brighton festival · ideas about how to try and open things up a little bit and i am ... sound...

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BRIGHTON FESTIVAL

GUEST DIRECTOR KATE TEMPEST

6 – 28 MAY 2017

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Thank You

Thank you to our supporters for making Brighton Festival possible

Funders

Supported using public funding by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

Brighton & Hove City Council

Major Sponsors

YOUR LONDON AIRPORT Gatwick

us UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

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Sponsors

brighton and sussex medical school

Nutshell Construction Limited

GM Building ZSTa. architecture and interiors

University of Brighton Griffith Smith Farrington Webb LLP solicitors

SELITS Yeomans Built on trust

Corporate Supporters

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terre à terre THE VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT

Midnight on paper on air online

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Media Partners

The Argus theartsdesk.com

the guardian Radio Reverb.com 97.2FM

THE STAGE SUSSEX LIFE www.sussexlife.co.uk Your county magazine

The QUIETUS WWW.THEQUIETUS.COM

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Patrons

The Aisbitt Family | Sue Addis | Paul & Dee Bonett Ali Braithwaite | Caroline & Howard Carter

Sir Michael & Lady Sue Checkland | Andrew Comben June Crown | Rachel Dupere

Michael Farthing & Alison McLean | Gay Fearn Prof. David Gann CBE & Ms Anne Asha | Arjo & Sejal Ghosh David Harrison | John Hird & Yoshio Akiyama | Danny Homan Lady Helena Hughes | Dr Glynn Jones DL OBE | Karl Jones

Sang Jun Lee | Gary Miller Ms Diane Moody & Prof. Frans Berkhout | Philip Morgan

D V Newbold CBE I Judge Marian Norrie-Walker Michael Pitts | Andrew & Margaret Polmear

Ronald Power MBE | Donald Reid | Clare Rogers Dr Donia Scott & Prof. Howard Rush

Richard & Soraya Shaw | Robin & Anja St Clair Jones Polly Toynbee | Lady Betty Watson | Martin Williams

Those who wish to remain anonymous

Support Us

For Sponsorship – please contact Nicola White 01273 260810 | [email protected] For Patrons Circle – please contact Sarah Shepherd 01273 260818 | [email protected]

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Guest Director: Kate Tempest

I don’t know why the same piece of work can hit one person so deeply and leave someone else so cold, but I do know the thrill of finding a piece on your own terms, engaging with it for your own reasons and feeling it solidify or evaporate the boundaries of your understanding.

I feel very humbled to have been given the opportunity to guest direct this year’s festival. I believe engaging with the arts is necessary for our mental health. That without creativity we lose ourselves completely.

I believe the arts are the most important cultivators of empathy that we have at our disposal. But that in my experience, arts festivals can be closed, comfortable spaces. The same voices speaking to the same ears. So, I had a lot of ideas about how to try and open things up a little bit and I am extremely happy that we have established two new performance hubs in community centres in Whitehawk and Hangleton. All the events and workshops that will be happening there will be free, which is great!

This year’s theme ‘Everyday Epic’ seems to encapsulate some of my feelings about how music, literature and poetry can give us back our lives. Every day is Epic. The routine of survival is epic but it is this very routine that numbs us.

The feeding of children, the struggling for qualifications, the recovery from illness, addiction or accident. The keeping of jobs, the searching for shelter. The meeting of lovers. The losses and joys of it all. We are so busy being human, we can lose touch with how bright and clear life is.

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Until something connects us on a deeper and more soulful level with the truth of lived experience and we get to see ourselves. To look again at the parts of ourselves we may hide from or that hide from us, and most importantly, through connecting like this with our own internal existence, we connect with other people.

This is why I believe that art is social. It should be a part of life. No big deal – just life itself. It requires no qualifications, no training to enjoy it. It’s truthful communication between humans about humanity and in these times, it feels more important than ever to try and understand what that humanity is and what it could be.

So please go and see as much as you can. Approach it like an epic. Like you are a pilgrim on a quest and something may well happen in the theatre, the community centre, the concert hall that will smash you back to feeling and land you in your skin again.

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EVERYDAY EPIC

‘The arts should be social, not elitist. They should be part of our everyday life. They should be in our communities, not only on elevated platforms or behind red velvet ropes. Music, literature, theatre, film – these things are so important, they bring us together into the same space, they give us ourselves, they bring us to life.’

Kate Tempest.

p15

Weekend Without Walls

Dance, theatre, circus and song, taking place in East Brighton Park and Easthill Brighton Park.

Bring the whole family and a picnic!

p13

Your Place: Enjoy, Talk, Create

We’re putting together creative hubs in Hangleton and Whitehawk in collaboration with the local community.

Enjoy an exciting line-up, plus take part in free workshops - a place for everyone!

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p149

Peacock Poetry

Calling all young poets (8–19) to explore this year’s Everyday Epic theme and enter our Peacock Poetry Prize.

p170

Pay-It-Forward

Pay an extra £5 when you buy your Festival tickets and we will match it to help more people experience Brighton Festival this year. £10 Pay-It-Forward Ticket vouchers will then be distributed through Your Place, schools and our partner organisations. We want the arts to be for everyone!

Guest Director’s Guests

A unique chance for young artists, age 16–20, to have an informal meeting with Kate Tempest. See brightonfestival.org for more details.

p27

The Hum:

Just download a free app and set off to experience urban life in a completely new way. Half cinema, half reality, fully unique.

Brighton Festival Live:

A selection of your favourite shows live streamed to watch wherever you are! Filmed and edited by City College. See brightonfestival.org/live for details.

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Book-lovers

To read is to imagine… City Reads (p71) and Young City Reads (p146) offer book-lovers across the city the opportunity to come together to celebrate, and share their thoughts on this year’s chosen books during the Festival, whilst three primary schools get to Adopt an Author (p148).

p104

The Bright Room

Photographer Eddie Otchere is building a community dark room in Brighton. Photography is a way to share, discuss and discover. An open access space that is free for Students and under 18s.

Book Swap Boxes

Find books across the city for free during the City Reads reading period. Look out for Book Swap Boxes – lovingly built by Nutshell Construction – between 2 Mar– 28 May. See brightonfestival.org, cityreads.co.uk and social media for locations.

p65

SPECTRA: CAST

Come and cast a coloured pebble onto Brighton Beach and transform a local, iconic space into the biggest canvas in town.

