The Pembroke Players’ production of Dropouts! works well if you don’t question it too thoroughly. It may not happen all the time, and it might be far from consistent, but there are certainly a few really good laughs to be had in this show, which uses quite a lot of grotesque and outlandish humour.

Dropouts! warms up slowly, establishing how Herbert (Elliott Wright) and Piers (Michael Tigchelaar) get kicked out of Cambridge by their supervisor, and they end up at the New University of Studies (NUS). A lot of time is taken to set up the background, with many one-liners thrown in as this is happening; some land and are hilarious, but many don’t. At NUS, they immediately find their significant others, their coke suppliers, and the stereotypical jock. The actors all embed themselves into their roles, and they react seamlessly.

If anything, they play their parts a bit too well. Love is found, love is lost and love is regained. Coke addicts are sent to jail because they’re really mean, scheming people. Drug dealers find God and embrace priesthood. There is a drug-related death onstage, but don’t worry, it's probably the funniest you’ve seen in the drug-related death category, which makes it okay. Best friends Herbert and Piers, who were estranged earlier, are reunited, and through the violent death of a character the play’s message of “pals before gals” is sent through.

However, I must warn you: this show is far more cringe-worthy than your regular sketch show/smokers. The meta-theatrical character Brian (Tim Vaughan), is shown to be stroking his bishop for a good three minutes as he converses with Piers, one of the two protagonists, while the sound of what is, presumably, not very tasteful pornography plays in the background. In another scene Herbert has Doctor Who fantasy sex with a Dalek, while completely unrelated images form a rather apt montage on the screen behind.

There is one coke-addled antagonist who frequently uses toilet humour, threatening to kill one of the protagonists with a frozen piece of his excrement, shaped in the form of a dagger (which probably sent chills down the spine of any engineers who’d happened to be at this play). He finishes by retching up what I hope was cereal and milk, or a manifestation of an unreal commitment to his role.

While some of scenes work and do come across as funny, others make you nauseously regret having had dinner before you came to the show. Many gags seem just a little bit over the top and just put there for shock value. The fact is, many of these jokes just don’t land, or are far too awkward to be funny.

My favourite part of the show was a scene with the janitor, Brian, a character who’s introduced when he breaks the Fourth Wall to converse with the audience about an existential crisis he’s been having. His self-referential jokes are spot on, as are all his monologues to the audience. This is the same Brian that I mentioned earlier, who was shown having a 'private moment' on stage. You have to give him credit for carrying that scene off, and only slightly coming across as borderline obscene.

By the end of the show, as they’re getting married on stage, you don’t feel too bad for Piers and Herbert. Maybe dropping out of Cambridge wasn’t the worst thing that happened to them. Perhaps we should all try it? Maybe not. That being said, the story made for an entertaining evening, even if the success of some of the comedy was far from consistent