DAVID Benson brings his one-man show Think No Evil Of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams to the Old Meeting House on June 21 in the theatre highlight of Helmsley Arts Centre's tenth anniversary summer programme.
"I thought it was Kenneth!" said Dame Maggie Smith on seeing the show, which enjoyed award-winning success at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sell-out six-week season at London's Haymarket Theatre in 1998.
Benson, right, who played Noel Coward in the Nicholas Lyndhurst comedy Goodnight Sweetheart, has also done a biographical show about York's most famous comic son, Frankie Howerd.
In the semi-autobiographical Think No Evil Of Us, he unlocks the complex character of Kenneth Williams, showing him at his funniest and most badly behaved too, while also revealing how Benson's unusual childhood led to an extraordinary connection with the Carry On star.
The new season's first theatre night is tomorrow's 7.30pm double bill of Classic Writers Of The 20th Century, Rudyard Kipling and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Marchurst Productions present I've Taken My Fun Where I Found It, an account of Kipling's travels through India, America and Africa, performed in verse by Colin Pinney. Chris Connaughton of Intext Performance presents The Blue Carbuncle, one of Conan Doyle's detective tales for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
Further theatre productions in the Ten Out Of Ten season include the Library Touring Theatre Company in Anthony Shaffer's whodunit, Sleuth, on June 13 and 14; the return of Chris Harris in the Kemp's Jig, the bawdy, irreverent story of Elizabethan actor, clown and Morris dancer Will Kemp, on June 28; and York company Konflux Theatre with an environmental show for children, Rare Earth, on July 1.
The resident troupe, the 1812 Theatre Company, stages Shadowlands, William Nicholson's story of shy academic C S Lewis, author of the Narnia stories, and American poet Joy Davidman, in 1950s' Oxford, from July 16 to 19.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre Company, Scarborough, visits Helmsley on August 22 and 23 to present a double bill of new works, Helen Kelly's Tissue Paper For The Soul and Danny Start's The Anniversary Waltz.
Musical events to note include jazz singer Anita Wardell, May 31; lunchtime jazz with Ron Burnett's Mardi Gras Band, June 1, 15 and 29; Jaleo Flamenco, June 7; and slide guitarist Paul Judge & the Jackals, featuring sapling saxophone talent Matthew Smith and former Buttermountain Boys guitarist Nick Thompson, July 5.
The summer movie selections are Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers (12A), showing on June 10 and 11, and Steven Spielberg's cat-and-mouse thriller Catch Me If You can, June 25.
For tickets, ring Helmsley Arts Centre on 01439 771700 or Helmsley Tourist Information Centre, 01439 770173.
Updated: 10:04 Friday, May 23, 2003
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