Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez are The Pajama Men and they bring their unique brand of improv to The Courtyard on Wednesday, September 21 with 2 Men 3 Musketeers.

The name of the surreal comedy duo is a 'does what it says on the tin' thing, born of their decision to perform in pajamas - "We wanted a uniform look - we play a lot of characters and we don't do costume changes or sets and we wanted a neutral look where we could get from one situation or character to another seamlessly, and we kind of liked the classic style of pajamas. "

They admit that they gave little more thought to it than that, the choice of pajamas the result of dismissing jeans and t-shirts (too trashy) and suits (too formal) as their uniform.

"But over the years of doing it, we've liked the interpretations people have put on it, like 'is this a dream world', or are you children playing?

"We just wanted something comfortable that people would forget about after a while."

The current show, 2 Men 3 Musketeers, is Shenoah and Mark's first adaptation and was commissioned byThe Second City in Chicago , "Normally, we create from within," says Mark, who explains that the writing process can take anything from 'six weeks to two years.' We start in a room and it gets to a point where we take it out as a work in progress and maybe come back and do a little more work, but we continue developing it along the way. The show we're doing now is vastly different to the one we opened in Melbourne - I feel like the show is in a really good place. We've been touring for a few months and it's had time to cure.

"There is a strong improv element in our work and the connection and banter between us is our biggest strength, it leaves the door wide open in terms of going off on a tangent to find new material live on stage. The looser you can be, the better."

That connection comes from having worked together for more than 20 years, having first met at high school, since when any ambitions they might have had in other directions disappeared. "I wanted to be an astrophysicist," says Mark, "but I couldn't not do theatre and comedy. I could, though, easily not do math work!"

With both Mark and Shenoah writing and performing, there are moments when one of the pair's lines end up in the other's mouth. "It's detrimental though to be protective of what you've come up with," says Shenoah. !And it's really gratifying to see something you came up with really succeeding in someone else's hands."

Working on their first adaptation was a challenge they relished. "it was a new idea for us and we wanted to try it out, so we read the book and it went from there. When you've been doing something for a long time, it's nice to stretch yourself for a bit and we've learned a lot doing it.

"That said, the show is very much in our style - surreal with lots of different characters, jumping around and a lot of improv. We follow the storyline but it's more like The Three Musketeers in Wonderland, more pyschedelic than Dumas - more like the Mighty Boosh than the BBC's Musketeers"!

2 Men 3 Musketeers is at The Courtyard on Wednesday, September 21 at 7.30pm. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk