Wasteland Programme

DIRECTOR’S WELCOME

Hello!

Thank you so much for attending this production of ‘The Waste Land’! I’m Pip, the project’s Artistic Director, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this work with you.

‘The Waste Land’ is a theatrical response to T.S Eliot’s poem in its centenary year. What you’re about to see is the result of a largely collaborative process from creatives across the University of Cambridge and beyond;

a process (which has taken literally years) of turning a series of ideas into a fully realized production.

I originally commissioned five different writers to each respond to one of Eliot’s sections; they worked independently, unaware of what the others were producing.

This has enabled us to echo Eliot’s iconic fragmentation of styles and voices, and to create five unique dramatic worlds. A slight change of plan means that our final section, ‘What the Thunder Said’, has been composed from fragments written by 15 different writers across the University of Cambridge.

Because we have translated the stylistic features of Eliot’s poem to a visual medium, we were keen to echo Eliot’s use of different languages and alternative means of communicating.

We have therefore decided to incorporate a variety of visual languages, using, for example, physical theatre to emphasize some of the central thematic ideas at play.

Finally, this production supports Eliot’s suggestion ‘poetry can communicate before it is understood’. We believe that theatre can, and should, champion this classic affirmation.

Again, thank you so much for attending this production –I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you.

CAST

Cameron VinceBertie and The Clerk

Having worked on shows in France and on The Globe’s stage, Cameron is now ready to tackle Cambridge theatre’s challenges. He is particularly interested in the interplay between poetry and theatre and what that can produce.

Isobel GuthrieLily and Eva

Studying English at Pembroke, Pip leads the team of The Waste Land with a lot of varied and rich artistic experience to boast about. Having previously worked at the Young Vic, the Manchester International Festival, the National Theatre, the Edinburgh Fringe and many others, Pip now turns to T.S. Eliot in a bid to create a unique post-dramatic piece of theatre unlike any other show in Cambridge.

Exploring the text and having a hand in the creative process has been a particularly enjoyable experience for Isobel, and has enabled her to explore avenues of naturalism and surrealism in her acting that she had never previously thought to. Translating T.S. Eliot’s poem into a theatrical performance has been an exciting challenge for her, and she feels that, through acting in The Waste Land, she has learnt a lot about all the aspects that develop into a successful performance.

Sybil and Grandmother

While she may be new to the world of Cambridge Theatre, Downing first year Alice is not new to acting. One of the highlights in her performance career thus far was playing Frenchy in a secondary school production of Grease (thanks, in part, to the large pink wig), and she has also worked with the National Youth Theatre before her time at Cambridge. She has enjoyed the opportunity to play multiple characters in The Waste Land, as well as the collaborative feel of the production.

Alessandra, who reads Education at Hughes Hall, will always have special memories of the first show she performed in at Cambridge, a freshers’ production called The Kitchen Sink. She was excited by the bold, unique approach taken in The Waste Land, and decided that she would love to be a part of a production adapting the original, iconic poem.

Jess Wilson –Typist and Choreographer

A student of English at Murray Edwards, Jess is particularly interested in alternative theatre from the perspective of movement and navigating the stage. An experienced choreographer and dancer, Jess presented her work during various festivals, including the Young Creatives Showcase at the Royal Opera House and the UDance Nationals in Ipswitch, and she is now interested in expanding her Cambridge portfolio after working on last year’s Ballyturk.

Sophie Lynn –

Dancer

Interested in new and ambitious styles of theatre, Sophie is eager to make use of her rich experience (including dancing with CUTAZZ) to explore T.S. Eliot’s poem on the stage.

In addition to producing, Fiona - who studies English at Lucy Cavendish - also has a huge passion for acting and directing! She has worked professionally on many award-winning productions, and she has received the LAMDA Gold Medal with distinction for solo monologues in examination. Last August, Fiona co-produced the CUADC’s award-winning Life Before the Line at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and after a successful run with 5-star reviews, Fiona is proud to be supporting the show for a London run in January next year. She loves how The Waste Land brings all her favourite aspects of theatre together and intertwines them into a non-traditional narrative which she hopes will inspire further creativity and experimentation in the arts.

With acting in plays in Cambridge (such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Vanity Fair) already under her belt, Katya who studies English at Robinson College – feels privileged to be able to collaborate with the other directors of The Waste Land and hopes to work her way up to directing her own production in the future. The play is nothing like what she’s been involved with in Cambridge before, and she

Phil Tarrant –

cannot wait to get it up on its feet.

Yuyao Song

Stage Manager

With working on theatre productions being a fresh experience for him, Tom has started out as Assistant Producer on a first week show this term (he has loved every minute of it and, as per himself, now he’s hooked) and is excited to now expand his portfolio by working on The Waste Land, a unique dramatic experience based on a poem that he loves.

Yuyao is a PHD student at Downing College studying Computational Biology. Going to plays and operas has been the best mini-escape for her from her academic work, bringing her joy and energy that she can absorb into everyday life. She is deeply intrigued by the subject matter of The Waste Land, with its themes of fragmentation and brokenness, and cannot wait to be involved with the performances.

A St John’s Engling, Kacper has joined The Waste Land’s team as Assistant Producer, excited to see and help ambitious creatives explore previously uncharted territory in Cambridge theatre.

Publicity Designer

Ayesha reads Education with the English, Drama and Arts track at Homerton. With experience of performing and designing for shows both outside of and in Cambridge, Ayesha joined The Waste Land to lead our publicity campaign, interested in exploring the darker themes of T.S. Eliot’s poem that she particularly loves.

ASM and Set Designer

Ben is a second-year English student at Lucy Cavendish with a love for modernist texts. He had always wanted to be involved with the theatre, and when he walked into the ADC for the first time, he was determined to give it a go. And what better way to start, he says, than with an adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece?

Set Designer

Jessica Treves

Welfare Officer

Jessica, a second year at Lucy Cavendish, is a brand new member of Cambridge Theatre. Although she has never taken part in a production before, she has always enjoyed reading and watching drama. So when the opportunity to work on The Waste Land arose, she seized it; she wanted to see how poetic ideas could be transformed into theatrical techniques, and given the emotional charge of the subject matter, she wanted to be able to support the team throughout the production through the role of Welfare Officer.

Pembroke English student Aleena was intrigued by how a rich literary work like T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece could be interpreted for the stage, and was thus excited to be part of its creation. She has been involved with theatre before, having produced a late show (Wedding of the Century) in Easter term 2022, but costume design was a new challenge for her to experience.

Pippa Mentzel

Costume Assistant

Pippa reads Linguistics at Churchill College. She loves poetry and she loves T.S. Eliot’s poetry in particular, and the idea of transposing a poem onto the stage intrigues her immensely.

Lighting Designer, PLX

A student of Classics at Selwyn, Tom has loads of student theatre experience under their belt, including a gig as set designer for Wuthering Heights. In love with the original poem, Tom is excited to help in translating T.S. Eliot’s work - fragmentary and experimental in itself - to a theatrical reality.

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Jacob, a second year English student at Lucy Cavendish College, enjoys being involved with the theatre, having written and directed his own piece for the Renaissance Monologue night. He describes T.S. Eliot’s poem as an enigma, and when the opportunity arose to work on The Waste Land, he was interested to see how it would be adapted for the stage.

REHEARSAL PICTURES