‘What are you eating?” the waggish Denton Chikura asked a member of last Saturday night’s audience at the Watermill Theatre. “You’d better have some now, before I start.”

Thus, from the beginning, was fixed the cheerily informal style he and Tonderai Munyevu bring to their performance (under director Arne Pohlmeier) of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Yes, that is just two people telling a story that involves 15 characters (16, if you count the deliciously taciturn dog Crab). Things aren’t helped by the fact that this very early (possibly earliest) Shakespeare play is not very well known. Amid all the mucking about that makes this production such a delight, the actors must make sure that we can follow the progress of an unfamiliar plot.

Fortunately, by Shakespearian standards, this one is not complicated. In essence, the feckless Proteus — never mind that he has a loving girl, Julia, all of his own — tries to pinch the love of his best pal Valentine. This honourable young lady, Silvia, will have none of it, however, and the play closes with the pairs of lovers together again.

Both performers offer marvellous comic turns. Denton (left above) amply fulfils expectations raised by the programme note that he’s “a clown and heart and an actor by trade”, while Tonderai, archly camp when necessary, gives us hilarious depictions of some of the women involved. It was side-splitting, for instance, to see him as Julia’s maid Lucetta enumerating the various charms of Proteus. Later, we hoot at his mention of “loose encounters with luscious men”.

The 90-minute show comes to Oxford’s North Wall on December 10 and 11. Don’t miss. (Box office: 01865 319450 — www.thenorthwall.com)