Humanity with Ben Caplan

This week we connect with Canadian singer-songwriter and theatre-maker Ben Caplan. Ben joins us from the car park of a Canadian fast-food giant called Tim Hortons, en route to play a socially distanced gig as part of the Small Halls Festival in Ottawa.We get all the deets about life and lockdown in Canada. Ben has praise for his government’s response to the pandemic – in stark contrast to what we’ve heard from other artists both here in the UK and elsewhere. We talk about Ben’s identity as a Jewish man, his experiences of antisemitism, and how growing up with Jewish values like tikkun olam (literally “repair of the world”) inspires him to make art that leaves a smile on our faces and a question in our hearts.Plus, after recovering from the shock of hearing someone talk so positively about their government, Katherine and Paul reflect on how heartfelt and eloquent Ben is, which gives us an idea about how we can fix this mess... #BenCaplanForPrimeMinister.Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.____ABOUT BENBen Caplan is a songwriter, performer and entertainer in the most time-honoured sense of the word. From the moment he walks onto the stage, you are filled with his infectious spirit, and captivating presence. You can feel Caplan's comfort and ease as he strides in front of the crowd and begins the controlled collective descent into chaos.In his latest project, Ben Caplan explores themes of immigration, loss, darkness, love, sex, and God. Caplan is touring with a fresh batch of songs which were originally composed for a new musical play called Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story. The award winning play had its international debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won top festival honours, and has been a smash hit. The play has toured internationally including a seven-week run Off Broadway where it picked up a New York Times Critic's Pick, and six Drama Desk Award nominations, among other accolades.WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter____FEATURED TRACKSO Holy Night by Ben Caplan (12:01)Fledgling by Ben Caplan (21:35)Plough the Shit by Ben Caplan (28:40)Truth Doesn’t Live in a Book by Ben Caplan (45:20)The Happy People by Ben Caplan (50:57)-Podcast theme - I Can Change by Lee Bains III & The Glory FiresLINKS AND RESOURCESThe Festival of Small HallsOld stock: A refugee Love StoryPogromsTikkun Olam: Repairing the WorldInvestigation into antisemitism in the Labour PartyIsrael's Benjamin Netanyahu: Commando turned PMThe TalmudWebsiteWebstore Bowling for Columbine ____00:00 - Welcome to Somewhere To Believe In00:20 - Katherine and Paul catch up05:30 - Introducing Ben Caplan and his work06:03 - Ben joins the conversation07:51 - Ben on the pandemic in Canada09:56 - Ben on slowing down 12:01 - ‘O Holy Night’ by Ben Caplan12:50 - Ben on support for the arts in Canada15:33 - Ben on creativity16:29 - Ben on his inspirations18:05 - Ben on refugees21:35 - ‘Fledgling’ by Ben Caplan22:40 - Ben on the power of art25:40 - Ben on finding moments of joy26:20 - Ben on telling stories of massacres 28:40 - ‘Plough the Shit’ by Ben Caplan30:18 - Ben on Judaism31:45 - Ben on anti-semitism40:47 - Ben on literalist readings of religious texts45:20 - ‘Truth Doesn’t Live in a Book’ by Ben Caplan46:23 - Ben on commercial music48:30 - Ben on performing49:41 - Ben on brokenness50:57 - ‘The Happy People’ by Ben Caplan51:20 - Ben on Greenbelt Festival54:20 - Ben on what he would retrain as56:56 - Ben on how to support his work59:08 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Ben1:10:07 - Coming up next week1:10:27 - How to get in touch with us1:11:06 - Thank you’s1:11:30 - Hidden track____A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.____https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/#SomewhereToBelieveIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.