David Benson (born David Hodgson; 11 January 1962) is an English theatre actor, writer and comedian.
He was born in Oxford, England, and has a twin sister, Miranda, and an older brother, Jonathan. Educated at Park Hall Secondary Modern in Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, and at Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education, he went on to gain a Degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. From 1985 he lived in Edinburgh, but moved to New York in 1993, where he spent much of the following four years. He changed his surname in 1996 on joining Equity, the actors' trade union. In 2001 he moved permanently to London, where he currently resides.
Primarily a stage performer, he initially became known for his one-man stage show, entitled Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, about the life and career of the actor, for which he won the Scotsmans Fringe First award in 1996; and for his television role as Noël Coward in the 1990s BBC comedy series Goodnight Sweetheart. His theatrical repertoire includes many of Coward's songs, performed in-character as Coward. When not touring in the theatre he worked on BBC radio, including playing the character parts in the science fiction comedy series The Scarifyers.
He has a dozen one-man shows in his theatrical repertoire, with which he tours. He also sings: performing a wide range of the songs of Coward, amongst others, in a flamboyant cabaret style, performed in-character. He has also written and directed professional stage productions for other performers.
His theatrical, television and radio work has mainly revolved around comedy. His most famous roles, impersonating comic actor Kenneth Williams, comedian Frankie Howerd, and Coward, have all used his talent for mimicking well-known stars of stage and screen.
Television
In 1975, at the age of 13, Benson wrote a story called "The Rag-and-Bone Man" for a contest on the BBC1 children's series Jackanory. His entry won, and was performed by Kenneth Williams on the show. It was this initial writing credit, which only by chance was performed by Williams (Benson had written the piece with Spike Milligan in mind), that later influenced him when he was trying to decide on a subject for his first one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
In 1998 and 1999 Benson played Noël Coward in the BBC television series Goodnight Sweetheart for its final two series . He also lent his voice to the 1998 Reputations documentary on the life and career of Kenneth Williams, reading excerpts from Williams's published diaries. Both engagements came about due to the fame of his one-man show, in which he had performed in-character impressions of Williams and Coward.
Stage
After leaving college, Benson moved to Edinburgh where he had various jobs, including working as a "skivvy" in a restaurant kitchen and as an assistant in Scotland's first gay and lesbian bookshop.
Between 1990 and 1996 he worked in the Edinburgh-based Grassmarket Project Theatre Company, performing in a series of award-winning semi-documentary dramas, often improvised, ranging from homeless men (Glad, 1990–92) to pensioners (One Moment, 1993), and a young lady whose brother was killed in police custody (20/52, 1995). These productions gave him his first taste of theatrical success, when One Moment, an improvised drama devised by Jeremy Weller, won a Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993.
It was at the Edinburgh Fringe, in 1996, that he premiered his first one-man show, Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams, a semi-autobiographical production based around the life and career of English comedy actor Kenneth Williams, performed mainly in character as Williams; and which, as with his subsequent Edinburgh shows (with the exception of Star Struck) was entirely written by himself. The show was an immediate hit with audiences, winning a Scotsman Fringe First award.
In 1997 the production began a national tour of the UK, culminating in a three-week West End run at the Vaudeville Theatre during 1998. He revived it in 2001 and continued to tour it for the following ten years: he once claimed he would continue touring the show "'till I drop".
In 1998 he premiered his second one-man show, at the Assembly Rooms, during the Edinburgh Fringe. Titled Nothing But Pleasure, it was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and consisted mainly of a detailed description of the events at her funeral. Nothing But Pleasure was subsequently invited to the Sydney Festival, where Benson and pianist/arranger David Paul Jones performed it in The Playhouse at the Sydney Opera House in January 1999. The show then ran at the Jermyn Street Theatre London during 2000, under the revised title Mourning Glory.
After a brief interlude of theatrical inactivity, he returned to the Fringe and to touring in 2001, writing and performing a sequel to Think No Evil Of Us, and in the process breaking a vow he had made in 1998 never to play another dead, camp comic ("As if I intended to spend the rest of my life impersonating dead, camp comedians!"), turning his attention to the late Frankie Howerd. To Be Frank played The Pleasance, Edinburgh at the 2001 Festival. As well as being an examination of the life and career of Howerd, the show, like all of Benson's work, had a strong autobiographical element: he gave an uncompromising account of his "period of theatrical inactivity" in a sequence which culminated in the uproarious "slaughter" of a collection of "irritating television personalities". The production is one he was still touring with in 2011, subtitled Frankie Howerd and the Secret of Happiness (an ironic comment on the fact that Frankie never seemed to find that secret).
