Trippplicate should be playing to full houses. Their show, Trippplicates Timetripppers, should be a sellout. They should be attracting all sorts of attention. On my visitation to their genuinely brilliant sketch tour-de-force, however, the audience numbered no more than 30. 40 at a push. Perhaps this was an oddity. Perhaps it was a quiet night. I sincerely hope so, because those who havent seen Trippplicate Timetrippping are missing out. Undoubtedly, though, you will soon see them on a television or hear them on a radio near you.
Trippplicate who are performers Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Katie Lyons, and director Verity Woolnough have put together a frenetic time-travelling romp. This, in their hands, is an inspired premise that (as twins Miranda and Kirsty) gives license to revisit Junior Disco Dance Championships, discover their Grandfathers brief foray into fisting, and re-live Mirandas pre-teenage crush on school-friend, James Blunt. It is at this point, though, that their intricately-wrought canvas of time begins to unravel: Mels brush with a 12-year old Blunt leaves her branded a paedophile, as communicated through one of Blunts forgotten, hidden tracks. If I were to pick a favourite sketch, it would have to be Mona Lisas sitting with Leonardo Da Vinci. Throughout this extraordinarily silly imagining, I snorted involuntarily with laughter at least 6 times. Never has a woman eating soup been quite so outrightly hilarious.
What gives Trippplicate the sketch comedy upper-hand, I think, is that they are not only superb comedians, but also hugely proficient actors and dancers, not to mention above-average singers. Their show is so tightly constructed that there is never a wasted moment. Their constant bitching and one-upmanship adds a nice dynamic, but, ultimately, both Morgan and Katie are incredibly gifted performers, and are directed with imagination and flair by Verity Woolnough.
It is time to consign French and Saunders to the televisual archives. Move over and hail the next big female double act, Lloyd Malcolm and Lyons.