Footlights

Footlights' inaugural performance took place in June 1883. For some months before the name "Footlights" was chosen, the group had performed to local audiences in the Cambridge area (once, with a cricket match included, at the "pauper lunatic asylum"). They wished to go wider than the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC), founded in 1855, with its membership drawn largely from Trinity College, and its theatre seating only 100. They were to perform every May Week at the Theatre Royal, Barnwell, Cambridge, the shows soon open to the public. A local paper commended the club's appeal to the "general public, the many different classes of which life in Cambridge is made up".{{cite web|url=http://footlights.org/history |title=Footlights history |publisher=Footlights.org |access-date=16 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922122310/http://footlights.org/history |archive-date=22 September 2013 }}

The club grew in prominence in the 1960s as a hotbed of comedy and satire, and established a permanent home in the basement of the Cambridge Union.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/the-cambridge-footlights-first-steps-in-comedy-1517691.html|title=The Cambridge Footlights: First steps in comedy|date=22 October 2011|website=The Independent}} Having established a tradition of performing at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the club entered the mainstream when its members formed half of Beyond the Fringe, the hugely popular stage revue which toured Britain and America in 1960. The 1963 revue then followed in the footsteps of Beyond the Fringe, appearing in Edinburgh and London's West End, before travelling to New Zealand and the United States, where it made appearances on Broadway and The Ed Sullivan Show and received a full-page review in Time.

The first woman to be given full membership was Germaine Greer. She joined in October 1964 on the same day as Clive James and Russell Davies.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06nnnlc "Pete & Clive"], BBC Radio 4, 9 November 2015, from 00:06:43. There had been women before that time who had been allowed to join in, including Eleanor Bron in the late 1950s, but Greer was the first to be billed as a full member.{{cite book |last=Wallace |first=Christine |title=Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1999 |isbn=9780571199341 |location=London |pages=123–124 |author-link=Christine Wallace}} Apparently Tim Brooke-Taylor was instrumental in having women admitted.Boston, Richard (3 June 1983). [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/jun/03/cambridge-footlights-comedy-university "From the archive, 3 June 1983: Cambridge Footlights celebrate 100 years of comedy"], The Guardian. She was part of the Footlights' 1965 revue My Girl Herbert.

Over the next decade, Footlights members came to dominate British comedy in the 1970s, creating and starring in shows such as Not Only... But Also, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, At Last the 1948 Show, That Was the Week That Was and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, forming comedy groups such as Monty Python and The Goodies, and generally fuelling the satire boom.{{cite book|last=Hewison|first=Robert|title=Footlights! – A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy|year=1983|others=Foreword by Eric Idle|publisher=Methuen London Ltd.|isbn= 978-0-413-51150-8}}From Fringe to Flying Circus – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' – Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.{{cite web|author=The Broadway League |url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=3216 |title=Cambridge Circus |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |access-date=16 September 2013}} During the 1980s, Footlights reinforced its position at the heart of British comedy. The 1981 revue, featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery, Penny Dwyer and Paul Shearer,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/150828.stm#1981Cambridgefootlights|title=Talents who sparkled in comedy's Hall of Fame|work=BBC News |date=24 August 1998 |access-date=11 March 2016}} won the inaugural Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and spawned Fry and Laurie, the first in a long line of popular and successful double acts formed at the club including Armstrong and Miller and Mitchell and Webb.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11927226|title=Why Footlights is a breeding ground for double acts|work=BBC News |date=6 December 2010}}{{cite news|title=The South Bank Show: The Cambridge Footlights|url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news//dp/2009012904|publisher=University of Cambridge|date=30 January 2009}}{{cite news|title=The Cambridge Footlights: First steps into comedy|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/the-cambridge-footlights-first-steps-in-comedy-1517691.html|work=The Independent|date=28 January 2009}} Their revue, The Cellar Tapes, at St Mary Street Hall was billed as "the annual revue: one of the strongest casts for several years, has already toured in southern England with great success."