In January 2002 Benson appeared, for the first time, in a play. He stepped into the breach to take a role in the Peepolykus production of Eugène Ionesco's absurdist classic Rhinoceros, which toured the UK for the first half of the year, before returning for a season at the Lyric Hammersmith and Battersea Arts Centre. During the long drives to and from these shows, Benson and Peepolykus founder David Sant discussed the possibility of working on a new show together. The result, in 2003, was Star Struck, his fourth one-man show, in which he appeared in character as, amongst other stars, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward and even Judy Garland – which he premiered, once again, at that year's Edinburgh Fringe.
During 2003 he also appeared in a production of Joe Orton's Loot directed by Cal McCrystal, at the Derby Playhouse, in which he took the role Kenneth Williams had played in the original 1966 West End production.
Benson has directed for the stage. In 2003 he directed (and co-created) All the Rage, the first solo stage show by the media personality Janet Street-Porter, which premiered at that year's Edinburgh Fringe. In pantomime he starred in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Newbury Corn Exchange, once again directed by Cal McCrystal, during Christmas 2004. He subsequently wrote two pantomimes, Cinderella and Dick Whittington, both of which were directed by McCrystal at Newbury.
Between 2005 and 2007 he developed and wrote three further one-man shows, premiering each in turn at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These were, respectively, David Benson's Haunted Stage; It's A Plot: David Benson's Conspiracy Cabaret; and Why Pay More. He continued touring in his earlier shows, as well as making Christmas appearances in pantomime. In 2006 his appearance at the Fringe also included the 10th anniversary production of Think No Evil Of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams. Additionally in 2006, during a busy year he appeared in a play at the Theatre Royal Winchester, directed by James Barry, starring in the comedy Same Time, Next Year, in which he took the Alan Alda role from the film.
In August 2008 he again premiered a one-man show at the Fringe, turning his attention to Noël Coward once more, with David Benson Sings Noel Coward. This show originated as a cameo impression of Coward in Benson's original 1996 stage production of Think No Evil Of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, a cameo which led to his being offered a continuing role as Noël Coward in the BBC television series Goodnight Sweetheart. This in turn led to his performing a number of Coward's monologues and songs on stage, as part of the "Hollywood Party" sequence in his one-man show Star Struck which premiered at the Fringe in 2003, built around the Coward monologue Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
He continued to direct. At the 2008 Fringe he directed – as well as writing – the First World War drama My Grandfather's Great War, starring Cameron Stewart, based upon the experiences of Stewart's grandfather in the 1914–18 War as recorded in his war diaries. After premiering it at the Fringe, the production toured in spring 2009 and enjoyed a London run in November 2010.
In his on-line blog Benson talked about his role in the London production of the revival of the black comedy Future Me by Stephen Brown, originally produced in 2007, in which he toured during February and March 2009, which then played London's Only Connect until 26 April. As usual, he appeared throughout August at the Edinburgh Fringe in a new one-man show written by himself: in 2009 he was premiering Dr Whom? My Search for Samuel Johnson, giving a definitive account of the life of Dr Johnson, the man who, in the 18th century, wrote the world's first dictionary of the English language.
During 2009 he also appeared in a play, with author Clayton Littlewood and singer Alexis Gerred, portraying a number of character roles in an adaptation of Littlewood's best-selling book Dirty White Boy (a book which became a favourite of Elton John), about the crazy Soho characters, all played by Benson, who the author came to know during his time running a clothes shop in London's Old Compton Street. Having done initial performances in July 2009, Benson returned in a longer version of the play for a month's run in 2010, appearing at London's Trafalgar Studios until 26 May.
He appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe during August 2010 premiering two new productions, previewed in Eastbourne, in Highgate, London and in Oxford during July.
The first of these, presented at the Gilded Balloon, continued his singing career. In a show entitled The Singalong Glee Club, he picked up where his Noël Coward song spiel had left off, with a musical evening featuring well-known songs from his 20th Century songbook: but, on this occasion, not exclusively by Coward. His repertoire included "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars" (Irving Berlin, 1915), "All the Things You Are" (Kern/Hammerstein, 1939), and "Collegiate" (Jaffe/Bonx, 1925). His pianist was once again Stewart Nicholls.Website of Benson's pianist, Stewart Nicholls
The other show which he premiered at the 2010 Fringe was a drama, written by himself, titled Lockerbie – Unfinished Business, telling the story of Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. This production which garnered him international notices, including in the New York Times and as far afield as Hollywood, as well as winning him a Scotsman Fringe First award, and for which he was nominated for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award.Blog: Edinburgh Round-up at David Benson's website