Thank You
Thank you to our supporters for making Brighton Festival possible Funders
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WSP West Sussex Print Limited
ASDA | AVT Connect | Book Nook | Brighton & Hove Buses | Facelift | Gunns Flowers | KAVE Theatre Services NCP | The Old Ship Hotel | PR Industrial Ltd Trusts & Foundations
Mrs A Lacy-Tate Trust | The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust | BBC Children in Need | The Chalk Cliff Trust The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust | Esmée Fairbairn Foundation | The Lynn Foundation | The Pebble Trust | Sobell Foundation Media Partners
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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 I 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 | n.white@brightondome.org For Patrons Circle – please contact Sarah Shepherd 01273 260818 | sarah.shepherd@brightondome.org
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p75
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'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
Find out more: brightonfestival.org/yourplace Sat 13 & Sun 14 May Hangleton Sat 20 & Sun 21 May Whitehawk FREE
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.
©Isobel Lundie
Festival Weekends
Your Place: Enjoy, Talk, Create
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. Brighton Festival Your Place supported by
©Jolyon Thompson
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
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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
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.
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.
Festival Weekends
Weekend Without Walls
Sat 13 May, 12 – 5pm Easthill Park, Portslade Village Sun 14 May, 12 – 5pm East Brighton Park, Whitehawk FREE BSL interpreted, Sun 14 May
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!
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
©Isobel Lundie
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
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.
thinking about the mystery and beauty of the avian world – and why it should be protected.
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.
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.
Whether it’s the iconic robin, the chipthieving gull, or blackbirds baked in a pie, we have an enduring connection with these special creatures. For the Birds will get you 8
Jay Griffiths, Author
‘Mind-blowingly brilliant. An unforgettably beautiful and resonant experience' George Monbiot, Journalist
‘Beautiful, unexpected and alive!’
RSPB
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. 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.
© Nicola Easterby
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 access@brightonfestival.org to discuss an access requirements. Suitable for all ages.
Throughout the Festival
'I cannot think of another art experience that has bettered it'
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 p75)
Supported by Big Lemon Bus Company
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Throughout the Festival
Ipek 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, Ipek 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.
‘Duben's powerful video-installation questions our ideas, prejudices and fears of They, whoever that may be’ Daily Sabah, Istanbul
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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. Ipek 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
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!’
© Sam McGilp
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 seagoing 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:
Throughout the Festival
Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey
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. 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 p75 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 access@brightonfestival.org or call 01273 261541/525 Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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Throughout the Festival 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. 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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Throughout the Festival
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
The Hum Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival 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 groundbreaking event provides a new way of seeing and relating to the urban environment revisitng ‘Yael Flexer and Nic Sandiland’s 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.
work challenges the traditional boundaries between performers, audience and choreographers.’ Music OMH
Sat 6 – Sun 28 May Downloadable App FREE 13
Throughout the Festival
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.
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
'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 Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
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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Sat 6 May
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. 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.
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
'Freshness, energy and flashes of brilliance' Independent Sat 6 May, 5pm All Saints Church £20, Under 26s £10 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) 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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Sat 6 May
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 p75)
© Neil Gavin
Hot 8 Brass Band & Melt Yourself Down ‘Swaggering jazz, raucous funk, second line strut and hip-hop attitude… irresistible’ MOJO
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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.
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.
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.
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 p75) Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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.
© James Allan
Duration 40 minutes
Sun 7 & Mon 8 May 10am, 11.15am, 12.30pm, 2pm Founders Room 1 Adult + 1 baby £10 Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
Kelly Reichardt Season River of Grass (1994, USA, Cert. 15) With: Lisa Bowman, Larry Fessenden, Dick Russell
In association with artsdepot
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.) 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)
‘…a powerful, poignant set' Guardian êêêê The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Sun 7 May, 8pm The Spire £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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'. 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.
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Duration 2 hours
Sun 7 May, 7pm All Saints Church £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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
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.
© Nicole Guarino
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
Previously known as a DJ and singersongwriter 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 p75) 19
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
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 lesserknown delights of the composer’s sacred music.
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
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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 groundbreaking 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 p75)
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
© Keith Saunders
Sun 7 May
'I Fagiolini combine a rare balance of intellect and musical excellence...'
