I was expecting to see dancing in the CowsDrinkMilk sketch group’s choreography rehearsal. Instead, I found myself watching a fight. One so realistic, in fact, that I’m still half expecting to be called to testify in a GBH court case.

“Realistic fight training?” I hear you ask, “For a sketch show? Wouldn’t a few comedically bad fake slaps suffice?” Ordinarily, perhaps they could. But ordinary just isn’t CowsDrinkMilk’s style.

“We’re approaching the sketch show from a different angle,” explains writer and director Pete Skidmore. “There’s been a fashion in Cambridge comedy recently to rely on a deliberately informal acting process and focus more on just the writing. It can be really funny, but it’s been overdone. What we want to do is make the show all about performing.” Skidmore, a self-confessed perfectionist, and his fellow director, Russell Fancourt, have chosen not to cast from a predictable pool of comedians. Instead they have decided “to add theatricality” by fishing out actors who would usually be found doing only more serious drama.

Most of the cast have never done a sketch show before, including Kay Dent, a second-year English student at Peterhouse. “It is a very different thing,” she explains. “A lot of character work, and it’s more concept driven, rather than line-driven like a play. You have to think about the audience more and make sure they can grasp everything, whereas in Shakespeare you expect that some of it will be unclear.”

Just as genetic variation makes for stronger offspring, so Skidmore and Fancourt believe that mixing up people involved in different aspects of theatre makes for a stronger show. This extends beyond the comedy/drama skills interchange; the cast will also be involved in the technical side of production to turn it into “a visual spectacle”.

Possibly the only thing that isn’t shaken up in the show is Skidmore’s long running writing partnership with Oli Marsh. Friends since school, the pair started writing together five years ago. Innovation is clearly their forte, and an eclectic back catalogue of plays includes Smashed Shakespeare: Hammered Hamlet from last year’s May Week, in which a randomly selected two out of six actors performed drunk each night.

Directing drunks home after a night at Cindies is hard enough. Directing drunks in a Shakespeare play is a dangerous game. But not only did Skidmore succeed in avoiding any cast members visiting Addenbrookes for a stomach pump, he also managed to create a hilarious show which got 5 stars in The Tab. It’s a lot to live up to, but given Skidmore’s visionary drive I strongly suspect that the ambition is going to pay off again.

The only link to alcohol this time is the group’s name. CowsDrinkMilk was the result of an intense, intoxicated discussion between Skidmore and Marsh about bovine drinking preferences at Edinburgh two summers ago. It’s also the name the pair use when doing comedy in Manchester, their home town. Marsh has now left Cambridge, but Skidmore remains as a fifth-year medical student. How does he ever find any time to sleep? “I don’t really.”

Tireless dedication is a shared quality of the whole group. Kay has brought a book in an attempt to combine academic work with theatre, and what look to me like perfectly realistic fake punch practices are soon being ever more precisely refined. The cast even have a serious discussion about the ethics of presenting violence to the audience. Being careful not to go too far into the unnecessarily offensive is always a balancing act.

“Comedy always upsets somebody,” observes Skidmore, “But we aren’t trying to offend people. The show contains some sketches based on religion, but it is exploring concepts, not trying to make fun of it.”

This spirit of exploration and adventure defines the show, and makes me sure that Skidmore and his team are going to succeed in reinvigorating a dramatic form we all think we know well. I certainly want a ticket, and anyone who tries to get in my way had better watch out: CowsDrinkMilk has taught me a thing or two about effective use of my right hook.

CowsDrinkMilk is on at the ADC at 11pm from 30th October to 2nd November