On Tour: Cambridge Footlights

Katie Breathwick
Monday 15 August 1994 23:02 BST
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We started in Cambridge for the first three months, living in digs. Then at the end of June we went on the road. The team is gelling. Last year we found we had a few intergroup problems, relations with the techies weren't terribly good. This year the cast gets on much better and, dare I say it, even speaks to techies. We've been living in B & Bs and surviving on a subsistence wage of pounds 90 a week.

Playing the Tivoli Theatre (0202-848014) in Wimborne was great. It's a family affair, run by residents as a non profit-making theatre. It was only reopened last November after closing down in 1979. They are in the process of restoring the art deco interior. We befriended a couple who took us to a local pub - we went in and the man said 'Drinks are on me - I own the place', which was lucky. It can be quite difficult being a girl at times - you often long for a bit of female company.

Edinburgh is the best venue because we get the chance to settle down, finally get to see other people and not get claustrophobic. The name works both ways: it pulls a crowd and a lot of older people remember it, but in Edinburgh I do find that when you are giving out fliers you encounter a lot of hostility from people who think we're relying on the name. Then reviewers say that it's not as good as Fry and Laurie. They forget that they were probably our standard at University and it took three or four years until they hit the big time.

Katie Breathwick stars in the Cambridge Footlights' latest revue 'The Barracuda Jazz Option' at the Pleasance, Edinburgh to 3 Sept

(Photograph omitted)

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