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Dawn French Is A Huge Twat tickets

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8 September 2023 - 26 November 2023

Dawn french is a huge tw*t.

by Dawn French

Directed by Michael Grandage

Cast: Dawn French

Dawn French, the Queen of British comedy, returns to the stage this autumn with her solo show, Dawn French Is A Huge Twat . Dawn will tour the UK from 8 September-26 November 2023. Tickets for all shows are on sale now.

The award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and all-round very funny lady is here to tell us more:

“This show is so named because unfortunately, it’s horribly accurate. There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery. I thought I might tell some of these buttock clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life…

Roll up! Book early to see the telly vicar lady be a total twat on stage, live in front of your very eyes. And ears.”

2023 UK TOUR DATES

7-10 September Exeter Northcott Theatre

14-15 September Cymru Theatre

16 September York Barbican

21-24 September London Palladium

28 September New Theatre Oxford

29-30 September New Theatre Cardiff

5-6 October Birmingham Hippodrome

8 October Sheffield City Hall

14 October Tunbridge Wells

20-21 October London Palladium

26 October Aberdeen Music Hall

27 October Edinburgh EICC

28 October Dunfermline Alhambra

29 October Pavilion Theatre Glasgow

2 November Bournemouth Pavilion

3-5 November Hexagon Theatre, Reading

8-10 November Truro Hall for Cornwall

16 November Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

17 November Victoria Hall, Stoke-On-Trent

18 November Opera House Buxton

19 November Wycombe Swan Theatre

23 November Guildford G Live

24 November Brighton Dome

25 November The Anvil, Basingstoke

26 November Theatre Royal Bath

Michael Grandage is Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company (MGC) where he most recently directed the film My Policeman  (2022) starring Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee, Linus Roache, David Dawson and Rupert Everett which will be released on 21 October 2022. Previously, his other film work for MGC included Genius  (2016) starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Linney which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. For MGC in the theatre he has directed Ian McDiarmid in The Lemon Table (UK Tour), Aidan Turner in  The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Noël Coward Theatre), Alfred Molina and Alfred Enoch in Red (Wyndham’s Theatre), Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51 (Noël Coward Theatre), Dawn French: 30 Million Minutes (national and international tour and West End), Jude Law in Henry V , David Walliams and Sheridan Smith in A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan , Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw in Peter and Alice and Simon Russell Beale in Privates on Parade as part of the season at the Noël Coward Theatre. In November he directs Emma Corrin in Neil Bartlett's adapation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando in the West End.

His opera work includes  Madama Butterfly  for Houston Grand Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera,  Le Nozzi de Figaro  for Glyndebourne and Houston,  Don Giovanni  for the Met and Billy Budd for San Francisco, Glyndebourne and BAM in New York. He was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse (2002–2012) and Sheffield Theatres (2000-2005) where his work included Chiwetel Ejiofor in  Othello , Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in  Frost/Nixon , Derek Jacobi in  King Lear , Eddie Redmayne and Alfred Molina in  Red  (Tony Award for Best Director), Jude Law in  Hamlet  and Kenneth Branagh in  Ivanov . He won three Olivier Awards for his musical productions of  Guys and Dolls , Merrily We Roll Along  and  Grand Hotel . He is President of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors 2011. His book, A Decade At The Donmar , was published by Constable & Robins in 2012. His charity, set up to help young theatre makers, can be found at  www.mgcfutures.com .  

Lez Brotherston

Previous designs for Dawn French: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Albery Theatre) Side by Side by Sondheim (Greenwich Theatre) and the UK tours of F rench and Saunders Live, French and Saunders Still Alive, 30 Million Minutes. 

As an associate artist of New Adventures designs include : Midnight Bell, Romeo and Juliet, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, Lord of the Flies, Swan Lake, A Play Without Words, Highland Fling, Dorian Gray, Cinderella and The Car Man .

