As a lifelong Red Dwarf fan and someone who has genuinely read The Hitchhikers’ Guide to The Galaxy upwards of fifteen times, I would classify myself —perhaps not proudly, nor in the presence of anyone I wanted to think I was cool—as the target audience for a science-fiction themed comedy show. While not a perfect production by any means, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy Scary Old World, a self-proclaimed ‘narrative sketch show’ playing two nights at the ADC this week.

The loose plot follows the blossoming friendship between Protagonist (a frantic janitor) and Roboti-cop (a kind of sinister C3PO) as they try to locate the mysterious ‘Navigator’ aboard a futuristic cruise liner. As we follow them on their odyssey, we encounter a host of bizarre characters and situations, including a man whose robot wife is running out of charge and a horrifying schoolteacher named ‘Captain Bubbles’, who will definitely haunt my dreams.

Not to get into the ‘who’s going to be famous’ betting game, but if I had chips to place I would go all in on these two

What I really can’t get my head around is why this show is advertised as a ‘narrative sketch show’—intriguing as this might sound—rather than simply a comic play. The ‘sketches’ don’t hold much water individually, but as scenes in a wider narrative they more or less do the job. Perhaps the performers decided to bill it as a sketch show for the dizzying high they would get from the hesitant round of applause following each ‘sketch’. Unlikely. I suspect the writers were uncertain that the plot would hang together securely enough to deliver upon the promise of a straightforward play.

And, to be honest… they may have been correct; it is rarely clear what exactly is going on. However, with the abandonment of the sketch show pretence and a few rewrites to allow the scenes to flow a little more smoothly, you would end up with a pretty funny play—and far fewer uncertain half-rounds of applause breaking up the action.

The absolute saving grace of this show is the performances given by Gregory Miller and Oscar Matthews, who are also the head writers. Both have phenomenal comic timing and their physical comedy skills—with the exception of the stage fighting, which was hilariously, delightfully terrible—are top-notch. Even towards the end of the show when the jokes were a little thin on the ground, their delivery and energy continued to delight the audience. I found myself preemptively laughing whenever Miller shuffled robotically or Matthews wandered gormlessly onto the stage. Not to get too into the awful ‘who’s going to be famous’ betting game, but if I had chips to place I would go all in on these two.

The supporting cast were also pretty good, despite being largely new to the Cambridge stage. In particular, Frankie Browne’s brilliantly manic turn as a child-eating… robot? Psychopath? Unclear… anyway, it was very funny. Harriet Regan and Jenny Cyffin-Jones also gave solid performances in a series of supporting roles, including a disillusioned lift-operating robot and a completely regular member of the crew with whom the Protagonist strikes up a very normal, unsuspicious conversation in the ship’s bar. Wink.

Overall, the story was certainly there, if a little muddy, and I appreciated the moments of menace and darkness which occasionally pierced the atmosphere of the piece. However, this show is at its best when most bonkers, and it is the delicious absurdity of the details which will make it worth your time.

‘Scary Old World’ is playing at the ADC theatre from the 28th-29th of November.