A man walks into a cheese shop: An absurd night of cheesy laughs
Strong writing and energetic performances balance the funny with the farcical Raquel Sequeira with permission for Varsity
How would you react if you woke up one morning in an absurdist sketch comedy show? If you’re the protagonist of A Man Walks into a Cheese Shop, the answer is simple: very poorly. Cheese Shop follows Sam, the self-proclaimed Straight Man character – a composed comedic foil to the outright funny people around her – as she navigates an increasingly bizarre world where the nonsensical is the norm.
From the start, I was excited by the premise of Cheese Shop, both for my love of absurdist humour and for its idea to have a main character that the show follows narratively. Absurd comedy hinges on highlighting the illogical by putting characters into irrational situations with strange juxtapositions, and while this style of comedy is difficult to pull off, when done well it highlights the ridiculousness of our everyday lives.
“In the show’s quest for the absurd, it peaked in its energy in the first fifteen minutes”
It’s quite innovative for sketch comedy shows to have a protagonist propelled from sketch to sketch, and Cheese Shop does a fantastic job of setting up their opening and closing scenes such that the entire show felt like it had a sensible through-line. That said, in the show’s quest for the absurd, it peaked in its energy in the first fifteen minutes – and, in an hour-long performance, where can the show go after such an early flash of intensity?
What kept the show moving forward were the actors’ fantastic performances. Niamh Howat shone as Sam, never faltering or dipping in energy as she spent most of the show onstage and frightened by her peers’ absurdist antics. Oscar Matthews and Miles Hitchens impressed with their dynamic physicalities, and every actor showcased the excellent writing of the show’s sketches.
Indeed, one of the production’s strongest elements is its writing. The overall plot of Cheese…
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