Other credits: Starstruck (design and additional scenario), The Secret Theatre (design and co-creative direction), The Snow Queen, The Nutcracker (Scottish Ballet), Hamlet (Shanghai Ballet), The Seven Deadly Sins (Royal Ballet Covent Garden), The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Rover, The Empress and Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company), Me and My Girl and Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester), Malory Towers (Wise Children), Twelfth Night and Romantics Anonymous (Shakespeare’s Globe), Flowers for Mrs Harris , Show Boat and Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible), 946: the Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (Kneehigh/Globe Theatre), Oh What a Lovely War (Stratford East/West End), Hysteria (Hampstead Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Under the Blue Sky (West End), Sister Act (West End and worldwide), Women Beware Women and Really Old, Like 45 (National Theatre), Hedda Gabler, Design for Living and Dancing at Lughnasa (Old Vic), Duet for One (Almeida and West End), My City and Measure for Measure (Almeida), L’elisir d’amore (Glyndebourne) and Lez designed, co-wrote and co-directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Adam Cooper (Japan and Sadler’s Wells).

Awards: Swan Lake (New York – 1999 Tony Award) and Cinderella (1998 Olivier Award, Critics’ Circle and Ninette de Valois Award for outstanding contribution to dance). He was awarded the OBE in The Queen’s New Year Honours 2022 for services to Dance and Theatre.

Lighting Designer

Ben trained in Lighting Design at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. 

His work has been nominated for the Off West End Award for Best Lighting Design four times, as well as winning the award in 2018 & 2022.

Lighting Designer credits include:   Evita (Parque Villa-Lobos, Sau Paulo), Salome, Seussical, Bring it On  (Southwark Playhouse),  A Midsummer Night’s Dream  (Wilton's Music Hall),  Caterpillar  (Stephen Joseph Theatre),  The Sorrows of Satan (Brocket Hall), Dolphins & Sharks, Melting Pot, Maggie & Pierre  (Finborough Theatre),  NoMad, Lord of the Flies, Edward II  (Greenwich Theatre),  Nora: A Doll's House, H.R.Aitch, Heartbreak House, Carmen, Twang, Privates on Parade, Imagine This  (The Union Theatre),  Midlife Cowboy, Freefall  (Pleasance Theatre),  Sister (Ovalhouse),  People We Didn't Quite Meet, Red, Are We Stronger Than Winston  (The Place), Proud, Southern Belles, Stripped, The Stones  (King's Head Theatre),  One Giant Leap, Gentleman Jack, Taro, Precious Little, The White Rose, Kes, Golden F**king Years, Three Sisters, Dracula, Cinderella, Macbeth, The State of Things, Frankenstein, Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Side by Side by Sondheim,  Jack Studio Theatre.  Caterpillar, In Event of Moone Disaster, The State We're In, Elexion, Red Like Embers  (Theatre 503), A dam & Eve, Foul Pages (The Hope Theatre),  The Lower Depths, Hamlet, Burial at Thebes, Love & Information, Secret Circus  (RCSSD),  Cuncrete, Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave (UK Tour), Jamaica Inn, I Love my Love, The Lost Happy Endings, Fanny & Faggot  (Tabard Theatre),  Macbeth (Bussey Building), Lunatic, The League of Youth  (Theatre N16).

Associate/Assistant Lighting Designer credits include:   Les Misérables (UK Tour/West End/International),  Anna (National Theatre, Dorfman), Le Nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne),  Sondheim’s Old Friends (Sondheim Theatre), The Lorax ( Old Vic),  Ostalgie (National Theatre Studio)  Project O (Southbank Centre),  Crave (Prague Quadrennial).

Alex Baranowski

Alex Baranowski is an award winning composer based in London. Nominated for a Tony Award on Broadway for The Cripple of Inishmaan directed by Michael Grandage, his work in theatre has led him to compose for numerous productions at the National Theatre, Young Vic, Old Vic, Donmar, Royal Court, RSC, Manchester International Festival, West End, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. He recently won Best Original Film Score for True Things at Les Arcs Film Festival (The Bureau) and has scored films including the upcoming A Gaza Weekend (Film 4), BAFTA nominated The Windermere Children (Warner Bros), Nureyev (Universal), Burial (Altitude), Grierson winning Attacking The Devil and BAFTA nominated McCullin . He also notably scored Gillian Anderson’s directorial debut The Departure and two series of multi-award winning Staged for BBC One / Netflix. His full length ballet for Northern Ballet / Sadler’s Wells Nineteen Eighty-Four won the South Bank Award for Dance, and he has also composed for Ballet Black at the Royal Opera House. Alex has collaborated with multi Grammy winning artist Labrinth , Mercury Prize winning The xx alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Jungle , Clean Bandit , Underworld and virtuoso violinists Angele Dubeau and Daniel Hope. He was recently nominated as Breakthrough Composer of the Year from the International Film Music Critics Association and is presently completing his first album. 

