Men In Coats are basically good old-fashioned clowns. Forget the painted faces and huge shoes, though, this is physical comedy at its finest.

Mick Dow and Maddy Sparham perform with their co-stars, the coats, which are knee-length parkas with enough room under the padding for plenty of contortions.

Their unique routine involves no speech but a peculiar brand of mime with a relentless stream of brilliant visual humour.

The goofy physical antics with an occasional streak of sadism include balloon faces, limbs pulled out from a black screen and a detached head bouncing round like a football.

The skits follow on from each other at a giddy pace and, for reasons you can't quite explain, everything they do is hilarious.

The pair chose to perform silent comedy, says Mick, because "it was a field nobody was really working in."

He adds: "I really wanted to do something no one else was doing. Otherwise you feel as though you have to work in the context of other people and you are constantly stepping on their toes."

Mick trained in dance and mime but wanted to perform a physical comedy as fast, edgy and confronting as an in-your-face stand-up. He started in Europe on the streets.

Once he returned to England, though, he couldn't persuade promoters to look at his ten-minute showreel.

They would not believe half-drunk audiences would pay attention if nobody was shouting at them.

But four years later, Men in Coats is a headline act with a regular television gig and nobody needs convincing any more.

The explosive duo won the Hackney Empire Best New Act Award in 2001 and received rave reviews for their sell-out run at last year's Edinburgh Festival.

Starts 8pm, tickets £8/£6. Call 01273 647100.