Brighton Festival
A Change is Gonna Come, Brighton Festival review - lively, winning jazz adventureWednesday, 23 May 2018
Watching this band in action is a treat. They gel absolutely and play off one another in a manner that’s easy and mellow, yet also sparks by occasionally teetering on the edge of their virtuosic abilities. The songs played throughout the evening at... Read more... |
Bridget Christie, Brighton Festival review - politics through a domestic lensMonday, 21 May 2018
Bridget Christie tells us at the top of the show that she is a heterosexual, able-bodied, privileged white female – so why is she feeling so discontented? As she explains with great verbal dexterity in What Now?, it is living in a post-EU referendum... Read more... |
The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove JanssonMonday, 21 May 2018
It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the hour-long talk about the inhabitants of Moominvalley... Read more... |
Robbie Thomson XFRMR, Brighton Festival review - lightning strikes outSunday, 20 May 2018
The welcome to Glasgow audio-visual artist Robbie Thomson’s performance engenders a hefty sense of anticipation. It’s almost nervousness-inducing as we’re handed ear-plugs and warned about how very loud it’s going to be. Then, walking into the main... Read more... |
Chopin's Piano, Tiberghien, Kildea, Brighton Festival review - mumbled words, magical musicThursday, 17 May 2018
First the good news: Cédric Tiberghien, master of tone colour, lucidity and expressive intent, playing the 24 Chopin Preludes plus the Bach C major and the C minor Nocturne in the red-gold dragons' den of the Royal Pavilion's Music Room. Then the... Read more... |
The Last Poets, Brighton Festival review - black power sets the night alightWednesday, 16 May 2018
The venom with which Abiodun Oyewole spits “America is a terrorist”, the key repeated line to “Rain of Terror”, has startling power. The piece is an unashamed diatribe against his nation. Beside him his partner Umar Bin Hassan rhythmically hisses... Read more... |
David Shrigley/Brett Goodroad, Brighton Festival review - showcases puncturing the medium's pretenceTuesday, 15 May 2018
In his 1991 novel Mao II, Don DeLillo called the literary medium “a democratic shout”. His oft-quoted claim is that any man or woman on the street could strike it lucky, find their voice, and write a great book. Not only does everyone carry round a... Read more... |
Lemn Sissay, Brighton Festival review - a mesmerising sermon of performance poetryMonday, 14 May 2018
I first heard – or rather saw on paper – the work of Lemn Sissay in an English literature lecture hall in the late '90s. As a fresh faced first year uni student, coming firmly from the school of Pablo Neruda, it was quite a departure from my norm.It... Read more... |
Cuckmere: A Portrait/Environment 2.0, Brighton Festival review - landscape, politics and art collideSaturday, 12 May 2018
Sitting between the South Downs and the sea, Brighton’s borders are defined by nature. The Downs’ 2010 designation as a National Park also legislatively limits urban encroachment. The typically beautiful Sussex village of Falmer is on the city’s... Read more... |
Problem in Brighton, Brighton Festival review - comic but patchy rock showFriday, 11 May 2018
Problem is Brighton is down in the Festival programme as an “alt-rock/pop pantomime”, with actors involved and the inference it’s some sort of musical featuring “instruments specially created by David Shrigley for the performance”. This turns out to... Read more... |
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Brighton Festival review - a dynamic dedication to an artist's museThursday, 10 May 2018
They say that behind every successful man is a strong woman. The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is as much – if not more so – the championing of the unsung hero in this story of the famous early modernist artist, Marc Chagall. His wife, Bella – early muse... Read more... |
Win a Luxury Weekend for Two to celebrate Brighton Festival!Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Brighton Festival is the UK’s leading annual celebration of the arts, with events taking place in venues both familiar and unusual across Brighton & Hove for three weeks every May. This year, the Festival boasts an eclectic line-up spanning... Read more... |
