ADC Theatre

The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, England and also a department of the University of Cambridge. It is located in Park Street, north off Jesus Lane. The theatre is owned by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (CUADC), but is currently run as the smallest department of the university, with four full-time, and two part-time staff. It is a producing theatre with the CUADC as its resident company.

The auditorium seats 228 audience members. The auditorium seating was replaced in summer 2008, and the rows are fairly evenly stepped from row A up to row P (with entrances at row A — step-free from the street, via a passenger lift — and row J). The theatre has a bar, which opens 45 minutes before shows, and often stays open until approximately 2am.

When the CUADC was formed in 1855, its performances took place in rented rooms in the Hoop Hotel on Jesus Lane. By 1882, the club members had raised sufficient funds to buy the freehold. This building was subsequently developed into the ADC Theatre over an extended period of time. In 1933, there was a disastrous fire, which gutted the building. The theatre was quickly rebuilt to a design by Harold Tomlinson and W.P. Dyson, reopening in 1935. The building was not changed again substantially until the redevelopment programme that started in 2002.

The theatre was run by the CUADC until the club ran into financial difficulties in 1974 when the University of Cambridge began to lease the premises from the CUADC and run the theatre, an arrangement that continues to this day.

Many famous actors and comedians acted in the theatre at the start of their careers, including Sir Ian McKellen, Tony Church, Emma Thompson, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Hattie Morahan, Tom Hollander, Tilda Swinton, Jan Ravens, Julie Covington, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Richard Ayoade, Ellie Nunn, Simon Bird and Joe Thomas. Among famous directors to have gained early experience there are Sir Peter Hall, Sir Trevor Nunn and Sam Mendes. The theatre is also renowned for launching the career of viral comedian Ken Cheng.

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