Liverpool University Drama Society

Upcoming Productions:

Information on this term's shows will appear here.

Below is info on previous productions

UNDER THE BLUE SKY (directed by Alexa Taylor) 10th-12th March

Under The Blue Sky is a contemporary piece by playright David Eldridge. It is a touching yet funny play about the relationships between three couples who are all teachers. The three very different love stories portray the way in which uncertainties, misunderstandings and the unsaid lead to unexpected results for each of the couples. It is in effect three one act plays each spaced a year after the first one, but each sublty connected in some way and this connection is revealed throughout the play.

WIT (directed by Liz Ford) 16th-18th March

Vivian is a Professor of 17th Century Poetry, specifically John Donne. She has been diagnosed with advanced Ovarian Cancer and addresses the audience directly at the start of the play (and throughout). She explains that the plot is her demise, not in a melodramatic tone, but rather in a cold, rational and humorous one. During the play she becomes physically weaker but maintains her strength of character and sharp wit as she takes the audience back to various poignant parts of her life. Her reactions to the other characters and to her own condition provide comedy and insight as she reconsiders her life's work.

WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN (directed by Dave Appleyard) 24th-26th March

'We Bombed in New Haven' is a satirical comedy about the nature of war. It is also a play that experiments with theatricality, and which is willing to draw attention to the fact that we're watching a play, and not real life. This may sound confusing, but it is carried out in the script with subtlety and humour, and the experimentalism adds to, rather than detracting from, the humour and satire. The action of the play is set at a military base, but it is at no specific time or place, and the missions on which the characters are sent serve no specific purpose. The play is focused on a group of unruly soldiers, who are under the authority of the Major. In between the Major and the soldiers is Captain Starkey, who struggles to gain the respect or friendship of those above or below him. However, Starkey is going out with Ruth, who in many ways is the moral voice of the play, and the only one who seems to care that the young men around her might be killed. She's not all that moral, though.

There are suggestions that she may be having an affair with another character, Sergeant Henderson. Henderson starts off as the voice of confidence in the play. When the men are preparing for their first mission, he says that he knows he won't be killed, and he has quite a simple reason: He is just an actor in a play, not a sergeant in a war. This is the way in which Heller, as mentioned above, plays with theatre itself to make a point.

The play comes to a climax when Henderson realises that he does have something to be scared of after all, and that he is going to be the next to be killed. He rebels and goes missing, and the character to find him again is Starkey. Starkey is now faced with the climactic dilemma of the play; whether to save Henderson from the ruthless Major, or whether to rebel and help him escape. And then... I won't spoil the story for you!

HAMLET (directed by Sarah Ritchie & Ciara Clifford) 31st March-2nd April

In mourning for his recently deceased father, and simultaneously battling with the inner turmoil stirred up by the marriage of his widowed mother to Claudius (the new King-elect and the late King's Brother) Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is already a deeply troubled man.

However, when the Ghost of his father appears to him and informs him that he did not die of natural causes, but was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet is pushed beyond the bounds of reason. His head filled with the Ghost's tale of treachery and deceit, Hamlet embarks on a quest to unearth the truth, and to unmask his Uncle in front of the whole Danish Court, thus avenging his Father's death.

The play charts the course of Hamlet's plan; from his moments of action/inaction and the outcomes thereof, the disintegration of his relationship with his sometime-love Ophelia, his feigned and subsequent genuine descent into madness, right up to its tragic and bloody conclusion.

Past Productions:

2008-2009:
First Term:
-'Festen'- Stanley Theatre
-'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'- Stanley Theatre
-'The Night Before Christmas'- Engine Room
-'Romeo & Juliet'- Stanley Theatre

2007-2008:
First Term:
-'Claxons, Trumpets and Raspberries' - JEB
-'A Midsummer Nights Dream' - the Stanley Theatre
-'Crime and Punishment' - JEB
-'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus' - the Stanley Theatre

Second Term:
-'Asylum Monologues' in collaboration with STAR - Mandela Bar
-'How Love Is Spelt' - JEB
-'The Picture Of Dorian Gray' - Stanley Theatre
-'Blasted' - JEB
-'Wind In The Willows' - Stanley Theatre
-'Port' - JEB

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008
-'Moonlight' - C soco

2006-2007:
First Term:
-Closer, The Stanley Theatre
-Under Milk Wood, The Stanley Theatre

Second Term:
-The Shape of Things, James E. Brown Suite
-Animal Farm, The Stanley Theatre
-Shakers, James E. Brown Suite
-Measure for Measure, The Stanley Theatre

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007:
- Threads, C3 Venue

2005-06:
First Term:
-The Taming of the Shew, The Stanley Theatre
-Private Lives, The Stanley Theatre

Second Term:
-The Importance of Being Earnest, The Stanley Theatre
-A Flea in Her Ear, The Stanley Theatre

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2006:
-Black Comedy, Greenside Venue
-The Real Inspector Hound, Greenside Venue

2004-2005:
First Term:
-The Government Inspector, The Stanley Theatre
-The Butterfly Kiss, The Masque Theatre

Second Term:
-Abigail's Party, The Stanley Theatre
-In the Company of Sinners, The Stanley Theatre