By Paul Webb, Wednesday January 7

David Benson is starring at Jermyn Street Theatre in Star Struck , the first part of a double bill with The Wicker Woman , which began on January 3 and runs to January 17. We went to West End theatrical haunt Kohar to meet him...

Benson has several one-man shows up his sleeve, and will tour them all in the course of this year. His best-known show remains Think no Evil of Us , a brilliant theatrical event where he recreates the late, great Kenneth Williams, bringing out the man's private pain as well as his comic talent. Mourning Glory is a look at the hysteria surrounding the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Star Struck features a dinner party hosted by Sir Noel Coward, in which Benson plays all the parts, from Coward to Groucho Marx to Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland...

How did you get into the whole solo show thing?

"I wanted a chance to show myself off as an actor as well as a writer. I enjoy my one-man shows, and they've done well - they provide a regular living after all - but I'm also very much up for appearing in 'regular' plays - late last year I was in Joe Orton's Loot , for example. Star Struck is something of a departure for me, as for the first time I've collaborated with someone else when it comes to creating the show - with the director, David Sant."

Can you tell us a bit about the show?

"It's an hour and fifteen minutes straight through, and for the first part of the show I talk directly to the audience; in the second half I create this imaginary party. The evening looks at the idea of celebrity, at its transience, at why some people become so famous, and at why I, since childhood, have been fascinated by the great stars of the past."

Like Groucho Marx?

"Exactly. As a child I used to love his humour, his confidence, those wonderful one-liners. I was often picked on by larger boys at school, so I made sure when someone had a go at me I had a vicious put-down by Groucho Marx ready for them, and the whole point of his lines is that there's no possible answer to them, so they were flummoxed!"

Do you try to get behind the public image of the stars?

"Very much so. Take Frank Sinatra, who is a major character in the evening. His public persona was of a rather romantic, seductive character with a great voice, and if you had actually met him you would have hoped that his off-stage persona would be equally enchanting, but even at his most seductive he was also clearly a very tough man, and the reality is that off-stage he might be terse, threatening even. Dangerous. And that adds to the appeal rather than undermining it, though it's also a commentary about fame. Here was a man with millions of fans, who could fill an arena or theatre any time he wanted, yet who, even at the height of his fame in the 1950s and 1960s, was in many ways a lonely and mixed-up man."

So Star Struck is far from just hero-worship?

"Very far. Obviously the characters involved have a glamour and an appeal, which is why I was interested in them and why they are fun to include, but my shows have always been about demystifying people: every hero or heroine you choose to name has feet of clay."

Didn't this approach get you into some trouble with the Princess Diana show, Mourning Glory?

"Yes, and we had a couple of Essex girl types walk out in Sydney, Australia, of all places. Because by the time Diana was carried down the aisle in her coffin people were pissing themselves with laughter..."

Have you thought of doing a show about Paul Burrell?

"I think I've already covered Diana in Mourning Glory but perhaps I could put a bit of him into that show in future..."

Why do you think Noel Coward, the host of Star Struck, remains such a potent figure?

"It's because he was so talented, such a strong personality, and because he seemed to know everyone, which we still find fascinating today. And he became, during his lifetime, a living icon of wit and style, to whom quips would be automatically attributed - as happened with Oscar Wilde, before him. There's no one like him now. I ask audiences if they can think of a modern equivalent, and that usually has them stumped, but the one name that does occasionally crop up is Stephen Fry - and I say 'And how many of Stephen Fry's greatest tunes do you have running through your head?' There's simply no comparison.

"Coward had a public image, that image created something else, the person, the songs, the plays, that we related to, and there was the actual man. The man has died, he's gone, yet something of his magic remains. Whereas with most celebrities today they'll be forgotten within a very short time. Who are the greats now? Who's the modern equivalent of Judy Garland? The nearest equivalent is her daughter, Liza, of course, but what other star comes anywhere near her? That's why I enjoy the show so much, I can bring these people back to life and into the theatre, and the audience can enjoy them again, however briefly..."

Star Struck is at the Jermyn Street Theatre until January 17.

The Paul Webb interview is online