I love a good sketch show: they are a chance to see student creativity at its finest, and this one was certainly creative. The premise of the show was quite novel; a dictatorial decree has banned comedic speech, comedians have been branded in an attempt to secure power, making comedy go underground. A gang of five motley comedians have decided to make us laugh without speaking. Using physicality, projection, sound effect, pre-recording, subtitles and more a bunch of rather silly students try and make us laugh. And laugh we did.

As is often the way with sketch shows, it was hit and miss. There were some incredibly original ideas and the funny sketches were really rather funny. The absurdity of the evening was charming and at times left me belly laughing. There was even a good ol’ dig at Varsity (!). Despite the raucous laughter of the audience (many of whom seemed to be friends of the cast), several of the sketches left me perplexed rather than clutching my stomach.

The evening felt underdeveloped; there were often good ideas that put in practice felt slightly lacking. However, the physical performances of the actors (Comrie Saville-Ferguson, Jessica Murdoch, Anna Wright, Dan Allum-Gruselle and Joe Sefton) were excellent throughout. The level of skill required to make us laugh at all without sound is immensely impressive and there was a lot of comedic talent floating around. Occasional audience interaction was done with immense skill and provided some of the most amusing moments of the evening. Without ruining any punchlines, the bemused audience member trope was used hilariously and the actors dealt with the unpredictability of dealing with the pubic commendably. The simplistic set enhanced the performances well. Credit must go to Lighting Designer Iain Blackwell, who used five light-up cubes in various colours to accent and add variety to the sketches, giving them each a different feel which was cohesive without becoming distracting.

This performance was relaxed; this was the first Cambridge comedy to be British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted, and on the whole the adaptations worked well. While the audience was asked to clap using BSL applause, in several sketches the performers encouraged the audience to clap, producing a confused response. While it didn’t seem to cause a problem for anyone on the night, if a commitment has been made to relaxed theatre, the sketches must be fully adapted also. But this is admittedly a small oversight, and one that will be rectified the more Cambridge theatre gets used to the demands of relaxed performances. The entire team of Speechless should be respected for trying to increase accessibility, hopefully encouraging more theatre to have relaxed performances and thereby become available to a wider audience. The relaxed theatre focus fitted well with the theme of censorship and reminded us that, while silly, theatre is something to be protected and free speech for all is never a given.

On the whole, the evening felt slightly underdeveloped but enjoyable. Leaving the ADC, I was thoroughly satisfied having watched some amusing comedy. I would wholeheartedly recommend Speechless to anyone in need of a silly evening of theatre.

Speechless is on at the ADC Theatre until 27 January