THEATRE WORDS JENNY SHELTON
FESTIVE THEATRE Get ready for sparkles, songs and festive cheer: here’s our pick of the best Christmas shows in Cambridge this year! AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Stampeding elephants, runaway trains, dashing gentlemen and Indian princesses… New International Encounter (NIE) invite you all on a Christmas adventure of a lifetime as they stage Around the World in 80 Days. Taking place at Cambridge Junction, it’s promising music, excitement and BIG moustaches as it lands in town on 8 December. “The idea of an epic journey around the world really worked for us, being an international theatre company,” says artistic director and performer Alex Byrne. “I really like the adventure and travel element of the story. We’re basing the set around a classic English look, then bursting out of that will come all sorts of different styles and feels. That late-Victorian opulence is lovely to play with, and that period in history is very interesting. It’s when the rest of the world opened up in many ways, so there’s something beautiful in that. Plus, who doesn’t love dressing up in great costumes?” Taking us through the story – which is based on the book by Jules Verne, first published in 1873 – Alex explains: “Phileas Fogg is an enigmatic English gentleman who accepts a bet to travel around the world in 80 days. He sets off with his French manservant and they head around the world going east, through Egypt, India, Japan and across the Pacific to San Francisco, across the States and back to London. It’s also a chase, as the police are after him for robbing the bank of England… “Along the way he picks up various other travellers, including an Indian princess. So the story might have a romantic finale. And because they’re hoping to be back from their travels by
Christmas, we might even have a bit of a Christmassy ending too.” NIE was last in town with the beautiful, big-hearted Hansel and Gretel, and once again they’ll be using live music, performed on stage by the actor-musicians. “Music plays a large part in telling the story, and describing each of the different places they visit, so we’ve been looking at
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instruments from around the world. Then there’s all the different means of transport, so we’ve got boats, trains, rickshaws, a wind-powered sledge… it should be a really exciting show.” Runs 8 December until 4 January, at various times. See online for times; tickets are £10-£14. www.junction.co.uk
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