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A great commission from White Room Theatre. Former Fringe First winner Ella Hickson was asked to write monologues introducing some of the lesser known characters from Brighton’s chequered history: Harry Vowles ‘The Blind Busker’; his fellow Victorian Christiana Edmunds, ‘the chocolate cream poisoner’; and Ras Prince Monolulu, the Guyanese tipster who plied his trade at Brighton Racecourse until the ‘50s. Archive photos and news reports effectively set each scene. But unfortunately two of the performances were no match for Hickson’s imaginative and often arresting writing. It was left to Israel Oyelumade as Ras, the charismatic, flamboyantly dressed chancer with his ruling principles of ‘luck and noise’, to haul back the energy and the intrigue. This the former RSC actor accomplished in one flash of teeth, cuffs and head feathers. (As a programme note pointed out, Ras’s dress sense appears to have been not dissimilar to Jimi Hendrix.)
The Old Courtroom, 8 May
3/5
Bella Todd

Oh dear. Not, as the title suggested, an S&M wrestling match. What we had instead was a series of barely thought through and, at times, poorly executed, supposedly ‘outrageous’ sketches. The car sick, cuckolded driving instructor raised a smile, as did the two sock puppet routines but the Godot and nursery rhyme efforts should never have left the drawing board. They showed some promise with hints of necrophilia and other sexual peccadilloes but for the most part it was very much a sixth form review show. More Jerry Lewis than Jerry Sadowitz.
Three & Ten, 8 May
2/5
Steve Clements

A promising idea and a promising start are sadly unrealized in this disappointing performance. Creating a drama around the physical structure of the Regency Town House is a great idea but when the plot is slight and the production values slim, the suspense of belief starts to wane all too rapidly. And despite the best efforts of the cast, I’m never prepared to believe in the premise of the play. I suspect that the later performance, after dark, might have more atmosphere but I crave better sound, maybe some music and sound to create an atmosphere and lighting to set a mood. As it is, I’m never engaged.
Regency Town House, 8 May (until 23 May)
1/5
Andrew Kay

Any thoughts of this being a star’s vanity project were instantly dismissed with rip-roaring opener ‘Anarchy In The UK’. This was a seriously talented folk band re-imagining a great bunch of punk classics. Ade played a selection of mandolins and killed off would-be hecklers in an instant. ‘Teenage Kicks’ erupted into a full-on Irish jig with the fiddle and uilleann pipes going hell-for-leather. The poignant lyrics of Weller and Shelley are well-suited to the folk sound and the protest songs of punk are equally fitting. A fun-packed punk rock ceilidh night that ended perfectly with a knees-up ‘Harry Up Harry’.
Komedia, 9 May
5/5
Steve Clements