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Visual Art

Explore art, film and virtual reality with İpek Duben (p21), Cathie Pilkington (p24) and Lynette Wallworth (p28).

p14

Storytelling Army

Everyone has a story to tell. Hear stories from all walks of life as nabokov create extraordinary moments amongst the ordinary in pubs, supermarkets, the bus…

Get Involved

Take part in workshops alongside Cathie Pilkington’s art exhibitions (p25) The Hiccup Project (p108) and Vincent Dance Theatre’s Virgin Territory (p48).

Sound City: Pitch Perfect

Follow a trail around the Royal Pavilion Estate and hear the best of Brighton & Hove’s young musical talent. It all takes place on the first day of the Festival: Sat 6 May, 12–4pm

FREE

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Festival Weekends

Your Place: Enjoy, Talk, Create

‘The arts should be social, not elitist. They should be part of our everyday life. They should be in our communities, not only on elevated platforms or behind red velvet ropes.’ Kate Tempest

As part of our new partnership with Brighton People’s Theatre, Brighton Festival is working with local residents and festival artists to programme an exciting and diverse line-up of music, dance, theatre and spoken word in the Hangleton and Whitehawk communities.

Along with our community steering groups, and the help of Kate Tempest and local company Nutshell to create the space, we are putting together an amazing array of workshops, performances and participatory activities. Learn to dance, see a show and meet artists from around the world. Created with and for the community, Your Place is for everyone.

Find out more: brightonfestival.org/yourplace

Sat 13 & Sun 14 May Hangleton

Sat 20 & Sun 21 May Whitehawk

FREE

Brighton Festival Your Place supported by

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nabokov Storytelling Army

World Premiere Commissioned by Brighton Festival

Each one of us has a story to tell. Extraordinary moments amongst the ordinary. The little victories against the odds. An everyday epic.

We’ll be working with nabokov and Guest Director Kate Tempest to assemble and mobilise a Storytelling Army: a dynamic collective of people from all walks of life and all corners of the city, including those who are homeless and vulnerably housed.

Look out for pop-up performances across Brighton, be it in the local supermarket, the pub or on the top deck of a bus.

Fri 26 – Sun 28 May Throughout Brighton FREE

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Weekend Without Walls Two days of free arts in the parks

The great outdoors beckons. Pack your family, your picnic and head to the park to enjoy an afternoon of inventive performance, all new shows and completely free. From mini theatre shows – to tango – to bingo – and flying through the air; the local park just got a whole lot more exciting – why not make an afternoon of it?

Beryl and Cyril hope to make Bingo an official Paralympic sport, so get your eyes down for Bingo Lingo, a cheeky reinvention of this great British tradition.

Join Willy and Wally as they try to keep up their sense of humour despite drowning in plastic rubbish, in an environmental message from street artists Cocoloco.

Company Chameleon’s Witness This is a powerful and personal piece of dance theatre, telling the story of choreographer Kevin Edward Turner following his journey with bipolar.

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In Corazón a Corazón, Deaf Men Dancing display their unique and compelling dance style, formed by fusing contemporary dance with British Sign-Language.

Interact with a performer on a one-to-one basis in Theatre for One by Lempen Puppet Theatre. Look inside a lion’s mouth or a space helmet, or even a man’s pregnant belly!

Orbis is a duet from Humanhood which explores the relationship between humankind and the moon, with a 360° surround sound score.

To me, To you is the new playful aerial dance show by the critically acclaimed company, Wired Aerial Theatre performed on the ground and in the air about finding balance.

Happy Feet is a dazzling dance-off, with the Ragroof Players, starting with a cheeky Charleston and moving and grooving right up to the present moment.

Sat 13 May, 12 – 5pm Easthill Park, Portslade Village

Sun 14 May, 12 – 5pm East Brighton Park, Whitehawk FREE

BSL interpreted, Sun 14 May

Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by

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Presented in partnership with Without Walls.

Bingo Lingo is developed with support from the Mayor of London’s Liberty Festival. Happy Feet is funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Celebrate Fund. Willy and Wally by Cocoloco, commissioned by Without Walls and Out There International Festival of Circus and Street Arts. Company Chameleon’s Witness This, commissioned by Without Walls, Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival and Brighton Festival, Corazón a Corazón, Deaf Men Dancing, commissioned by Without Walls, Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival, Brighton Festival and Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. Theatre for One by Horse and Bamboo Theatre in association with Lempen Puppet Theatre, commissioned by Without Walls and Just So Festival. Orbis is a duet from Humanhood commissioned by Without Walls, Brighton Festival and Norfolk & Norwich Festival, co-commissioned by Dèda Derby, supported by mac Birmingham and ACE Dance & Music. To me, To you… Wired Aerial Theatre, commissioned by Without Walls and Brighton Festival.

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Throughout the Festival

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‘I cannot think of another art experience that has bettered it’ Jay Griffiths, Author

‘Mind-blowingly brilliant. An unforgettably beautiful and resonant experience’ George Monbiot, Journalist

‘Beautiful, unexpected and alive!’ RSPB

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For the Birds

Mark Anderson, Jony Easterby, Kathy Hinde, Ulf Pedersen, Pippa Taylor

Brighton Festival Exclusive

An immersive night-time adventure into a wild avian landscape...

As dusk falls, gather your family and friends to embark on an enchanting journey into the Sussex woodland.

Against a canvas of darkness and the sound of wind in the trees, you will follow a 2km trail of ingenious and beautiful installations of light, sound and moving sculpture to surprise and enthral you.

Whether it’s the iconic robin, the chip-thieving gull, or blackbirds baked in a pie, we have an enduring connection with these special creatures. For the Birds will get you thinking about the mystery and beauty of the avian world – and why it should be protected.

Artist and producer Jony Easterby has brought together some of the most dynamic sound and lighting artists in the UK to create this unforgettable outdoor experience. Originally staged at RSPB Ynys-hir reserve in Wales, For the Birds went on to become the audience highlight of the 2016 New Zealand Festival, where it attracted more than 10,000 people over three weeks.

Take some time out to celebrate these wondrous creatures in an epic illuminated Brighton Festival outdoor event – a contemplative feast of light, sound and imagination.

