Tristram Shandy 2: A Sentimental Journey is, unsurprisingly, a sequel to last term’s Tristram Shandy: Live at the ADC, once again written and directed by the inimitable Will Dalrymple. That was one of my very favourite things I’ve ever seen on the ADC stage, leaving this sequel with a very high bar to reach. Transferred to the less-than-ideal Pembroke New Cellars with a noticeably diminished cast and a more uncertain format, to equal or better the originality and hilarity of the first show was going to be difficult.

Drawing this time upon Laurence Stern’s A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, an epilogue to the possibly unfinished work The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the format and plot is decidedly difficult to explain. It starts off as a funeral (hymns and all) but quickly gets very surreal. I want to say that it repeatedly breaks the fourth wall but it’s questionable as to whether such a wall existed in the first place - if so, it is completely demolished. This is metatheatre at its finest: the script is polished, surreal, hilarious and wickedly self-referential. The direction was such that it appeared to be absent: clearly, it was well rehearsed but it had the feeling of being improvised, chaotic, which is a difficult feat to achieve.

Tim Atkin as the eponymous Mr Shandy was as good as ever: one of the most superlative examples of character comedy I have seen in Cambridge. The bizarre interval, during which the cast kept in character and interacted with the audience, didn’t see him falter. The entire cast should be congratulated: Mark Bittlestone and Rhiannon Shaw, both given dozens of roles and pulling this off with apparent ease. Elliott Wright and Patrick Wilson, apparently called up last minute by Mr Shandy, were believable in their ineptitude: they were both thoroughly good at acting badly. And I was incredibly impressed by Will Dalrymple’s performance; having also written and directed the show, he proved himself to be a man of many, many talents.

Pembroke New Cellars is a difficult space to work in, especially with such an ambitious and dynamic production. In many ways, however, I found they made the most of a bad situation. Set changes were debacles but provided many big laughs; the lighting and technical direction was actually very accomplished, though, and the production design had many subtleties.

There were, unfortunately, several points where I found myself thoroughly confused. I’m certain I missed many creative references to Sterne’s texts but I didn’t feel this was the case in the prequel. The chaotic structure, which required several instances of exposition, was frustrating, especially when compared to the effectiveness of the interview format used previously. Moreover, by the middle of the second half, I found the show to be dragging: two hours of this was perhaps too much. Some elements crucial to the plot were devoid of humour while some hilarious comedic scenes added little to the show’s progression.

All in all, though, I did thoroughly enjoy the show. As a production, it’s enjoyable and demonstrates the phenomenal creative potential of original Cambridge theatre better than most shows I’ve seen. As a sequel, though, I was left slightly disappointed: I was hoping for more of the same but bigger and better, instead presented with something more complex, albeit more subtle. Nonetheless, Tristram Shandy 2 is well worth seeing: it deserves a bigger platform and a larger audience.