About us

The Gay Beggars are an independent and non-professional theatre company, which has specialised in the production of plays (etc.) written in English. Founded by students of the Department of English at the University of Basel in the early 40s and named after the first play they performed (The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay), they have managed to keep up the long-standing tradition of staging at least one play a year on average. 

Owing to the initiative of the late Professor Rudolf Stamm (1909-1991), it has become possible for the Gay Beggars to make use of the marvellous Cellar Theatre in the ‘Schönes Haus’, Nadelberg 6, which opened in 1969. In addition to the annual performances in the Cellar Theatre, there have also been many performances in other places in Switzerland and abroad (Bochum, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Crakow, Prague, Weimar, Zürich etc.). 

Since 2022, the Beggars are an official association (“Verein”). You can read the announcement here.

People with an insatiable interest in theatre and a reasonably good command of the English language are very welcome to look in and join the Gay Beggars (you do not need to be part of the association to join our productions!). Though quite demanding and time-consuming, theatre work with the Gay Beggars offers you a brilliant opportunity to get involved in a rewarding activity and get to know other students.

2023 – Done to Death – Fred Carmichael
2022 – Red: An evening of four short plays – various authors
2022 – She Kills Monsters (Co-Production with the Semi-Circle Basel) – Qui Nguyen (2011)
2021 – Bad Auditions… On Camera (virtual) – Ian McWethy & Carrie McWethy (McCrossen) (2020)
2021 – The Merry Wives of Corona (virtual) – William Shakespeare (Adapted By Adrian Oettli) (2021)
2020 – Intimate Exchanges (Cancelled due to COVID-19) – Alan Ayckbourn (1983)
2019 – Vinegar Tom – Caryl Churchill (1976)
2018 – The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon – Don Zolidis (2007)
2017 – Our House – Theresa Rebeck (2009)
2017 – The People Upstairs – Alex Broun (1990s/2000s)
2016 – ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore – John Ford (1633)
2016 – Lords and Ladies – Terry Pratchett/Irana Brown (2001)
2015 – Take Five – David Ives (1980s/90s)
2014 – State of Siege – Albert Camus (translated by Justin O’Brien – 1948)
2014 – In the Dark – Three One Act Plays of Supernatural Horror – David Skeele (2008)
2013 – The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare (1598)
2013 – The Hypochondriac – Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) / John Wood (1673)
2012 – Lady Windermere’s Fan – Oscar Wilde (1893)
2012 – Noises Off – Michael Frayn (1982)
2011 – Gallathea – John Lyly (ca. 1588)
2010 – “unexpected returns”: three one-act plays – James Matthew Barrie (1910, 1918, 1913)
2009 – Resurrection Blues – Arthur Miller (2002-2005)
2008 – Much Ado About Nothing – William Shakespeare (ca. 1598/9)
2007 – Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett/Stephen Briggs (1996)
2007 – “STUCK”: an evening of nine short plays & interludes – various authors (20th/21st c.)
2006 – Return to the Forbidden Planet – Bob Carlton (1989)
2006 – The Difficult Man – Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1917)
2006 – The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde (1895)
2005 – The Real Inspector Hound – Tom Stoppard (1968)
2004 – The Beggar’s Opera – John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch (1728)
2004 – “take ten”: nine ten-minute plays – various authors (20th c.)
2003 – (5 one-act plays from) All in the Timing – David Ives (1980/90s)
2002 – Dracula – Liz Lochhead (1985)
2001 – Henry V – William Shakespeare (1598)
2001 – What the Butler Saw – Joe Orton (1967)
2000 – A Lie of the Mind – Sam Shepard (1985)
2000 – Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare (1599)
1999 – The Dumb Waiter / The Lover – Harold Pinter (1960/1963)
1999 – After Easter – Anne Devlin (1994)
1999 – Henry VI, part I (1 hour version) – William Shakespeare (1590)
1998 – Run For Your Wife – Ray Cooney (1982)
1997 – ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore – John Ford (1633)
1996 – The Winter’s Tale – William Shakespeare (1610)
1995 – Peter Pan – James Matthew Barrie (1907)
1994 – Hamlet – William Shakespeare (1600)
1993 – The Life and Death of Almost Everybody – David Campton (1970)
1992 – Equus – Peter Shaffer (1972)
1991 – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Tennessee Williams (1955)
1990 – The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde (1895)
1989 – Blithe Spirit – Noël Coward (1941)
1989 – Butley – Simon Gray (1971)
1988 – The Bet / The Cagebirds – Miles Malleson / David Campton (1957/1971)
1987 – Sweet Bird of Youth – Tennessee Williams (1959)
1985 – Black Comedy – Peter Shaffer (1965)
1984 – Volpone – Ben Jonson (1606)
1982 – The Beggar’s Opera – John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch (1728)
1981 – After Magritte – Tom Stoppard (1970)
1980 – Engaged, act I / Trial by Jury (workshop) – William Schwenck Gilbert & Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1877/1875)
1979 – Macbeth – William Shakespeare (ca. 1606)
1978 – “Wits, Fops and Belles”: scenes from plays by (workshop) – George Etherege, William Wycherley, William Congreve (17th/18th c.)
1978 – Sweeney Agonistes – Thomas Stearns Eliot (1924-27)
1977 – “Conquest and Revenge”: scenes from plays by (workshop) – Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, William Shakespeare – (16th c.)
1976 – The Pot of Broth / Purgatory (workshop) – William Butler Yeats (1902/1938)
1976 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare (ca. 1595)
1975 – The Real Inspector Hound – Tom Stoppard (1968)
1974 – The Business of Good Goverment – John Arden (1960)
1974 – The Comedy of Errors – William Shakespeare (ca. 1594)
1973 – “Sketches”: sketches and short plays by – Norman Frederick Simpson, Harold Pinter, Henry Livings (20th c.)
1972 – Troilus and Cressida: workshop (2 scenes in 3 different productions) – William Shakespeare (ca. 1602)
1971 – Murder in the Cathedral – Thomas Stearns Eliot (1935)
1970 – “Shakespeare and the Moderns”: a theatrical confrontation [also in Frankfurt] – William Shakespeare, Thornton Wilder, Harold Pinter
1969 – The Knight of the Burning Pestle – Francis Beaumont (1607)
1967 – The Second Shepherds’ Play (mystery play) – anonymous (ca. 1425)
1966 – Herr Peter Squenz – Andreas Gryphius (1658)
1964 – A New Way to Pay Old Debts – Philip Massinger (ca. 1625)
1963 – The Public Eye / The Private Ear – Peter Shaffer (1962/1962)
1957 – Don Juan in Hell – George Bernard Shaw (1902)
1955 – Saint Simeon Stylites – Alfred Lord Tennyson (1833)
1954 – Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw (1912)
1953 – The Cocktail Party – Thomas Stearns Eliot (1949)
1951 – How He Lied to Her Husband – George Bernard Shaw (1904)
1950 – Trial by Jury – W S Gilbert & Arthur S Sullivan (1875)
1945 – Everyman (morality play) – anonymous (>1485)
1944 – The Playboy of the Western World – John Millington Synge (1907)
1943 – Quality Street – James Matthew Barrie (1902)
1941/42 – The Beggar’s Opera – John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch (1728)