Member guide

The Cambridge theatre scene: venues, companies and where to go

From the Arts Theatre that Keynes built to the student stages where Footlights began: the venues, the companies and how to plan a night out.

By the Cambridge Society editorial desk · Updated 14 September 2026

The white facade of the ADC Theatre on Park Street with show banners

Cambridge has a small number of theatres, but they cover a wide range. The Arts Theatre stages touring drama, dance, opera and a Christmas pantomime. A few streets away, the ADC Theatre and Corpus Playroom put on student productions during term, in the rooms where many well-known actors, comedians and directors started out. Add a music and arts centre by the station, a Victorian concert hall and open-air Shakespeare in college gardens in summer, and the city covers most kinds of live performance.

At a glance

Venue	What it stages	Size	Where
Cambridge Arts Theatre	touring drama, dance, opera, pantomime	664 seats	Peas Hill and St Edward's Passage
ADC Theatre	student and visiting productions, comedy	228 seats	Park Street, off Jesus Lane
Corpus Playroom	student theatre, run by the ADC	studio	St Edward's Passage
Cambridge Junction	live music, comedy, theatre, dance	850 standing; 220-seat theatre	Clifton Way, near the station
Cambridge Corn Exchange	concerts and events	large hall	Wheeler Street
Cambridge Shakespeare Festival	open-air Shakespeare, July and August	college gardens	various colleges

Cambridge Arts Theatre

The Arts Theatre was founded in 1936 by the economist John Maynard Keynes. It opened in February 1936 with a gala performance by the Vic-Wells Ballet, with Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann and Frederick Ashton among the company. It was funded through a share scheme that Keynes supervised. When subscriptions from the town raised only £2,300 of the £15,000 cost, he underwrote the rest himself. His wife, the dancer Lydia Lopokova, was also central to its founding, and the trust was set up to represent both town and gown.

Today the 664-seat theatre presents drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It takes touring productions and many shows that come direct from the West End or are heading there, and its Christmas pantomime is a Cambridge tradition. It has a long record of premieres: Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party had its world premiere here in 1958. It is also a home for university productions, including the Marlowe Society and the triennial Cambridge Greek Play, performed in Ancient Greek.

The main entrance is on Peas Hill, with a side entrance on St Edward's Passage.

The ADC Theatre

The ADC Theatre on Park Street, off Jesus Lane, is the oldest university playhouse in Great Britain. Its name comes from the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (CUADC), founded in 1855, which first performed in rented rooms at the Hoop Hotel on Jesus Lane and later bought the site. Since 1974 the university has leased and run the theatre, so it is also, unusually, a department of the University of Cambridge, with a small full-time staff. CUADC is its resident company.

The auditorium seats up to 228. The theatre is known for a safety curtain that rises from the floor instead of falling from above, and for a bar that opens 45 minutes before each show and often stays open late, with cocktails themed on the week's production.

The list of people who acted at the ADC early in their careers is long. It includes Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Richard Ayoade, David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The directors Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and Sam Mendes also gained early experience there.

CUADC alone stages around 20 shows a year, many of them at the ADC. The programme also includes the Freshers' Plays, produced by students who have never before taken part in a Cambridge production, and the annual pantomime made with Footlights.

Corpus Playroom

Corpus Playroom on St Edward's Passage is the theatre space of Corpus Christi College. Since 2011 the ADC Theatre has managed it, so its student productions are listed and booked through the ADC. Like the ADC, it is a home for student theatre during term.

The Corpus Christi College Playroom sign above an arched doorway on St Edward's Passage — The Corpus Playroom on St Edward's Passage, the same lane as the Arts Theatre's side entrance. Photo: Smb1001, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Footlights

Footlights is not a venue but the University of Cambridge's student sketch comedy troupe, founded in 1883 and one of the oldest in Britain. In the 1960s its members formed half of Beyond the Fringe. Over the following decades Footlights members went on to create or star in shows such as I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and to form comedy groups including Monty Python and The Goodies. The 1981 revue, with Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, won the first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.

What you can see today:

Smokers: informal evenings of sketches and stand-up, held regularly at the ADC during term.
The Pantomime: staged every year with the ADC.
The Spring Revue and the winning comic play of the Footlights Harry Porter Prize.
The International Tour Show, which runs from June to October and travels to Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and venues across the United States.

