What was your favourite design element at the theatre this term?ġ4 seconds of brilliant design in Parlour Song Neve Kennedy with permission for Varsity POPPY GIBBS ( Read our review of An Intervention) As “A” loses hope and “B” fights to keep him alive, the sound of news coverage of various wars and tragedies plays eerily in the background – a goosebump-inducing reminder that in an age where broadcasts of pain and suffering seem to blend into one, such trauma may have more of an impact on our existence than we realise. The co-leads Maddy Power and Theo Tompkins portrayed a graphic ending of a suicide with extreme care and powerful realism, and with genuine sensitivity towards the heaviness of this painful subject matter. I, along with the entire audience, was speechless. The ending of An Intervention left me in such pure shock that goosebumps feel like an understatement. For their own benefit, and gratefully, for ours too. As the young lovers frolicked in the rain, blissfully unaware of the world of pain outside each other’s arms, their purity of hope struck through my heart, and made me realize that the evening had been a way for their purity to stay alive, a resuscitation of people long gone. That flickering returned in the final 15 minutes of the play as two iterations of the final scene of the play-within-a-play were recreated on stage. Indecent was full of those moments: the opening, where the ensemble slowly let sediment – was it sand, dust, ashes? – fall through their fingers, as they came back to life or the heart-stabbing tableau of characters we had followed and grown to care for the whole evening standing in line for a gas chamber in Auschwitz, their fate unspoken yet deeply registered and known by all as the narrative flickered between fiction and history. It was one of the most entertaining performances this term.
The setlist was thoroughly calculated to please any hardcore musical theatre fan like me, and was skilfully executed by a significantly sized and hugely energetic on-stage band.
Gala itself has a reputation of charm and glamour, partly thanks to the black tie attire and its position as a two-night only extravaganza of Cambridge Musical Theatre talent, but this year really exceeded all my expectations. The atmosphere was buzzing with alcohol and anticipation, and the performance was thoroughly rehearsed each performer was immensely talented, and all had individual moments to shine. The most memorable moment for me was sitting in the audience of CUMTS Gala 2023: Livin’ It Up On Top. The cast of CUMTS Gala 2023: Livin’ It Up On Top Paul Ashley with permission for Varsity
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