Former members have gone on to win Oscars, BAFTAs and other awards and enjoy success in the entertainment industry.{{cite news|title=Emma Thompson|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/70692/Emma-Thompson/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016063025/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/70692/Emma-Thompson/biography|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 October 2013|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Rebecca Flint Marx|date=2013|access-date=12 October 2013}}

During term, Footlights produce the regular "Smokers"—an informal mixture of sketches and stand-up—at the ADC Theatre. The club also produces the annual Pantomime (in collaboration with ADC and the Spring Revue, as well as staging the winning entry of the Footlights Harry Porter Prize; a competition in which any student at the university may enter a one-hour comic play. The Footlights International Tour Show takes place from June until October, and travels to Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and venues across the United States. For information about individual Footlights revues, see Cambridge Footlights Revue.

Potential members apply to the organization at two times during the year, once at the end of the university's Lent term and the other at the beginning of the university's Michaelmas term. Students who study at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University are able to apply for membership. Students must be at least in the third year or above in their undergraduate studies to apply for membership. Postgraduate students are also eligible to apply to be members of the Footlights comedy society.{{cite web |title=The Cambridge Footlights Get Involved |url=https://www.cambridgefootlights.org/get-involved |website=cambridgefootlights.org |publisher=The Cambridge Footlights |access-date=30 April 2023}}

{{main|List of former Footlights members}}

This is a list of former members of Footlights who achieved notability after graduating from the University of Cambridge.

The elected leader of the University of Cambridge Footlights Dramatic Club is known as the president, who is assisted by a vice-president, treasurer, archivist and several other posts to form the committee.

Notable past presidents have included the following:

• Peter Cook (of Beyond the Fringe, Pete and Dud and Not Only... But Also)
• Tim Brooke-Taylor (of The Goodies, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue)
• Graeme Garden (of The Goodies, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue)
• Eric Idle (of Monty Python)
• Clive James (author of Cultural Amnesia and Unreliable Memoirs)
• Clive Anderson (of Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
• Jan Ravens (of Dead Ringers), the first woman president
• Hugh Laurie (of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster and House)
• Tony Slattery (of Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
• Neil Mullarkey (of Austin Powers)
• Sue Perkins (of The Great British Bake Off and Mel and Sue)
• David Mitchell (of That Mitchell and Webb Look and Peep Show)
• Robert Thorogood (creator of BBC One's Death in Paradise)
• Richard Ayoade (of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The IT Crowd)
• Simon Bird (of The Inbetweeners and Friday Night Dinner)

