We catch up with Dr David Crilly, artistic director of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, to discover the event’s enduring appeal
As synonymous with summer in Cambridge as May Balls and overzealous punt touts, Cambridge Shakespeare Festival has been a staple in the city since 1987. Taking place across eight weeks during July and August, the festival lays on nightly performances of the Bard’s best-loved plays in full Elizabethan costume, set against a backdrop of idyllic college gardens.
Bringing together this huge theatrical spectacle – which sees around 200 individual performances and 25,000 audience members yearly – is artistic director David Crilly, who founded the event fresh from his PhD studies 36 years ago.
“I do pretty much everything!” he laughs. “I approach the colleges, decide on the programme, audition the actors and sometimes do the music, too. I’m actually a musician and was a university lecturer for 27 years in music.”
For David and a small team of associate directors, the festival is a year-round job, but for the cast and crew it’s a kind of thespian summer camp, to which many look forward to returning.
“The actors always say it’s not like any other job where you go along, do your bit and go off to the next project. They all keep in contact afterwards and meet up, which is great,” says David. “We all live in three big houses at Lucy Cavendish College over the summer. All these people arrive in June, most of whom don’t know each other – and they’re working, living and playing together for two months. It’s intensive, but such a positive dynamic – a real community thing. We have a good time while we’re doing it and that shines through.”
So strong are the connections formed through the festival, says David, that he’s been informed of 11 marriages taking place as a result of cast members meeting through the event – but it’s not just the performers finding love.
“There have been so many stories and nice messages over the years. Last year we did The Taming of the Shrew, and I had a message from someone saying they were really looking forward to the play and had met their future wife at our production of it 20 years before. They always come on their anniversary!
“I’ve also had people say they started bringing their children when they were five and six years old – and now they’re going off to university, but they’re coming back for the festival,” he continues. “It’s nice to know we’ve been a regular feature of people’s lives.”
An operation of this scale isn’t without its challenges – first and foremost the good old British weather – but the situation has to be pretty dire for the elements to stop play altogether, according to David. He recalls some audience members picnicking in the pouring rain waiting for productions to begin.
“It needs to be pretty severe for us to cancel – and we do our best not to,” stresses David.
“We did a production of Hamlet over at King’s College a few years ago, and during the performance there was the most spectacular electrical storm I have ever seen – an absolute downpour. We had about 200 people there with cagoules and umbrellas and they just stayed! The resilience and determination of our audience can be amazing.”
Aside from waterlogged sets, the biggest challenge faced – as for so many arts events – was the pandemic, which very nearly sounded the death knell for the festival. With no income for nearly two years, but prop storage, costume maintenance and other overheads still needing to be paid for, it was almost disastrous. Here, it was the Shakespeare Festival’s fans who became the stars of the show, contributing to a crowdfunding appeal which raised tens of thousands of pounds and ultimately secured the future of the event.
Looking forward, David hopes to continue doing what the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival does best: bringing beautiful productions of the Bard’s best to as many people as possible.
“There is a real misunderstanding of what Shakespeare is like because people get taught so badly! There’s a perception that it’s bookish, intellectual and elitist,” comments David. “But we strive to make everything accessible and clear – and it really works! We have so many children at the festival, and many come along to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But they also come to see Richard III and The Tempest because no one has told them it is hard!
“The whole experience is delightful,” he continues. “Being in those places is wonderful, experiencing the dynamic of that closeness – it’s a very intimate experience. It’s not like going to a theatre where all the actors are on the stage and you sit in the darkness; the performers move through the audience, so it’s a very immediate experience for everyone.
“My advice would be to bring an open mind – and you’ll be guaranteed to have a good time.”
Cambridge Shakespeare Festival runs throughout July and August at Trinity, Downing, King’s and St John’s Colleges.
This year’s productions are Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Book online at cambridgeshakespeare.com
