The Story So Far by David Benson.
Born:9.05am, 11th January 1962 in Oxford, along with a sister, Miranda. Older brother Jonathan furious.
Original surname: Hodgson. Changed legally in 1996 on joining Equity, is they already had a David Hodgson. This was a relief as Hodgson is not a good name for an actor – no one can spell it. ‘Benson’ has family precedents on paternal side: related by some obscure route to E.F Benson of Mapp and Lucia fame and to the Edwardian actor-manager Sir Frank Benson, allegedly knighted by the king after a performance of Hamlet using a sword from the prop basket – according to late Grandfather Arthur C. Hodgson, who was invited as a youth to join Benson’s company.
Educated:
Park Hall Secondary Modern, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham,
Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education.
Degree in Drama and Theatre Studies, Royal Holloway College (Univ. of London)
Moved to Edinburgh late 1985 in order to ‘find himself’. Various jobs including skivvy in restaurant kitchen and worker in Scotland’s first lesbian and gay bookshop.
Acting career:
From 1990 – 1996 worked with director Jeremy Weller of the Edinburgh-based Grassmarket Project Theatre Company on a series of award-winning, explosive, semi-documentary dramas, improvised with non-professional casts, ranging from homeless men (Glad, 1990-92), to pensioners (One Moment, 1993) and a young woman whose brother was killed in police custody (20/52, 1995).
1996
First one-man show premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe. Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams won a Scotsman Fringe First Award, was an instant hit with critics and audiences and was picked up by producers G & J Productions, who sent the show on a national tour (see separate list for full tour dates). The show ended its run with a brief run in the West End of London in 1998. Revived 2001 and still touring. Benson claims he will continue touring the show, ‘till I drop.’
Key dates:
Nov-Dec 1996 King’s Head Theatre, Upper Street, London
Dec 1996– Jan 1997 Birmingham Rep Studio
Jan- Dec 1997 Nationwide tour, from taking in theatres of all sizes from Shetland to Cornwall
Dec 1997-Jan 1998 Lyric Studio, Hammersmith
Feb-March 1998 Vaudeville Theatre, Strand.
Think No Evil of Us returned to the King’s Head for a a three-week sell out run April 2003
1998
Second one-man show premiered at Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Fringe:
Nothing But Pleasure was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. It was largely written as snub to those who assumed that Benson’s second show would be about Frankie Howerd (‘As if I intended to spend the rest of my life impersonating dead, camp comedians!’). It consists mainly of a detailed description of the events at the funeral.
Nothing But Pleasure was subsequently invited to the Sydney Festival, where Benson and pianist/arranger David Paul Jones performed it at The Playhouse in the Sydney Opera House in January 1999.
The show was reborn for a run at The Jermyn Street Theatre in 2000 under the title Mourning Glory. It was produced and re-directed by Ashley Russell of Big Bad Bear Productions.
2001
After a period of theatrical inactivity during which he moved from Edinburgh, his home of thirteen years, to London David returned to the Fringe and to touring. Under a new producer, Edward Snape of Fiery Angel Benson wrote and performed a sequel to Think No Evil of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams. Breaking a vow he had made in 1998 never to play another dead, camp comic, he turned 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, has a strong autobiographical element: he gives an uncompromising account of his ‘period of theatrical inactivity’ in a sequence that culminates with the uproarious ‘slaughter’ of a collection of ‘irritating television personalities’.
To be Frank continues to tour often as a companion piece to Think No Evil of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams.
2002
After parting company – amicably - with producers Fiery Angel, David decided to go it alone for the first time, following in the footsteps of his forebear Sir Frank Benson by becoming a roving – albeit solo – actor-manager.
In January 2002 Benson received an email from John Nicholson of the brilliant comedy troupe Peepolykus, asking if he knew anyone who could step into the breach to play a part in their production of Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist classic Rhinoceros. As it happened the tour dates co-incided with a large gap in Benson’s diary and he was quick to nominate himself for the part. Which is how he came to spend much of the year working with one of his favourite companies, touring in a white van as one of the team and learning many new tricks along the way.
Rhinoceros toured the U.K. for the first half of 2002 and returned for a sell-out season at the Lyric Hammersmith and another sell-out date at the Battersea Arts Centre.
2003
Star Struck
It was during the long drives to and from gigs that Benson and Peepolykus founder member David Sant first discussed the possibility of working on a new show together.
The result, a year later is Star Struck - at the time of writing, about to be born at the Edinburgh Fringe. This show marks David’s return to the Assembly Rooms, one of the most prestigious Edinburgh venues, and is his fourth one man show.
David is also the co-deviser and director of All The Rage, the first solo stage show by the legendary Janet Street-Porter, also to be premiered at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe.
Television
· Goodnight Sweetheart (BBC) as Noel Coward, Series Five (1998) and Six (1999)
· Reputations (BBC 1998) reading Kenneth Williams Diary extracts
Radio
· Ruth Draper and Her Company of Characters, December 2002 (BBC Radio 4) – an appreciation of the life and career of one of the most important influences on Benson’s stage work (30 mins).
David Benson has appeared as interviewee on countless BBC and independent radio shows including:
· Parkinson’s Sunday Supplement
· Loose Ends
· Kaleidoscope (no sound file)
· Mavis Nicholson
· Midweek
His latest radio project is The Secret Life of Kenneth Williams, a three-part series for BBC Radio 4, produced by Jonathan James Moore. The programmes will combine selected diary extracts read by Benson, alongside related Kenneth Williams recordings from the BBC archives. Due for broadcast November 2003.
Text taken from David's own website.
External Link
Fan Mail Address:
David Benson
The Talent Group
2820 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
USA
david benson
