footlights n : theater light at the front of a stage that illuminate the set and actors [syn: footlight]

English

Noun

footlights

1. Plural of footlight

Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, run by the students of Cambridge University and now also the Anglia Ruskin University (formerly Anglia Polytechnic University). The club was founded in 1883.

It grew in prominence in the 1960s, as a hotbed of comedy and satire, and continues to produce the regular and very popular Smokers at the ADC Theatre - an informal mixture of sketches and stand-up. Footlights also produces regular plays and sketch shows.

Famous Footlights members

The careers of many prominent figures in the world of entertainment began in Footlights, including:

Footlights President

The elected leader of Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club is known as the Footlights President. There is also a Vice President. Past presidents have included The Goodies members Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, as well as Peter Cook, Hugh Laurie, David Mitchell, Tony Slattery, and Monty Python member Eric Idle (who was first to allow women to join the Footlights).

The current Footlights President is Alastair Roberts.

List of Presidents

Footlights book

Information about the Footlights Revues during the first one hundred years of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club (1883—1983), and the people who appeared in them — with a foreword by Eric Idle:

• Footlights! – a hundred years of Cambridge comedy

See also

• The Oxford Revue

External links

• Official website
• Past members and shows
• Footlights Alumni Association