All the best performances start with a demonstration and the ‘shame on you’ growled at us by a lone lady protestor was definitely the second worst greeting I have ever had at a theatre. Oh well, whatever, and on to the sane… Read more →
‘Have you come alone’? ‘Were you followed’? Press play precisely on the hour and the city (in this case, the concourse of the beautifully naturally-lit Brighton train station) becomes a film-set, its people extras and you the star. That’s the basis of… Read more →
Nigel Fairs’ two handed play outlining the relationship between a fifty-something woman and a 45-year-old man is witty, articulate and touching. Very funny in parts, and sweet in others, Louise Jamieson and Fairs play the duo with love and laughter from the… Read more →
A series of short plays crocheted together by a singing trio of wartime lovelies, this was an authentic and well-researched vintage experience with fine acting. Featuring backdrops of long-gone Brighton slums, the pieces took us through a range of emotions as we… Read more →
Every time I pass the hat-stand in my hallway I’m supposed to remember Sylvia Rimat, standing on the Basement stage with her head in a lampshade, softly petitioning us in her thick German accent to ‘kindly, in the future, think back to… Read more →
Originally Written in 2010 for the Royal Court Theatre by local playwright Tim Crouch, this short play reflects on the general election that took place during that year. Three young actors, aged around 11 years old, wearing white shirts and ties of… Read more →
Theatre troupe Rhum and Clay clearly took inspiration from the likes of ‘Brazil’ and Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ for this physical theatre piece that was effectively staged, sharply performed and surprisingly funny. Set in a steampunk-esque dystopia the play followed an everyman who… Read more →
Triptych saw Brighton’s Feral Theatre present three loosely linked stories in Preston’s 13th century church, effectively combining storytelling, puppetry, music and dance. Emily Laurens considered the fate of the near-extinct Eskimo curlew with multi-layered shadow puppetry; Rachel Porter performed a complex first… Read more →
Performance group Scary Little Girls hosted an evening of literary nudges and Dickensian winks in Hendrick’s decadent steampunkesque marquee. Led by the suitably named Monica DePlume, busting out of her bright bustier, her bullying of her ‘minions’ was overturned without too much… Read more →
Blowing the lid off Victorian spirit seekers, this peculiar trio arrived as one rising from beneath the folds of the tablecloth dressed in widow’s weeds and greasepaint. Constant is the eldest and – it is emphasised – “has all the petty cash”,… Read more →
