When the ADC theatre livestream cut out after Saturday’s arresting performance of No Cash Left on the Premises Overnight, I had one lingering question. How did they get away with it? Explaining the plot of Ben James and Joe Venable’s new musical is to walk into a minefield of cliché: one last heist, a weary chief thief, the slow-witted comedy relief and a convoluted plan. Making something we haven’t seen before seems, to put it gently, unlikely. And yet, No Cash manages to get away with it, aided in no small part by some razor-sharp writing, strong direction and a truly dazzling cast.

First, James and Venable are aware that they’re dealing in parody. Each character seems aware of the restrictions of their archetype, a striking awareness which yields some great moments of both levity and occasionally weight. Likewise, that the audience knows the broad outlines of the plot through inference of the genre means there is space for playful subversion and misdirection. The ending in particular stands out as a left turn from formula, an unexpected but well-judged song and dance routine epitomising the surreal but mischievous tone of No Cash.

“Each character seems aware of the restrictions of their archetype, a striking awareness which yields some great moments of both levity and occasionally weight”

This momentum is underpinned by brilliantly quick-witted writing. Recognising the comedic energy of the back and forth, James and Venable reap joke after joke. An early favourite of mine was an exchange between Tower of London guard Mel and their partner Bobbi. Mel earnestly says ’I like you” to Bobbi’s “I love you too”. No Cash further explores the meta with a few aimed digs at Cambridge life, including a long-standing student newspaper. No hard feelings.

My one criticism would be that No Cash felt too long. Its baggy middle where the characters sit around talking about the plan grinds down the momentum which takes a while to build back . While the middle could have been cut down or reimagined, its noticeable slowness speaks to the high powered start and finish of the play.

The quality of writing reaches new heights with the music. A joint production of James and Venable, here are twelve original pieces in a variety of genres. Both writers and performers clearly enjoyed the scope allowed and each song is performed with the flair that was clearly intended. The wit of the dialogue is still there: a song about stealing a key is called “Key Change” featuring an impressive number of the eponymous musical moments. My favourite lines in the whole play were from an early duet: ‘You’re the sun and I’m in orbit’ – ‘If you’re ever in trouble: see it say it sorted!’ The songs are catchy, original and lean on creative rhyming. That said, in their similar upbeat pace, they blurred together somewhat especially in the baggy middle. Indeed I reckon I would be hard pressed to name all twelve.

“My favourite lines in the whole play were from an early duet: ‘You’re the sun and I’m in orbit’ – ‘If you’re ever in trouble: see it say it sorted!’”

A small cast of five leaves no room for hiding but fortunately everyone was a bold, capable performer. Lara Cosmetatos in particular had an arresting stage presence as the group’s leader while Charlotte Dargan handled her comedic role with a deft but confident hand. Though acting across the board was excellent, the other characters were not quite as realised. Despite Nicole Tilby’s talented solo exploring Terri’s character I still felt her character was detached from the main action. Indeed the solo felt like a last minute intervention in order to add texture; bringing her character into the other story threads would have been a wiser choice.

The staging of the play was strong but fairly by the numbers. Characters moved around the plain set unimaginatively and the dancing didn’t hit the heights of the music/acting. With the limitations of COVID theatre this is perfectly understandable. Indeed, the actors were clearly loving every minute of being on stage and their confidence and chemistry elevated the whole show.

I wish I had seen No Cash Left on the Premises Overnight live. That the energy of the play was contagious from my laptop speaks to its sparkling quality. I can’t wait to see what all involved do next.