Josh InVain is a gentle soul. We enter their domain of pink-green light, candles across the floor. Seats arranged in invitation. Rainbow nails, rainbow minds. InVain is a quietly compelling host who has an innate sense of how to hold a space. Armed only with dice stolen from a hen do and the power of the mind, an hour goes by in what seems like a moment. It becomes clear that we’re here to create a community, a collaborative. ‘A cult,’ InVain says. Our evening is comprised of a series of offerings that we cultivate together. How should our group…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Brighton
Have you every been licked on the forehead by a green-faced lunch lady? Mounted by a maddened school-slop-server and forced to sign their t-shirt? Meet Barbara (Tanika Lay-Meachen) and Veronica (Matt Straker), top dinnerladies at the Buzz Lightyear School for Average Children. In a world where the choice between a school dinner and a packed lunch could prove to be (mildly) deadly, you never quite know what will come next. From tackling outrageous gossip about the teachers, to hen-pecked storytelling: school’s in session for one final time before Barbara and Veronica leave for pastures new. They’re not supposed to be…
Written and performed by: Loz Dodd As soon as Loz Dodd enters the room, scantily clad in his red PE kit, his presence is one of deep awkwardness, vulnerability and a faint sadness. There’s an uncertain crease to his brow as he stutters through his opening remarks to the crowd. He is distracted by someone taking photos, by the fact that his sister is in the crowd slurping her drink. This beginning section sprawls out, begging the question when the show is actually going to start. But it really doesn’t matter, because from the very beginning he has the crowd…
Written and performed by: Bex Turner Our hostess for tonight’s snappy set of bawdy comedy arrives in feather boa and the glittery garb of the golden age of cinema. “Maybe West” is the first in a handful of characters who share the lurid details of their sex lives with us. What results is a whirl of costume-changing stand-up and clownery which unfortunately mostly falls flat. Maybe West, a washed-up Hollywood starlet, is obsessed with oversharing about her sex life. This consists almost entirely of jokes in the form of “I like my men like I like my…”, which often serve…
Stewart Lee is back in Brighton for a five night run. Something he questions mid show as he impishly chides the “quiet” Wednesday night crowd. Despite this apparent silence, Lee’s return to the Dome is resplendent and declared a triumph by a roundly enthusiastic audience. Lee’s on stage persona, often referred to by the comic as “the Character of Stewart Lee”, is often self referential and meta in his approach. He carries distain for the litany of Netflix Special, multi-millionaire, stand-ups who punch down for money and easy laughs. The likes of Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle and anyone who played…
Roll up, roll up, cabaret fans. Joe Black is here to transport this eager, baying audience from the main room at Komedia Brighton, to a basement bar in the backstreets of Berlin, and beyond. Welcome to Kleines Kabarett. Our host takes to the stage in dominant fashion, treating the audience to a song or two to start off proceedings. His singing oozes dark indulgence, creating a real sense of atmosphere. The scene is set. First up is Ezme Pump, serving 60s icon dog/diva, complete with attempted-genital-licking attitude. She summons a lead, which she proffers to the audience. But who is…
Writer: Tim Crouch Directors: Tim Crouch, Karl James, Andy Smith Performers: Tim Crouch, Ruth Wilson Since it was first performed in 2005, Tim Crouch’s slick two-hander has gained a particular reputation as a play that rewards reviving and rewatching. Each performance features Crouch and a new actor who has never seen the play or read the script before. This conceit gives the piece a tension that exemplifies the magic of theatre, the bare fact that there are real people on stage in front of you, who may or may not get it right. Tonight’s performance features star of TV, film…
In these times, we’ve never needed the arts more. Enter Josie Long, a left-wing comedian with a licence to tell stories. Long laments on the enormity of living in an era that often feels scary; rising prices, rising fascism, genocide, hatred. For someone who cares about the world, and the creatures that are its current custodians, it can be overwhelmingly exhausting. From the big to the small, we zoom in on Long, just one human of the over eight billion currently alive, in the bathroom of her Glaswegian tenement flat. She’s discovering, at the age of 43, her first grey…