Universities often have certain cliques. There are the political hacks, the sporty yahoos and there are the thesps.

Not every university has them, but those that do are often quite pleased about it because they often provide high standard entertainment, producing and acting in plays, musicals, light opera, dance, comedy revues and stand-up.

Where there’s a drama course, there’s usually a glut of thesps — or luvvies, if you prefer — not least because there’s usually a well-equipped theatre and rehearsal rooms.

But thesps don’t need theatres — they’ll find anywhere to perform, from halls to lecture rooms, or even outside. However, a theatre’s usually a good starting point to prick theatrical sensibilities and get the star-struck strutting their stuff upon whatever makeshift stage they can find. Some universities, especially if they don’t have a theatre, never manage to lure the thesps into the limelight.

The highlight of the theatrical year for students is usually the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where there is a proud tradition of performing student productions to average audiences of three American tourists and a dog.

Student theatre is often a lot more professional than your regular am dram and it’s a classic example of an opportunity for those with a little talent (or sometimes a lot) to have a go at something they’d never risk professionally — although many, in fact, do. That doesn’t just go for the actors, but for the directors, designers, lighting technicians and other backstage boys and girls too.

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