Dawn French announces first live solo tour
Dawn French, the star of shows including French & Saunders and The Vicar Of Dibley, has announced her first ever solo comedy tour.
The award-winning comic actor, who is now also a best-selling novelist, has written a new live show based on her life and career called 30 Million Minutes.
The UK tour will begin with previews in Sheffield on Thursday 5th June, before visiting cities including Birmingham, Brighton and Cardiff.
30 Million Minutes is described as consisting of "various delights and riches, with the odd irksome tribulation thrown in".
The blurb for the show adds: "Dawn takes audiences through the various lessons life has taught her, and the things she knows for sure. Book for this show NOW, because Dawn French is convinced it won't be long before she is far too doolally to perform it.
"The evidence is there for all to see. She is already three quarters certifiably daft. The other quarter is utterly bewildered. And the remaining quarter simply can't do maths. With a sharp eye for comic detail and a wicked ear for the absurdities of life, Dawn French of Cornwall shares how she has misguidedly spent her whole life vigorously attempting to be a fully functioning female human.
"Her extraordinary lack of willpower, combined with an enviable knack for nosey parking and showing off, has driven her to grapple with the big stuff of life in public. 30 million minutes of life in fact. That's how long she's been alive.
"It's also worth coming if only to finally witness what size she actually is. Can we believe the stolen images of so many women's magazines? What is the truth? Is she so unfeasibly large that she can hardly live? Or does she sleep in a matchbox? Marvel at how one woman can mercilessly murder so much chocolate, and yet remain so curiously slim..."
This new live show will be produced by experienced promoters Phil McIntyre Entertainment, the company which is also looking after Miranda Hart's tour. Michael Grandage is acting as the director.
Speaking about the new show, Dawn French says: "I'm sick with excitement about this solo tour. I am enjoying the fact that I can't categorise exactly what it is, but it's somewhere between a monologue, a play, and an autobiographical slide show with a few funnies thrown in. At last, I have one of my three genie wishes granted, which is that I finally get to work with Michael Grandage. The other two wishes are as yet unfulfilled. They are secret obviously, but suffice to say, one is about Barack Obama in Speedos. The other is about me in Speedos, with cheesecake involved... Enough said."
Tickets for all dates of the 30 Million Minutes tour, priced between £25 and £39.50, go on sale at 9am on Friday 28th February. Below are the dates currently scheduled, although additional venues may be added if demand for tickets proves to be high:
Sheffield Lyceum: 5 - 8 June 2014
Glasgow Pavilion: 10 - 12 June
Derby Assembly Rooms: 13 June
Buxton Opera House: 14 June
Llandudno Venue Cymru: 15 - 16 June
Birmingham New Alexandra: 18 - 20 June
Brighton Theatre Royal: 25 - 28 June
Plymouth Theatre Royal: 29 June
Bradford Alhambra: 2 - 6 July
Dublin Olympia: 9 - 13 July
Cardiff New Theatre: 16 - 18 July
Crawley Hawth: 23 - 24 July
Reading Hexagon: 25 - 27 July
Dartford Orchard: 30 July - 2 August 2014