Hot Chips is an experiment that will evolve as the Fringe continues, Trygve Wakenshaw reassures us, and audience members should come along later in the run to discover how it’s developed. Right now, both Wakenshaw and his sparring partner Barnie Duncan seem to understand that something isn’t quite right about this freeform ride through mime and absurdist sketch comedy. If we were in a lab (and not one of the musty attics of Underbelly Cowgate), the experiment Wakenshaw and Duncan is formulating would be considered bad science.

The grab-bag of purposefully nonsensical sketches here contain moments of inspiration, from a curious sequence about a ‘shorts collector’ to a supremely daft interpretation of Swan Lake, but more often there’s a palpable sense of dead air, the sight of two highly talented performers flailing through a folly. Simply, they’ve hung their coats on premises that aren’t rich enough to match their desire for play and exploration. 

Saving the day (just) is Wakenshaw and Duncan’s simmering chemistry and their near-telepathic performance. If at times it leads to an overwhelming sense of indulgence, it also creates an atmosphere of bonhomie that means, although this experiment hasn’t yielded the results they’d like, no one leaves Underbelly in bad spirits. 

Trygve Wakenshaw And Barnie Duncan: Hot Chips, Underbelly Cowgate, until 24 August, 11.10pm.