French & Saunders - Still Alive

Published Thursday 17 April 2008 at 11:40 by Chris High

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are, both together and individually, something special. Each has found success away from their comedy double act on a scale that is pretty much unprecedented - French with Vicar of Dibley and Saunders with Absolutely Fabulous, to name but two of their extraordinarily popular TV adventures.

Being on stage, however, is an altogether different animal and no matter how many people have forked out for tickets or watched your last Christmas special, if an act doesn’t deliver, live, an audience will generally let them know.

So it was that this show began with French and Saunders dressed as old women in the back of a Jeep, being driven by a guinea pig across the huge screen at the back of the stage, before the model version appeared, with two dolls representing the stars perched in the back seat.

And so the scene was set - not exactly rib-crackingly hilarious, but nonetheless amusing and, it has to be said, as innovative as you might expect from a duo who have made a career out of taking the norm and twisting it around.

Trouble is, it stays at that level of funniness throughout. Okay, there are one or two inspired moments. Dawn French’s raid on the audience for chocolate - and, indeed her entire enthusiasm - was an absolute joy. Jennifer Saunders’ Madonna parody was equally as enjoyable, as was the pair’s interaction with each other during scene changes.

When new clothes were required for a new sketch, they just let the screen do the talking for them, sometimes to a point of overkill. After all, had we wanted to have seen them on TV we would have recorded the last 30 years worth of shows, or at least bought a DVD, and stayed home.

French and Saunders are funny, but two hours of hilarious live performance funny? Well, maybe not, although one happy customer did remark on leaving that she wished she had another £40 to spare so that she come again the night after with her husband. Now that’s a fan.