Hospitals seem to be a popular source of drama and comedy. One only need look so far as Green Wing or Scrubs to see quite how fruitful a source of inspiration these places can be for writers. Perhaps it was from these hit television programmes that Milo Edwards, an increasingly regular face on the Cambridge comedy scene, drew his inspiration for Surgeons: A Farce, an original play currently showing at the Corpus Playroom. Surgeons is an exploration of the staff room in a failing hospital which is under inspection. The three doctors who we meet in the play have unspeakable surgical disasters on their records, including unintentional amputations and accidentally-tripped-over life support machines; one surgeon is addicted to daytime television and the hospital manager is almost dangerously camp (one can sense homage to Kenneth Williams, of Carry On fame). All of this provides a great situation for Milo Edwards’ impressive comic play.

There is a huge mixture of comedic genres in the play – farcical superglue incidents give way to pun battles and innuendo exchanges, which become moments of baffling surrealism, and with the mixture of genres comes mixed success. This is particularly the case in the surreal twist at the end, which is so bizarre it renders the last five minutes of the play almost incomprehensible. Similarly, because of the many different styles exploited, when darker topics are explored (Nazism and child abuse particularly spring to mind) the audience was often left more shocked than tickled, having been dealt something more slapstick seconds earlier. Despite these inherent challenges, however, there were some impressive individual performances: notable are Alys Williams as sultry nurse Kate, and Rob Foxall-Smith as the incompetent doctor Pete Davies – both of whom were funny and seemed quite comfortable and well-suited to their respective roles. Equally, Milo Edwards himself was very convincing as the world-weary surgeon Tom, who delivers most of his lines from the sofa while watching Jeremy Kyle on the television. The simple set works well in the unusual Corpus space, and the director uses the sofa as a tool for focussing the drama. Incidentally, one of the best jokes of the night belongs to the set designer, who included a poster stating ‘Feel safe at night: Sleep with a nurse’.

Many of the problems with this performance were matters more to do with the challenges of a first night than with the content itself. Sometimes ill-timed lighting changes revealed the actors entering and exiting. When one of these actors is supposed to be deceased, this isn't ideal. At one particularly painful stage two of the actors were left lingering on a kiss that was surely meant to be interrupted (perhaps the lighting technician was enjoying this scene too much). The delivery of punch lines sometimes bore the hallmarks of a first night also, but one can assume that these are the sort of issues that will iron themselves out quite quickly. Surgeons is an admirable foray into a by now well-trodden comedic setting. Despite first night problems and some dramatically clunky moments, the script is impressive and the potential is there for a very funny production indeed.