George Reeve

Video Designer

George is a UK based video and projection designer whose work can been seen across the UK and internationally.

Video design credits include: Stephen Sondheim Old Friends (Sondheim Theatre); Sandi Toksvig - Next Slide Please (UK Tour), SIX (London & Broadway), SIX (The Tonight Show), The Sound of Music (National Tour), Gypsy (Alexandra Palace), My Son’s A Queer, But What Can You Do? (Turbine Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), RENT , The WIZ & Hushabye Mountain (Hope Mill Theatre), But I’m A Cheerleader (Turbine Theatre), The Pleasure Garden, Dick Whittington & Tommy On Top (Above The Stag), Avalanche (Bloom Theatre), The Wind in the Willows (UK and UAE Tour), Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & WANNABE (UK tour), Cinderella In Concert (Cadogan Hall), Welcome Aboard (Viking Cruises), Musicals In Concert (Palladium, Stuttgart).

Associate Design and Animator credits include : Frozen (Theatre Royal Dury Lane & Theatre an der Elbe), Anastasia (International Associate Designer), Les Misérables (Gielgud & Sondheim Theatre), SpongeBob Live Television Broadcast (Nickelodeon), Starstruck (ITV), Frozen (North American Tour), TINA (Aldwych & Hamburg), Paramour (Cirque Du Soleil), Divas For Democracy (StageIt Stream), The Sound Inside (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Flight (Royal Caribbean), Aladdin (Walt Disney Co.), Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney Co.), All My Sons (Broadway).

George was an Offie 2022 Finalist for Best Video Design for his work on The Pleasure Garden at Above the Stag.

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Backstairs Billy

The Lemon Table

The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Labour of Love

Photograph 51

30 Million Minutes

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Peter and Alice

Privates on Parade

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Dawn French Is A Huge Twat! Tickets

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About Dawn French Is A Huge Twat!

Tickets for dawn french is a huge twat are available now.

The nation's favourite actress and comedian Dawn French is heading on a horribly accurate, hilariously witty UK Tour to showcase a loveable persona that has captured the hearts of the UK for over two decades. Witness this hilarious display of twattery at the London Palladium with British icon Dawn French !

About Dawn French

Dawn French works across many different industries, she is an actor, a comedian, a presenter, and a writer. Originally born in Wales to British parents, she studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she would later meet her long-term friend and collaborator Jennifer Saunders . Saunders and French rose to prominence during a time of alternative comedy, French and her double-act partner starred in the BBC comedy sketch show French and Saunders , which was a smash hit and ran for 6 series, making timely and funny observations of British life and popular culture.

Dawn French later starred in The Vicar of Dibley , a British sitcom centred around a female bishop in the fictional town of Dibley, the series is amongst the most successful of the digital era, an audience of 12.3 million watched the final full-length episode to see her character's marriage ceremony. French has appeared in multiple films, such as Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe . Theatre credits include productions such as Snow White at the Palladium, Jack and The Beanstalk and A Midsummer’s Night Dream .

About Dawn French Is A Huge Twat!  

In Dawn French Is A Huge Twat! French reveals the good, the bad and all things alluring about her 40-year career in the entertainment industry. In this hugely endearing production, Dawn French immerses herself in stories of her own self-mortification, from screwing up lines and accents on screen, to misunderstanding her doctor's diagnosis, French presents all of the mishaps over her enduring career that have made her…well, a bit of a twat!

Dawn French Is A Huge Twat! teaches us to embrace the things that we so often push away, the traits and quirks that we believe make us awkward. It is about celebrating our social awkwardness, all from the queen of comedy herself! 

Join Dawn French on her massive UK Tour and discover all the nitty, gritty details of her 40-year career, and hear about all the times she’s made a complete twat of herself in this beautiful night of ingenious self-mockery! Book tickets for Dawn French Is A Huge Twat! today!

Additional Information

Age restriction, running time, performance dates, venue information, customer reviews, customer reviews 20.

