Having recently returned from a stint at the Edinburgh Fringe, comedy double act Emmeline Downie and Leo Reich took to the stage for a final one-night stand in Cambridge, continuing their search for love. Em is single, with a passion for cats and Midsomer Murders. Leo is single, with a passion for chicken nugget share-boxes. After two failed dates, the two friends catch up and discuss: why, in this up-and-coming world of 21st-century dating, is it so hard for them to find their perfect partners?

"These two singletons are clearly very observant people, which is the key to this type of character comedy"

This reviewer has been lucky enough to have seen Manhunt at the Fringe as well as at the McCrum Lecture Theatre, and apart from some additional corpsing, pretty much inevitable when performing to an audience consisting mostly of your friends, Reich and Downie managed to sustain the quality and hilarity of their show exceptionally well. The duo adapted well to the challenges of performing in a well-lit lecture theatre, and while the absence of lighting took away slightly from the cross-cutting sections, it did not affect their performances in the slightest. Indeed, the resounding success of this show despite the minimal set and lack of lighting and costumes is testimony to the two actors’ talent in winning over an audience.

Reich and Downie are natural performers, and their friendship shines through in their chemistry on stage. Reich’s self-deprecating humour and Downie’s sarcasm is effortlessly engaging, and the ease with which they switch in and out of different accents, genders and physicality is impressive and quite disarming. Their more extravagant characters are balanced out by the more honest and serious moments; themes such as rejection, parents who are not able to come to terms with their child’s sexuality, or ‘boyfriends’ who never really existed run throughout the dialogue and give Manhunt some unexpectedly tender moments.

As writers, they are incredibly clever and astutely perceptive. The stereotypes they draw on in their intermittent sketches, including an upper-middle-class mothers’ book club, a pair of ostentatious Australian artists and detectives in a Scandinavian crime drama are of course mercilessly parodied but not to the extent that they are unrecognisable. Even the format of the show echoes certain facets of modern dating, including voiceovers in the style of Tinder bios. This pays testament to the fact that these two singletons are clearly very observant people, which is the key to this type of character comedy. Combined with their natural comic timing, Reich and Downie have no trouble keeping the audience in stitches.

Manhunt is an absolute triumph of character comedy and a true crowd-pleaser. Of the countless comedy shows that go on at the Fringe and in Cambridge, this one really stood out, and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone. We at Varsity wish Em and Leo the best of luck on their quest for that perfect man.