Director: Michael Fentiman Original Production: Sally Cookson Associate Director: Pip Minnithrope Original Novel: C.S. Lewis Original Writer in the Room and Dramaturg: Adam Peck Reviewer: Lela Tredwell Inspired by the 1950s classic novel, an entertainingly lively folk musical comes to Brighton on tour from the West End. With spirited songs, invigorating choreography and a strong cast, this is an enjoyable piece of theatre. Sadly, the production has shed some of its set in its transition to this historic venue so it falls short of the sense of grandeur we were expecting but there is still lots here to delight an…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Brighton
Writers: Dan O’Brien and Emily Jenkins Directors: Jo Gatford and Sam Chittenden Assistant Director: Faith McNeill Reviewer: Lela Tredwell A charming, thought-provoking and darkly humorous double bill from Brighton Little Theatre. Showcasing characters wrestling with despair, these performances dance between humour and deeply poignant moments. Although both offer a very different approach to dark comedy, these two short plays complement each other well and create the overall experience of a brilliant evening of theatre. It is always a joy to visit Brighton Little Theatre. 85 years of performances plaster its compact walls so you already feel part of the drama…
Writer: Patrick Barlow, based on the book by John Buchan Directors: Maria Aitken and Nicola Samer This funny and pacey adaption of an Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller classic wows and delights a Brighton audience with its pure escapism into a bygone era. John Buchan’s 1915 book of The 39 Steps has been successfully adapted many times and is about to be revisited again with Benedict Cumberbatch at the helm. However, it is the 1930’s film made by Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeline Carroll that endures, with Film maker Orson Welles calling it a “masterpiece”. It is also what this…
A scrappy, occasionally sublime show from an assured stand-up performer. Londoner Su Mi is coarse, loud, and occasionally dressed as a shark. Anyone who has had the pleasure to see her perform over the past couple of years knows she’s a vital presence, with brilliant songs, surreal characters, and charm in bucket loads. Here, stretched over an hour on a hungover bank holiday Monday, it doesn’t quite work. Su Mi is not helped by the lukewarm crowd and sleepy tech support; the overall narrative doesn’t quite hang together, and the transitions between bits are slightly too long and impact the…
A well structured, engaging show about queer love on the dancefloor. In London’s Soho, lesbian club Candy Bar was forced out by rising rents. It’s now a “gentlemen’s club” called Vanity. Where to go if you’re a hot young slug looking for love? The dating apps are a gamified mess, and the clubs that are clinging on are overpriced, grimy, and stressful industrial production lines, from the queue for the door to the queue for the cloakroom to the queue for the bar. Divakarans character – dressed to dance in an impressive and very sweaty slug mask – navigates all…
Superb satire of prejudice and expectation at the edge of farce. This hasn’t been a particularly political fringe. Given societal collapse due to climate change is predicted in twenty years at best, one might have expected a few more howls at the unsustainability of the status quo. Thank god, then, for Jen Ives, whose bitingly savage material about the straightjacket of mainstream culture floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee in a gender-segregated toilet. Ives is performing as part of The Actors’ excellent Queer Weekender, but there must have been some kind of mistake. Because she’s straight now.…
A unique, brilliant hour of character comedy for everyone’s inner inanimate object. The Actors is the best venue at the Brighton Fringe. This is both scientific fact (they won the audience choice award last year), and reflected in their fabulous booking policy, which reaches its zenith over the Bank Holiday weekend. This is winningly dubbed the Queer Weekender and features some of the best alternative acts on the circuit. Maniura’s Objectified is coming to the end of its run, and it’ll be fascinating to see what she comes up with next, as this is one of the most unique and…
A fine collection of clowns, stand-ups and musicians with chaotic hosting. The Lovely Boys are a pair of mildly disturbing clowns who are the perfect ringmasters for an early evening variety show. Performing as a duo, these northerners often have the energy of children’s telly presenters gone slightly wrong. This past year they have performed as much solo as together, with Mikey working on material inspired by the water cycle, and Joe Kent-Walters winning the BBC New Comedy Awards with his demonic club host, Frankie Monroe. It’s – ahem – lovely to see them back on stage together, as they…