• West End & London Musicals
• Musicals on tour
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024

Currently touring until 29 April 2024

Dawn French, the Queen of British comedy returns to the stage in 2023 with her hit new solo show. Titled Dawn French Is A Huge Tw*t, Dawn will return to the stage for a second leg of tour dates from September to November 2023, playing over 20 venues in many more parts of the country […]

Dawn French, the Queen of British comedy returns to the stage in 2023 with her hit new solo show.

Titled Dawn French Is A Huge Tw*t , Dawn will return to the stage for a second leg of tour dates from September to November 2023, playing over 20 venues in many more parts of the country including several nights at the world-famous London Palladium.

The award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and all-round very funny lady enthused: “Attention all Twats! We grossly underestimated just how many glorious Twats are out there, wanting this show, so here I come, the second leg of the tour. Wooohooo!

“I couldn’t be more chuffed if I were a chough. So now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town…and get booking. I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist.”

Dawn French tour dates, venues and tickets

Sorry, no more tour dates are currently scheduled for this show! Check back soon for new dates in the near future.

The tour is written by Dawn French. It’s produced by PML & MGC and directed by Michael Grandage with set and costume Design by Lez Brotherston.

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More live dates for dawn french.

Following major demand for tickets, the Queen of comedy Dawn French has announced a host of new UK tour dates for her critically acclaimed live one-woman show, ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’ , for 2023. Tickets are available from DawnFrenchOnTour.com.

The hilarious and endearing sell-out show toured earlier this year to rave reviews and wall-to-wall standing ovations. Now, Dawn will return to the stage from September to November 2023, playing over 20 venues in many more parts of the country including several nights at the world-famous London Palladium.  

In ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’, the award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and comedy legend invites audiences to join her on a whirlwind journey through some of the most embarrassing, misguided and undignified moments of her personal and professional life, deep-diving into the countless times she has demonstrated – in her own words – “a spectacular display of twattery”.

Announcing these 2023 shows, Dawn said: “ Attention all Twats! We grossly underestimated just how many glorious Twats are out there, wanting this show, so here I come, the second leg of the tour. Wooohooo! I couldn’t be more chuffed if I were a chough. So now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town…and get booking. I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist."

'Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’ is written by Dawn French. The show is produced by PML & MGC and directed by Michael Grandage. Set and Costume Design by Lez Brotherston.

Picture: Marc Brenner

Listings Information:

Website: DawnFrenchOnTour.com

Twitter: @Dawn_French

Instagram: @DawnRFrench

7 – 10 September

Northcott Theatre, Exeter

14 September

Venue Cymru, Llandudno

16 September

York Barbican

21 – 24 September

London Palladium

28 September

New Theatre, Oxford

29 – 30 September

New Theatre, Cardiff

5 – 6 October

Birmingham Hippodrome

City Hall, Sheffield

Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall

Aberdeen Music Hall

EICC, Edinburgh

Glasgow Pavilion

Bournemouth Pavilion

3 – 4 November

Reading Hexagon

8 – 9 November

Hall for Cornwall, Truro

16 November

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

17 November

Victoria Hall, Stoke

18 November

Buxton Opera House

19 November

High Wycombe Swan

23 November

Guildford, G Live

24 November

Brighton Dome

25 November

The Anvil, Basingstoke

26 November

Theatre Royal, Bath

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Dawn French announces new 2023 UK tour dates

• December 2, 2022

Above photo credit: Marc Brenner

By Jessica Gregory

Dawn French has announced a host of new UK tour dates for her live one-woman show, ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’, for 2023.

The sell-out show toured earlier this year to rave reviews and wall-to-wall standing ovations.

Dawn French will return to the stage from September to November 2023, following major demand for tickets, playing over 20 venues in many more parts of the country including several nights at the world-famous London Palladium.

In ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’, the award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and comedy legend invites audiences to join her on a journey through some of the most embarrassing, misguided and undignified moments of her personal and professional life, deep-diving into the countless times she has demonstrated – in her own words – “a spectacular display of twattery”.

Announcing these 2023 shows, Dawn said: “Attention all Twats! We grossly underestimated just how many glorious Twats are out there, wanting this show, so here I come, the second leg of the tour. Wooohooo!

