Comic makes a tough choice
Comic Bennett Arron has abandoned his wife on their ninth wedding anniversary in favour of the Edinburgh Fringe.
The stand-up had never intended to take his show, about identity theft, to this year's festival and had booked a family holiday in Spain instead.
But after a handful of gigs in London, it was booked as a last-minute addition into the Underbelly programme, for a ten-day run after another show pulled out. The first performance of It Wasn't Me, It Was Bennet Arron was seen by just two people.
However, audience numbers slowly grew, and he received a four-star review the day before he was supposed to leave, prompting the venue to offer to extend his run.
After a sleepness night contemplating it, he decided to stay, while his wife went to Spain.
Arron's story has echoes of last year's Perrier-winner, Will Adamsdale's Jackson's Way, which extended its Underbelly run in the same room as Arron performs in, before taking comedy's biggest prize.
As a result of the show, Arron has also been asked to speak at an international convention on identity fraud in Rome in November.
