Five and a half laughs

It’s hard to remember a show that has split the critics at the Edinburgh Fringe quite like Laurence Howarth and Gus Brown’s A History Of The World In 5 1/2 Sketches.

Some hailed them as the brightest sketch comics since The League Of Gentlemen. They even won two awards — for best sketch show and for best double act. Others were left cold by their smartypants routines. Ah well, such a divided response always suggests originality at play.

The case for: they apply themselves to imaginative extended scenarios with unflinching intensity. An Amadeus pastiche replaces composing with tea-making. A Northern father and son can talk about emotions, but not football. The line is blurred between painful and funny.

The case against: these are spiffy two-minute routines dragged out to ten minutes. Ten minutes. The ‘mini-play’ approach is fine: a quicker turnover of ideas would be finer still.

What’s certain is that you’ll be witness to superb comic acting, particularly from non-writer Brown. It’s elegant, ambitious stuff, no question. But is it too clever by half, or refreshingly intelligent? You have five chances to decide.

Sun and Mon, Latchmere Theatre, 503 Battersea Park Road SW11, Sun 8pm, Mon
9.30pm, £8, £6 concs. Tel: 020 7978 7040. www.latchmeretheatre.com Rail: Clapham Junction Wed to Sat, Soho Theatre and Writers Centre, 21 Dean Street W1, 7.45pm, £10, £8 concs. Tel: 020 7478 0100. www.sohotheatre.com Tube: Tottenham Court Road/Piccadilly Circus

Laurence & Gus - A History Of The World In 5 1/2 Sketches