Latest news from CADS
May 2026 newsletter
(May 25, 2026)Next!
We’re holding auditions for our next show on Tuesday 16 June at The Old Schoolhouse, Market Hill, Royston!
The show consists of two one-act comedies with Shakespearean connections, which we’re presenting as part of the Royston Arts Festival 2026 in September. One or possibly both of them will also form the CADS entry to the Cambridge Festival of Drama at the ADC, also in September.
Ruby of Elsinore, by American Bruce Kane, sees the eponymous court hairdresser cutting the hair of (and exchanging banter with) Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet and even the ghost. There are three male roles – two older and one younger - and three female roles - two younger and one older - though there is considerable leeway about exact ages,
To Be, or Not to Bother? - a brand-new play by David Tristram - has the members of the Little Grimley Drama Society attempting to put on an evening of iconic scenes from the Bard with minimal resources and even less talent. It has two male and two female characters and ideally all should be played by more mature actors though, again, there could be some wiggle room.
For more information on the roles available, please see the website.
Auditions for both plays take place between 7.00 and 9.00 p.m. at The Old Schoolhouse and all are welcome, whether or not you’ve acted with CADS before. There’s no need to prepare anything in advance – we’ll get you to read through some pages of the scripts and you’re free to try for any of the parts available. However, if you’d like to see the scripts ahead of the auditions, please contact [email protected]
Panto
Yes, we know it’s just the start of the Summer, but it’s not too early to think about next year’s pantomime! It’s likely that we shall be back at King James Academy for 2027 but to date we don’t have a director or a script. If you’d like to be considered or if you have ideas for a show you’d like to see us perform, please get in touch with [email protected].
Don’t worry if you’ve not directed before but would like to give it a go - there are always people on hand who can steer you in the right direction. Pantomime is very much a team effort and we’re all eager to see it succeed…
Evenings
Our semi-regular programme of play-readings continues but with a short break to accommodate the auditions for our festival plays. We’d like to hold the next one in early July, but we could do with some suggestions, please. To date, we’ve read scripts by Noel Coward, Terry Johnson and Tom Stoppard among others but it would be good to have ideas for other plays you think would be interesting or fun to read around the room. If you can think of anything you’d like us to do, please contact [email protected]. We can sort out multiple copies of scripts and room bookings – all you need to do is to have the initial idea!
As well as these play readings, we’re looking to organise some more practical evening sessions, independent of any production. We’ve had a few suggestions so far including a directors’ panel for anyone interested in taking on direction, an improvisation workshop, a session on lighting, and an evening devoted to how you can best present yourself at auditions. We’ll announce these in the usual way but if you can think of any aspect of drama or the theatre that you’d like to see us tackle, do please let us know…
Elsewhere
A quick plug for a forthcoming show featuring our friend Imdad Sardharwala – it’s the wonderfully dense and thought-provoking two-hander Constellations by Nick Payne and it’s being performed at Wareside Village Hall on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 July.
And, although its run has now ended, we should send huge congratulations to erstwhile CADS member Martin Maynard for another two-hander, the critically acclaimed Poison by Lot Vekemans, which ran at the Junction in Cambridge before transferring to the Cockpit Theatre in North London. Some of us were fortunate enough to catch it and can confirm that the performances and the direction were out of this world. It really was a master class in acting from both players and a truly intense theatrical experience.
And we have it on good authorithy that you can catch Martin in the upcoming new series of the excellent BBC whodunnit series Ludwig, starring David MItchell, so be sure to watch out for that!
Social
The usual reminder for your diaries that our next social will be on Thursday 18 June (from about 7.30pm onwards). As with our last few get-togethers, we'll be meeting at the Casa Blanca bar in town for a few drinks, a few laughs and a general catch-up. We hope to see as many of you there as possible – all are welcome!
Committee
Our next committee meeting is on Sunday 28 June; if there's anything you'd like us to consider or discuss then, please feel free to contact any of us at any time via the Contact page of the CADS website.