Laurence and Gus are Men In Love

The Fringe festival is so large, encompassing so many different acts and styles and performances, that it will take you over two years to see all the shows, if you watch them back to back. Therefore, to even begin to consider seeing a show a second time, that show would have to be something really extra special.

Laurence and Gus’s show is one of those shows. It is just truly brilliant. Rather than rushing through their hour, running with quick and briefly sketched scenarios of imperfect or uncommon love, they use their show to dwell on four different scenarios. These four tales of misconstrued and unconventional love are told, bookended either side with a counselling session dedicated to the best way to woo a lady. The four scenes are as different as they are entertaining. In one, two crusaders of the Knights Templar / Templar Knights are set the task of winning Queen Brigid’s hand in marriage, through a series of challenges that run over the course of nine years. In another, set in the trenches of World War One, an officer and a private, facing the final push and certain death, swap information about their different experiences with women.

Each situation is intriguing and engaging, pulling you immediately in to the thick of the action, and nothing ever quite turns out the way you expect them to. In between sketches are played various chat up lines, the quality of which produce responses so loud from the audience that they are often missed – for example "Yes, I am pleased to see you, but I do have a gun in my pocket".

Men In Love is a wonderful show, mixing romance and childishness, philosophical query and puerile nonsense, pure hearts and murky undertones. Both performers are word perfect and always right in the moment, and it really is worth taking a second look. Very, very highly recommended.

4.30pm, Pleasance Upstairs