Brighton
Bullet Catch, Spiegeltent, BrightonFriday, 17 May 2013![]() Magicians’ online forums are seething at Bullet Catch’s host and writer-director, the Scottish actor and magician Rob Drummond. This is because at one point in the show he levitates a small table then takes an audience poll as to who would like to... Read more... |
Knee Deep, Theatre Royal, BrightonThursday, 16 May 2013![]() Knee Deep, the show by four-person Brisbane acrobatic troupe Casus, is only an hour long but packs more eye-popping antics into its first 10 minutes than many circuses muster in three hours. Their fluid, almost faultless displays of gymnastic skill... Read more... |
Daniel Kitson, Theatre Royal, BrightonTuesday, 14 May 2013![]() Aware I was going to see a stand-up comedian at the Brighton Festival but not knowing much about Daniel Kitson, the opening of his new show, After The Beginning, Before The End, bemused. On he wandered, shaven bald of head, geeky, bearded, wearing... Read more... |
Desperately Seeking the Exit: The Story of a West End DisasterTuesday, 30 April 2013![]() If this native New Yorker were in a relationship with the city of London, our Facebook status would read: “It’s complicated.” We’ve been through hell together. London is one of my favourite cities. I blissfully cross the pond several times a year to... Read more... |
CD: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky AwayWednesday, 13 February 2013![]() With BBC Four currently mourning the passing of the LP, it’s encouraging that some artists still like to confine themselves to the format’s time limitations and its implicit requirement that the songs etched into its silky surface should be... Read more... |
Fairport Convention, St George's Church, BrightonTuesday, 12 February 2013![]() Fairport Convention bassist and longest-serving member Dave Pegg is a genial raconteur. He is relating how he presented the band with the song “The Eynsham Poacher”, pretending it was his when really he had purloined it by taping it off someone,... Read more... |
Hammer & Tongue + Slipjam:B - 10th Annual Poets vs MCs, Concorde 2, BrightonFriday, 25 January 2013![]() For a decade these two outfits, the Hammer & Tongue poetry collective and the Slipjam:B crew of hip hop MCs, have been taking each other on. They both run their own successful nights but this evening is their yearly face-off. As it reaches its... Read more... |
CD: Esben and the Witch - Wash the Sins Not Only the FaceThursday, 17 January 2013![]() There is a distinct art to following up an album that established an artist. Of the many possible paths, perhaps the most astute is delivering a twist on what came before, similar enough to satisfy those that liked it but different enough to seem... Read more... |
Rizzle Kicks, Brighton Centre, BrightonFriday, 07 December 2012![]() Usually when a band playing a venue the size of the Brighton Centre asks if the crowd would like to hear a new song the response is somewhat muted. However, this is a crowd of eager fans, average age around 17, and they yell back affirmatively with... Read more... |
The Fear, Channel 4Wednesday, 05 December 2012![]() It's routine to refer to violent thugs and vicious gangsters as "psychos", but the protagonist of Richard Cottan's four-part thriller faces genuine mental disintegration. Richie Beckett (Peter Mullan) is an abrasive Scottish crime boss who has built... Read more... |
Blue/Orange, Theatre Royal BrightonWednesday, 19 September 2012![]() There’s a vivid moment in this Joe Penhall revival when Christopher, a psychiatric patient suspected of suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, finds himself caught in the linguistic crossfire between his two rival care-givers. Oblivious to... Read more... |
Dandy Dick, Theatre Royal BrightonWednesday, 04 July 2012![]() "I can’t live without horse flesh, if it’s only a piece of cat’s meat on a skewer.” So declares Patricia Hodge’s gung-ho racing fanatic Georgina in this straight-down-the-line revival of Pinero’s 125-year-old caper, which requires cast and audience... Read more... |