Plan B for Utopia
‘Beautifully constructed, laugh out loud, serious, profoundly silly, and a joy from start to finish’ Skinny êêêê
© Nicole Gaurino
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?
Brighton Festival Accessibility & International Programme supported by Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.
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 awardwinning 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 (p26)
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.
Sun 7 – Tue 9 May
Joan Clevillé Dance
Age 11+ Duration 1 hour
Sun 7 & Mon 8 May 7.30pm ACCA £15, Under 26s £10 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Touch Tour: Sun 7 May, 5.30pm (see p71) Audio Described: Sun 7 May, 7.30pm 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' êêêê 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.
Age 3+
Duration 50 minutes
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 êêêê
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
Tessa Ross in conversation 'The godmother of British film’ Evening Standard Mon 8 May 6.30pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students, £6.50 child
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Producer and former head of Film4, Tessa Ross has worked over the last 20 years on a host of awardwinning 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
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
Raising Lazarus Written & performed by Kat Francois Directed by Dawn Reid
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 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.
Tue 9 – Fri 21 May
Polly Toynbee & David Walker
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
Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.
Tue 9 & Wed 10 May, 8pm ACCA £15, Under 26s £10, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
Vincent Dance Theatre
Virgin Territory Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival 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?
‘Brave and unnerving exploration’ Guardian êêêê
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.
Adult supervision for under 14s is advised
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.
Wed 10 – Fri 21 May ONCA Gallery FREE Wed – Sun, 12pm – 6pm
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.
Commissioned by The Place and Brighton Festival. Supported by Arts Council England and Esmée Fairbairn.
Duration 45 mins, looping every hour
Schools / Community Workshops: 10 – 12pm daily Parents & Teens session: Wed 17 May, 4 – 6pm Contact: sian@vincentdt.com
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Tue 9 – Wed 10 May
Teac Damsa
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. 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 KeeganDolan’s new company, Teac Damsa.
‘…raw, raucous, redemptive, majestic, vital and empowering.’ êêêêê 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 p75)
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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‘An elegant production that delivers on its promise to stay with you long after you leave'
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.
Guardian êêêê
Endings UK Premiere
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.
Tue 9 – Sat 13 May
Tamara Saulwick
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. Age 14+ Duration 1 hour 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 p75) Under 26s & Members' first night offer: £12.50
Ali Smith
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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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Preston Bill
'An accomplished storyteller… The Preston Bill has subtlety and charm’ Reviews Hub êêêê
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
Wed 10 May, 8pm The Spire £12.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
See also: Summit (p21)
Age 12+ Duration 1 hour
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.
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Duration 93 minutes
Thu 11 May, 8.50pm Duke’s at Komedia £11, £10 retired, students
©Stem Design
Wed 10 – Thu 11 May
Andy Smith & Fuel
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.
Thu 11 – Sun 14 May
Driftwood
‘stripped back circus skills that are both breathtakingly beautiful and eye-wateringly difficult’ êêêê 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 p75) Relaxed Performance: Sat 13 May, 2pm
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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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.
Thu 11 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £15, £17.50, £20 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
‘Extraordinarily moving, vital and essential. Let Them Eat Chaos is a masterpiece’ êêêêê Music OMH
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-ofthe-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. An unmissable Brighton Festival collaboration. See also Mica Levi's Under The Skin p19 Supported by Chalk Cliff Trust © Neil Gavin
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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
© Jan Capinski
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 – Fri 12 May
Sarah Connolly
Thu 11 May, 7.30pm All Saints Church £18.50, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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.
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 p75)
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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? Age 6+
Duration 45 minutes
Fri 12 May, 7pm & Sat 13 May, 5pm Relaxed Performance: Fri 12 May RP All Saints Church £12, Under 16s £8, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
Xiaolu Guo Once Upon a Time in the East
‘A breath of the freshest air imaginable. She cuts through the smog of hype and platitude.’ Independent
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
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.
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.
