Double Denim – A Very Fancy Dinner Party

Double Denim may have received some well-deserved accolades for last year’s Double Denim Adventure Show, but the duo have clearly not rested on their laurels. In fact, Laura Frew and Michelle Brasier have upped the ante as only they can with A Very Fancy Dinner Party.

Taking on the rich stew of competitive cooking shows that have taken over TV in recent years, Double Denim crack open every stereotype and predictable character imaginable. From the overly confident country lads who don’t know what they’re doing, to a totally uninteresting and unimportant white couple, Brasier and Frew expose the formulaic nature of reality programmes and the unrealistic people within them. Presented with the facade of a silly and colourful sketch show, there’s some seriously clever satire in there as well.

Double Denim have an unparalleled ability to blur the lines of planned and unplanned, genuine and scripted, even between themselves. It’s impossible to tell when one has deviated from the other in an attempt to sneak a character break out of them, the pair able to faultlessly jump in and out of written material. Perhaps this is a commentary on just how random and bizarre their minds can be, but almost certainly it is a testament to their ability as improvisers. Whatever wavelengths they have tapped into, the comedic relationship between Frew and Brasier is near telepathic. Double Denim is itself like a single entity of comedy, with the duo acting as receptors for something bigger than the sum of its parts.

A Very Fancy Dinner Party is the purest, most distilled version of the duo that MICF has seen yet. The energy is off the charts, the story is compellingly ridiculous, and the trademark French crabs make a sensational return to the stage.