New show for 2006 - Why Pay More? With six solo shows and ten years as “the Fringe’s Golden Boy” (The Scotsman Scotsman) under his belt, David Benson needs a change. This year, as he celebrates the tenth anniversary of his renowned Fringe First award-winner Think No Evil of Us – My Life With Kenneth Williams Williams, David has dumped the Big Subjects of his past shows. There’ll be no ghost stories, celebrity hero-worship, reconstructions of Diana’s funeral, or conspiracy theories in Why Pay More? Instead, as he’s always been praised for the auto-biographical elements of his shows, this is a chance to see David doing what he’s loved for: talking about himself.
So, released from thematic constraints, what is David going to talk about on-stage? The answer? Whatever he wants; from his Edinburgh experiences since 1983, the world today as he sees it and maybe even the correct way to eat Maltesers. An intimate and funny hour imbued with the uncompromising honesty and unique audience rapport that has characterised his work from the beginning. An irresistible blend of chat, characters, impersonations and sketches with a few songs throw in for good measure.
New show for 2005 - David Benson’s Conspiracy Cabaret. Blending music old and new with original comic monologues and his uniquely intimate brand of audience banter. For his sixth solo show the David will sing in a lovely baritone, treating weighty issues with a light touch and trivial matters with the utmost seriousness. Benson addresses our ambiguous relationship to the official version of events, and stops to consider if alternative explanations make any more sense, as well as what fascinates us about them.
A unique chance to see the first previews of David Benson’s new solo comedy before it heads off to the Edinburgh festival. With the support of Arts Council England funding, Conspiracy Cabaret is being developed and exclusively previewed across the Eastern region. There are six preview performances across the area, with all of the tickets available free of charge, on application to the relevant venue’s box office. Audiences will also be invited to stay after the performance and provide feedback to David and his team, to help develop the best show possible.
There’s something creepy going on in the old West Drawing Room…
For years, stories of odd sounds, ghostly shadows and unnerving atmospheres have hung about this remote corner of The Assembly Rooms – and not just when the Fringe is on!
How appropriate then that Fringe favourite David Benson should premiere his latest show in this most haunted of rooms.
Expect the unexpected as you enter the old West Drawing Room - and gaze upon David Benson's Haunted Stage…
For my fourth solo show, Star Struck I am working for the first time with a collaborator – my very good friend and comic genius David Sant of the comedy troupe Peepolykus.
Certainly in Star Struck, I shall be trying out some new tricks and I hope the audiences will enjoy the experience as much as I intend they will.
At the heart of Star Struck lies and deep and abiding love for various performers whom I first discovered between the ages of 13 and 16: Astaire, Judy Garland, Noel Coward, Frank Sinatra – amongst many others.
It’s just the me, the audience – and a party in my head… plus songs, dances and some intimate revelations!
David's first show was Think No Evil of Us - My Life with Kenneth Williams. He first performed it at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, where he was 'picked up' by a production company and subsequently toured the UK.
This show was first staged in Edinburgh during August 1996 as part of the Fringe there, winning a Fringe First award. It ran at St John's Church Hall from 12-31st, notching up 18 shows. After this, there followed a UK tour starting with the first set of performances from the 5th November - 7th December 1996 at the King's Head, Upper St., London - 33 shows. From here, it was into the New Year and on to Birmingham Rep (incidentally, where Kenneth Williams was in a number of productions early in his career). It was here, from the 17th December to the 11th January that a further 23 shows were performed, and then the whistle stop tour occurred, and the rest of the country got to see the show - a total of 284 in all! See Think No Evil of Us for a full description of the show.
Following his triumphant and award-winning first one-man show THINK NO EVIL, David Benson brought his acclaimed and hilarious Mourning Glory to Jermyn Street. This poignant, funny and intimate monologue relives‘that week’, culminating in the Funeral of the Century. Benson introduces the celebrity cast one by one: the Queens – Elizabeth, Elton and George, the two Toms – Hanks and Cruise, a "tragic but buoyant" Michael Barrymore, all upstaged by the presence of the Queen Mother. Read about Mourning Glory here.
Benson's third one-man show is To Be Frank, a meditation on the life and career of the comedian Frankie Howerd, premiered at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe, produced by Edward Snape of Fiery Angel. To Be Frank can be seen on tour with Think No Evil of Us at venues around the country. See To Be Frank for details.
David also played the part of Noel Cowerd in the time-travel sitcom, Goodnight Sweetheart, which starred Nicholas Lyndhurst. Find out more about the series here: Goodnightsweetheart.co.uk