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This is an outdoor promenade installation. Please wear appropriate footwear and dress for the weather. Access to the site is only via Big Lemon Bus Service provided by Brighton Festival; please visit the website or call our Ticket Office to find out more about booking your bus service and timed entry slot.

Special Bus Stops: Regular Shuttle service from Asda car park, Hollingbury and selected times from Central Brighton, location tbc

Narrow woodland trails – uneven and muddy ground, and some slopes; avoid bringing pushchairs. There is an adjusted route for wheelchair users, call 01273 261541/525 or email [email protected] to discuss an access requirements.

Suitable for all ages.

Sat 6 – Sun 28 May (except Mon & Tue) Woodland Location

Timed entry slots (including free bus service) every 20 minutes from 8.30pm til late Advanced booking only

Wed – Sun: £12.50 Wed 10 & Thu 11 May: £10 Under 12’s £7.50 Festival Standby £10 (available on the day in person from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, Church Street from 10am – see p170) Supported by Big Lemon Bus Company

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İpek Duben They/Onlar

Co-produced by Brighton Festival

If you didn’t fit as a “good citizen,” you were put down and insulted. So you had to hide who you were.

How does Turkey view the Other? And how by extension, do we? In her multi-screen video installation, İpek Duben goes behind the scenes in Turkish society to provide a glimpse of her country’s ethnic, religious and gender diversity, and the everyday discrimination and resistance that it triggers.

Projected onto large screens, personal stories reveal the lines of division within Turkish society from the subjects’ personal perspectives as religious, ethnic or sexual minorities.

İpek Duben is an artist, author and editor whose work examines issues of alienation, identity, prejudice and migration.

Sat 6 – Sun 28 May, 12pm – 7pm Fabrica FREE

A Fabrica & Brighton Festival co-production.

Brighton Festival International Programme supported by

‘Duben’s powerful video-installation questions our ideas, prejudices and fears of They, whoever that may be’ Daily Sabah, Istanbul

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Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey Five Short Blasts: Shoreham

UK Premiere

Text: Tony Birch, Tim Crouch and Julia Crouch Collaborators: Bindi Green, Joseph O’Farrell, Bec Reid and Valerie Furnham

The international maritime warning sound signal of five shorts blasts indicates ‘I am not sure of your intentions and I am concerned we are going to collide!’

Be lost in this shared act of navigating the unknown as you contemplate the uncertainty and contingencies of the River Adur into the sea. Audiences cast off aboard our small sea-going vessel, a perfect crucible for listening to where you are. There, amidst the changing of the tide, you experience the voyage into mystery that the water always holds.

Via local radio broadcast, you’ll tune into the incidental orchestration of the weather, the sounds of daily harbour activity, and the stories of the people who live and work on the water.

Following its premiere in the Port of Melbourne and the lower Yarra River, Five Short Blasts: Shoreham has been created in collaboration with Shoreham’s water communities and by the same team that brought the weather-themed installation Gauge to Brighton Festival 2015.

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Age 5+

With thanks to Ropetackle Arts Centre. Assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body and by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

Sat 6 – Sun 28 May, around high tide (Every day except 8, 9, 15 – 17, 24 & 25 May) Time slots dependent on the tides – early morning, daytime & evening see brightonfestival.org

Shoreham Harbour (meet at Sussex Yacht Club) £20, Festival Standby £10 * Advanced booking only * Available the day before the show at Brighton Dome Ticket Office, Church St (10am – 7pm) - see p170

The performance takes place on an open-top boat. Please dress for the weather. Wheelchair users may have difficulties accessing the boat. If you have specific access requirements contact [email protected] or call 01273 261541/525


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Cathie Pilkington The Life Rooms

Provocative and ambiguous, Cathie Pilkington’s sculptures make use of dolls in unexpected and challenging ways.

Exhibited for the first time since its debut at the Royal Academy, Anatomy of a Doll responds to Degas’ famous figures of ballerinas, playing with ideas of form and representation: is it sophisticated high art or the mechanics of a handcrafted work in progress?

Showing alongside is Harmonium, which transforms a humble wooden shelving unit into the framework for fascinating individual tableaux. Figurines, textiles, lightboxes and domestic items each tell their own story, questioning expectations of ornament, storage and display.

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A Royal Academician since 2014, Pilkington is acclaimed for her often unsettling sculptures that question how the female figure is represented.

Sat 6 – Sat 27 May Mon – Sat, 11am – 6pm Thu, 11am – 8pm Sun, 11am – 5pm University of Brighton, Grand Parade FREE

Workshops

Exquisite Corpse Drop-in Workshop with Cathie Pilkington Sat 20 May, 10.30am – 4.30pm FREE All ages welcome

Lunchtime Life Club Tue: 9, 16, 23 May Thu: 11, 18, 25 May, 12.30 – 2pm FREE

Informal drawing class run by a friendly drawing tutor suitable for all levels, materials supplied.

Night Life Fri 12, 19, 26 May 7 – 9pm £22.50 including tutor, materials and a glass of wine/beer

Some of the wildest people come out at night! Enjoy a mix of performance and drawing tuition.

Visit ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk for booking and further details

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Cathie Pilkington Doll For Petra

Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival

Cathie Pilkington has created a new body of work in response to the museum’s major Eric Gill exhibition running concurrently. Doll for Petra is a powerful sculptural response to a carved wooden doll made by Eric Gill for his daughter Petra from the museum’s collection.

Cathie’s feelings towards it are shown through her unsettling expressions of the female form, which give voice to her ambivalence towards the doll in the context of Gill’s abuse of Petra. Within a cabinet full of Pilkington’s sculpted dolls and figures, Doll for Petra invites viewers to stand back and explore their own reactions to this simple carved doll which is potent with stories, meaning and history.

Throughout the Festival, Tue – Sun 10.30am – 5pm Sun 11am – 5pm Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft

Museum entry: £6.50, concessions £5.50 Under 16s FREE Includes entry to Eric Gill: The Body and permanent collection

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The Hum


Conceived and directed by Nic Sandiland

Music by James Keane

Half cinema, half reality, The Hum weaves together visuals of your locations and a specially composed soundtrack on your smartphone, overlaid with observations from four artists who work with dance and movement. This ground-breaking event provides a new way of seeing and relating to the urban environment revisitng the mundane activities of everyday life.