“I couldn’t be more chuffed if I were a chough. So now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town…and get booking. I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist.”

‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’ is written by Dawn French. The show is produced by PML & MGC and directed by Michael Grandage. Set and Costume Design by Lez Brotherston.

Listings Information:

Website: DawnFrenchOnTour.com

Twitter: @Dawn_French

Instagram: @DawnRFrench

DAWN FRENCH IS A HUGE TWAT – UK TOUR 2023

7 – 10 September Northcott Theatre, Exeter

14 September Venue Cymru, Llandudno

16 September York Barbican

21 – 24 September London Palladium

28 September New Theatre, Oxford

29 – 30 September New Theatre, Cardiff

5 – 6 October Birmingham Hippodrome

8 October City Hall, Sheffield

14 October Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall

26 October Aberdeen Music Hall

27 October EICC, Edinburgh

29 October Glasgow Pavilion

2 November Bournemouth Pavilion

3 – 4 November Reading Hexagon

8 – 9 November Hall for Cornwall, Truro

16 November Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

17 November Victoria Hall, Stoke

18 November Buxton Opera House

19 November High Wycombe Swan

23 November Guildford, G Live

24 November Brighton Dome

25 November The Anvil, Basingstoke

26 November Theatre Royal, Bath

Those interested can buy tickets from this link:  https://dawnfrenchontour.com

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Dawn French at the London Palladium review: a spectacularly self-mocking, must-see show

We’ve all been in situations where we’ve said the wrong thing and wanted the ground to swallow us up. Dawn French has been there too. Frequently. The difference is that she has collated them to create the gloriously funny, spectacularly self-mocking must-see show Dawn French Is A Huge Twat.

The other difference is that French’s anecdotes feature a glittering supporting cast. Getting tongue-tied with Dustin Hoffman . Choosing the wrong fancy dress for Elton John ’s party. Ian McKellen . Ken Branagh. Somehow she finds room for affectionate nods to her ex-husband Lenny Henry and her double act partner Jennifer – or “Fatty” as she calls her – Saunders.

This is not a show that particularly engages with cutting-edge issues. An early tale about winning a toy troll in a raffle which highlights French’s endearing gullibility makes no mention of the contemporary meaning of the word troll. And the closest the show comes to referencing French and Saunders as pioneering feminists is an account of her refusing to say a smutty line in a film.

Instead the reminiscences roll on, even if some of them don’t quite fit the title’s buttock-clenching remit. There’s the mishearing of a job offer from Ben Elton. Acting in Harry Potter alongside an amorous hippo. Trying to recreate the famous Vicar of Dibley falling into a puddle sketch and knackering her knee. In less skilful hands these autobiographical titbits could have been little more than dinner party chat, but the energetic 65-year-old, sporting her trademark bob albeit now in platinum after a brief quiff period, has the charm and clownish charisma to turn the slightest of incidents into 24-carat gossipy gold.

Various incidents centre on triumphing over failure. She thought she had lost a part in Death on the Nile due to her bad American accent. Instead she was merely told to play it as a Brit. And while she missed out on being cast in Mamma Mia! due to some screechy singing she reenacted Julie Walters’ role in a TV sketch, one of the highlights in the second half when screened behind her.

A question remains. Are we seeing the full French or just a sliver of a multi-faceted personality? You don’t get to be a comedy legend without serious amounts of drive. One story, about taking a curtain call after a Strindberg drama she wasn’t even in suggests that she is surely also the “needy show-off” she jokes about.

The monologue, directed by Michael Grandage but never overly theatrical, is packed with gaffes that will make you guffaw. Apart from a passing aside suggesting twatty reality is better than faked Instagram perfection there is no real message here. Not as deep as that Dibley-shaped puddle she plunged into, just lashings of laughs.

Until Sunday then October 19 - 21; dawnfrenchontour.com

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• Entertainment
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DAWN FRENCH ANNOUNCES NEW 2023 UK TOUR DATES

Following major demand for tickets, the Queen of comedy Dawn French has announced a host of new UK tour dates for her critically acclaimed live one-woman show, ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’, for 2023. Tickets are available from DawnFrenchOnTour.com.