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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 Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
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
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 p75) Co-produced by nabokov & The Marlowe Theatre The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
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© Ranald Mackechnie
Sat 13 May
London Symphony Orchestra Nikolaj Znaider conductor, violin Mozart
Violin Concerto No 5 (‘Turkish’) in A major K219
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5 in E minor Op 64 Renowned as one of the great violinists of our time, Nikolaj Znaider is also forging a stellar reputation as a conductor. In partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra, he both plays and conducts in a programme that delights and moves in equal measure. Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 5 is spirited and serene by turns, with a lightness of touch that
Democracy Debate: What Comes Next? Caroline Lucas, Diane James, Laurie Penny, Adam Tickell, David Runciman with Polly Toynbee
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The London Symphony Orchestra is regularly named as one of the top orchestras in the world; its welcome return to the Festival is a season highlight. 2 hours (20 minute interval) Supported by Sang Jun Lee, Ra.on Korean Restaurant
Sat 13 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £18.50, £22.50, £27.50, £32.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Following the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump, the rise of the right in Europe and the refugee crisis, Western societies are looking more polarised than ever. Is the system capable of tackling the real economic and environmental threats we face? And what comes next? Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee chairs a panel of top thinkers and politicians to debate the future of our political system including Caroline Lucas MP, Diane James, formerly UKIP leader elect and now independent MEP for the South East, the New Statesman columnist and author Laurie Penny, Vice Chancellor, University of Sussex Adam Tickell, and David Runciman of the University of Cambridge. Supported by the Guardian.
Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Laurie Penny © J Chead
Sat 13 May, 7.30pm ACCA £10
verges on the mischievous. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, on the other hand, mingles majesty and lyricism in music of great emotional and melodic power.
Sun 14 May
Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis piano Bach
Partita No.1 in B flat major BWV825
Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major Op 7
Chopin
Waltz in A minor Op 34 No 2 Waltz in F minor Op 70 No 2 Waltz in D flat op. 64 No.1 ‘Minute Waltz’
Weber
Piano Sonata No.2 in A flat major Op 39
with a programme bursting with lyricism and breathtaking virtuosity. Bach’s Partita No 1, an intricate filigree of geniality and refinement, contrasts with the heroic vitality of Beethoven’s large-scale ‘Grand Sonata’. Chopin’s waltzes are miniature masterpieces, brilliant whirls of melody and sophistication which cleanse the musical palate in preparation for the warmth and intimacy of Weber’s Piano Sonata No 2, a tour de force of Romantic mood and eloquence.
The brilliance of one of today’s most celebrated pianists is given full rein in the exceptional acoustic of Glyndebourne, as Paul Lewis returns
Sun 14 May, 3pm (grounds open at 1pm for picnicking) Glyndebourne £20, £25, £30, £10 standing Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
City Reads 2017 Sharon Duggal The Handsworth Times
Brighton-based British Asian writer Sharon Duggal’s debut novel is this year's 'big read' for adults. A book of our times and an essential read for everyone who believes in society. Set in 1981, when factories are closing, unemployment is high, the NF is marching and neglected inner cities are ablaze as riots break out across Thatcher's fractured Britain. The Agarwal family are facing their own personal tragedy, but their pain is eased through humour, friendship and community. Join Sharon as she talks candidly to writer and critic Amy Raphael about her inspirations for the novel in this special event marking the culmination of City Reads. Produced by Collected Works CIC
Sun 14 May, 4.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £8
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Sun 14 May
Probe
Now You See It Antonia Grove, artistic director of Brightonbased dance theatre company Probe, presents her brand new solo: co-directed with Sue MacLaine, the piece is full of evocative imagery that features a searing central performance by Antonia herself. Now You See It portrays a woman contemplating her past and reconsidering her strategies for survival. A dialogue between wonder and reason, reality and imagination, small ideas and mammoth consequences, this powerful performance marries straight-talking dance with storytelling, anecdotes and a little bit of magic.
