LORENZO
Ben Target/Soho Theatre (UK)
A life-affirming story about death, conveyed through the popular mediums of storytelling, servitude to the audience and live carpentry, a combination not seen on the world stage since Nazareth, circa AD30.
In 2020, Ben Target gave up his comedy career to look after his irascible octogenarian uncle, Lorenzo, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this autobiographical hour, he shares acute insights into caregiving, interweaving melancholy and hilarity.
Forthright and funny, Ben unflinchingly documents the reality and the often unspoken aspects of caring for an aging loved one. Through his deeply personal tale we reflect on common preoccupations: what we leave behind in death, who and what shape the way we are remembered, and how to face disappointing ourselves when we are painfully human.
LORENZO is electric with feeling, and a heartfelt ode to what it means to love and to care.
Ben Target was interviewed on the PuSh Play podcast by Gabrielle Martin, Director of Programming. Listen to the podcast episode here.
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Artist Bio
Ben Target/Soho Theatre (UK)
Ben Target (he/they) is a multi-award-winning comedian, performance artist, writer, actor and director. He was born in Singapore and has lived a peripatetic life in London, Voorschoten, Houston, Jakarta and Paris. In 2011, he won the national stand-up accolade, the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year. In 2012, his debut comedy show Discover Ben Target was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer, toured to Australia and New Zealand, and was filmed as a special for the streaming service NextUp Comedy. He returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with Hooray for Ben Target (2014), Imagine There’s No Ben Target (It’s Easy If You Try) (2015), Orangeade (2017) and Splosh! (2018).
He has starred and co-starred in several comedy shows over the last decade, including Richard Gadd’s Waiting for Gaddot (Amused Moose Comedy Award for Best Show, 2015). As a director and dramaturg, Ben has worked with Kieran Hodgson (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2023), John Hastings, Rob Copland, Katie Pritchard, and more. He has written for Joe Lycett (BBC Three) and Jamali Maddix (Channel 4), and teaches stand-up comedy at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Soho Theatre and Angel Comedy.
Soho Theatre is London’s most vibrant producer for new theatre, comedy and cabaret. A charity and social enterprise, we are one of the UK’s busiest venues, with a year-round festival programme with a queer, punk, counter-culture flavour, and a buzzing bar. We produce and co-produce new plays, work with associate artists, and present the best new emerging theatre companies and comedians. Outside of our London home, we have a UK and international touring programme, including presenting shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and close connections with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. We are the UK’s leading presenter of Indian comedians from the burgeoning scene there, and we have a Soho Theatre Producer based in Mumbai. We film shows and create our own digital work, and this can be seen on Prime Video UK, inflight on British Airways and streamed from our website.
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Venue
823 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC
Showtimes
- January 18: 7:30
- January 19: 7:30
- January 20: 7:30
Runtime: 65min, no intermission
Post-show talkback: Jan 19
Content Advisory
Strobe lights, pyrotechnics
Discussion of death and euthanasia
Tickets
Single tickets: $39
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Access
Live Description on Jan 19
Credits
Writer & Performer Ben Target Directors Adam Brace and Lee Griffiths Set Design Tom Hartshorne for Morice Designs Lighting Design Robert Wells Creative Consultant Letty Butler Choreographer Chelsey Weisz Stage Manager Rose Hockaday Produced by Soho Theatre
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