It’s often pretty difficult to pin down what makes something funny. Certain situations seem to balance just the right amount of wit or absurdity or downright silliness to get a laugh, but can easily go wrong without the right phrasing or timing. This is what makes translating humour very difficult. A translated punchline can be ruined by something as simple as the fact that one language uses more words to convey the punchline than the other.

There are also cultural differences, of course, which means certain humorous situations in some cultures have no obvious equivalent in another, and different cultures are more receptive to different senses of humour. Because it is so difficult to simply dub or subtitle foreign comedies, we can miss out on some fantastically funny foreign writing.

One Cambridge student however, has battled this to produce his own translation of the popular French comedy play, and later film, Le Père Noël est une ordure. The show has never been performed in English before and medical student Aurélien Guéroult hopes that he can make this classic comedy appeal to a new audience. The result of his efforts is this term’s Week 5 ADC Lateshow, Santa is a Scumbag.

The show was originally written and performed in 1979 by the French comedy troupe Le Splendid, which Aurélien describes as “the equivalent of Monty Python in France”. This group of writers and actors won countless César Awards and have each had a successful individual career, yet remain relatively unknown outside of France. He tells me that he really loves this particular play and that he thinks its style of dark, yet absurd and farcical humour will really appeal to a Cambridge audience.

Aurélien also draws attention to the fact that French theatre has generally been popular amongst Cambridge students. This is certainly true; Moliere’s Tartuffe was performed at Emmanuel College last year, The Bald Soprano was put on in French (with surtitles) last term and Les Justes is on at the Corpus Playroom this week. Dark comedy also tends to appeal to Cambridge students, with last year’s Harry Porter prize winner STIFF!, a comedy set in a graveyard, as a notable example.

Director Rhiannon Shaw thinks French farces map particularly well onto British humour. “I think there is very much an overlap in the absurdity,” she says. “As was pointed out they’re very similar to Monty Python and this level of absurd humour is common between French and British comedy.”

Aurélien has also noticed a series of differences, however. He tells us that “French humour is quite mean… which British humour has less of”. This is something Rhiannon says has been an issue while directing the show; “it proves a challenge because obviously you don’t want to seem to be poking fun at any of the character traits these characters might have.” The show is very dark – it is set in the call room of a suicide hotline – and it can prove tricky to get the balance just right between the humour and such serious and often sensitive themes.

Almost every aspect of the play has been Anglicised. Now set in London, it is somewhat difficult to believe these characters were once French.

Of course, no matter how similar the sense of humour between two cultures, sometimes jokes just don’t translate. Aurélien has found that there are plenty of moments in the play that can’t be rendered into English; “The French really love their puns and wordplay and some of the puns were very difficult to translate. I’ve come up with some of my own puns which work in the context… I hope!”

This is likely to be a show few Cambridge students are familiar with, so I ask Rhiannon what we can expect. She tells me it’s a show filled with bold, exaggerated and not particularly likeable characters; “I think what you have to bear in mind about the characters is that none of them are supposed to be relatable. You’re not supposed to feel a particular amount of sympathy for them. You’re supposed to have a distance between you and them.”

The cast certainly seem to be enjoying tackling such characters, though. As I watch them rehearse they really get into the roles and many little quirks really bring these hilarious personalities to life.

Overall, this show seems like both an interesting attempt to bring foreign comedy to an English audience and downright good fun. It’s certainly something I’m looking forward to seeing!

Santa is a Scumbag takes to the stage on the 18th February, hoping that this French cult classic will endear itself to a Cambridge audience and that its farcical humour will no longer be lost in translation.