To experience The Hum, simply download the free app, plug in a pair of headphones and follow the trail on your screen.

Download the app at brightonfestival.org/ thehum

Supported by Arts Council England & South East Dance.

‘Yael Flexer and Nic Sandiland’s work challenges the traditional boundaries between performers, audience and choreographers.’ Music OMH

Sat 6 – Sun 28 May Downloadable App FREE

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Collisions Lynette Wallworth

A virtual reality film experience

In the 1950s, with no context, no understanding, Nyarri Morgan from the remote Pilbara region of the Western desert was moving through a trade route with his family when he witnessed an atomic test. In this thought-provoking, intimate, virtual reality film experience, Nyarri, now a Martu Elder, reflects on his first contact with the West, and shares his perspective on the Martu way of caring for the planet.

Collisions, by acclaimed Australian artist and director Lynette Wallworth, whose installations Evolution of Fearlessness and Damavand Mountain were major events at Brighton Festival 2011, masterfully tells a story we urgently need to hear, and highlights our inability to imagine the unintended consequences of our actions.

Age 12+ Duration 20 minutes

Presented by Brighton Festival and Lighthouse. Assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

‘A milestone production’ Guardian

Wed – Sun, 6 – 28 May Wed – Fri, book slots between 5.30 – 8.30pm Sat & Sun, book slots between 2.30 – 6.15pm Lighthouse £5


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Sat 6 May

Same Sky Children’s Parade

This annual procession of joyful music, colourful costumes and jubilant youngsters returns to the streets of Brighton. In an

event reputed to be the biggest of its kind in Europe, the 5000 participants from more than 80 schools will be interpreting this year’s theme of Poetry in Motion in their own inventive ways. Join the crowds of proud parents and enchanted spectators to kick off Brighton Festival 2017 with this famous and much-loved tradition.

This year the Parade will be led by the Hot 8 Brass Band who will be bringing some New Orleans style to Brighton’s streets – come and enjoy the first day of fun and don’t forget your camera!

Sat 6 May, from 10.30am Kensington Street to Madeira Drive FREE

Supported by Yeomans Toyota Brighton

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Chineke! Orchestra

Jonathon Heyward conductor Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello

Josephe Boulougne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges) Overture, L’Amant anonyme Haydn Cello Concerto No 1 in C major Elgar Serenade for Strings in E minor Op 20 Mozart Symphony No 29 in A major K201 Few ensembles are as exciting as the Chineke! Orchestra — and not just for the brilliance of its playing. Established to provide opportunities for the best of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) talent, it is quite literally changing the face of classical music by drawing on the artistry of exceptional BME musicians from throughout Europe.

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Dynamic young conductor Jonathon Heywood kicks off with a joyous overture by the first notable composer of African ancestry, the Guadalupean Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–99). The sensational Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who caused a huge stir as BBC Young Musician 2016, performs Haydn’s elegant First Cello Concerto, before the programme climaxes with the breezy geniality of beloved pieces by Elgar and Mozart.

‘Freshness, energy and flashes of brilliance’ Independent

Sat 6 May, 5pm All Saints Church £20, Under 26s £10 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

Emma Cline

Last year Emma Cline exploded onto the literary scene with her first novel, The Girls. Inspired by the Manson Murders, The Girls explores the world of cults and communes in 1960s California — a world that seduces the 14 year-old heroine Evie and changes her life forever. Hailed as a master of fresh, startling, luminous prose, Emma Cline talks about her work and the novel that has placed her at the forefront of American literature.

‘I don’t know which is more amazing, Emma Cline’s understanding of human beings or her mastery of language.’ Mark Haddon

Sat 6 May, 7.30pm Brighton & Hove High School £10

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Kate Tempest Opening Gig

As Guest Director of Brighton Festival 2017, it is only fitting that Kate Tempest should take to the stage on the very first evening. Giving the audience a taster of what we can expect over the following three weeks, join us for an early evening special full of music and spoken word to open your minds and grant you an insight into Brighton Festival, Tempest-style.

Sat 6 May, 6.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Seated £10, £15; Standing £15 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

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Hot 8 Brass Band & Melt Yourself Down

‘Swaggering jazz, raucous funk, second line strut and hip-hop attitude… irresistible’ MOJO

Get ready for a roof-raising performance from the Grammy-nominated Hot 8 Brass Band. Mixing an old school street brass approach with jazz,

funk and hip hop currents, Hot 8 bring the infectious energy of New Orleans second line parades.

Magnificent originals are set alongside some of the most joyous, danceable covers you’ll ever hear: The Specials, Stevie Wonder and their irresistible take on Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing (hint: check out the video filmed in Brighton). Celebrating 10 years on Brighton’s Tru Thoughts label, don’t miss this truly life-affirming night of music.

Joining them are post-punk, jazz-funk pedlars Melt Yourself Down, a fresh combination of North African influences and shamanic vocals formed by saxophonist Pete Wareham with musicians who have played with Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear.

Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult

Sat 6 May, 9.15pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Seated £15, £17.50; Standing £17.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)


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Sun 7 – Mon 8 May

Anna Beecher & Rachel Lincoln NEST

An immersive performance for pre-walking babies and their carers. Unfolding in a custom-built performance tent, NEST takes audiences on a sensory journey through the seasons, using playful poetry, sound, live instruments, song, captivating movement, and tactile and sensory play. Gentle, surprising and magical.

Duration 40 minutes

Sun 7 & Mon 8 May 10am, 11.15am, 12.30pm, 2pm Founders Room 1 Adult + 1 baby £10

In association with artsdepot


Kelly Reichardt Season River of Grass

(1994, USA, Cert. 15)

With: Lisa Bowman, Larry Fessenden, Dick Russell

Following on from the release of her acclaimed latest feature Certain Women, we present writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s darkly funny debut. Shot on 16mm, River of Grass follows the misadventures of disaffected housewife Cozy (Lisa Bowman) and the layabout Lee (Larry Fessenden.)

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Taking us back to the setting of Reichardt’s adolescence, the suburban landscape of Southern Florida, she describes the film as ‘a road movie without the road, a love story without the love, and a crime story without the crime.’

Duration 76 minutes

Sun 7 May, 1pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students

BSMS Conversation HIV: Is Victory in Sight?

