M.I.S All Night Long *****

A large stage awaits, with wooden boarding as a partial backdrop, a couple of crates and large yellow balls. Intriguing.

After a hiatus of ten years, DON GNU returns to Edinburgh with M.I.S All Night Long.

Two men appear, suited almost identically, with similar moustaches and slicked back hair: men in sandals. They are carrying a large piece of boarding – seemingly the missing segment to the stage backdrop – through the audience, clambering over and around them to the stage. There are obvious echoes of Eric Sykes’ The Plank.

They proceed to toy and clown with the board, the crates’ function coming to light, as a pivot on a makeshift see-saw. An extraordinary moment follows when one of the performers is elevated horizontally atop the now vertical plank.

A third man appears, with slightly different physique and clothing. He simultaneously disrupts and enhances the balance and nature of the spectacle.

The trio blend physical theatre, clowning, dance, acrobatics, slapstick, and comedy, in a series of chaotic, yet perfectly choreographed movements. The balls are thrown, thumped, balanced on and discarded in slick, seamless motion. The production now contains echoes of both Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton, yet with its own distinctive voice.

There is a cinematic air to some proceedings, from windswept, slow-motion introductions, to, remarkably, a message from the sponsors – a natty line in woollen socks. There’s some adept footwork to a Spanish version of Hotel California.

Yet, this is not merely physical coordination and comedy to admire: they are telling a story.

The performers are shining a light – albeit oblique at times– on masculine identity. They play with some male archetypes: the friend, the romantic, the aggressor, and the melt, exploring what it means to be a man in the twenty-first century.

In the words of artistic directors Jannik Elkær and Kristoffer Louis “we take the clichés of masculinity, strength, control, aggression, and push them until they crack. What’s left is something much more human”.

It is an impressive swirl of physicality, comedy and synchronisation, but beneath the spectacle lies something more substantial: a playful yet perceptive exploration of masculinity, asking deeply relevant and prescient questions.

Zoo Southside until 30^th August - part of the #DANISH Showcase.