BRIGHTON FRINGE: Strange Face: Adventures with a Lost Nick Drake Recording…the Story Continues – The Old Market, Hove

Written and performed by: Michael Burdett

Michael Burdett has quite the story to tell. Whilst working for Island Records, he retrieved a Nick Drake recording from a skip and proceeded to tour the country, playing it to strangers on headphones then photographing their reactions. He made a book out of this journey and then a fringe show, and now with the finding of yet another lost Nick Drake recording, he’s giving us a sequel. Though the mystique of the late musician’s legacy is a central part of Burdett’s story, there’s a more universal message of synchronicity and human connection at play, and it’s delivered with an endearing, warm touch of humour.

We’re told fairly early on that we’re not going to hear the actual recordings that the show is centred around, which is slightly disappointing. Rather, we’re shown a series of photographs of the random people Burdett played the recordings to as he travelled to every county in England, Scotland and Wales. We hear the varied stories of these people and the surprising ways in which they were sometimes linked – a wall builder in the far reaches of Scotland happens to be from the village in Somerset Burdett has just travelled from; another person he meets happens to have been Nick Drake’s milkman. It creates the impression of a rather magical journey.

Perhaps partly by way of his contacts in the music industry, he encounters a fair number of celebs along the way, which can give a slight name-droppy feel to proceedings. There’s a cameo from James Acaster in which he talks about the discontinued iPod that Burdett sourced for him, which feels slightly gratuitous. But on the whole Burdett is a friendly, thoroughly likeable character and that keeps us on his side.

The style of the presentation is slick and well-crafted, with projected slides complete with animations, sound effects and atmospheric music. Burdett gets the audience involved, often asking questions like a school teacher, then hoodwinking us with tricksy answers. It’s a show for people who are fans of Nick Drake and want to find out more about him, but it’s also an inspiring story of someone who clearly has a great deal of passion for not just Nick Drake but for the power of music, the interconnectedness of things and the variety of the human race.

Reviewed on 27 May 2026