Meeting Dawn French at the Vaudeville Theatre London

Strong professional women are my heroines.  They blaze trails making it easier for the women that follow them to tread.  When in London I saw that actress, writer comedian and presenter Dawn French was performing at The Vaudeville Theatre a monologue called, "30 Million Minutes", that is, the amount of time she had been alive at the time of producing the show. I did not hesitate to get my ticket!  Dawn studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama where she meet her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders and they are best known for their comedy sketch show French and Saunders.  What I loved most about 30 Million Minutes was how honest and authentic Dawn came across in sharing about her own life's challenges.  Dawn shared about the media's cruel coverage of her weight gains and losses (discriminatory and sexist comments); about the racism suffered by her and her then husband comedian Lenny Henry (divorced in 2010) with vicious attacks at their home after they adopted a mixed-race daughter.  She spoke of the "hatred" from strangers after she and Lenny married and how they were lucky they could afford to employ security.  

Laws exists to protect us; however if we are not conscious of our choice of language, thoughts, words and actions, such ignorance and harmful behaviour will prevail.  Cultures change when people change, and that change starts with each one of us, with education, especially of children. 

During her performance, Dawn also mentioned her visit to Gibraltar as a young girl, which was endearing.  After the show, I visited Dawn backstage and gave her a hug from Gibraltar, with smiles all round.