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The Brighton Fringe is here again!  Running throughout May, England's largest arts gathering is going from strength to strength, drawing together the city's already-vibrant cultural scene and cementing its position among the leading Festivals of the world.  Informal and manageable, all events are within easy striking distance of London - or if you're coming from further afield, Gatwick's a short train ride away.

The Brighton Fringe is four weeks long this year.  In a change from previous festivals, events run from 4 May right through to 2 June - taking in both May's bank holidays, as well as school half-term.



 
179 Hackney Road
Published on Friday, 17 May 2013
2

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2 stars

The Warren (venue website)
Theatre
13 May, 5:30pm-6:30pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Parental Guidance. Under-17's must be accompanied by an adult.

There’s no award at the Brighton Fringe for “the most striking set” – but if there were, this play’s would be a shoo-in. The towering wooden construction, an elaborate labyrinth of shelving with the merest hint of MC Escher, fills the Warren’s sizeable stage – setting the tone for what’s certainly an ambitious, expansive play. Sadly, a few patchy performances and a script which needs some honing mean the overall experience is less awe-inspiring.

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The Stories of Shakey P
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
4

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4 stars

The Warren (venue website)
Literature
12, 25-27 May, 2:30pm-3:25pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 Parental Guidance. Under-17's must be accompanied by an adult.

This is an interesting one. From a quick skim over the programme blurb – “classical playwriting meets hip-hop, Shakespeare’s best-known works, a riveting contemporary slant” – I’d assumed I was going to hear the Bard for the masses, an accessible take on the ageless stories targeted at those who hadn’t heard them before. Host Charlie Dupré does indeed rap his way through Shakespeare’s best-known tales like a kind of Elizabethan Eminem, but his act is essentially an hour-long in-joke, which you very definitely need a working knowledge of the Folio to properly enjoy. So, this show’s not quite I thought it was – but I enjoyed it for what it is.

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Albert Einstein: Relativitively Speaking
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
3

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3 stars

The Nightingale (venue website)
Theatre
5, 12, 19, 26 May, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Reviewed by Mathilda Gregory

 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.
 World Premiere.

This year, John Hinton is Albert Einstein. The versatile Brighton-based performer – who has also created shows about Darwin, Norse Gods and Alien Rock Stars – is taking on one of his most heavyweight icons yet. This show is still in preview; in fact, the performance I saw was its first-ever outing, and that needs to be taken into consideration. However, it really did lack the magic of Hinton’s earlier appearances.

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Words Apart
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
3

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3 stars

Ambassador Hotel (venue website)
Theatre
14-17 May, 7:30pm-9:15pm; 18 May, 2:30pm-4:15pm, 7:30pm-9:15pm
Reviewed by Darren Taffinder

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 World Premiere.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

Words Apart is about a young woman who befriends four fictional characters, as an escape from an abusive relationship. As if to set the mood, the guy sitting in front of me looked just like Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap. It’s a wonderful concept. Who hasn’t wished they were friends with characters from their favourite novels – to grow up with Huckleberry Finn, or have a cocktail with Nick Carraway? Avoid nights out with Beowulf, though. They always end in a fight.

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You Know Me, I'm Jack Ruby!
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
4

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4 stars

The Dukebox Theatre (venue website)
Theatre
7, 9 May, 6:45pm-7:45pm; 8, 23-24 May, 8:00pm-9:00pm; 31 May, 1 Jun, 9:15pm-10:15pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 World Premiere.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

Just in case you don’t know Jack Ruby, here’s a quick bluffer’s guide: he’s the small-time Dallas night-club owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV, thereby earning instant notoriety and a perpetual place in the JFK conspiracy canon. Actor-playwright Clifford Barry has his own theories on the matter – entirely sensible and grounded ones – and in this quietly powerful monologue, he shares a sympathetic and nuanced view of Ruby. In his hands, the purported mafioso becomes as an almost tragic figure, a bystander caught up in someone else’s tale.

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Window
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
1

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1 stars

The Warren (venue website)
Theatre
13 May, 7:30pm-8:30pm; 30-31 May, 9:00pm-10:00pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 World Premiere.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

How can it possibly have gone so wrong? Locally-based Witness Theatre have shown tremendous promise over the last 12 months, from a solid production of Earnest at last year’s Brighton Fringe to the creative, adventurous, playful piece they later took up to Edinburgh. Now, as the beneficiaries of an IdeasTap award, they’ve earned the opportunity to step up to the expansive stage of the Warren. And I’m sorry to say – they blew it.

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Holocene
Published on Thursday, 16 May 2013
3

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3 stars

The Nightingale (venue website)
Theatre
14-15 May, 9:00pm-10:00pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 World Premiere.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

The Holocene, as the programme thoughtfully informs me, is a geological epoch which began around 12,000 years ago. But this play’s really about the last 28 years: about the life of performer David Sheppeard, as expressed through the study of rocks, Gone With The Wind, and volcanoes. You might think that sounds odd, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But it’s rather charming too. Read on.

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A Little Nonsense
Published on Tuesday, 14 May 2013
4

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4 stars

Upstairs at Three and Ten (venue website)
Theatre
9-11 May, 7:00pm-8:00pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

"A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men." It's a quote from Roald Dahl, apparently, and there's plenty to relish about this offbeat physical comedy – which employs some shameless nonsense to throw relief on a darker, even sinister, core. It grows a little self-indulgent sometimes, and its enduring message is frustratingly hard to decode, but the nonsense itself is easily enough to make the cost of the ticket worthwhile.

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