WitTank presents The School

Sketch troupe WitTank sit on the cusp of mainstream fame, having appeared in two series of BBC3’s Live at the Electric. The trio’s latest scholarly creation is sure to continue their hard-earned upward trajectory.

The background to this comic play concerns a boarding school where pupils and teachers suffer equally under the brutal regime of an unhinged head teacher. The motto of “Bastardi Sumus Absolutam” just about sums up the mid-level hell which exists within its classrooms and corridors.

A quick introduction establishes that no fish from this particular barrel will remain unshot, as Christian names are dispensed with and state schools ridiculed. It’s all good-natured joshing, though, with the show soon settling into a rhythm – alternating sketches from the rudimentary narrative arc with those more tenuously related to the theme.

One ambitious setpiece involves a blooper reel for a school promotional film transformed by crafty editing live on stage, while another highlight sees an anthropomorphised overhead projector all but steal the show.

Just when the momentum threatens to flag, a few audience members are drafted in to liven things up. Later still, a school assembly section gets the entire crowd involved in proceedings. Only a misplaced skit on William Tell interferes with the flow of the hour.

Each of the three performers—Mark Cooper-Jones, Kieran Boyd and Naz Osmanoglu—provide multiple gleeful moments. They are also never afraid to stray from the script when a bigger off-piste laugh presents itself – meaning this is a show that graduates with honours.