“Oh, stop messing about!”
Celebrating One Hundred Years of Kenneth Williams (1926 – 2026), David Benson returns with his legendary portrait of the outrageous comedy star in My Life with Kenneth Williams
A revised 30th anniversary version
of his critically acclaimed solo show
Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams
A major UK tour launches Sunday 25th January, 2026
“We all miss Kenneth Williams but thanks to David Benson, we’ve got him back!” Mark Gatiss
“An exhilarating one-man tour-de-force” Independent on Sunday
“A masterpiece of comic timing” Evening Standard
“Brilliant… truly remarkable” The Mail on Sunday
2026 marks a DOUBLE anniversary
It’s been THIRTY YEARS since David Benson took Edinburgh Fringe by storm with his debut solo show, Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, winning a coveted Scotsman newspaper Fringe First Award.
Now, in celebration of what would have been Kenneth Williams’ 100th birthday on 22 February, 2026 David Benson revisits his classic performance in a new and revised version of the hit show.
In a dazzling display of impeccably honed stage craft, Benson gives an unsparing portrayal of the tormented comic genius, lurching from hilarity to self-pity in public and in private.
Praise from Kenneth’s Friends
Benson will bring the much-missed ‘Carry On’ actor, radio star and chat show raconteur roaring back to life, with an uncanny portrayal which has received unanimous praise from Williams’ closest friends including Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Barbara Windsor.
“How did you know all that? That’s just what it was like having dinner out with Kenny. A bloomin’ nightmare!” Dame Barbara Windsor
Dame Maggie Smith, after hearing Benson impersonating Williams in a radio interview immediately wrote to the young actor: “You ‘put the heart across me,’ as the Irish say – for I thought it was
Kenneth!”
The Jackanory Connection
In 1975, at the age of 13, Benson wrote a short story called “The Rag-and-Bone Man” for a contest on the BBC 1 children’s series Jackanory, a daily programme to encourage reading which featured an actor reading from children’s novels or folk tales while seated in an arm-chair. Kenneth Williams was one of the most popular presenters reading read 69 books over the life of the programme. Benson’s story was chosen as a winner from 15,000 entries by Kenneth Williams himself, who then performed the story on national television.
Fifty years on, David Benson says: “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. As I found out at school next day…”
Ironically, the publication of Williams’ own diaries in 1994 revealed a man who was every bit as terrified of his sexual nature as the Birmingham schoolboy whose writing caught his eye.
Think No Evil of Us returns as My Life With Kenneth Williams
In this new edition of the legendary show, Benson includes extracts from the only recording that exists of that 1975 broadcast and, with characteristic honesty, tells of the day a BBC researcher came to visit and by chance captured on tape the terrifying truth of the boy’s home-life: his mother’s dangerous descent into paranoid psychosis.
My LIfe With Kenneth Williams
2026 UK tour dates
FAVERSHAM
The Alex
Sunday 25th January at 7:30pm
https://thealex.org.uk/event/my-life-with-kenneth-williams/
WINCHESTER
Theatre Royal
Wednes day28th January at 7:30pm
https://www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk/whats-on/my-life-kenneth-williams
HENLEY
Kenton Theatre
Thursday 29th January at 7.30pm
https://thekenton.org.uk/events/think-no-evil-of-us-my-life-with-kenneth-williams/
KENDAL
Brewery Arts
Friday 6th February at 8pm
https://www.breweryarts.co.uk/event/my-life-with-kenneth-williams/
STIRLING
Macrobert Arts Centre
Saturday 7th February at 7.30pm
On sale TBC
BEDFORD
Quarry
Friday 13th February at 7:30pm
https://quarrytheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873678233/events
SHREWSBURY
Theatre Severn
Saturday 14th February at 7:30pm
https://www.theatresevern.co.uk/shows/whatson/my-life-with-kenneth-williams/
COLCHESTER
Mercury
Tuesday 17th February at 7:30pm
https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/my-life-with-kenneth-williams/
GUILDFORD
Yvonne Arnaud
Friday 27th February at 7:45pm
Saturday 28th February at 2:45pm & 7:45pm
https://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/whats-on/my-life-kenneth-williams
GORLESTON
Pavilion
Friday 6th March at 7.30pm
On sale TBC
PETERBOROUGH
Cresset
Friday 13th March at tbc
On sale TBC
EXETER
Barnfield
Friday 20th March at 7:45pm
On sale TBC
WEYMOUTH
Pavilion
Sunday 28th March at 2.30pm
On sale TBC
With more dates to be announced soon
Running Time
Approximately 2 hours (inc interval)
Age Suitability 12+
Website
www.mylifewithkennethwilliams.co.uk
X @MyLifewithKW
Instagram @mylifewithkw
Facebook @MyLifeWithKWBIOS
David Benson
David Benson has most recently been seen touring nationwide with Jack Lane in their acclaimed Dad’s Army Radio Show. Best-known for his performance as Noel Coward in the BBC’s classic war-time comedy Goodnight Sweetheart, David exploded onto the theatre scene with his first solo show Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams. The show became an instant classic, and he followed this with a succession of solo shows on a wide variety of subjects, including Frankie Howerd, Dr. Johnson, the death of Diana Princess of Wales and an award-winning examination of the Lockerbie plane bombing. He was a member of the National Theatre’s smash hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors alongside James Corden, appearing in 1,015 performances of the show. In the film Blade Runner 2049 he plays a hologram of Liberace. He was nominated for a BBC Audio Best Actor Award for his portrayal as Frankie Howerd in Frankie Takes a Trip.
Presented by Suzanna Rosenthal Productions and Little Jester Productions.