Entertainment

A seasoned love story

The new off-Broadway show “Midsummer (A Play With Songs)” proves that you can still get a lot of great mileage out of boy-meets-girl. Hollywood has cranked out so many awful romantic comedies in the past decade that it’s almost killed off the genre. This energetic Scottish import brings it back to life with humor and charm.

Written and directed by David Greig, “Midsummer” takes place in Edinburgh over the course of a weekend. That’s enough time for Helena (Cora Bissett) and Bob (Matthew Pidgeon) to get up to plenty of mischief.

She’s a lawyer with tired, sad eyes, and she’s getting fed up with being a bridesmaid. He’s nicknamed Medium Bob “on account of him having no apparent defining features” and runs illegal errands for a local tough guy.

On the surface, Helena and Bob have little in common other than a taste for salty language. Yet they spend a night together after meeting in a wine bar — he was there reading Dostoevsky, “to cheer himself up” — and discover they get along just fine.

The story switches to a breakneck speed after the duo somehow end up with £15,000 belonging to Bob’s temperamental employer.

Cue to frantic high-speed chases . . . on foot. Helpfully, the playbill includes a map of Edinburgh landmarks, like the parking garage where Helena leaves her car and the pub where the lovebirds have a post-coital breakfast.

Bob and Helena alternate between describing scenes in the third person and acting them out — an excellent mimic, Bissett shines as various supporting characters, including a 12-year-old boy. Every so often, our duo pick up guitars and break into jaunty songs (co-written by Greig and Gordon McIntyre).

They also occasionally break the fourth wall. At one point Bob, who’s turning 35, pictures himself at a philosophical conference examining his midlife crisis. The topics include “Is this it?”

In a movie, our heroes would be at each other’s throats for two hours, before the unconvincing conclusion that bickering equals attraction. Because she “watches romantic comedies,” Helena “knows that she and Bob can’t possibly be sexually compatible. Because they agree.”

Thankfully, this isn’t a movie but a joyfully optimistic play. Its likable characters work hard for their happiness because they know they deserve it. Love: It still makes for a good time after all.