A meteor is going to hit the Earth in four years—what do you do? Build a state-of-the-art bunker that will keep you safe for fifty years after the impact, right? That’s what Vincent (Josh Bailey) and Julie (Coco Wheeler) do, and, why not also throw a New Year’s Eve party with only two weeks to go until total annihilation? This is the premise of Jonathan Neary’s Bunker, winner of the Footlights Harry Porter Prize, which follows the couple’s attempts to find themselves a third person to go into the bunker with them (not, like, a sex thing).

It’s no surprise that Neary’s script won a prize for comedy—this show is hilarious and has a real range of comedy: from classic farcical tropes, to satire, to some great one-liners and throwaways. The show’s comedy made full use of all the resources it had on stage, a joke based entirely on language and the interactions between characters here, and some brilliant use of the set there. Who doesn’t love watching people scramble around trying to take down the decorations for a party that a guest can’t know they’re having?

“My friend and I were giggling and quoting lines from the show all the way home”

Another highlight for me was the concept of ‘cannibalism with a human face’ and the very fair assessment that spineless people are the backbone of this country—examples of actually funny political satire that I often miss in student theatre. But the joy of this show is that the comedy wasn’t all references to political theory, sometimes all it took was a brilliantly timed “f*** off” to get the audience roaring with laughter. My friend and I were giggling and quoting lines from the show all the way home. Well, either that or she did actually just want me to f*** off.

But a script is just a script without actors to bring its characters to life, and the show’s leads more than rose to the challenge. Bailey excelled as the ever-anxious, ever-so-slightly controlling and always exasperated Vincent, and Wheeler was fantastic as Julie, the undisputed queen of the awkward pause. These two actors worked brilliantly both apart and together, really carrying the show with their energy and aptitude for humour. They really embodied their roles, managing to play up the characteristics that make them funny while keeping it naturalistic. Their performances were the highlight of the show, doing absolute justice to Neary’s jokes.

Where I really appreciated Wheeler and Bailey, though, was in the occasional moments where the plot dragged a bit. While overall a great story, I wonder how well the plot of Bunker would work without the jokes to back it up, as it did feel slightly meandering at times—particularly at the end, where there were about five moments that could have been the final joke. In fact, for such a funny show it’s a bit of a shame that it lacked a really strong punchline.

“The posters dotted around the stage perfectly summed up the bleak nihilism of the show, and nothing was superfluous”

The set design, always a challenge for a late show, was brilliant, allowing for the show to open up and take up as much space as a real house would. The posters dotted around the stage perfectly summed up the bleak nihilism of the show, and nothing was superfluous—every prop and piece of set got used for a gag of some kind, making the set a wonderful example of form from function. As I’ve said, the show’s directors (Jonathan Neary and Lily-Rose Morris-Zumin) made full use of the resources available to them, though I did notice that the audience spent a fair amount of time looking at the back of the characters’ heads.

Overall, though, Bunker is a huge success and promises a brilliant hour and a half of entertainment. Any show that manages to stay engaging at a start time of 11pm must be doing something right, after all. I would absolutely recommend a trip to see Bunker for some highly original comedy, some fantastic acting and a chance to imagine a threat to global security even worse than climate change—fun all round!

Bunker by Jonathan Neary is on at the ADC Theatre at 11pm from the 18-20th May