Brighton is set to become the first city in the UK to have United Nations ‘Fast Track City’ status, joining 65 cities worldwide with high levels of HIV working to end the epidemic of HIV/AIDS by 2030. Might we really achieve this in the UK? How can we reduce HIV globally? What are our successes and challenges? The Brighton and Sussex Medical School conversation is chaired by Baroness Gould of Potternewton and features a panel of experts working in HIV prevention and care, or living with HIV.

Sun 7 May, 3pm Sallis Benney Theatre £10

Supported by Brighton and Sussex Medical School in partnership with the Martin Fisher Foundation

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Sun 7 – Sun 14 May

George Monbiot & Ewan McLennan Breaking the Spell of Loneliness

It started with an article in the Guardian, in which George Monbiot argued that an epidemic of loneliness is defining our era. In collaboration with the folk singer and songwriter Ewan McLennan, he crystallised those thoughts and their ramifications into a collection of songs, released as the album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness.

Now Monbiot and McLennan join forces once again in a live performance that juxtaposes the songs with the human stories that inspired them. Mining the themes behind loneliness and social isolation, the politics that underpin them and the ways people overcome them, this one-off interplay of words and music is at once poignant and rousing.

Duration 90 minutes (no interval)

The Spire Programme supported by GM Building

Sun 7 May, 8pm The Spire £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

‘…a powerful, poignant set’ Guardian

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Apples and Snakes In Their Shoes

Patience Agbabi, Dizraeli, Tommy Sissons

Open your ears and hearts to the power of words with artists from England’s leading promoter of performance poetry and spoken word.

Patience Agbabi is a renowned poet on the international literary circuit. Author of four books and former Poet Laureate of Canterbury, she has recently taken part in Refugee Tales, a book that reflects on the dangerous journeys made by people fleeing war.

Dizraeli is a rapper, multi-instrumentalist and sometime singer. He has recently composed a soundtrack for E4, spent a week in the refugee camp at Calais and travelled to Senegal to study West African music. His latest ep, Eat My Camera, addresses migration, injustice, consumer London and Palestine.

Brighton-born Tommy Sissons is a national poetry slam champion whose work deals with topics such as the impact of politics on youth culture and working class values. He’s worked with the BBC and is a regular feature poet on Channel 4’s ‘Four to the Floor’.

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There will also be readings of the five specially commissioned In Their Shoes poems written by selected poets and performed live for the first time.

Duration 2 hours

Sun 7 May, 7pm All Saints Church £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

In Their Shoes - Poem Trail

Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes...

Follow an interactive spoken word trail that explores concepts of empathy and otherness through personal stories. Apples and Snakes has commissioned five poets to each write about an important journey in their lives.

Sun 7 – Sun 14 May See brightonfestival.org for locations FREE

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Sun 7 May

‘Mica Levi’s score sounds at times like a new electronic language being born or a subtle form of communication between aliens.’ Time Out

Mica Levi Under the Skin Film screening with live orchestra

Mica Levi conductor Sound Intermedia London Sinfonietta

Jonathan Glazer’s 2014 film Under the Skin impressed critics with its uncomfortable portrayal of an otherworldly predator, for which Mica Levi’s beautiful, elemental and skewed music provided the intoxicating soundtrack.

Previously known as a DJ and singer-songwriter in her band Micachu and the Shapes, with whom the London Sinfonietta have collaborated, Levi was catapulted to international fame and earned herself a BAFTA nomination for the film score, which she conducts live. With strains of Ligeti and Cage running through its hazy mix of digitally-processed and live sound, it veers between sensuality and disquiet to compelling effect.

Cert. 15 Duration 1 hour 50 minutes

‘Extraordinary’ Guardian

Sun 7 May, 8pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £18.50, £22, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

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‘I Fagiolini combine a rare balance of intellect and musical excellence...’ Sydney Morning Herald

I Fagiolini Monteverdi: The Other Vespers

Robert Hollingworth director English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

Monteverdi Dixit Dominus Confitebor tibi Domine Beatus Vir Laudate Pueri Laudate Dominum Ut queant laxis Salve, O Regina

Gabrieli Magnificat in 14 parts Palestrina/Bovicelli Divisions on ‘Ave verum corpus’ Castello Violin Sonata Viadana Deus in adiutorium

© Keith Saunders

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In the first of two concerts at Glyndebourne this year, one of the world’s most exciting vocal ensembles celebrates the 450th anniversary of the birth of Claudio Monteverdi by delving into the lesser-known delights of the composer’s sacred music.

Reconstructing a service of Vespers as it might have been celebrated in 1640, I Fagiolini is joined by the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble in vividly virtuosic, yet rarely heard works by the great master of early music and gems by some of his contemporaries. Voices, cornetts, sackbuts, Baroque violins, theorbos and organ blend thrillingly in music of rare spiritual and emotional power.

I Fagiolini is renowned for its innovatory productions and The Other Vespers pushes deeper into the territory that the ensemble explored in its ground-breaking production and film, The Full Monteverdi. Experiencing I Fagiolini within the special surroundings of Glyndebourne Opera House will be a unique experience for festival audiences. An exquisite and highly original way of marking Monteverdi’s birthday.

Sun 7 May, 3pm (Grounds open at 1pm for picnicking) Glyndebourne £20, £25, £30, £10 standing Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

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Eimear McBride introduces Megan Bradbury

‘This beautiful, kaleidoscopic imagining of the artists’ creation of New York means everyone should be watching Megan Bradbury from now on.’ Eimear McBride

Two of the most exciting experimental novelists working in Britain come together for an evening of conversation. Megan Bradbury’s debut novel Everyone is Watching is a dazzling panorama of New York related through the tales of the creators, artists and thinkers that have captured its essence. Eimear McBride is the author of The Lesser Bohemians and A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, which won the 2014 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. They discuss their work, and why they have chosen to push the limits of the novel.

Sun 7 May, 7.30pm Brighton and Hove High School £10

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Sun 7 – Tue 9 May

Joan Clevillé Dance Plan B for Utopia

‘Beautifully constructed, laugh out loud, serious, profoundly silly, and a joy from start to finish’ Skinny

You have a plan, and then you don’t. You have a dream, and then you wake up. You fall in love, and your heart gets broken. The question is: do you pick up the pieces and try again?