Out Live Award and has twice been nominated for the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Female Dancer (Modern). Post-show discussion (BSL interpreted) Supported by Laban Theatre, Powered at The Point, Pavilion Dance South West, South East Dance and Worthing Theatres Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Sun 14 May, 7.30pm ACCA £15, Under 19s £10 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
Antonia began her career with Rambert Dance and performed with some of of the country’s most celebrated companies and choreographers before co-founding Probe in 2004. Antonia has been nominated for a Time
The Story Collider The British Science Festival brings an evening of true, personal stories with a science twist. Five storytellers share their exciting tales of how science has touched their lives. Some stories are heartbreaking, some are hilarious, but they’re all true – and, in one way or another, they’re all about science. Age 16+ Duration 2 hours (10 minute interval)
Sun 14 May, 4pm Founders Room £10
Brighton Youth Orchestra Music from around the world
Wai Sing Fat dizi (Chinese flute) Andrew Sherwood conductor with young voices from across the City of Brighton & Hove led by Travis Baker and Lee Reynolds Chen Pei Xun
Symphony No 2, ‘Ching Ming Memorial’
In collaboration with Glyndebourne, Brighton Youth Orchestra and a host of young singers perform works for young voices alongside Wai Sing Fat, a virtuoso on the dizi, or bamboo flute. An extravaganza of international music. Sun 14 May, 5pm All Saints Church £10, Concessions £7, Under 16s £5
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One of the most important voices in British Folk, singer and song collector Shirley Collins returns to performing in her beloved home county with music from her first release in nearly 40 years, Lodestar.
Sun 14 May
Shirley Collins presents Lodestar Live
Bringing together English, American and Cajun songs dating from the 16th century to the 1950s, collected by Shirley and recorded at her home in Lewes with Ian Kearey (Music Director), her expressive vocals transcend time, connecting ageold tradition with a contemporary edge. A key part of the British Folk revival of the 60s and 70s, her voice is still as captivating now as it was then. Lodestar shows that, even at the age of 81, Shirley still pushes at the boundaries of Folk music. Shirley’s band will feature members of Trembling Bells, Rattle on the Stovepipe and Cyclobe, and a fine array of musicians and dancers will also join the event, including Boss Morris, Brighton Morris Men, Sam Lee, John Kirkpatrick, Bing Lyle and Naomi Bedford. Sun 14 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £22.50, £25, £27.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
‘Shirley is a time traveller, a conduit for essential human aches, one of the greatest artists who ever lived, and yet utterly humble’ Stewart Lee
The Unfilmables Wrangler and Francesca & Mica Levi The history of cinema is teeming with stories of mythical films which never made it onto screen. Works such as Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, David Lynch’s Return of the Jedi and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune are famously unproduced masterpieces; masterpieces simply because they can only ever exist in the imagination. The Unfilmables is a response to the greatest films never made. Wrangler (featuring Stephen Mallinder, ex-Cabaret Voltaire, Benge and Phil Winter from Tunng) and Francesca and Mica Levi, calibrate film,
music and imagination to bring lost film concepts to life in two live audiovisual performances. Commissioned by Live Cinema UK in partnership with CINECITY and HOME Manchester. Supported by This Way Up Exhibition Innovation Fund, a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, and Arts Council England.
Sun 14 May 9.30pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £16, £15 retired, students
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Mon 15 May
Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu ‘The current front-runner in the new generation of Lieder singers’ Gramophone on Benjamin Appl
‘In a class of his own’ Daily Telegraph on James Baillieu Benjamin Appl baritone James BaIllieu piano Works by Schubert, Reger, Wolf, Brahms, Schreker, Grieg, Strauss, Poulenc, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Bishop and Warlock
Heimat means home; a sense of belonging; emotional ties to a certain place. Conjuring notions of nostalgia, comfort and security, it provides the theme for a varied programme of songs and Lieder, that charts the emotions of two artists born in foreign lands (Appl in Germany, Baillieu in South Africa) who have made England their home.
In recent years the baritone Benjamin Appl and the pianist James Baillieu have forged careers that have placed them in the front rank of young Supported by Andrew & Margaret Polmear artists. They have also developed an artistic Mon 15 May, 7.30pm partnership that Festival audiences have seen Theatre Royal Brighton blossoming since 2014. Appl and Baillieu here perform music from their debut album, inspired by £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75) the German idea of heimat.
