Vaudeville Theatre, London. Saturday 22nd October, 2016.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
30 Million Minutes is something between a beautifully motivational speech and a seat at French’s coffee table, gifted with extended autobiographical narratives. It’s Dawn French laying bare some of the key, defining moments of her 30 Million Minutes of life to date, in her characteristically engaging and relatable manner. The shared moments span a lifetime and a wide array of topics and relationships via a ‘How do you be a …’ motif. French comes across as honest, relatable and very warm; and yes, of course, very funny. It’s not laugh-a-minute stand-up, but what is offered instead is thoroughly entertaining and fascinating.
Naturally, in telling her tales, French does treat us to some of her brilliant, famously comical physicality and her equally well known phrases and choice terms (norks/ growler/ tossers) – moments which could only be so funny when provided with French’s delivery. But I saw the ‘Still Alive’ tour with Jennifer Saunders in 2008 and there was a distinct difference between that version of Dawn French and this. ’30 Million Minutes’ is about the private rather than the public, famous self and I got the impression that this show is partly about French taking ownership of her own story, dispelling all the myths written about her with hugely entertaining honesty and proud fearlessness. French treats the whole thing as a bit of a chin-wag in the almost intimate setting of the Vaudeville Theatre.
The snippets of French’s millions of minutes range from the outrageous (Mum segment), to the hilarious (grannies/ Queen Mother segments), to the adorable and fiery (daughter segment), to the shocking and tear-jerkingly moving (first husband segment), to the defiant and brutal (body segment), and the downright heartbreaking (father segment). It’s a fresh look at the star; a woman responsible for her own emancipation from the bullying of the tabloids, immoral reporters and her own self-doubt. Here is a fearless and reflective woman sharing, with no inhibitions, both surprising and fascinating details with a select few hundred/ thousand privileged strangers.
’30 Million Minutes’ offers a great opportunity to hear from an unapologetic, gloriously audacious woman who gives insights into some of the most important developmental stages of her journey through childhood to now. It’s an inspiring piece, allowing audiences to listen to French speak about the things she was unfairly forced to face and how she took ownership, taking aim at some of the offenders in a powerful display of that infamous chutzpah which accompanies the turning point at a certain age in a person’s life.
’30 Million Minutes’ has departed theatre land now, but as there was filming in progress at the performance I attended, I assume that a TV special or DVD will soon follow, so I do recommend that you invest.
Always Time For Theatre 
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