Plan B for Utopia is a playful dance theatre work by Dundee-based company Joan Clevillé Dance. Charismatic performers Solène Weinachter (Scottish Dance Theatre, Gecko) and John Kendall (balletLORENT) explore the notion of utopia and the role that imagination and creativity can play as a driving force for change in our personal and collective lives.

Age 11+ Duration 1 hour

Sun 7 & Mon 8 May 7.30pm ACCA £15, Under 26s £10 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

Touch Tour: Sun 7 May, 5.30pm (see p159) Audio Described: Sun 7 May, 7.30pm

Brighton Festival Accessibility & International Programme supported by

Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

© N

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Andy Smith & Fuel Summit

Brighton Festival Co-commission

Previewing at this years’ Festival, and performed in British Sign Language and English by a cast of three, Summit is a new play written and directed by award-winning theatre maker Andy Smith (Adler & Gibb, what happens to the hope at the end of the evening).

Exploring language, rhetoric and communication, Summit tells the story of a meeting: a meeting to resolve a potentially catastrophic situation. Our situation.

See also: Andy Smith’s The Preston Bill (p54)

Age 12+

Supported by South Street, Reading, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre and The Peggy Ramsay Foundation

Mon 8 May & Tue 9 May, 8pm The Spire £10

Integrated BSL

‘Smith’s optimism is infectious’ Total Theatre

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Mon 8 – Tue 9 May

The Unicorn Theatre Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore by Gary Owen, directed by Tim Crouch

‘A delicious piece of clowning theatre’ Guardian

Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore are at the seaside. ‘They have a towel, an inflatable ball, a picnic and three contrasting temperaments’ (Time Out) in this ‘stupidly lovely show… that offers a child’s eye view of the world and all its mysteries’ (The Guardian).

Revelling in delightful innocence and glorious stupidity, Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore is a surprising and surreal encounter with three people who have a lot to say but only three words with which to say it.

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Post-show discussion with Tim Crouch: Mon 8 May, 2.30pm

Mon 8 – Tue 9 May 2.30pm, 4.30pm & 6.30pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10, Family Ticket (4 people) £35

Relaxed Performance: Tue 9 May, 2.30pm

‘Smart, surreal and delightfully sensual comedy’ Time Out


Tessa Ross in conversation

‘The godmother of British film’ Evening Standard

Producer and former head of Film4, Tessa Ross has worked over the last 20 years on a host of award-winning British films, including Billy Elliot, The Last King of Scotland, This is England, Slumdog Millionaire, Four Lions, 12 Years a Slave and Under the Skin.

Winner of the BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema and named as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by Woman’s Hour in 2013, Ross will be joined by the writer Amy Raphael, to discuss her life and work in film.

Duration 90 minutes

Mon 8 May 6.30pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students, £6.50 child

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Tue 9 – Fri 21 May

Polly Toynbee & David Walker

Dismembered: How the Attack on the State Harms Us All

From the bestselling authors of Cameron’s Coup comes a devastating critique of our current government.

Polly Toynbee and David Walker take us on a vivid journey into the public services on which we all depend, talking to people, assessing their work and weighing up the cost, effectiveness and value. As the UK faces its uncertain future, this book spells out how much we need a functioning public sector. And how it must be paid for.

Tue 9 May, 6.30pm Brighton and Hove High School £10

Raising Lazarus

Written & performed by Kat Francois Directed by Dawn Reid

Poetry slam champion Kat Francois is a regular performer on BBC Radio and London’s poetry scene. She brings her critically acclaimed one-woman play following sell out performances at The Roundhouse.

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Raising Lazarus tells the true story of Francois’ relative Private Lazarus Francois from Grenada, who joined the British West Indies Regiment in 1915 to fight for Britain in the First World War.

Charting this young soldier’s journey from the Caribbean first to the Sussex coast, then on to Egypt and East Africa, Francois shines a light on the thousands of West Indian soldiers who volunteered for King and Empire.

Age 12+ Duration 1 hour Plus post-show discussion Tue 9 May

Tue 9 & Wed 10 May, 8pm ACCA £15, Under 26s £10, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

Vincent Dance Theatre Virgin Territory


Directed & designed by Charlotte Vincent Cinematographer Bosie Vincent Composer Jules Maxwell

We all want to be ‘liked’ and ‘followed’, but what impact does performing for the camera have on our lives?

Virgin Territory is a bold dance theatre experience that asks vital questions of us as ‘audience’ as we witness children playing in an adult online world.

Charlotte Vincent’s powerful new work leads you through a series of lyrical, disarming exchanges, performed on multiple screens by four children (aged 12-14) and four adults.

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With moving, resilient performances at its core, Virgin Territory elicits an emotional and discursive response in its searching enquiry into our hyper-sexualised digital world.

‘Brave and unnerving exploration’ Guardian

Adult supervision for under 14s is advised

Commissioned by The Place and Brighton Festival. Supported by Arts Council England and Esmée Fairbairn.

Wed 10 – Fri 21 May ONCA Gallery FREE Wed – Sun, 12pm – 6pm Duration 45 mins, looping every hour

Schools / Community Workshops: 10 – 12pm daily Parents & Teens session: Wed 17 May, 4 – 6pm

Contact: [email protected]

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Tue 9 – Wed 10 May

Teaċ Daṁsa Swan Lake / Loch na hEala

From the imagination of one of Ireland’s foremost dance and theatre-makers comes a magical new adaptation of the most famous of all story ballets, Swan Lake. Michael Keegan-Dolan has forged a searing new vision for this beloved tale, creating a world of magical realism, powerful imagery and potent storytelling.

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A critical smash in Dublin and at Sadler’s Wells, this Swan Lake is rooted in a place where ancient Irish mythology and modern Ireland meet. The Dublin-based band Slow Moving Clouds has created a new score that combines Nordic and Irish traditional music with minimalist and experimental influences. The result is a Swan Lake for our time and a stunning debut by Keegan-Dolan’s new company, Teaċ Daṁsa.

