Sadness and silliness
★★★★☆
Ben Target greets us as we arrive into the space, armed with a flask of coffee and dispensing the warm drink to anyone who wants one. This simple action sets the tone for Target’s timbre of storytelling - warmth not only resonating from the coffee. A personal of tale of grief imbued with humour fills the air and it feels like coming home. Poignant and profound.
Mid-pandemic Target had an abrupt career change after his days on the stand-up circuit. He took on the task of providing palliative care to his uncle Lorenzo, moving into his house in North London to give him round-the-clock support. Target describes the realities of caring for an elderly relative candidly and without filter, the mess, the repetitiveness and the crushing realisation that in the end you are powerless against the tide of terminal illness. Despite this, he shares the joy and humour that Lorenzo brought to the world, the immense impact of his silly o’clock hours in the basement of their family home and how Lorenzo’s mindset firmly lives on today.
Perfectly self-described as ‘performance art with a punchline,’ this production is silly and laugh-out-loud funny before the emotional weight clobbers with the force of a charging rhinoceros. The innate sadness occasionally catches Target mid-sentence, his eyes alight with the memories he describes. He captivates effortlessly, and his obvious talent for stand-up infused with his carefully balanced storytelling keeps us engaged throughout and willing to join in with his toilet roll inspired hijinks and rapturously cheer the most outlandish and brilliant method of creating a Wagon Wheel biscuit ever seen on stage.
A compassionate and tender hour of theatre that will have you holding your loved ones a little closer than before.
Running until 14th October - Tickets