The hilarious and endearing sell-out show toured earlier this year to rave reviews and wall-to-wall standing ovations. Now, Dawn will return to the stage from September to November 2023, playing over 20 venues in many more parts of the country including several nights at the world-famous London Palladium.

In ‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’, the award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and comedy legend invites audiences to join her on a whirlwind journey through some of the most embarrassing, misguided and undignified moments of her personal and professional life, deep-diving into the countless times she has demonstrated – in her own words – “a spectacular display of twattery”.

Announcing these 2023 shows, Dawn said: “Attention all Twats! We grossly underestimated just how many glorious Twats are out there, wanting this show, so here I come, the second leg of the tour. Wooohooo! I couldn’t be more chuffed if I were a chough. So now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town…and get booking. I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist.”

‘Dawn French Is A Huge Twat’ is written by Dawn French. The show is produced by PML & MGC and directed by Michael Grandage. Set and Costume Design by Lez Brotherston. Share this:

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Dawn French

FINAL CURTAIN CALL This show is no longer running at The London Palladium.

A statement from Dawn French :

“This show is so-named because unfortunately, it’s horribly accurate.

There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery.

I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life…

Roll up!  Book early to see the telly vicar lady be a total twat on-stage, live-in front of your very eyes. And ears.”

EVENT INFORMATION

TICKETS Prices displayed include an online per ticket booking fee. All prices include a £1.70 restoration levy.

TIMES 18:30 – Doors 19:30 – Act one 20:35 – Interval 20:55 – Act two 21:55 – Show ends

Our experiences are perfect for special occasions like birthdays, family celebrations, or a treat for yourself. Add an experience to your ticket and we’ll take care of the rest.

The price below does not include the price of the seat ticket. 

The Hall of Fame Pass

• Skip the queue on arrival and use our VIP Entrance
• Greeted and hosted by our team of Red Coat Butlers
• A reserved table in the Hall of Fame, available 1 hour before the show
• Pre-show drinks, including beers, wines, spirit mixers and soft drinks
• Savoury bar snacks
• Dedicated washroom facilities

AVAILABLE TO BOOK WITH SHOW TICKETS

Pre-show drinks include 2 x 175ml glass of house wine, beers, single spirit mixers or soft drinks. Alcohol can only be served to and consumed by persons aged 18 years and over. Please ask a member of staff for details about any food allergens. See website for full terms and conditions. Please drink responsibly.

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A STATEMENT FROM DAWN

“we grossly underestimated just how many glorious twats are out there, wanting this show, so here i come, the second leg of the tour. wooohooo, i couldn’t be more chuffed if i were a chough. so now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town… and get booking., i’m bringing my twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist”, strictly no latecomers admitted.

SEPTEMBER 2024

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GUILDFORD       G LIVE       TUE 17       BOOK NOW

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STOKE       VICTORIA HALL       WED 25       BOOK NOW

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Dawn French tour dates 2024

Dawn French is currently touring across 2 countries and has 11 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at State Theatre in Sydney, after that they'll be at Hall for Cornwall in Truro.

Currently touring across

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Upcoming concerts (11) See nearest concert

State Theatre

Hall for Cornwall

Theatre Royal

G Live Guildford

Brighton Dome

Wycombe Swan Theatre

Opera House Buxton

Royal Concert Hall Notts

Victoria Hall

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Hexagon Theatre

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Dawn French

The award-winning comedian and writer is a much-loved and well-established entertainer, both in her own right and as one half of the highly successful more...

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Dawn French Is a Huge Twat review – mini-masterpieces of self-mockery

New theatre, Oxford French heaps detail upon self-abasing detail as she shares hugely engaging stories from her 40-year career

I t’s called semantic satiation, when you say a word so many times it starts to lose its meaning. Something of that effect is on display in this new touring show, which asserts – over and over again, in one life-and-work yarn after another – that Dawn French Is a Huge Twat. The young Dawn tries to be pretty by twitching her nose? Twat. Actor Dawn screws up the American accent for Kenneth Branagh’s movie Death on the Nile . Huge twat. Ageing Dawn misunderstands her doctor’s diagnosis when he treats her gammy knee. Twat twat twat.

