As part of Menagerie’s commitment to new writing, Hotbed 2009 features a series of exciting new plays presented as rehearsed readings by the Hotbed Ensemble.

The Altruists
by Craig Baxter

If evolution dictates the survival of the fittest, why do animals protect each other?  What is altruism - is it selfish, selfless or just naïve?  Craig Baxter explores the true story of three scientists whose research is revolutionary but whose lives outside the Galton Laboratory don’t fit their theories quite so neatly.

Pay What You Can
Sun 28 June - 4pm

There’s No Need To Panic
by Jennifer Tuckett

In an age of anxiety is it more sensible to opt out?  Overwhelmed by the world, Yasmin is a teenager who really can’t get out of bed in the morning.  This comic, poignant play is the final instalment in the Yasmin-trilogy by an award-winning young playwright.

Pay What You Can
Mon 29 June - 6pm

Black Sea
by Steve Waters

1934.  Rural Cambridgeshire is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious German architect.  Challenging the community’s sexual and social values, the émigré brings news of a continent on fire and offers a vision that exposes deep faultlines running through English life.

This reading is the first public airing of this play, written for the National Theatre.

Pay What You Can
Tue 30 June - 6pm

Pork Pies & Copycats
by Anna Rowntree

Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Anna Rowntree (Elephants in Nairobi, Hotbed 08), places a group of very modern pilgrims in a London pub and lets us eavesdrop on their stories.

Pay What You Can
Tue 30 June - 9pm

Mummy Loves You
by Andrew Muir

Sibling rivalries boil over in this delightfully dark comedy from Hotbed favourite Andrew Muir (Gaugleprixtown, Hotbed 04).

Pay What You Can
Fri 3 July - 6pm

ARU and Write On!

Discover the writers of the present and future with readings of five twenty minute plays by students from Anglia Ruskin University Writing Drama course and the best of Cambridge’s own Write On!

Pay What You Can
Sun 28 June - 2pm

Graveside Monologues
Parkside Federation Creative & Media Diploma students

A journey through Mill Road Cemetary inspired this new performance piece with students discovering the graver side of life.

Pay What You Can
Sun 30 June - 2pm