Nangle Natters: May madness

Every year, when the Brighton Fringe and Brighton Festival brochures come out I swear that I’ll see less shows than the year before and savour each one I do see. And every year there are more shows than ever that I want to see.

Essentially, my main intent is to respect each show and its players and to go in with an open mind as to what exactly I’ll be seeing. The difficulty is in balancing my natural arts-gluttony with my desire to bring the same freshness as an audience member to each morsel of entertainment. What I really want is a cultural sorbet, cleansing the palette and allowing each tasty treat to shine in its own fashion with no leftover sensations lurking from previous course.

I found this particularly came to the fore a couple of years ago when I was reviewing comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and had scheduled two white male stand-up shows about coming out to their conservative families in the same afternoon. Note-taking was invaluable, and I vowed to be more careful with my planning in future.

What I really want is a cultural sorbet

So, what I have planned is no more than a single show a day. Apart from if they’re REALLY different – like going on a walking tour of Notorious Women of Brighton in the morning, followed by the Punel Show at Lamb Comedy late in the afternoon. I’ve left spaces in my itinerary so that I can be spontaneous. I’ve found some excellent gems by simply joining the queue to a show that is running out the door. If it’s that popular it’s well worth just joining in to see what’s going on.

Also, may I recommend grabbing a handful of large denomination coins and spending a rainy weekend day in one of the Laughing Horse comedy venues – my nearest is always the Caroline Of Brunswick. Daytime tickets to shows are cheap or pay-what-you-will-in-a-bucket, and I’ve seen plenty of rising stars in these daytime slots trying out new shows, or on their way up to massive recognition with a show that is taking over with word of mouth. Of course, that goes against the whole idea of keeping shows very separate, but sometimes it feels good to immerse yourself in a melee of performances and laughter.

Or you could just sit in a central spot like The Warren and wait for friends to turn up with their carefully selected tickets to shows and simply join them. Let your mates do the heavy lifting when it comes to Fringe highlights, and enjoy your sunshine beer and the tide of the Fringe ebbing and flowing, brining you to some of the best, most random, most exciting, most enlightening things. Bring on May time.