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Why Pay More?
Written and directed by David Benson
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Pleasance
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Press release
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.
Interview with Andrew White of the Southern Daily Echo
Tell us about your new one-man show, Why Pay More?
“It’s a departure for me. Normally I have a big subject for my shows, like Kenneth Williams or Frankie Howerd or Princess Diana’s funeral or conspiracy theories, but this year I’ve decided to throw all that out of the window. I didn’t think I had a new show in me, but my producer James Seabright said ‘Why don’t you do an hour with David Benson and do whatever you want, like comedians do?’ I’ve always felt jealous of comedians because they talk about whatever they want.”
How hard is it to keep coming up with a new show?
“Over the past three or four years I’ve spent up until about March deciding what I want to do, then there’s all the researching and sweating and toiling and torture, and then by July I start trying it out. Then I go and do it in Edinburgh and hopefully it becomes part of the touring repertoire. But coming up with a new show is by far the hardest part of the year for me.”
What is your test of whether a show is successful?
“There’s a gut feeling based on audience reaction. The proof is in the pudding. It could be fine on paper, but once you get it out there, that’s when you know. You can’t always tell, though. The reaction to the first performance of Think No Evil, my Kenneth Williams show, blew me away. But the second performance – silence. It took me a week-and-a-half to really get on top of the show and make it work.”
Do people become more fascinating once they’re dead?
“The thing about people who are dead or retired is you get an overview of their career, whereas with somebody who’s around now, you don’t know what they’re going to do next. And the manner of people’s deaths can crystallise their life. The fact that Kenneth Williams committed suicide was very appropriate, in a way. I do live in the past to a great extent. I’m still very much the same person I was when I was 13 and discovered Fred Astaire and the Marx Brothers.”
Do you get bored of your subjects once you’ve finished with them?
“I felt I needed to move on from Kenneth, but I never got bored of him. When I do a show about something, it’s a way for me of getting it out of my system. All the shows are about something. The Kenneth show was about learning to love yourself, for instance, and the Frankie Howerd show was about how striving for success can make you lose sight of what’s important.”
It’s ten years since you first did your Kenneth Williams show. Do you ever get fed up with the association?
“What’s incredible to me is that I still perform it regularly, and it’s never lost its fascination for me. It still moves me and is a challenge to perform. There was a time in about 1998 when I thought ‘That’s it, I won’t do it again’. Since then I’ve written five other shows, but I’ve always come back to Kenneth. It’s always a delight to do. I’d like to take it abroad now.”
Do you ever feel lonely on stage?
“No – I can’t, with the audience there. And I’m in complete control over the journey. I’m driving the car, and I don’t have someone else trying to grab the wheel. The new show is slightly different, because at some of the performances I will have special guests. I wanted to do something that felt a bit like an old variety show – the sort of thing Cilla Black used to do.”
Do you get nervous before you go on stage?
“It depends how well prepared I feel. It’s like doing an exam. With the new show there’s going to be an element of the unknown, because I’m resisting the temptation to plan it too carefully. All my urges are to have a script that I’ll be learning like mad, but I’m deliberately going to force myself not to be too nervous and to rely on my charm and wit to see me through. There’s going to be an element of surprise with this show.”
Who are your acting heroes?
“My great film hero is Spencer Tracy. I love his work. He’s totally believable in everything he does. He doesn’t look like he’s acting – he looks like thoughts are coming to him, which to me is the great art of an actor. I like Cagney. I wrote to him as a teenager and got his autograph.”
What’s next for you after the Edinburgh Festival?
“I’ve got a little job at the Theatre Royal Winchester in October. I’m going to be appearing in a real play, Same Time, Next Year. I was really pleased to be offered it – it’s exactly the sort of thing I’d wanted to do. The one-man shows are really an extended audition for me. And I’ll be at Salisbury Playhouse at Christmas. The show’s only half-formed at the moment, but what we pitched to them was a sort of pot pourri of populist entertainment, with singalongs and community performances and a big panto finale.”