‘…raw, raucous, redemptive, majestic, vital and empowering.’ Irish Times

‘It’s a show of terrible beauty and extraordinary craft.’ Guardian

Duration 75 minutes (no interval)

Co-production by Michael Keegan-Dolan; Sadler’s Wells Theatre London; Colours International Dance Festival, Theaterhaus Stuttgart; Dublin Theatre Festival and Theatre de la Ville, Luxembourg. With support from The Civic Theatre, Tallaght, and South Dublin County Council Arts Office. International touring is supported by Culture Ireland.

Tue 9 May & Wed 10 May, 8pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £15, £20, £22.50, £25 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)


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Tue 9 – Sat 13 May

Tamara Saulwick Endings UK Premiere

Part chamber concert, part performance, Endings is a meditation on cycles and the ending of things. Using a richly textured soundscape of turntables, reel-to-reel tape players, recorded interviews and live performers, Endings explores our experiences of death, dying and afterlife.

Voices of the living emerge ghost-like from records; performers converse with the taped voices of past conversations; and song floats across the familiar crackle of vinyl.

Featuring the songs of acclaimed singer/songwriter Paddy Mann (Grand Salvo) and sound design by Peter Knight, Endings was first performed at The Sydney Festival in 2015 and won an award for Design and Realisation.


Assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Tue 9 – Sat 13 May, 7.30pm Sat 13 May Matinee, 2pm The Old Market £17.50, Festival Standby £10 (see p171) Under 26s & Members’ first night offer: £12.50

‘An elegant production that delivers on its promise to stay with you long after you leave’ Guardian


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Ali Smith

Ali Smith’s latest novel, Autumn, is set in the wake of the Brexit vote. Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer.

Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever.

From the imagination of the peerless Smith (Brighton Festival Guest Director 2015), this is a meditation on a world growing ever more bordered and exclusive, on what richness and worth are, on what harvest means. This first in a seasonal quartet casts an eye over our own time.

Tue 9 May, 8.15pm Brighton & Hove High School £10

Kelly Reichardt Season Old Joy (2006, USA, Cert. 15)

With: Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith.

Two old friends, Kurt and Mark, reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The trip signifies different things to them – for Mark a respite from imminent fatherhood, for Kurt a part of a long series of adventures. As the landscape changes, the friends begin to examine their lives and their friendship.

Duration 73 minutes

Wed 10 May 6.30pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students

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Wed 10 – Thu 11 May

Andy Smith & Fuel Preston Bill

Written & performed by Andy Smith

A story from The North. The story of a life. The story of our lives.

The Preston Bill is the tale of one man and his place in the world, set against the turbulent backdrop of 80 years of socio-economic change in the north of England.

Award-winning theatre maker Andy Smith last appeared at Brighton Festival in 2014 in his collaboration with Tim Crouch, what happens to the hope at the end of the evening. The second of two shows Andy is bringing to this year’s Festival, The Preston Bill is told in his trademark down-to-earth style.


Developed with and for The Continental, Preston as part of Fuel’s New Theatre in your Neighbourhood project. Commissioned by They Eat Culture. Supported by The Nightingale, Brighton


‘An accomplished storyteller… The Preston Bill has subtlety and charm’ Reviews Hub

Wed 10 May, 8pm The Spire £12.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

See also: Summit (p44)

© Stem Design

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Billy Bragg in conversation with Alexis Petridis

Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World

Against a backdrop of Cold War politics, rock and roll riots, and a newly assertive generation of working-class youth, songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg charts the history, impact and legacy of skiffle – Britain’s first indigenous pop movement – in his new book.

A story of jazz pilgrims and blues blowers, teddy boys and beatnik girls, coffee bar bohemians and McCarthyite refugees, Roots, Radicals & Rockers is a joyous, meticulously researched account of how skiffle sparked a revolution that shaped pop music as we know it.

Supported by the Guardian

Thu 11 May, 7.30pm The Spire £10

David Lynch: The Art Life (2016, USA-Denmark, Cert. TBC)

Dir. Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm

With Twin Peaks set to re-appear on our screens, this is a timely look at what helped shape one of cinema’s most acclaimed and enigmatic directors.

Narrated by Lynch himself from his painting studio in the Hollywood Hills, he takes us on an intimate journey from his idyllic upbringing in small-town America to studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and his subsequent move into film with his groundbreaking debut Eraserhead.

Duration 93 minutes

Thu 11 May, 8.50pm Duke’s at Komedia £11, £10 retired, students

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Thu 11 – Sun 14 May

Driftwood Casus Circus

‘This is circus that makes your lungs seize, that makes you want to jump to your feet: circus that makes you glad you are there in the moment watching it and not anywhere else.’ The List

Sensational Australian circus group Casus (Knee Deep, Brighton Festival 2013) elevates circus to a form of silent theatre in which momentum alternates with stillness, strength with fragility, emotion with humour. In this colourful and turbulent concoction of pure joy and intimacy, Casus brings a blank canvas to life and reveals our innate need for human contact. This is a show that reminds us that to feel is to be human; that in a moment of danger, a grasping hold is survival.

‘stripped back circus skills that are both breathtakingly beautiful and eye-wateringly difficult’ Scotsman

Duration 70 minutes

Thu 11, Fri 12, Sat 13 May, 7.30 pm Sat 13 & Sun 14 May, 2pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10, £15, £17.50, £20 Under 16s half price Under 26s £15 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

Relaxed Performance: Sat 13 May, 2pm


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Thu 11 May

Kate Tempest with Mica Levi & Orchestrate Let Them Eat Chaos: Rearranged

World Premiere Commissioned by Brighton Festival

The full album performed with live orchestra, plus new works by Mica Levi

Hip-hop inspired storytelling meets cinematic orchestration as Kate Tempest teams up with musician and composer Mica Levi and ensemble Orchestrate.

Known to many as the frontwoman of Micachu and the Shapes, Mica Levi is also an accomplished composer of film scores, most-recently Pablo Larrain’s Jackie for which she received both BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She has long collaborated with Orchestrate, a network of some of the UK’s most accomplished and adaptable young musicians, whose work in the studio and on stage includes performances with The National, SBTRKT, Ghostpoet and Christine and the Queens.

For this special one-off performance, Orchestrate will perform a selection of Levi’s works, followed by a special performance with Kate Tempest of Let Them Eat Chaos, re-worked for string orchestra. Released late last year to universal acclaim, the album has been described as Tempest’s state-of-the-nation address: over the course of 13 tracks, we meet seven sleepless Londoners in the small hours, whose individual stories of dissatisfaction are set against a backdrop of global crisis.

