An Audience with Dawn French at Underneath the Stars

Underneath the Stars festival is delighted to reveal actor, author and comedian, Dawn French, will be taking part in the family-friendly music and arts festival at Cinderhill Farm, Barnsley (30th July – 1st August). Filling the popular afternoon slot previously held by Jason Manford and Ruth Jones, Dawn joins the festival Sunday 1st August at 1.55pm.

As a writer, comedian and actor, Dawn French has appeared in some of this country’s most loved and cherished shows, including French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley, Jam and Jerusalem, Roger and Val Have Just Got In and more recently, Delicious, The Trouble with Maggie Cole and Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse which has just won Best TV Movie at the Banff World Media Festival.

Dawn’s first three novels, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Oh Dear Silvia and According to Yes are all Sunday Times bestsellers. Her number one bestselling memoir, Dear Fatty, was published to critical acclaim in 2008, and Me. You. A Diary, a further number one Sunday Times bestseller in 2018. Her latest bestselling novel, Because of You - which was selected for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 Longlist - has just been published in paperback.

Festival goers can also enjoy An Audience with Mark Radcliffe on the main stage on Saturday 31st July (1.40pm – 2.30 pm). Last year Mark celebrated forty years in radio having started out at Manchester station Piccadilly in 1979. He has gone on to work for BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 Extra, 5, 5 Live, 6 Music and the World Service.

A regular presenter of music documentaries and festivals on television, he is one of the long-standing anchors of the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury. He is the author of five best-selling books, the most recent being Crossroads, published by Canongate last September. As a musician and songwriter he regularly performs solo, as well as his electronic duo UNI, and his acoustic trio, Radcliffe, Russell and Lee.

This year’s Underneath the Stars Festival will operate in a spacious, socially distanced, outdoor environment with lots of family fun as part of its packed schedule of leading folk, rock, and indie musicians. Headliners’ singer songwriter Paul Carrack, Saving Grace (ft Robert Plant and Suzi Dian) and Kate Rusby, will be joined by poets, authors and broadcasters, together with craft tents, storytelling, street artists and circus treats (Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August).

Run by the production team behind folk artist and Sunday’s headliner Kate Rusby, Underneath the Stars features music, performance arts, crafts and more for the whole family plus food, drink, and shopping, sourced from independent vendors, brought together in its cosy corner of rural South Yorkshire.

Underneath the Stars festival is a community interest venture with inclusivity and community at its heart. The team recently enjoyed a week of celebrations as they won Small Festival of the Year and took home the prestigious Judge’s Award at the National Outdoor Events Association’s (NOEA) Awards ceremony on Wednesday 28th November 2019.

They also gained an Attitude is Everything Silver Charter Award. AIE is a disability-led charity supporting non-profit and commercial organisations to make what they do more accessible and inclusive for Deaf and disabled people. Its Charter improves Deaf and disabled people’s access to live music by working in partnership with audiences, artists, and the music industry.