Guide to the New Cellars
This page is here so you can get some idea about what the New Cellars has to offer as a venue.
Our theatre, the Pembroke New Cellars, is the most versatile student theatre in Cambridge. It offers an intimate setting with maximum flexibility for staging.
The New Cellars
Pembroke New Cellars, the home of the Players, is a small studio theatre situated in the basement of Foundress Court in Pembroke College. Typically we stage 4 shows here each Lent and Michealmas term, and 2 in Easter term. The New Cellars is also the venue for our smokers and poetry evenings.
The Theatre
None of the seating or the staging in the New Cellars is fixed. This means you can stage your play pretty much any way you want. In the past we've seen shows staged 'conventionally', in traverse or in the round; with performers on the same level as the audience or raised on staging blocks; with seats in an L-shape or one three sides of the stage. No other studio theatre in Cambridge is so versatile. Once New Cellars was even transformed into a restaurant for a week, complete with tables for the audiences to sit at while they watched the drame unfold around them.
The New Cellars seats 70-90 people, possibly more depending on where you have your stage. The small size of the New Cellars is perfect for productions with smaller casts: things that can get drowned out in larger venues.
Layout
Because the New Cellars is a studio space, there is little in the way of fixed layout except the entrances and exits. The New Cellars is roughly square, with a main entrance in one corner. One wall is recessed into a storage area, which is usually covered with a black curtain. Likewise, one of the other walls can also be covered with a black curtain as a backdrop. Apart from these restrictions, the theatre layout is entirely up to the director: the New Cellars has a set of staging blocks that can be used to create a traditional stage, or the theatre area can be defined using set or lighting.
Technical Information
The New Cellars has a small but effective set of lights, usually mounted from a square set of bars in the ceiling, and a fully functional PA system with Casette, CD, and Minidisc players, and the ability to attach other common inputs, such as Computers or Ipods. Unusually, the lights are directly attached to their dimmers, which means that both power and DMX is required to each light, although this does mean that the lights can be plugged directly into standard 13A power. A full tech inventory can be found here. If you have any further questions, you can email the Technical Representative.
Hire Policy
The Pembroke Players can hire out their lights and PA for non-PP productions, and events in the New Cellars or elsewhere. Standard terms for the hire of the lights and lighting board in the New Cellars are £25 a night, plus a £100 deposit cheque. A technically responsible person is also required to set up, operate and remove the lights. To arrange hire, and to get quotes for other arrangements, such as the hire of lights for shows outside the NC, please email our Technical Representative.