Jeramee, Hartlebee at Ooglemore at the Unicorn Theatre. Photo: Richard Davenport.

If the buffoons – I say that with utmost affection – behind Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore can describe all the frolics of a daytrip to the beach, during which three friends play, argue, lose stuff, find stuff, get frustrated, read a newspaper, play some more, argue some more, listen to the radio, get scared, have a swim, throw a tantrum, share, dance, sulk, compete, play, play, argue, play, if they can communicate all that in just three words, then I shouldn’t waste any either. It comes down to this: is the sight of a tall, bearded childman dressed in a coral-bright knitted swimsuit doing an elaborate mime of peeing into the sea over the heads of nonplussed children likely to make you laugh yourself into a helpless puddle, or not? Whatever the extent to which it appears in Gary Owen’s script, the streak of naughtiness in that scene feels typical of Tim Crouch, the man who, in I, Malvolio, invited young teenagers in school uniform to string up a noose from which he could hang himself. And it pushes J, H and O towards the realm of magnificent stupidity governed by Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger, inarguably – inarguably I tell you – the best piece of comedy-mime theatre for an all-ages audience ever made. I could also describe the scene in which Dorian Simpson’s nannying Jeramee raises his eyebrows in a triumphantly precise expression of I’ve-had-it-with-your-nonsense exasperation, but this is already 244 words more than Owen used and anything more than ridiculous, cheeky and delightful is so much unnecessary waffle.

Jeramee, Hatlebee and Ooglemore is on at the Unicorn Theatre until 15th March 2016. Click here for tickets.