If the object is to ingratiate herself with the audience (as if she needed to), French’s twat conceit works a treat: this is an enormously likable show, whose host revels in tales of her own self-mortification. But the motif is stretched way beyond breaking point. A significant handful of French’s anecdotes don’t demonstrate twattishness in any way – like the one about refusing to perform a sexist line in a Comic Strip script, or the one about Dustin Hoffman’s eccentric visit to her West End dressing room. Engaging stories they may be. Illustrations of French’s supposed “staggering stupidity”, they are not.

No matter. The point is to encourage us all to be more at ease with our social awkwardness, our self-consciousness, our proneness to gaffes – to celebrate that shared idiocy rather than stage-managing Insta perfection for likes, which the 64-year-old deplores. That’s a cause I can get behind, and – amid the more generic showbiz fare – French isn’t short of stories that fly its flag. Her tale of filming saucy scenes with co-star Phil Daniels offers a perspective on staged intimacy you seldom hear, as well as delivering the required levels of daftness on French’s part. A disastrous audition for Mamma Mia! is brought vividly to life as our host re-enacts the out-of-body experience of listening to herself mangle one Abba song after another.

Then there’s the showstopping story of her and then-husband Lenny Henry’s appearance at a star-studded fancy dress ball for Elton John’s 50th birthday. French spins this one into a mini-masterpiece of public humiliation, heaping detail upon self-abasing detail, and – ticklishly, brilliantly – withholding photographic corroboration until the last possible moment.

Next to that, a few of the anecdotes feel low-wattage: some mildly amusing things that happened, several of them lacking punchlines or big payoffs – for all that French deploys and re-deploys the exclamation “what a twat!” to serve in lieu. But those accounts are usually redeemed by French’s bubbliness and congeniality, an assertively unstarry manner bolstered by her story of haplessly fangirling the singer Norah Jones. And independently of the tales French tells, it’s usually fun just to revisit the shows, sketches and comedy collectives she’s been part of over her 40-year career: a fresh-faced Ade Edmondson here, a boyish Hugh Laurie there. Jennifer “Fatty” Saunders almost everywhere.

Finally, as French ranges across The Vicar of Dibley, Murder Most Horrid and Harry Potter (clips on an upstage screen), it’s as a compendium of often self-mocking showbiz reminiscences, more than as a testament to twattishness, that the show is best enjoyed. And enjoy it you likely will, French being a super trouper, and director Michael Grandage steering proceedings towards a feelgood, redemptive finale, with a standing ovation very much built-in. Huge Twat she may be. Entertainer to her bones, on this evidence, French unmistakeably is.

Dawn French Is a Huge Twat is at Northcott theatre, Exeter, on Sunday; New theatre, Peterborough, on Thursday; then touring.

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• Comedy (Culture)
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Dawn French Is A Huge Twat! Tickets

About Dawn French Is A Huge Twat!

A statement from Dawn French

“This show is so-named because unfortunately, it’s horribly accurate.

There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery.

I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life…

Roll up!  Book early to see the telly vicar lady be a total twat on-stage, live-in front of your very eyes. And ears.”

21st September, 2023

21st October, 2023

London Palladium

Stars on stage.

Dawn French

Location: West End Railway station: Euston Bus numbers: (Regent Street) 3, 6, 12, 13, 23, 88, 94, 139, 453, C2; (Oxford Street) 7, 8, 10, 25, 55, 73, 98, 390 Night bus numbers: (Regent Street) 6, 12, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453, C2, N3, N13, N15, N18, N109, N136; (Oxford Street) 7, 10, 25, 390, N7, N8, N55, N73, N98, N207 Car park: Soho (4mins) Directions from tube: (2mins) Exit 8 from the tube goes out onto Argyll Street (opposite the large Topshop). The theatre is 100 metres down the road.

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Dawn French Is A Huge Twat

Review of the national treasure's tour as it hits the London Palladium

Dawn French pitches her latest theatrical stand-up show as an antidote to the curated perfection of social media. For flaws are what make us human, she argues – if only as an aside – while demonstrating that even national treasures have their tales of toe-curling embarrassment, and plenty of them.

Indeed, it’s precisely French’s willingness to embrace such moments of cringe that makes her so loved, showing herself to be just as big an idiot as the best of us.She might be a star now, but on making her first film she was just as clueless about the process as we would be – probably even more so.

