Dawn French is a self-confessed ‘twat’ but an incredibly engaging comedic weapon at Perth’s Riverside Theatre

Ladles and jellyspoons, if there is one thing you should know about Dawn French it’s that she is a self-described twat. The 66-year-old British actress has brought her Dawn French is a Huge Twat comedy show Down Under for the first time since her 38 sold-out shows in 2016. And by the sight of avid fans wiping away streaming tears of laughter during her opening show at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre’s Riverside Theatre on Wednesday night, she didn’t disappoint. French certainly has a way of capturing the audience’s undivided attention with her incredible storytelling talent. Rather than looking to tell belly-acing one-liners, French takes her fans on a journey through her illustrious acting career and the stand-out times she has behaved—in her words—as a total twat. I grew up in the late 90s, when French was seasons deep into The Vicar of Dibley and I was just learning to walk, so some of the references from her early acting days went straight over my head. Still, it didn’t seem to matter because the way she executed her twatty tales was hilarious. The much-loved figure across Australia covered her most embarrassing and funny (maybe not at the time) moments from her TV career which included behind-the-scenes fails and that time she and her husband rocked up to a fancy dress party hosted by Elton John dressed as Michael Jackson and his pet chimp Bubbles. She took us through on-set fights on The Comic Strip and her role in the black comedy Murder Most Horrid, often playing both murderer and murdered in the same episode. A highlight was indeed the story of French being offered a chance to make her childhood dream true—to sing in a musical. However, the star missed out on starring in Mammia Mia The Movie alongside Meryl Streep due to her awful ability to sing which she recreated on stage much to the crowd’s delight. I also had no idea she was The Fat Lady in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and was relieved to hear about how one of her main scenes came to life was something I could relate to as a fan of the fantasy series. While she has starred alongside some of Hollywood’s most famous faces like Gal Gadot and Daniel Radcliffe and even had a one-on-one interaction with Dustin Hoffman, French is still waiting to live out her musical dream. Or maybe she has when you find out how she ends the show. French is a comedic weapon who has an awe-inspiring natural talent to make any fail or cringeworthy moment from her decades long career a story worth laughing about. If you are free on Thursday or Friday night, secure your tickets to this belter of an evening before she jets off to entertain the rest of the country. Also, heads up, the word twat—and any way she can turn it into a colourful adjective—is the word of the night. The verdict 3 out of 5 stars Dawn French is a Huge Twat is playing at the Riverside Theatre at 7.30pm on Thursday and Friday nights.