one4review | On 11, Aug 2026

Mike Wozniak opens The Bench by making it absolutely clear that it is not our fault the show didn’t start on time.

Wozniak plays every upstanding, waffling, friendly, over-informed, village-council-attending middle-aged man you’ve ever known, holding court with excellence bar none and wit aplenty.

I want to make something clear: this show is a shaggy dog story, and I do not like shaggy dog stories.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Wozniak constructs one of the most accurately observed comic worlds I’ve ever seen. He builds a picture of village life with such extraordinary specificity that I’m genuinely not sure if it’s him or performance for the first part of the show.

It feels real, and he is really, incredibly funny.

There is something wonderfully drawn-out about his delivery he’s called us together because something has happened in the village and it needs discussing: :the local memorial bench.

Wozniak allows us to ask questions as the show progresses, letting us wander freely through this detailed colourful village.

Wozniak never seems remotely hurried. He simply draws us deeper and deeper into this village it genuinely feels like our job to solve it’s problem.

I found myself unable to identify a single flaw.

The Bench is surprising, hilarious and completely absorbing. Rather than simply telling us a story, Wozniak somehow makes us inhabitants of it.

A remarkable piece of comic world-building, had me thinking about moving to a small town.

A five-star show.

*****

Reviewed by Stephen “Sharpie” Sharp
Assembly Hall – Main Hall
Until 16th August
22.40 (1 hour)