Colloquium at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, 1/2/3/4 Aug 2022
The best university in the world. Look closely, see the cracks in old stone.
“Let me ask you a question: if this biscuit was the existence of an absolute truth, would you risk it for a chocolate biscuit?”
Colloquium’s fast-paced narrative veers between the lives of academics and academic-hopefuls, all suffering under the regime of pressuring higher education. Meet undergraduate applicants at their mind-boggling first interviews, unsupervised seminars going off the rails, a PhD student’s tragic academic review, and a counselling session for a Post Doctorate student who cannot cope with their pub-quiz winning step dad.
Colloquium follows the Alan Bennett school of thought. It, too, balances the conflicting hopes of education: to teach for the exam, for success, or to teach for life. Colloquium investigates the role that our most ancient universities have to play in that balance.
“Snog, marry, avoid: the father, the son, or the holy ghost?”
“I prefer ginger nuts.”
Written by Katherine Stockton, winner of the 2020 Snoo Wilson Prize.
Colloquium was longlisted for the BOLD Playwriting Prize.
