded as having begun with the first performance of '' Beyond the Fringe'' on 22 Aug ...
. During the 1980s, Footlights reinforced its position at the heart of British comedy. The 1981 revue, featuring
Emma Thompson
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
and spawned Fry and Laurie, the first in a long line of popular and successful
double act
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Mitchell and Webb
Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, composed of David Mitchell and Robert Webb. They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show'' and their radio and TV sketch shows '' That Mitchell and Webb Sound'' and '' ...
. Their revue,
The Cellar Tapes
The ''Cambridge Footlights Revue'' is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comedy writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Three of the more notable revues are detailed below.
1963 revue
"A Clump of Plinths" — "Ca ...
, at St Mary Street Hall was billed as "the annual revue: one of the strongest casts for several years, has already toured in southern England with great success."
Former members have gone on to win Oscars, BAFTAs and other awards and enjoy success in the entertainment industry.
Activities
During term, Footlights produce the regular " Smokers"—an informal mixture of sketches and stand-up—at the ADC Theatre. The club also produces the annual Pantomime (in collaboration with CUADC) and the Spring Revue, as well as staging the winning entry of the Footlights Harry Porter Prize; a competition in which any student at the university may enter a one-hour comic play. The Footlights International Tour Show takes place from June until October, and travels to Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and venues across the USA. For information about individual Footlights revues, see
Cambridge Footlights Revue
The ''Cambridge Footlights Revue'' is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comedy writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Three of the more notable revues are detailed below.
1963 revue
"A Clump of Plinths" — "Ca ...
.
Former members
This is a list of former members of Footlights who achieved notability after graduating from Cambridge University.
Presidents
The elected leader of Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club is known as the president, who is assisted by a vice-president, treasurer, archivist and several other posts to form the committee.
Notable past presidents have included the following:
* Peter Cook (of '' Beyond the Fringe'', ''
Pete and Dud
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(of
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
)
*
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.''Cultural Amnesia'' and ''Unreliable Memoirs'')
* Clive Anderson (of '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'')
* Jan Ravens (of '' Dead Ringers''), the first woman president
* Hugh Laurie (of '' Fry and Laurie'', '' Jeeves and Wooster'' and ''
House
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Tony Slattery
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Sue Perkins
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Robert Thorogood
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'' and ''
The IT Crowd
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'' and ''
Friday Night Dinner
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British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap. The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of the middle-class Bri ...
'')
See also
*
Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society
The Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES) is a student drama society at Cambridge University. Notable alumni include Douglas Adams, John Cleese, Prince Edward, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Andy Hamilton and Graeme Garden.
CULES is a no ...
*
The Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue wr ...