Love in, love out. Shake it all about.

Spymonkey Love-In returned to Brighton for a quick in-and-out between other shows in London and Berlin, a festive feast for the home crowd.

1960s-style sexperts in white polo-necks, a fist fight between the Good Samaritan and Mother Theresa, and naked pole dancing were just some of the delights in this Spymonkey smorgasbord. Think Benny Hill in a Lycra bodystocking.

It was all consummately performed, as their many fans will have come to expect – Petra Massey is basically an Olympic gymnast in a wig and kinky boots – but without the (OK, loose) structure of a story to contain it all, some of the gags – though still outrageously funny – suffered from a lack of direction.

Spymonkey’s brilliance has always been in working ridiculousness into a crescendo – the gags that just can’t get any sillier, then do, have always had plenty of mileage in them before they peak and move the narrative on.

Ah well, age and a hectic schedule affects us all, or perhaps it’s a tantric thing, but just one big climax at the end of the show didn’t quite satisfy this time.