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}

• 1886 – F. W. Mortimer
• 1887 – J. J. Withers
• 1890 – Oscar Browning
• 1891 – C. M. Rae
• 1892 – Oscar Browning
• 1894 – Oscar Browning
• 1895 – Oscar Browning
• 1896 – H. C. Pollitt
• 1897 – H. C. Pollitt
• 1898 – M. V. Leveaux
• 1899 – S. W. Burgess
• 1900 – O. J. Goedecker
• 1901 – R. J. White
• 1902 – E. K. Fordham
• 1904 – G. S. Heathcote
• 1905 – G. S. Heathcote
• 1906 – H. Rottenburg
• 1907 – H. Rottenburg
• 1908 – J. S. Murray
• 1909 – L. B. Tillard
• 1910 – A. R. Inglis
• 1911 – A. R. Inglis
• 1912 – P. D. Ravenscroft
• 1913 – C. A. A. Douglas Hamilton
• 1914 – M. Cutherston
• 1919 – B. D. Nicholson
• 1920 – B. D. Nicholson
• 1921 – M. D. Lyon
• 1922 – M. D. Lyon
• 1923 – F. E. Powell
• 1924 – J. A. C. Barradale
• 1925 – H. J. Warrender
• 1926 – J. D. Houison Craufurd
• 1927 – H. C. Martineau
• 1928 – H. E. R. Mitchell
• 1929 – J. Fell Clark
• 1930 – J. C. Byrom
• 1931 – R. S. Hill
• 1932 – P. E. Lyon
• 1933 – J. A. Coates
• 1934 – Lord Killanin
• 1935 – Harry Lee
• 1936 – Peter Crane
• 1937 – Albert E. P. Robison
• 1938 – P. B. Meyer
• 1939 – Sir Robert Ricketts, Bt.
• 1947 – D. C. Orders
• 1948 – D. C. Orders
• 1949 – Simon Phipps
• 1950 – Adrian Vale
• 1951 – Ian Kellie
• 1952 – Andrew Davidson
• 1953 – Peter Firth
• 1954 – Leslie Bricusse
• 1955 – Brian Marber
• 1956 – Tim Berington
• 1957 – Allan Mitchell
• 1958 – Peter Stroud
• 1959 – Adrian Slade
• 1960 – Peter Cook
• 1961 – Peter Bellwood
• 1962 – Robert Atkins
• 1963 – Tim Brooke-Taylor
• 1964 – Graeme Garden
• 1965 – Eric Idle
• 1966 – Andrew Mayer
• 1967 – Clive James
• 1968 – Jonathan James-Moore
• 1969 – Barry Brown
• 1970 – Adrian Edwards
• 1971 – Richard MacKenna
• 1972 – Steve Thorn
• 1973 – Robert Benton
• 1974 – Jon Canter
• 1975 – Clive Anderson
• 1976 – Chris Keightley
• 1977 – Jimmy Mulville
• 1978 – Martin Bergman
• 1979 – Robert Bathurst
• 1980 – Jan Ravens
• 1981 – Hugh Laurie
• 1982 – Tony Slattery
• 1983 – Neil Mullarkey
• 1984 – Nick Hancock
• 1985 – Kathryn Crew
• 1986 – Nick Golson
• 1987 – Tim Scott
• 1988 – Peter Bradshaw
• 1989 – Roland Kenyon
• 1990 – Henry Naylor
• 1991 – Sue Perkins
• 1992 – Dan Gaster
• 1993 – Mark Evans
• 1994 – Robert Thorogood
• 1995 – Charlie Hartill
• 1996 – David Mitchell
• 1997 – Sarah Moule
• 1998 – Richard Ayoade
• 1999 – Kevin Baker
• 2000 – Matt Green
• 2001 – James Morris
• 2002 – Ed Weeks
• 2003 – Stefan Golaszewski
• 2004 – Ed Riches
• 2005 – Raph Shirley
• 2006 – Simon Bird
• 2007 – Will Sharpe
• 2008 – Sam Sword
• 2009 – Alastair Roberts
• 2010 – Abi Tedder
• 2011 – Mark Fiddaman
• 2012 – Phil Wang
• 2013 – Harry Michell
• 2014 – Ben Pope
• 2015 – Thomas Roper Fraser
• 2016 – Oliver Taylor
• 2017 – Dillon Mapletoft
• 2018 – Ruby Keane
• 2019 – No president; committee-led
• 2020 – Jade Franks
• 2021 – Adédàmọ́lá Láoyè
• 2022 – Ayush Prasad
• 2023 – Niamh Howat
• 2024 – Margaret Saunderson
• 2025 – James Allen

{{div col end}}

• Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
• Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society
• The Oxford Revue

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite magazine |last=Venables |first=Ben |magazine=Fest |title=The Edinburgh Fringe, or The Great Big Comedy Takeover |url=https://www.festmag.co.uk/comedy/103800-the-edinburgh-fringe-the-great-big-comedy-takeover |date=22 July 2017 |access-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014034403/https://www.festmag.co.uk/comedy/103800-the-edinburgh-fringe-the-great-big-comedy-takeover |archive-date=14 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}

}}

• [http://www.cambridgefootlights.org/ Official website]
• [https://www.footlightstourshow.co.uk/ Official International Tour website]
• [http://www.cambridgefootlights.org/history Past members and shows]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930124945/http://www.footlightsalumni.org/ Footlights Alumni Association]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20230418222650/http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av68930 The Cambridge Footlights Review, 1982]

{{University of Cambridge}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1883 establishments in England

Category:Amateur theatre companies in England

Category:Clubs and societies of the University of Cambridge

Category:Culture of the University of Cambridge

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Category:Organizations established in 1883

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Category:Theatre in Cambridge