The Footlights have a bun in the oven and the due date is fast approaching. As the cast of Footlights Present: Bread prepared the finishing touches, I met with director Patrick Wilson to discuss the recipe for a great sketch show.

Bread is one of a long line of slightly abstract titles. What does it mean? Patrick looks amused. “I’m not the person to ask. The creative side all comes from the cast”, he grins. He thinks for a few seconds and then explains that, while they have their reasons, it’s mainly “a sketch show that’s a sketch show”. In other words, ‘bread’ is not the starting point for some elaborate gimmick: it’s Bread because, well, why not bread?

Images have been emerging on social media of members of the production team splayed out on the floor with baked goods barely covering their modesty (or, should I say, barley covering their modesty). Loaf fetish fans everywhere can rejoice as it sounds like we can expect plenty more where that came from: “There’s a trailer coming revealing the (fake) story of why it’s called Bread" Patrick reveals.

“I think we have the whole spectrum of Cambridge comedy in one”

Patrick no doubt has big shoes to fill, but is himself no stranger to high profile shows. As well as possessing a list of acting credits as long as your arm, he’s directed Judge Judy’s Buzz World (Footlights Harry Porter prize 2016) and a five star, sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show, Rubber, and that’s before we’ve even touched on his banjo-playing skills (showcased in last Easter’s The Winter’s Tale).

“It’s hilarious and has such potential,” he says of his latest project, Bread. “I think we have the whole spectrum of Cambridge comedy in one show. That’s a bold claim to make but I hope its substantiated,’’ he adds, and his grin straightens into a more humble expression. The intensity of the spotlight that's cast on this annual show is clear – and it’s only getting hotter as showtime draws closer. The cast is as sterling as you’d expect for a Footlights line up: all five are sketch show veterans with more Camdram credits between them than you can shake a breadstick at.

I can’t resist asking about the interview process. “There was really tough competition”, Patrick tells me. “There were so many wonderful people that came to audition that I would have loved to work with, but when you are following the likes of Xylophone" –  last year’s Footlights Presents show, for the uninitiated – “you have to take the best of the best”.

“The dedication of everyone behind the scenes is surely the recipe for a show as slick and streamlined as a freshly greased-up shark applying lip balm at an oil rig”

He assures me that the show is “actual comedy” – and is quick to refute the rumours that it’s “just a massive Cambridge circle jerk”. The truth of his claim quickly becomes apparent. The cast come from different corners of the comedy scene, and all started out with smaller shows. Pembroke New Cellars and other college drama societies were their home turfs, which Patrick suggests are the best places to learn the comedy ropes.

What shines through most is how much fun the whole team are having, and you can’t help but get caught up in it. Directing poses a unique pressure and Patrick takes a very active approach. “I was making people go off and write a sketch in an hour and see how they’d come out” he explains, referencing a whole cast meet-up that took place over the vacation.“They put a lot of trust in me”. In return, he takes a lot of responsibility: “most of the decisions made are ones I have personally given the green light to”.

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Patrick has good reason not to worry about putting his name to such an iconic yearly production. The dedication of everyone behind the scenes is surely the recipe for a show as slick and streamlined as a freshly greased-up shark applying lip balm at an oil rig. But will he be reading the reviews when they make an appearance? “Reviews are important and it’s nice to see what they think has gone right and gone wrong” he begins tentatively, before qualifying his answer with "it matters more that we have enjoyed what we’ve done”.

It promises to be wholesome fun for (perhaps not) all the family. I’ll be bag(uett)ing a ticket, and you should too.

Footlights Presents: Bread is running at the ADC from 25th January - 28th January, at 11pm