The Furrow Collective and Anna & Elizabeth
A double bill featuring rising stars of contemporary folk from both sides of the Atlantic. Described by MOJO as ‘a mouth-watering collaboration’ The Furrow Collective is Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton, Emily Portman and Alasdair Roberts – four fine soloists whose shared love of traditional songs and playful musicianship has earned them two BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations. This ‘quietly classy young folk band’ (The Guardian) move with ease from jaunty stories to poignant laments and supernatural ballads. Anna & Elizabeth are two truly inspiring artists from Southwest Virginia and a rare treat for lovers of Appalachian roots music. As storytellers, they are almost single-handedly resurrecting the lost art of ‘crankies’ – cloth and cut-paper scrolls depicting stories and scenes from the great ballads, unfurled to musical accompaniment. Witness this culture carried forward with mastery and love. Mon 15 May, 8pm The Spire £16, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
'A breath of the freshest air imaginable' Boyd Tonkin on Anna & Elizabeth, Independent
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The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
Tue 16 – Wed 17 May
Dom Coyote & The Bloodmoneys
Songs for the End of the World Musician and theatre maker Dom Coyote and his hi-octane multi-instrumentalist band The Bloodmoneys obliterate the line between epic theatre and raucous gig, with artists from Kneehigh and Little Bulb Theatre. Inspired by Philip K Dick's post-apocalyptic novel Dr. Bloodmoney and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Songs for the End of the World is a show like no other. Welcome to New Albion, a near-future dystopia of suffering and exploitation. While some predict armageddon, many are simply preparing for the end. When the apocalypse does arrive, astronaut Jim Walters is left suspended in orbit on his way to Mars, broadcasting his songs for the end of the world back to a silent Earth.
‘An apocalyptic rock 'n' roll cabaret' Exeunt
Tue 16 May, 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10, £12.50, £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
Jackie Kay introduces Zaffar Kunial
Tue 16 May, 7.30pm Brighton and Hove High School £10
In a unique evening of conversation and poetry, Festival favourite Jackie Kay introduces the up-and-coming poet Zaffar Kunial. Jackie, who is the Makar, or national poet for Scotland, says: ‘Zaffar is one of the most exciting poets I have come across in recent years. His work explores, amongst other things, mixed identities in complex and compelling ways.’ Zaffar was born in Birmingham, and his father is from Kashmir. Jackie, raised in Scotland, has Scottish–Nigerian heritage. They talk about the challenges of fitting in, and read from their own work in this must-see event for all lovers of contemporary writing.
Kelly Reichardt Season Wendy and Lucy (2008, USA, cert. 15) With: Michelle Williams, Will Oldham Wendy is driving with her dog Lucy to Alaska, in the hope of a summer of lucrative work at the fish cannery. When her car breaks down in Oregon, and the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, Wendy finds herself on the very periphery of American society but remains stoic in her determination for a better life. Wendy & Lucy is a finely crafted, and carefully composed picture of
life in the margins of society, with a brilliant and sympathetic performance from Michelle Williams. Duration 80 minutes
Wed 17 May 6.30pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse
£11, £10 retired, students 37
Wed 17 – Thu 18 May
Penned in the Margins
No Dogs, No Indians
World Premiere Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival by Siddhartha Bose Directed by Russell Bender
How far would you go to resist oppression? What would you choose to remember, and what to forget? It is 1932 in occupied Bengal. A young revolutionary prepares to storm a whites-only club in Chittagong, an act of defiance that will end in her taking her own life. The sign above the club reads No Dogs, No Indians. Decades later, an aspiring intellectual born in post-independence Kolkata is in love with all things British: Shakespeare, cricket, The Beatles. But as he contemplates the past and imagines his children’s future, he begins to question his own identity. Now in 2017, a man returns from London on the news of his father’s death. In the New India, he encounters steel magnates, supermodels and tech millionaires, but is haunted by ghosts from the past. Three intertwining stories explore the effects and legacy of the British in India in a powerful new play by poet and playwright Siddhartha Bose to mark the 70th anniversary of Indian independence. Age 14+ mild swearing and scenes of violence
‘An extraordinary odyssey’ BBC Radio 4
on Siddhartha Bose’s Kalagora
The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Co-commissioned by Southbank Centre, Live Theatre, GemArts, Writers' Centre Norwich and Norwich Arts Centre. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Wed 17 & Thu 18 May, 8pm The Spire £17.50, Under 26s £12.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Post-show discussion: Thu 18 May
Jeremy Hardy Jeremy Hardy has been doing comedy since 1984. And, without a lottery win, he probably has at least another 33 years to go. Jeremy is a stalwart of BBC Radio 4, and indeed Alan Bennett recently said he likes him 'but he’s only on the radio'. See Jeremy prove Alan Bennett wrong in this hilariously pessimistic live performance. Age 12+
Wed 17 May, 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £16 Limited allocation of £5 tickets for unwaged, OAP, students; Festival Standby £10 (see p75) 38
‘In an ideal world, Jeremy Hardy would be extremely famous, but an ideal world would leave him without most of his best material’ Guardian
m longa
Deeply rooted in Argentinean culture, tango has fascinated and captivated the world with its sexuality, power and beauty. Inspired by the late night milonga scene in the intimate bars of Buenos Aires (m¡longa is literally a tango dance party), internationally celebrated Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui adds a contemporary twist to this traditional dance. Cherkaoui has made his name through his collaborations with artists like Akram Khan, Maria Pagès, and the monks of the Shaolin Temple (Sutra, Brighton Festival 2013), while he has twice won the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production: first for Babel (Words) in 2011, and then Puz/zle in 2014.
