Review: Dawn French at Riverside Theatre

Dawn French is a Huge Twat at Riverside Theatre
Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Hundreds gathered on Wednesday night to revel in the glorious twattery of the unabashed queen of British comedy, Dawn French, at Riverside Theatre. Returning to open her latest one-woman show, Dawn French is a Huge Twat, the evening marked the first revival of French’s irresistible stand-up in Australia since her last sold-out run in 2016.

With no opening act, French arrived on stage to an operatic chorus of musical ‘twat’ lyrics, setting the tone of the sardonic and decisively silly show. French’s immediate arrival on stage was met with thunderous applause, revealing an audience of eager British comedy fans who had clearly excitedly anticipated the evening and proving that the greats often don’t require a warm-up.

Greeting the audience with warmth and humility, but obviously not total surprise that the full house was packed with passionate fans, French’s stage presence was akin to that of a friendly figure. Bringing audiences along on stories with her, French’s delivery, though clearly strongly scripted, emphasised audience-host interaction and responses.

While billed as ‘stand-up’ specifically, the evening arguably had more of a memoir, or ‘evening with’ style, which saw French recount, episodically, a varied selection of stories about her personal life, famous friends, own celebritydom, and career. Anecdotes about audiences’ favourite television and film productions, including Harry Potter and The Vicar of Dibley, were also liberally peppered in.

Organised around the titular theme of Dawn French’s hilarious, occasionally mortifying, and often endearing track record of unadulterated twat-foolery, the humour of the show was primarily drawn from French’s own candidness. Audiences revelled in and occasionally cringed at French’s openly recounted tales of innocent mistakes, emboldened risks, and mischievous shenanigans.

Among the many highlights is French’s recounting of her attendance at Elton John’s prestigious 50th birthday party. The tale of a particularly disastrous costume decision manifested at John’s red carpet event left many audience members in tears, providing a perfect climactic ending to the first half of the show.

Additionally, French’s recounting of her likely lesser-known theatre roles was a surprising delight. Particularly as her devilishly confident ‘twatness’ appeared most intensely and thus hilariously in stories about live theatre.

While an occasional dubious joke or remark certainly made the somewhat aged nature of some of the stories clear, overall the stories were enjoyable, inoffensive, and simply charmingly silly. The tenacious name-dropping throughout the show was forgivable in that the story that followed was often hilariously less than flattering for French.

While shows that take on a certain live memoir style risk producing a convoluted, underperforming, and ego-driven piece of dismissable entertainment, French’s show deserves respect and reverence. Particularly as a female actress having worked during several challenging decades in the entertainment industry, French’s focus on her personal mistakes and growth as a woman in the public eye was incredibly generous and not without its vulnerabilities. The undeniable value of the show arises from French’s ability to laugh at herself and encourage, with good humour, a room of several hundred strangers to do the same.

A love letter to beloved shows of the past, a tribute to a lost era of entertainment industry tomfoolery, and a candid reminder of the joy that comes with being tenacious, a bit silly, and up for a laugh—this show was the full package and a testament to the timelessness and comedic mastery of Dawn French.

BEC WELDON

Photos by Mark Brenner