My Life With Kenneth Williams review – raconteur resurrected by an extraordinary mimic

2026-01-25 - 21:05

Circle and Star theatre, London Touring to mark the diarist and Carry On star’s centenary year, David Benson’s poignant show covers the full spectrum of what made Williams so funny, beloved – and insufferable It will be 100 years next month since Kenneth Williams’ birth, and almost 30 since David Benson created his hit show about him, Think No Evil of Us – versions of which he has toured ever since. Here’s another one marking the centenary, and, more resurrection than mimicry, it can’t help but be striking to anyone who grew up with the raconteur, diarist and Carry On star as a mainstay of British life. There are ever fewer of us around, mind you: this is “a boomer show”, Benson admits, as strong on nostalgia as it is on insight into what made Williams tick. Indeed the first act is more about what made 13-year-old Benson tick. In 1975, his winning entry in a Jackanory story competition was read by Williams on national TV. We see him relive the moment, mortified that he’d now be associated by school bullies with the campest man in the UK. Elsewhere in act one, Benson recounts his adolescent awakening as an exponent of funny voices, casually deploying his note-perfect Frankie Howerd, Sergeant Bilko and the entire cast of Dad’s Army. Continue reading...