David Benson will bring My Life with Kenneth Williams to five venues across England this October, marking the final autumn dates of his centenary celebration honouring the beloved Carry On star, broadcaster and raconteur Kenneth Williams.
The tour opens with a return to London’s Circle & Star Theatre on 11 October, where the production enjoyed a sold-out premiere earlier this year, before visiting Twickenham, Barnard Castle, Mansfield and Walsall.
Originally premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1996 as Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, the show earned a Scotsman Fringe First Award and established Benson as one of the UK’s most admired solo performers. Thirty years later, he revisits the production in a newly revised version during the year that marks the centenary of Williams’ birth.
Through an acclaimed performance that captures both the wit and vulnerability of Williams, Benson explores the life of the comic performer whose public persona concealed profound personal struggles.
The production has received praise from some of Williams’ closest friends and colleagues over the years. Dame Barbara Windsor said: “How did you know all that? That’s just what it was like having dinner out with Kenny. A bloomin’ nightmare!”
After hearing Benson’s impersonation of Williams during a radio interview, Dame Maggie Smith wrote: “You ‘put the heart across me,’ as the Irish say – for I thought it was Kenneth!”
The show also explores a remarkable personal connection between Benson and Williams. In 1975, aged 13, Benson won a BBC Jackanory competition when Williams selected his short story, The Rag-and-Bone Man, from 15,000 entries and later performed it on national television.
Reflecting on the experience, Benson said: “At the time, it was a huge embarrassment to me. I was now associated in the minds of my enemies at school with the most outrageously camp man in England. For a schoolboy desperately struggling with his sexuality in the hostile environment of 1970s Britain, the connection was mortifying.”
This latest version of the production includes extracts from the only surviving recording of that 1975 broadcast and also examines Benson’s own childhood experiences, including the impact of his mother’s mental illness.
The current tour has continued to earn strong critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Benson’s extraordinary portrayal of Williams and his masterful comic timing.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
