Brighton Festival 2015 – The Best Bits!

Brighton Festival | 3-24 May 2015

Now in its 49th year, Brighton Festival 2015 arrives in May with a predictably exciting programme!

Our roving, Brighton-based culture-hound Laura Edmans has picked out some of the highlights… Oh, and did we mention, we’ve got some snazzy OFFERS & COMPETITIONS for you!

If you like things a bit more fringey, check out Laura’s Brighton Fringe 2015 guide, coming VERY SOON…

451 | Preston Barracks | 16 May | 9:45pm | Free

An immersive performance based on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, by Periplum, whose reputation for outdoor work ensures they will do it justice. Full of fire, both literally and figuratively we would imagine.

Photo Credit: Ray Gibson

The Apple Family Plays | Brighton Dome Corn Exchange | 2-4 May | Various Times | £22.50

‘One of the great accomplishments in American Theater to date this century’ (NY Times), Richard Nelson’s works address politics and family in 21st century America. The writing is contemporary and bold and the acting is of the highest calibre. There are four plays and you can see any number, in any order, or just one, as although connected, each play is a stand alone piece.

Carousel | The Level | 22 & 23 May | 9pm | Free

An outdoor piece of high-energy dance theatre revolving around a real-life carousel and featuring host of characters from a fairground in which it lives. A lively Balkan tinged score and there are 2 performances, so no excuses not to see it!

DakhaBrakha | Brighton Dome Corn Exchange | 10 May | 8pm | £14

This Ukrainian band create an experience like no other. Musically influenced by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian sounds as well as their own Ukrainian identity, Dahka Brakha also have a strong visual style, having come from a theatre and contemporary arts background. This is bound to be energizing, emotional and unconventional.

Photo Credit: Iryna Gorban

The Duke of Burgundy | Brighton Dome Concert Hall | 22 May | 8pm | £16 – £18.50

Weird, pervy and beautiful… the film impressed at the cinemas and with a live performance of the acclaimed score, this screening is not to be missed by any film or music lover.

Ear Trumpet | Queens Park | 16 & 17 May | 12pm – 2pm & 3pm – 5pm | Free

Gobbledygook Theatre’s Ear Trumpet invites us to listen to the sounds of the earth with the use of special listening devices provided to us in Queen’s Park. This is bound to be both fun and reflective, and a must for anyone interested in sound art.

Every Brilliant Thing | Roundabout | 19-24 May | Various Times | £13 – £15

Every Brilliant Thing is one of the shows showing in rep at Roundabout, a new pop up venue to feature in this year’s Brighton Festival, as pictured. An uplifting and yet heart-wrenching performance about depression and love.

Fleeting | Brighton Beach | 24 May | Dusk | Free

A fire installation and performance, And Now’s Fleeting is inspired by starling murmuration and is a perfect ending to this year’s festival which had key themes of art, nature and freedom.

Gauge | Circus Street Market | 1-24 May | Times Vary | Free

Out of the five Brighton Festival exhibition pieces, this looks to be the most fun. And it’s on throughout the festival, so there are plenty of opportunities to see it. An interactive exhibition about water and weather in the beautiful Circus Street Market place, Gauge will be both playful and educational. If you are after the more educational experience, make sure you visit on the 16th or 17th in the afternoon when Water Matters, a discussion about water and the environment will be taking place each day at 2pm.

The Joey Arias Experience | Theatre Royal Brighton | 20 May | 8pm | £10 – £18.50

The iconic Joey Arias will be performing a selection of music going back to his early influences through jazz, pop, rock and experimental sounds.

The Lads in Their Hundreds | Theatre Royal Brighton | 5 May | 8pm | £10 – £18.50

A cross-arts tear-jerker, The Lads in Their Hundreds, stars Tchéky Karyo (Goldeneye, The Missing), as he performs some of the greatest French war poems, with accompanying live music of the period. Bring your tissues and be prepared to be moved.

Laurie Anderson | Brighton Dome Concert Hall | 24 May | 8pm | £20 – £22.50

This is a newly conceived show from Anderson, who has been breaking boundaries and telling stories in her unique style since the 1970s. There will be new and old work put together especially for the natural theme of this year’s Festival. There is no-one quite like Laurie Anderson.

Lungs | Roundabout at Regency Square | 2-22 May | Times Vary | £13 – £15

Lungs deals with the very current themes of environment and overpopulation, as a couple deliberate whether to have a child. This is another writing- led performance at the pop-up venue, Roundabout.

Photo Credit: Thomas Doyle

Lucia’s Chapters of Coming Forth by Day | Theatre Royal Brighton | 7-9 May | 7:30pm | £15 – £22.50

Mabou Mines are one of New York’s leading theatre companies and rarely in the UK. This show stars Obie award-winner and Tony award nominee Marcia Tucci, who plays James Joyce’s daughter Lucia in a highly visual performance designed by Jim Clayburgh of the Wooster Group with projections by Obie award-winner Julie Archer.

The Red Chair | Brighton Dome Studio Theatre | 22 & 23 May | 7:30pm | £15

A weird and wonderful tale of a man who could not stop eating, The Red Chair is a slightly disturbing look at family dynamic by the Clod Ensemble who brought the fantastic Zero in 2013.

The Spalding Suite | Brighton Dome Corn Exchange | 5 & 6 May | 8pm | £15

Words meet movement, and dance meets basketball in this highly contemporary physical theatre piece. The Spalding Suite is created by an excellent team consisting of Inua Ellams (Black T-shirt Collective), Benji Reid and Fuel (Electric Hotel).

Squarepusher | Brighton Dome Concert Hall | 8 May | 8pm | £15 – £20

Renowned electronic musician Squarepusher is performing a new live show, with accompanying visuals. It will be loud. It will be intense. Support is from Sherwood and Pinch.

Vincent Dance Theatre | Brighton Dome Corn Exchange and Corn Exchange Foyer | 12 & 13 May | 8pm | £5 – £20

Long-standing and much respected dance theatre company Vincent Dance Theatre are presenting two pieces: Underworld, and Look At Me Now, Mummy. You can see one or both of them individually on Tuesday 12th, or both in a combined experience, where you can move between the two pieces looped simultaneously, on Wednesday 13th. Underworld is a dark, beautiful, mesmerizing and atmospheric group piece inspired Orpheus and Eurydice’s underworld. Look At Me Now, Mummy is a blackly comic one-woman piece dealing with motherhood and theatricality.

Without Walls Weekend | 3 May: Woodingdean Central Park // 4 May: Saltdean Oval | Free

Two of the six pieces (performed on each day) that stand out are:

Bees! The Colony: Another hint of learning amongst the fun in this combo walkabout performance and installation by Artizani. One for all the family, this is part of the Without Walls weekend mini-festival of outdoor performance

8 Songs: Gandini Juggling are a big name in contemporary circus performance, and this year, we can see them for free in this music inspired piece with a rock ’n’ roll soundtrack. Also part of Without Walls weekend.

Competition T&Cs: The competition closes on Thursday 30th April at 5pm. One winner will be selected at random on Friday 1st May 2015 from all valid entries. The winner will receive a pair of tickets to see all four Apple Family Plays on Monday 4th May. Tickets are non-transferable, and this prize has no equivalent cash value.