Imagine, if you will, a sketch about James Bond's efforts to kill Gandhi in spite of Mother Theresa's best efforts to thwart him.

This was just one of the minefield of onerous challenges the Mayday Players were set by their mischievous crowd, but the team of improvisational extraordinaires attacked the task with the cheery gusto of lemmings leaping to their death.

In between finishing each other's sentences, expressing themselves despite having their arm movements dictated by fellow members and freezing scenes just as they were becoming less risky, the cheeky cast's mental dexterity saw some Houdini-style salvages of apparently doomed predicaments.

Their audience-ordered musical, Badgers on Ice, faltered regularly, but their struggle to prevent the show from completely falling apart proved a compelling escape to victory.