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8 Corn Exchange Street, Footlights Dramatic Club

History of 8 Corn Exchange Street

1913

Footlights Dramatic Club

There is little recorded online about the early history of The Footlights. Their inaugural performance was in June 1883.

The most detailed history can be found in Florence Ada Keynes book, By-Ways of Cambridge History. She writes that in 1883 a cricket match was played between a team of Cambridge undergraduates and the staff of Fulbourn Mental Hospital. A return match was arranged but took the form of a concert. This represented the birth of the Footlights.

The first production was Aladdin in 1883 at the old St Andrew’s Hall. This was the site of the New Theatre built by William Beales Redfern and the Footlights productions were based here until they moved in 1936 to the new Arts Theatre.

 

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