Feature: Comedian Bennett Aaron on how identity theft inspired his one-man show 'It Wasn’t Me It Was Bennett Arron' at New End Theatre
Published: 25 February 2010
by GERALD ISAAMAN
WANT to steal someone’s identity? Then head for Hampstead’s New End Theatre where a sharp-witted comedian doing stand-up has all the answers – both as a victim and a villain.
Bennett Arron is bringing his acclaimed one-man show It Wasn’t Me, It was Bennett Arron to the tiny theatre for a limited run of nine performances, starting on Saturday. He’ll be able to fill in all the funny – and awful – facts.
But he probably won’t be mentioning Mossad, now so secretly enmeshed – or not – in the murder of a Hamas chief in Dubai. “As the facts haven’t emerged, I can’t really comment,” Bennett insists surprisingly. “Suffice to say, I’ve proven it isn’t difficult to steal identities.” Indeed not.
It took Bennett ages to clear up the financial mess when someone stole thousands of pounds in his name when his mortgage application was stolen, and he and his pregnant wife found themselves temporarily homeless. Two years later, his Edinburgh Festival routine, based on the experience, was spotted by Channel 4 who asked him to make a documentary on the subject. So he decided to reveal on TV how to do it by applying for a copy of the birth certificate of Charles Clarke, then Home Secretary and, coincidentally, brought up in Hampstead. Using his own photograph and details, he obtained a driving licence in the MP’s name. “Charles Clarke was the obvious choice,” he recalls. “It was so incredibly easy to do, which is obviously quite worrying. If it can be done to him, then is anyone safe? I wrote to the DVLA [Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency], the police, CID and the Home Office. I had proven my point and wanted to have a meeting with the Home Office to show them what I had done and discuss ways of stopping this from happening.
“I wouldn’t be a great thief if I then wrote back to my victim and them who was! Anyway, I didn’t hear back from anyone – until the raid on my home at 6am one morning, which was unnecessary and incredibly distressing to my wife and children.”
And since he feared he might end up in prison for fraud, it wasn’t a happy time either – “Not a laugh at all, not at the time anyway,” he says. “I have now, however, found humour in it, which I wasn’t expecting to do whilst sitting in a cell at Harrow Police Station. The consequences… well, you’ll just have to see the show and find out.”
It is obviously a unique saga for the Jewish-born comedian from South Wales, who was a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards, alongside Peter Kay and Justin Lee Collins, and has made a reputation for himself as a writer for the likes of Freddie Starr and Graham Norton. Currently, he is writing a new TV sitcom at his home in St Albans and appearing alongside Ricky Gervais on tour.
“The subject of identity theft is important to me,” says Bennett. “As one of the fastest-growing crimes in the UK, it should be important to everyone. But the show is a comedy and I’m pleased that I’m able to combine the story of what happened to me with a lot of humour.”
• It Wasn’t Me It Was Bennett Arron is at New End Theatre, Hampstead, NW3, on February 27
and March 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15. Times vary. 0870 033 2733