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An unmissable Brighton Festival collaboration.

See also Mica Levi’s Under The Skin p39

Supported by Chalk Cliff Trust

Thu 11 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £15, £17.50, £20 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

‘Extraordinarily moving, vital and essential. Let Them Eat Chaos is a masterpiece’ Music OMH

© N

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Thu 11 – Fri 12 May

Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano

Joseph Middleton piano

Schumann Frauenliebe und -leben Berlioz Les nuits d’été Poulenc Banalités Copland Poems of Emily Dickinson Bennett The History of the Thé Dansant

A rare festival opportunity to hear one of the great vocal artists of our time in a recital which encapsulates her stunning versatility.

Joined by pianist Joseph Middleton, Sarah Connolly juxtaposes the exquisitely drawn sensibilities of Schumann’s charting of a woman’s life, from awakening love to widowhood, against the sensuous sound world of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, permeated by lost love. Poulenc, Copland and Richard Rodney Bennet offer a perfect 20th century balance for this unmissable recital.

Thu 11 May, 7.30pm All Saints Church £18.50, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

© Jan Capinski

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Ocean Wisdom, The Four Owls & Jam Baxter High Focus Records special

High Focus Records has one aim – to resurrect the legacy of UK hip hop. Established in 2010, the label has offered a platform for a new generation of rappers and producers (including man of the moment, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man). For this special Brighton Festival show, the label presents three acts from its impressive roster.

Led by label founder Fliptrix, The Four Owls’ 2011 debut Nature’s Greatest Mystery went on to become an ambassador for UK hip hop around the world, a modern-day classic that encapsulated straight up-and-down rhythms, undiluted lyricism and conceptual brilliance. Who said UK hip hop was dead? Just look to the skies.

Camden-born, Brighton-based MC Ocean Wisdom is the new kid everyone is talking about.

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His debut release Walkin’ was an underground smash that marked him out as one of the scene’s most exciting prospects: no hook, no ad-libs just raw, unfiltered energy and originality. And has he really dethroned Eminem, as Unilad has suggested, as the fastest rapper in the world?

The bill is completed by Jam Baxter who has continued to prove himself as one of the most accomplished and outlandish hip hop lyricists, both as a solo artist and a member of Contact Play and Dead Players.

Age 14+

Co-presented with High Focus Records

Fri 12 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Seated £12.50, £16; Standing £16 Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

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Fri 12 – Sat 13 May

Mimbre If I Could I Would

If I Could I Would is a fast-paced piece of physical theatre featuring virtuoso acrobatics, imagination and humour that recognises it sometimes takes a superhuman effort to rise above the relentless demands of everyday urban life.

An all-female cast plays an array of familiar characters in a day where coffee is spilled, the commute is a trial, street-life is a threat and office politics get under the skin. From everywoman to superwoman, the show delivers a heart-warming message to everyone about resilience in the face of the everyday grind. If you could, what would you change?


Fri 12 May, 7pm & Sat 13 May, 5pm Relaxed Performance: Fri 12 May All Saints Church £12, Under 16s £8, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

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Xiaolu Guo Once Upon a Time in the East

Novelist and film-maker Xiaolu Guo charts her journey from a remote fishing village in Southern China to life on Europe’s literary scene in her powerful memoir Once Upon a Time in the East. This is a history of modern China for a new generation, and a handbook of life lessons: how to be an artist when censorship kills creativity; how to be a woman in a country where girls are regularly drowned at birth. And, most poignantly, how to love when you’ve never been shown how.

Fri 12 May, 7.30pm Brighthelm Centre £10

‘A breath of the freshest air imaginable. She cuts through the smog of hype and platitude.’ Independent

BAFTA Kids Behind the Scenes

Luke Franks and London Hughes (CiTV’s Scrambled) host a showcase of the films, TV shows and games that were nominated at last year’s BAFTA Children’s Awards, including Horrible Histories and Star Wars. This fun event offers a peek behind the scenes with challenges, competitions and audience interaction.

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TV Presenting Masterclass

Is it difficult working in a live studio? How do you stop yourself laughing in front of the camera? This fun and practical workshop, offers top tips for working in children’s TV and improving your own confidence.

Sat 13 May Brighton Dome Founders Room Behind the Scenes, 10.30am – 12.15pm £5 Age 7 – 12

TV Presenting Masterclass, 2pm – 4pm £10 per child (adults free) Age 9 – 13


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Fri 12 – Sun 14 May

Walter & Zoniel SPECTRA: CAST

Take part and transform Brighton Beach into the biggest canvas in town!

The artist duo Walter & Zoniel invites visitors to cast multi-coloured stones onto the beach to create a vast rainbow of vibrant pebbles, each one colour-coded to represent a different artistic view. As a myriad of opinion mounts up, the beach gradually represents the diversity of creativity and outlook that powers cultural debate.

Walter & Zoniel finds playful and engaging ways to look at perception and inclusivity in the art world. Join them for this interactive creation or see the accumulating artwork alter and shift as the weather and human interaction impact on the rainbow of pebbles.

Part-performance, part-installation, SPECTRA:CAST is an artwork for all that allows everyone to make their mark.

Fri 12 May, evening preview Sat 13 & Sun 14 May 12pm – 5pm The Beach, Doughnut Groyne FREE

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nabokov Box Clever by Monsay Whitney

Ever get the feeling you’re going round in one big circle?

Ten years. Back and forth between a trio of arseholes and nothing to show for it except a baby, an Argos ring and a busted nose. At the refuge they call that a pattern.

Moving, truthful and darkly comic, Box Clever is a new play about one woman’s experience of a women’s refuge, written and performed by Monsay Whitney with live music by Avi Simmons.

nabokov is one of the UK’s most exciting theatre companies dedicated to telling contemporary and political stories using a cross-artform approach. Whitney is the company’s Associate Playwright: her startling debut Hand to Mouth, an honest and provocative tale of family life, was selected by Simon Stephens as part of his Playwrights Presents season for Theatre 503. Age 14+

Post-show discussion Sat 13 May, 8pm

Sat 13 May, 8pm & Sun 14 May, 2pm & 8pm The Spire £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p171)

Co-produced by nabokov & The Marlowe Theatre


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