Cambridge University European Theatre Group
A student-run company that has toured Shakespeare plays around European theatres, schools, and universities since 1957
‘Amateur performances which a pro would be proud of’
Stephen Fry – Patron and former member of ETG
History
In 1957, a group of students, including Derek Jacobi and Trevor Nunn, travelled across Switzerland with their production of Romeo & Juliet. Their tour consisted of half a dozen actors and a set transported in two fruit vans, but was such a success that we have toured Western Europe with a Shakespeare play each December ever since.
We have grown in size and ambition and are now a self-sufficient theatrical company, travelling by coach with professional equipment and an experimental set.
Education
Our commitment to education has been central to the tour since it started 66 years ago. Our mission is to keep the study and performance of Shakespeare accessible, relevant, and exciting for audiences in Cambridge and beyond.
Educational material, including workshops delivered by our Education Officer and an Education Pack, complements the performance of the play and explores the ideas raised in more detail.
Both the workshops and the Education Pack are created from a theatrical perspective, bringing together the dynamic ideas of our touring show and offering students the opportunity to explore the text beyond what is written on the page (that is how Shakespeare wanted it to be experienced, after all!).
With discussion topics, dramatic exercises, explorations of Shakespeare’s language, and activities for the classroom, the pack is created to ensure that readers from school children to university academics will find something engaging and thoughtful.
If you would like a digital copy of the Education Pack, please get in touch with Jacob Gaskell, the Tour Manager.
Sponsorship
The ETG Winter Tour is a unique project, offering exciting opportunities for those involved and those we work with. The scale of the tour is vast and ambitious. In order to support the project, the group aims to work in partnership with sponsors.
On tour, company members are ambassadors for both Cambridge University and also the British theatre community. A typical tour audience is around 3,500 and we travel through multiple countries, performing in many of Europe’s largest international schools. This level of exposure and association presents excellent promotional opportunities in several areas.
Benefits to partners include advertising via our printed materials, including merchandise worn in venues and space in our programme, and promotion on our social media networks, press releases, and publicity.
From a technical point of view, the tour is self-sufficient, enabling us to perform anywhere with our lighting and sound rigs. In order to make this possible, we rely on loans from manufacturers and suppliers. Technical partners will have their products used in a wide range of venues and by people who often go on to be the next generation of lighting designers, production managers, and producers. Venues have gone on to buy a lot of equipment from previous sponsors, wanting to use the same products that we were using on tour.
Past sponsors include AC Lighting, Avolites, Canford, Cutting Edge Combat, ETC, Goboland, Le Maitre, Le Mark, LEE Filters, Litestructures, Pulsar, Rosco, Selecon, Stage Electrics, Strand, and Wireless Solution Sweden AB.