Her celebrity, and proximity to even bigger stars, gives her a supporting cast that includes Meryl Streep, Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Elton John and Colin the hippo wrangler. Any one of these encounters would make a fantastically amusing talk show story, but the cumulative effect of sharing her idiocy has a more endearing effect. It’s impossible not to be charmed by these two hours of (mostly) self-deprecating anecdotes.

To be fair, not all of the twattishness is hers. The best tale has Dustin Hoffman acting very oddly in a backstage encounter – and, even more hilariously, apparently oblivious to his weirdness. And a story about an argument with her Comic Strip colleague Peter Richardson burnishes her feminist credentials… and shows not all those alternative comedy pioneers were quite as right-on as they liked to think.

But mostly French is the butt of her own stories, from a terribly misjudged fancy-dress costume she and then-hubby Lenny Henry chose for Sir Elton’s 50th birthday to mistakenly thinking Ben Elton had offered her the lead in a West End play and to screwing up her audition for the Mamma Mia! movie so badly she lost the role that should have been a shoo-in. But at least she got her revenge in sketch form later…

Each story is skilfully constructed. And for all the starriness, French brings an everywoman intimacy to every anecdote. Just like a non-famous ‘Muggle’, she’s prone to getting starstruck, such as suddenly realising her adoration for Norah Jones makes her just another deluded fangirl. Tricks like calling her agent simply ‘Maureen’ add to the convincing illusion we are all friends here, sharing an indiscrete dinner party chat. 

Initially, her delivery sounds more rehearsed than your average stand-up, but her warmth soon percolates through. Even if some of the stories lack proper punchlines – the catchphrase-like reiteration of ‘What. A. Twat’ an increasingly flimsy substitute to a real payoff – the following tale is always eagerly awaited, the journey as important as the destination. 

‘Have no regrets’ is her take-out message, even if she must surely have rued her choices in the moment. The press recently picked up the story of her knackering her knee recreating the Vicar of Dibley puddle plunge on a chat show, and is a fine example of her ‘just get on with it’ resilience. No compensation-culture lawsuit from her, though you think she might have warranted one.

Dawn French Is A Huge Twat has just enough theatrical flourishes to make it feel at home at the London Palladium, with some well-placed visuals on the big screen and a very obviously engineered standing ovation finale. But it is French’s charisma – earned from turning her shame into laughs – that fills the space effortlessly.

• Dawn French Is A Huge Twat is at the London Palladium until Sunday and continues on tour until November 26.  Dawn French tour dates . She is also releasing a book on the same theme next month:

Review date: 22 Sep 2023 Reviewed by: Steve Bennett Reviewed at: London Palladium

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Dawn French is a Huge Tw*t

A statement from Dawn French

“This show is so-named because unfortunately, it’s horribly accurate.

There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of tw*ttery.

I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life…

Roll up!  Book early to see the telly vicar lady be a total tw*t on stage, live in front of your very eyes. And ears.”

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Institute of Archaeology

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The Dawn of Everything inspiration for Megalopolis film

24 April 2024

The Dawn of Everything, co-authored by David Wengrow (UCL Institute of Archaeology), has been named as one of the inspirations for Francis Ford Coppola's new film.

In The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity , David Graeber and David Wengrow  describe three basic forms of human freedom: to move away, to disobey, and to transform the social order. Far from being a special achievement of Western civilization, they argue, these freedoms were available to a great many societies across the span of human history, extending back into our species’ prehistoric past.

Today, these same freedoms have been largely erased from the lives of most people, such that it is difficult for us now to even imagine what it might mean to live in a world based on such principles.

The volume has now become the, perhaps unlikely, inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's new film Megalopolis which follows an idealistic architect with utopian dreams for New York City.

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The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (2021), which was named a Sunday Times, Observer and BBC History Book of the Year, has been translated into French, German, and Italian, and is due to appear in over 30 languages worldwide.   

• David Wengrow gives the McDonald Institute Annual Lecture for 2023
• David Wengrow gives SAGE Lecture 2023
• David Wengrow gives Stanford University Distinguished Lectures (April 2023)
• David Wengrow gives Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities 2022-23
• Venice Biennale Exhibition on concept of cities and urban origins

Image: Prof David Wengrow, UCL Institute of Archaeology (Image credit: Tom Jamieson)

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