We’re in 1940s Noo Yoik and a heinous crime has been committed in the Big Apple. Who will save the day and solve the seemingly unsolvable? Enter Christian Dart’s Detective Gumshoe with his film-noir swagger and questionable accent. The audience are corralled into the action, assisting in the crime’s creation and helping Gumshoe prove his own genius. This is frenetic, fast-paced and genuinely funny. Dart uses exposition to get us where we need to be but it is done with a clever, self-aware touch. With the help of his sister Johanna and her mixing machine at the back, we are transported to an age where women only wore skirts and men solved crimes after a bottle of bourbon.

Gumshoe! is a well-written and thought-through show masquerading as kitsch and slapstick. And it is very Fringe. Every show will be different with Dart fuelling his story from each audience’s ideas and responses to the action. The only real gripes are the overused joke about a certain boyband, and a section where he spins a toy gun on his finger for what feels like an age. Those details aside, it must be said that even when things did not always go to plan, they somehow still felt like they had. 

Christian Dart: Gumshoe!, Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower, until 24 August, 3.40pm.