Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions in the country, as well as many shows direct from, or prior to, seasons in the West End. Its annual Christmas pantomime is an established tradition in the city. For nearly a quarter century, the theatre was also home to the Cambridge Theatre Company, a renowned national touring company.
The Cambridge Arts Theatre is also home to the performances of Cambridge University's Marlowe Society and Gilbert & Sullivan Society, and it provides a venue for the university's triennial Cambridge Greek Play. In previous years it also housed performances by the Cambridge Footlights and the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society.
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The Cambridge Arts Theatre opened in early 1936, under the control of a Trust "which is fully representative of the Town and the University", and of the Trust's board of trustees — the first of which included the Provost of King's College, its English and Music professors, the mayor and the deputy mayor. Its initial construction was paid for by renowned economist John Maynard Keynes, a fellow of King's College, and another fellow of King's — George Rylands — was also a Trustee. Keynes' wife Lydia Lopokova also supported the theatre's foundation.
George Rylands went on to be the theatre's chairman from 1946 to 1982. The theatre hosted the world première of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party in 1958. Other premières have included Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know and Someone Like You. In September 2008 it hosted the world premiere of a new stage adaptation of Tracey Chevalier's play Girl with a Pearl Earring, prior to a transfer to the West End. Artists to have appeared here include Ian McKellen (in a Marlowe Society production of Cymbeline), Sir Derek Jacobi, and, more recently Susan Hampshire, Nigel Havers, Simon Callow, and Warren Mitchell.
Cambridge Arts Theatre was home to the Cambridge Theater Company (established 1969), which became one of the most respected and influential touring companies in the UK. The company enjoyed enormous loyalty in its home town, and many productions transferred to the West End. Starring actors included Zoë Wanamaker, Sheila Hancock, Siân Phillips, Maureen Lipman, and Ian Charleson.[1]
Directors of the company included Richard Cottrell (1969–1975), Jonathan Lynn (1976–1981), Bill Pryde (1981–1988), Robin Midgley (1988–1991), and Mike Alfreds (1991–1999). The company's headquarters were moved to London in the mid-1990s, and its name was changed to "Method and Madness" 1995–1999 under the direction of Mike Alfreds.[2][3][4]