Fringe: Highly Flammable Love

From the brains of Marcus Doherty comes this oddball rom-com of sorts. Straight-laced Dennis gets dumped by his girlfriend for being boring; he then meets pyromaniac Zoe, who’s lived an extremely colourful life (a fleshed-out, vibrant character while also being an amalgamation of ‘damaged woman’ tropes). Among the cheap and genuine laughs (thanks to the script, goofy slapstick, Shepparton references – which will only be appreciated by those who’ve spent time there – and an unexpected way of portraying a sex scene) are slightly contrived social statements (as noble as they are) and an imbalance of tones: it’s brave of them to tackle heavy, serious topics among all the jokes but it results in a jarring hodge-podge; an entertaining watch but if you think too hard it’s easily pulled apart.

Guild Theatre, Melbourne Fringe Festival, to 4 Oct.