Ben Target/Soho Theatre (UK)
October 19, 2023
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.