Theatre and Dance

The current crop of Footlights

The Footlights shine!

As the wheels on my ancient yellow bicycle screeched to a halt outside the ADC Theatre in the centre of Cambridge my mind began racing, almost as fast as my heartbeat.

It had been a while since I last rode a bicycle and even longer since I last interviewed a comedian, let alone five of the country's most talented student performers, and judging by how poorly I handled my last effort I was genuinely beginning to panic.

If I've learned anything from my previous run-in with a so-called funny man (naming no names, but he was famous for having a puppet) it was not to attempt to try and be funny yourself and to make sure you laugh at everything they say.

However it appeared that this advice was not needed, as I arrived to interview the possible future saviours of British Comedy: the current crop of Cambridge Footlights. 

The Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club has been responsible for many of the successful British comedians over the years, from Monty Python to The Mary Whitehouse Experience to Ali G, Mel and Sue and even Germaine Greer. 

Original

The cast just hang around together!

The club itself dates back to 1883, with early performances drawn from Victorian stock: dramas, 'burlesques', one-act farces. However, the club became famed for including original comedy such as Uncle Joe at Oxbridge - "a new and original comic operetta", with a cast of 21, that dated from 1885.

Throughout the years the club expanded and continued to experiment with new original comedy which they showcased in front of fellow students and more importantly the public. This latest crop of Footlight performers are about to launch a national tour with their sketch show Niceties.

With the Footlights proven track record of launching new comedians, I had an unnerving sense that I was about to walk into a room of 'funny' people and I could feel I was about to start telling an assortment of bad jokes... What's brown and sticky???

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the bar area and found five very chilled-out students eagerly reading their first review.

"They've called it 'a breakneck round of fast paced sketches each one funnier than the last!' so that is very sweet," exclaimed director Dan Mansell, obviously pleased that it had been well received by the local paper, after months of hard work.

"I've seen the show every night for two weeks and throughout the rehearsal period, and I do enjoy it more and more each time I see it."

"I am involved and that doesn't make me very objective but it really is a lot of fun and it is changing all the time with it constantly being rewritten with the running order changing," said Dan.

But while he has toiled from the auditorium, helping tweak the production ahead of their 50 date tour - which includes a long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - the five performers on stage have been learning how to perform it for the audience and each other.

Slick

"It is a really weird mix and it is very difficult to get right. I did the show last year and you do it 70 times so it does get very slick and you learn where to put emphasis and what is going to get laughs," explained Simon Bird, one of the Footlights comedians who is graduating this year.

Simon Bird, the next big thing?

"You learn what little bits to add to get laughs but in a way that kind of gets deadening and gets too slick. It is very difficult to find a way of doing it the same way every night and also keeping yourself excited about it and keeping it fresh." 

"The most important thing is for us to enjoy the show, which I think we all are at the moment because it is still relatively early on and if we're enjoying it then I think the audience will as they can see that," said Simon, who has already been signed by Avalon Management and is hoping to become the next big name to graduate from the Footlights.

With just a quick glance at the alumni of the Footlights you realise that it reads like a Who's Who of British Comedy. But does this make this year's crop of talented comedians somewhat full of themselves and the magnificent future that lies in front of them?

Tiani Ghoush and Joe Thomas

This is far from the reality of this fine young talent, while their CV will be now containing that all important Footlights mention which may or may not open some doors in the world of comedy, it isn't a passport to comedic greatness.

In fact the current crop of Footlights performers are incredibly realistic as to what to expect from the tour.

Danger

"It is a real danger, we can't just rely on the reputation of the company, we don't have any laurels to rest on," said Sam Kitchener, another of the young, self-effacing comics.

"And if you're crap it makes it worse that you have this illustrious history and it is so obvious that you are just using the name so you do have something to prove," added Joe Thomas.

"In general it is overwhelmingly a positive thing to have, I'm sure our ticket sales are almost entirely boosted by the fact that this is Footlights."

"But there is always the disadvantage that if you are bad it is not the same as an anonymous group being bad because you have this name to uphold," said Joe.

While the name 'Footlights' does automatically generate a certain amount of respect among some people, not everyone is aware of their comic heritage.

"I didn't really know what Footlights was all about - obviously you hear about them and you just assume that it is Monty Python, the next generation, but that is not the case," said Helen Cripps - another student performer on the tour.

Helen Cripps reads the first review.

"You just come to see what it is all about, I've had a really great time with everything that I have done with Footlights and I'm hoping to do more of it next year." 

"It is a springboard in a way, in terms of experience it is amazing and I'll just keep at it and see what happens in the future," said Helen.

The future is something that any member of the Footlights can look forward to - with many British comedians having discovered their talented funny bone at Cambridge it seems likely that some kind of involvement in comedy is inevitable.

Heritage

"It is lovely to be involved with something that has got such a great comic heritage," explained Dan Mansell.

Director, Dan Mansell.

"People think that the Footlights had its day back with Monty Python and Peter Cook."

"But the big names are still coming out now like David Baddiel and more recently Ali G creator Sasha Baron Cohen and a lot of the up and coming Edinburgh comics," continued Dan.

While the club has such prestigious links with many of the best comedians still operating in the UK, the performers, it is claimed, do not simply come to Cambridge in order to make it in the world of comedy.

"Personally I just came to drink but actually it is weird because I didn't get into Footlights at the start - I wasn't really interested until my second year," explained the performer Tiani Ghosh.

"By that point I'd seen the tour show and thought that was a million miles away, so it is weird now to be doing it because that was the first thing I saw and now to be in it?!"

"I think that the Footlights is so well known here that people come up to you in the streets. Somebody came up to me today and congratulated us on the show, it's such a close-knit community that everybody sees it as well known," said Tiani.

While the local community and experienced comedy fans know that the Footlights can offer a chance to see the next generation of successful comedians, it does add a certain pressure to the performances.

Positive

Sam Kitchener.

"I think it is a positive pressure - it makes you want to enjoy it and I found it really exciting the first time I did a Footlights production, thinking of all the amazing people who have done it before," explained Sam Kitchener.

"You shouldn't need an extra motivation but I think it gives you that extra bit."

"The audience will be critical because it is such a famous name, but they will also be ready to laugh because they come and it is the Footlights," said Sam.