Premièring at Brighton
But not everything can be a highlight and there follows a whistle–stop pick of theatre events at this year's Brighton Festival, starting with some premières…
- Featuring original music by Our Man in the Field, bolt is a mixed media, non-linear theatre piece set primarily in an addiction clinic. This hyper-realist exploration of toxic love and the need to escape difficult truths is the first play from new company Fugitive Theatre
- With a new take on the Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, comedy The Wedding Reception feeds whilst it entertains, telling a story that is funny, sad, uplifting and poignant.
- With 2095: A Mind Odyssey, writer and director David Weedall marks 20 consecutive years at the Brighton Fringe. A futuristic satire, the play considers the possibility of being forced to be continually ‘on-line’.
- Womanhood comes under the spotlight in Moon Tales. Inspired by old English names for the full moon, the show interweaves 13 stories from 16th century Yorkshire to the affluent 'burbs of Johannesburg, each one making a statement about what it is to be a woman.
- Also about identity from company Something Underground is one-man show Pulling Up The Drawbridge. Within this darkly comic satire the antics of a "true Englishman" raise questions about what it means to be English.
- Peaceful Lion Productions is also bringing two shows to the Festival. First up is the UK première of classical comedy cabaret Ludwig Live! which has Beethoven in his own cabaret show singing and passing comment on anyone from Mozart to One Direction. Whilst the other show is for children, Rosie's Magic Horse is adapted from the Quentin Blake–illustrated book of the same name by Russell Hoban which tells the story of Rosie's search for treasure.
- United We Stand from Townsend Productions is based on the true story of Des Warren, Ricky Tomlinson (now an actor) and The Shrewsbury Pickets of 1972 which saw three building workers jailed for protesting against dangerous working conditions and poor wages. The show features popular and political songs and the poems of Ricky Tomlinson from his time in prison. (Hear writer and performer Neil Gore speak about this play in the BTG podcast.)