Pajama Men, The Last Stand to Reason, Soho Theatre

It’s a rare show that has every critic reaching for the superlatives and wishing they could award six stars out of five, but Pajama Men’s The Last Stand to Reason did that at the Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year earlier this year. Pajama Men consists of Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen, two thirtysomething men from Albuquerque, New Mexico who, in a remarkable display of vocal and physical dexterity, create a world so detailed, so fully, beautifully and comically realised that it’s astonishing to note they do it with the aid of just two chairs and occasional music from the onstage Kevin Hume. Oh, and as their name suggests, they perform in jimjams, without other costumes or props.

The Last Stand to Reason is a piece so inventive that it almost defies description. We (our imaginations are engaged so thoroughly that we feel we are there) are aboard a train, the Stanton Bullet, peopled with eccentric characters, young and old, white and black, male and female, American and foreign. With just a slight shift of body posture or vocal intonation, Chavez and Allen morph frequently and seamlessly from one role to another, as the characters’ stories are intercut with time jumps to create a narrative of sorts. The delineations are so acute that we instantly recognise each person - including the creepy train manager, a French spy, a ghostly girl and two lechy men - before they even speak.

Most of the jokes (and there are many) are quickfire - “I’m reading a book called ‘The Cowboy Who Came in From the Rain.... and Then Fucked Somebody’,” says Chavez as a middle-aged matron, to which Allen replies, “What’s it about?” - but they intersperse these with extended scenes of pure physical comedy, including Chavez’s mimed shuffle of a deck of cards (as Magic Rick, the onboard entertainment), which goes on for several minutes with him providing the “brrrrrrr!, brrrrrrrr!” sound effect throughout.

There are also sly throwaway gags - “This soup is so vegan it probably gives you a lecture before you eat it” - a clever running joke from Allen's cute-assed trolley captain about why everybody in the world loves snacks, and a fantastic recreation, speeded up, movie-style, of Chavez’s seemingly prim lady reading the aforementioned raunchy novel, with Allen as the fitfully sleeping companion at her side.

Chavez and Allen are a double act in perfect synch (even their fluffs they turn into funnies) and this is an hour of tour-de-force - how should one describe it? - comedy, theatre, performance. Who cares? It’s utterly brilliant.

Pajama Men tickets booking at the Soho Theatre, London until 8 February.

Pajama Men website