Going to the theatre to watch Porterhouse Blue, the newest comedy from established writing duo Ella Godfrey and Simon West, I didn’t really know what to expect. Tom Sharpe’s original novel is very popular, as is the Channel 4 series it inspired, but would it work on the stage? Would it be a pantomime farce, or a more biting commentary on Cambridge itself? Were there really going to be 2000 condoms on stage? As soon as the show began, with Cornelius Carrington (James Coe) delivering a monologue about the fictional Porterhouse College, Cambridge, I could see the answers arriving (but not about the condoms ... that happened later).

The story itself transfers easily to the stage: in brief, the new master Sir Godber Evans (an impressive performance from Ravi Patel) attempts to bring Porterhouse out of its conservative traditions, but (shockingly) it doesn’t turn out to be as easy as he’d hoped. The cast generally deliver it well. Though there were a few moments when the stereotypical posh voices employed by the actors slightly trampled over their clarity and so resulted in a missed punchline, on the whole the performances were strong.

Worth noting in particular are Tom Nunan as the college’s doddery old chaplain, easily the funniest part of the show, and Eleanor Lind Booton, whose impressive moustache, let alone her actual performance as retired General Cathcart D’Eath, deserves special mention. Both contributed such great energy and comic timing to their parts that nearly every line they delivered was met with laughter. That said, Tom Nunan, if you’re reading this, make sure you look after your back, it looked wildly uncomfortable and I’m worried about you.

However, despite the strong performances, there were times when there was little they could do in the face of a somewhat patchy script. Ella Godfrey and Simon West, the writer-director duo behind the show, are making their full-length debut on the ADC stage, and it is perhaps their lack of experience with writing for a two-and-a-half-hour show that causes this. Pare down the script to an hour and this is a great show, but as it is there are moments of long exposition and conversations with not nearly enough jokes peppered in to keep the audience’s interest. When the script works, as it often does, it works excellently, but these moments are just too few and far between. Cut down on some of the one-on-one conversations and perhaps extend the scenes in the College Council, for example, and the show would benefit more from its strong cast and good chemistry.

The other key problem in the script lies with Mrs Biggs, a bedder lusted after by research graduate Lionel Zipser (Adam Reeves). The main joke here seems to be that she, a woman, is played by Patrick Wilson, a man, and is loved by another man. Also, she is unattractive. Try as I might, I could find nothing else behind the scenes between the two of them (a key part of the first act) that were really funny, and the casting decision here runs rampant over any other jokes. The writers are clearly capable of more intelligent material, and it seems a great shame to waste a comedian like Wilson in such a role. Cast the role as intended and we can laugh at Reeves’ reactions to the pressure he’s on not to fall in love with his bedder, not the fact that there’s a man in a dress on stage.

The show is at its best in its moments of pure farce, say when Reeves dances across the stage in search of condoms, or when Nunan makes crude jokes about a crumpet, but lags in the more drawn out parts about the more intricate details of college life, and completely falls flat in its attempt at a dramatic climax. Go see it for good comedic performances and some real comedic highlights but be warned: you might have to sift through some dirt to find the gold in this play.

Porterhouse Blue is on at the ADC Theatre 6-10 February