Written and performed by: Rich Watkins Productions For many fans of ubiquitous child-wizard Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling’s recent controversial anti-trans rhetoric has raised the question of how to separate the author from the world they have created. Reclaiming Harry offers a fabulously queer head-on solution to that quandary with a show incorporating drag, a time-travelling Harry and the pop music of 1997 (it turns out this was an exceptional year for pop, by the way). It’s an endlessly hilarious and energising production, which presents a perfect way to revel in a fictional world, whilst changing the narrative. Rowling’s views are…
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Writer and Director: Warren Fischer Edward and Helen operate a country manor house as a ‘silent retreat’, but after months of poor performance, the bank threaten to foreclose on the property. On the same day as the terrible bank news arrives, both Edward and Helen’s parents turn up full of their own angst, there is a public auction at the property, a fortieth wedding anniversary, all while the in-house spiritual ‘guru’ hosts a naked retreat in the background. Unsurprisingly, chaos ensues. While A Family Affair has the some good foundations to its premise, and uses some elements of the farce…
Performed by: Brighton Swimming Club, Brighton Dolphin Swimming Club and Horsham Atlantis Flamingos For those looking for a Fringe show that’s nothing like anything else on the programme, Synchro: The Final Frontier, a sci-fi themed artistic swimming spectacular may be the perfect solution. Featuring routines from local groups, the Prince Regent Swimming Pool plays perfect host to a range of beautifully choreographed, witty and impressive feats of aquabatics. Formally known as synchronised swimming, artistic swimming is perfectly named because it takes a sport that is an impressive physical achievement in itself and inserts an emphasis on beauty and creativity. The…
Company: The Hairy Godmothers A wicked and naughty night with our favourite Disney villains to leave you laughing and feeling empowered. A narrator booms over the speakers – his voice straight out of a fairy tale, embellished with an Australian accent. We are about to embark on a magical journey, an original story, where we will follow Vil and their quest to become a villain as iconic as Disney’s. Vil is positively evil- loves kicking puppies and vandalising things- but something is missing. They don’t have a very good evil laugh for one, and they don’t even have a backstory…
Music performed by: 12 Ensemble Visuals by: Ben Ditto In a programme of music for strings that spans from a 1946 work by Richard Strauss to a 2022 piece by Oliver Leith, 12 Ensemble’s Metamorphosis is an attempt to bring something extra to the classical music experience. Although the pieces in their original contexts bring with them strong programmatic backstories, this production creates its own AI-generated visual narrative, which is projected holographically onto a gauze in front of the ensemble. It’s hard to fathom the intention behind these visuals, but the soullessness of the end result was probably not it.…
Writers: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields Director: Hannah Sharkey We know from their previous work that if you want a belly laugh at absolute silliness, then Mischief Theatre are going to provide you with just that – escapism and entertainment in its most enjoyable form. It started with students from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Henry Lewis coming together as comedy performers and it went on to gain a huge following and fanbase – shooting to fame with the farcical and fantastic (not to mention award-winning) The Play That Goes…
Writer: Katy Matthews Director: Cerys Evans An interesting, adventurous sci fi play about the complexity of time, butterfly effects and insurance which ultimately bites off more than it can chew. Stockbrokers frantically answer ringing telephones- only they aren’t investing in stocks as we know them but in specific dates and times. After a brief but raucous scene, the main story begins and we follow Pryor as he disputes his refused insurance claim: that his child has been replaced with another due to a time alteration. Pryor (Andrew Crouch) debates with the insurance agent, Charlie (Matt Vickey), and his supervisor, Post…
Writers: Damian Barr and James Ley Adapted from the Memoir of Damian Barr Director: Suba Das Smouldering brimstone, bleeding walls, hellish fractures in the earth, and Murray Mints: something is in the air as the Tron Theatre houses the revival of Scotland’s most persistent nightmare: a Tory. But for the ease of jokes and snipes at the Iron Lady and their impact, experimentation and dismantling of Scotland’s infrastructure, Damian Barr’s heralded Maggie & Me is far from a reductive gloves-off bashing for the former Prime Minister. The National Theatre of Scotland’s long-awaited adaptation of Barr’s memoir, written with James Ley, finds plenty to laugh about but just as much pain and truth in a brutal and brazenly personal account…