Student companies worth following

Beyond CUADC and Footlights, several university societies have long histories:

The Marlowe Society, founded in 1907 by Rupert Brooke and other students, to stage lesser-known classical plays and revive Shakespeare in Cambridge. It became known for Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in uncut texts, and between 1958 and 1964 staged the complete canon of Shakespeare's plays and poems. It still performs at the Arts Theatre.
The Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society and the Cambridge University Gilbert & Sullivan Society, both of which have performed at the Arts Theatre.
The Cambridge Greek Play, performed in Ancient Greek every three years at the Arts Theatre.

Cambridge Junction

Cambridge Junction on Clifton Way, south of the railway station, opened in 1990 on the site of the city's former cattle market. It has three spaces. Junction 1 holds 850 standing and is mainly for live music, bigger comedians and club nights. Junction 2 is a 220-seat theatre, and Junction 3 is a smaller multipurpose room. Junctions 2 and 3, added in 2005, host theatre, dance, music and comedy.

Cambridge Corn Exchange

The Corn Exchange on Wheeler Street was built as a corn exchange and opened on 6 November 1875, to a Gothic Revival design by Richard Reynolds Rowe in bricks of several colours. Trading declined in the late 19th century, and the hall became a popular place for events: the London Symphony Orchestra played there in 1925. Trading there ended in 1965, and today it is an events and concert venue. The building is Grade II listed.

Cambridge Shakespeare Festival

Every summer the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival stages Shakespeare in the open air, in the private gardens of University of Cambridge colleges. Founded in 1987 by its artistic director David Crilly, the festival plays in period costume with live Elizabethan music, and without elaborate staging or lighting. Performances run over eight weeks in July and August.

The 2026 festival ran from 13 July to 29 August, with productions including The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice in Downing College Gardens, Romeo and Juliet in St John's College Gardens, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in Trinity College Gardens.

Planning a theatre night

Booking: the ADC books both its own shows and the Corpus Playroom through adctheatre.com. Its autumn 2026 season is on sale.
Timing: student companies stage their productions during university term. In summer, the Shakespeare Festival moves theatre outdoors.
Walking: the Arts Theatre and Corpus Playroom are both on St Edward's Passage in the centre. The ADC is on Park Street, off Jesus Lane. The Junction is just south of the station.

For concerts and choral music, see our classical music guide. For the wider cultural calendar, see our cultural weekend guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the main theatre in Cambridge?

The Cambridge Arts Theatre, a 664-seat theatre founded in 1936 by John Maynard Keynes. It stages touring drama, dance, opera and an annual Christmas pantomime, including many productions from or heading to the West End.

Can the public see student theatre in Cambridge?

Yes. Productions at the ADC Theatre and the Corpus Playroom are open to the public, and tickets are sold through the ADC Theatre's website.

Which famous actors started at the ADC Theatre?

Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne and Richard Ayoade all acted at the ADC early in their careers. The directors Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and Sam Mendes also worked there.

What is Footlights?

Cambridge Footlights is the university's student sketch comedy troupe, founded in 1883. Its members went on to help create Beyond the Fringe and Monty Python, among much else. It performs regular Smokers at the ADC Theatre during term, an annual pantomime and a touring show.

When is the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival?

The festival runs for eight weeks in July and August in college gardens. In 2026 it ran from 13 July to 29 August.

Glossary

Cambridge terms used in this article. Each links to its entry in our Cambridge A–Z.

Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms: The three terms of the Cambridge academical year: Michaelmas in autumn, Lent in winter, Easter in spring.
College: One of 31 self-governing communities that make up the collegiate University alongside its faculties and departments.
Town and gown: The traditional name for the two communities of a university city: the townspeople, and the members of the University, once marked out by academic dress.
Gown: Academical dress: undergraduates wear their College gown, graduates the gown of their degree.
Porter and the Porters' Lodge: The staffed front desk of a College, handling security, keys, mail and first help for members and visitors.

Sources

Join the Society

This is an independent member's guide compiled by Cambridge Society. We are not affiliated with the venues and institutions mentioned; opening arrangements change, so always confirm details on the official websites before making plans.

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