Berliners takes us back to the time when the Berlin Wall was still standing and cut right between Nick Harriott’s apartment in West Germany and Tom Waddell’s in East Germany. Harriott and Waddell play characters under the same names, both of whom have different journalism roles; Waddell as the face of TV news propaganda while Harriott is more of a freelance artist that occasionally attempts to video significant events. A gap in the wall and a letter posted to the wrong apartment get the two talking and flirting. Waddell takes the naïve and curious character traits who sticks to the rules as much as possible while still drawing more and more information about life on the other side of the wall. Harriott is the playfully deceptive and adds many flourishes to his generally lacklustre career as an artist, assuming that the wall would never come down and the truth be revealed. Eventually the wall comes down meaning a relationship can blossom and Waddell exposed to western life. Harriott, to pay for and continually impress his new boyfriend’s interests, falls back to old habits of taking cash out of loan sharks. In a failed scheme, Harriott needs to flee, forcing the resurrection of the Berlin Wall in order to escape the sharks, leaving the pair on the opposite side of the wall to where they started. Despite the serious themes of the play, it is firmly planted in the realm of absurdist comedy employing exaggeration, puns, and caricature. These regular comedic injections are fun and do allow some time to breathe and consider the human nature within relationships. Waddell’s approach to his character added many bonus levels through the physicality, which did well to highlight the character’s innocence and played neatly against the flamboyance of Harriott’s character. The staging is quite an interesting set up. They use milk crates as all the walls and establish a blunt contrast between both sides of the walls. The stripped away staging gives an appearance of casual comedy thoughtlessness even though there are deliberate comparisons on both sides. The show doesn’t shy away from exaggeration in the drama as well with deep, throbbing music that doesn’t pause the comedy while still cutting through with the importance of the moments. The show has a generally good ebb and flow to it. Their simulated bike riding moments are examples of the great little moments that show character development and time passing. The play could receive an edit as the start was quite packed and full of comedy but toward the end the time jumping felt like a conclusion was being rushed to. Berliners is a deceptively light approach to absurdist comedy and is running at Holden Street Theatres.