Ben studied English and linguistics at Lancaster University between 1995 and 1998, before training as an actor from 1998 to 1999. After leaving drama school he studied methods from the theatre companies Complicite and Frantic Assembly, particularly under Annabel Arden and Monika Pagneux.
In 1999 he began to write Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion with his father, and they've since written four books together, including the "Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare", shortlisted for the Educational Writer of the Year Award in 2016.
He appeared in the 2006 summer season at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and while there began writing Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard, published in 2008.
In 2014 he and his theatre company (Passion in Practice) were awarded one of the inaugural Owle Schreame Awards for innovation in historical theatre, specifically for their work on Original Shakespearean Pronunciation in performance
He has raised Shakespeare productions and events in collaboration with the Shakespeare's Globe, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Shakespeare Society, the Savannah Music Festival, the British Council, the British Library, the ESU, the Sharjah Book Festival, and produced his own productions under Passion in Practice.
