“Laughter is the best medicine” seems like a particularly appropriate proverb in these uncertain times, and it’s a belief shared by five pioneering Shrewsbury men who’ve made it their mission to give us a good old giggle.

‘The Missing, Inc.’ was formed in 2002, when Ben Hawkes, a business psychologist, decided that comedy wasn’t very well catered for in the region and put the word about that he was looking to start a group.

“We’ve got comedy nights at The Old Post Office, and the Theatre Severn attracts some great names, but the fact that we’ve now got our own comedy club is excellent,” he says.

The Missing Inc have been busily working Shrewsbury’s comedy circuit over the past few years, performing with their topical show, entitled ‘Stop the press, I want to get off’, taking part in comedy nights at The Old Post Office, and putting on special shows for Shrewsbury’s Arts Festival and the anniversary of the Battle of Shrewsbury.

But it’s their current production, ‘The Beagle Has Landed’, that’s causing the biggest stir.

“The Darwin Festival organisers approached us in 2005 to do something Darwin-related, so we put together a relatively short comedy show for the event.

“Over the years, we’ve developed and tailored our material and we’ve now got a full-length, 90-minute version.”

The Beagle Has Landed is a farcical production which weaves together a factually inaccurate but riotously funny account of Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle.

“The emphasis is purely on farce,” explains Ben. “We wouldn’t want people to think they’ll learn anything from the show as we’re very loose with the facts!”

“But it’s done with a certain affection for Darwin and he does come out as a winner.”

The Missing Inc say the show will be ‘full of the typical nonsense you’d expect, as well as the usual audience participation, songs and silliness.’

“And big beards!” adds Ben. “I don’t want to give too much away, but Darwin’s father’s beard extends to the floor and that’s by no means the longest one in the show.”

The group will also be employing a ‘Text-a-Heckle’ service, where audience members are encouraged to text in their answers to random and obscure questions during the interval.

“I’m always surprised at how inventive our audiences are!” laughs Ben.

And to help promote the production, they’ve employed some particularly creative marketing methods.

“We had one of our guys on the Fourth Plinth a few weeks ago dressed as Darwin, and we invited people to send in questions about Darwin through our @QuestionDarwin Twitter page, which got a tremendous response,”

“With Twitter, it really helps if you have a hook or an event that people can interact with.”

The Missing Inc are currently touring Shropshire and beyond with ‘The Beagle Has Landed’ and will be running a comedy workshop next month at The Hive in Shrewsbury.

For details and dates visit www.themissinginc.co.uk