Created by: Pinch Punch Reviewer: Lela Tredwell A first class improvised murder mystery with hilarious performances. In this superb show inspired by Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, we are treated to an expertly improvised performance based on audience suggestions. Miss Marbles is our host detective on this night and she does a beautiful job of engaging the crowd. Her interactions result in the assembling of unique suggestions. Particular joy is found while talking to a young man in the audience who offers the experience of his worst holiday being a woodcraft camp. His descriptions, with the guidance of…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Brighton
Writer/Performer: Freddie Hayes Director: Sh!t Theatre Reviewer: Simon Topping The winner of the inaugural Brighton Fringe Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary, delights the crowd with her fabulously haywire debut solo show. Loosely adapted from Doctor Faustus and the seven deadly sins, this production sees Charlotte, a humble spud who’s down on her luck and ready to give up, make a pact with an emissary of the Devil (the potato Maurice Piper) in order to make her famous. She wants to be “On the Telly”. What tricks will Satan play on her? As the night goes on we find out, with hilarious…
By: Miracle Theatre Adapted by: Carol Ann Duffy Director: Kyla Goodey Reviewer: Lela Tredwell This is a vital piece of theatre brought to life in an innovative space, through outstanding performances and effects. This exciting adaptation by Carol Ann Duffy is beautifully realised by Miracle Theatre in an inventive setting. The performance space is a tent inside a church which feels entirely fitting for this performance. The Fleapit is an inspiring venue, created with booths around the outer edges and a central arena. During this dynamic performance the space is used exceptionally well. This adaptation is based on one of…
By: StrangeWood Productions Reviewer: Lela Tredwell A life drawing session with a focus on erotica and circus skills. This is a drawing session that would best suit the seasoned life drawer. It is untutored and largely unguided as participants are invited to choose from the poses available before them in the arena. Materials are provided, although some of the drawing boards are broken. Having spent lockdown drawing live-streamed animals, this reviewer is used to some wriggling muses. However, this session starts with contortionists and chair-acrobats in constant movement. It’s hard to see how to capture a likeness in the midst…
By: Alexandra Shaw Reviewer: Simon Topping Alexandra Shaw, as Fanny Dent, shows her audience that burlesque doesn’t have to be sexy to be creative, fun and good to watch. Bursting onto the stage to traditional striptease music, in a glitzy golden outfit, Dent starts to peel off her long black gloves with her teeth. Suddenly she stops. This isn’t what she wants to be doing. Burlesque was started by the Victorian’s to parody and ridicule the difficult aspects of life and the establishment, Dent reveals, and it has been taken over by “sexy people”. She wants to reclaim the art…
By: Selena Mersey Reviewer: Simon Topping Sigmund Freud’s Maddona-Whore complex is the unlikely topic of Selena Mersey’s hit comedy show which delights a sold out audience at the Rotunda Theatre (Squeak) Freud first coined the term which states that men see women as either the Madonna – wholly virtuous, pure and chaste, or the whore – promiscuous, seductive and degraded. In this funny hour long show Mersey is having none of this and asserts that women can be anything from one end of the spectrum to the other, as they please, or both at once, if it suits them. Mersey…
By: Sweet Productions Writer/Director: JD Henshaw Reviewer: Lela Tredwell An innovative and visceral one woman show based on a timeless classic. With this powerful exciting performance, we are reminded why the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde still fascinates a modern audience. Intellectual, woman of science, Dr Jekyll has been experimenting with methods to unleash her more base instincts. However, we learn very early on in this piece that Jekyll’s more beastly side – Hyde – has been rather relishing in pushing all the boundaries of civility. Hyde has turned murderous and there seems to be no stopping her.…
By: Give or Take Theatre Reviewer: Lela Tredwell An incredible one man show with heart, intelligence and vitality. This is an exceptional piece of theatre, inspiringly designed and performed. The show has been carefully created to envisage a rich future world on the stage. It’s an engaging performance with so much to reflect upon, as well as a central tale with high stakes and heart. Retro-terraforming agent, Dryskoll has got themselves into a spot of bother. There’s been a glitch and all they have for assistance is a sweetly empathetic AI, whose voice eerily comes to us disembodied. As Dryskoll…