Metro êêêê
‘touching and entertaining’ Guardian êêêê
‘a very beautiful show indeed’ Daily Telegraph êêêê Duration 1 hour 40 minutes including an interval Presented in partnership with Dance Consortium. A Sadler’s Wells production.
Fri 19 May, 5pm (no interval) & 8.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £15, £17.50, £22.50 Under 26s £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Members' first performance offer: £17.50
© Tristram Kenton
For m¡longa, he unites 17 incredible performers – Argentinean tango dancers, contemporary dancers and live musicians – in a seductive exploration of tango for the 21st century.
‘m¡longa casts a magic spell… highlights the drama and passion for which tango is renowned’
Fri 19 May
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
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Fri 19 – Sun 21 May
The Unfair Conceived and created by Ellie Harrison with Bethany Wells and Adam Young for The Grief Series There is plenty to be angry about in the world today, but what do we do with our anger, and is it useful? Anger can be destructive, but can it also be a source for positive change? The Unfair is a fairground arcade filled with a range of games and stalls that playfully explores how we can handle our anger and provides a chance for the whole family to let off steam. You can play a game of Angry Jenga; sit on the Throne of Resentment for a period of reflection; or simply get it all off your chest with the Angry Karaoke singalong. The Bottle It Up Bar is on hand to bottle your anger and dispense a comforting cuppa, and once you’ve vented you can retreat to a quiet space to Wipe the Slate Clean. Simmering rage has never been such fun! Supported by Arts Council England
Fri 19 – Sun 21 May, 10am – 5pm The New Steine Pay what you feel, suggested entry £5
Brighton Festival Youth Choir Letter From America Music director Juliette Pochin RR Bennett
Letters to Lindbergh
Copland Ching-a-Ring-Chaw Simple Gifts Emily Dickinson poems arr. Morgan Pochin and Laura Farrell
inspired Simple Gifts (from Appalachian Spring) to RR Bennett's Letters, written after he moved to New York, this concert comes from the heart of America.
The USA provides the theme for our youth choir's showcase concert celebrating the rich heritage of the great American Songbook. From Copland’s Shaker-
Fri 19 May, 6.30pm All Saints Church £10
American folksongs and popular songs
Luke Wright The Toll Fresh from supporting John Cooper Clarke on tour, and hot on the heels of his multi-award-winning debut What I Learned From Johnny Bevan, poet, performer and broadcaster Luke Wright returns with a stunning new spoken word show. The poems in The Toll tour the flat-roofed pubs and half-bought couches of Brexit Britain. They struggle with doubt, duty and a score of half-cut nights spent shouting impotently at Question Time. Spend an evening with a raconteur at the top of his game, as he spits out visceral, inventive verse that sweats, bleeds and sings. Age 12+
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‘A rip-roaring raconteur, evoking a Larkin-esque sense of commuter belt ennui’ Metro Fri 19 May, 7.30pm The Spire £10
Fri 19 May
An Evening with Picador Poetry 20th Anniversary Celebration Glyn Maxwell
Hollie McNish
Kate Tempest
Richard Osmond
Lorraine Mariner
Glyn Maxwell, Lorraine Mariner, Hollie McNish, Richard Osmond, Kate Tempest The Picador Poetry list is 20 years old. Since its inception, its mission has been simply to publish the best work from across the art form. For this celebratory event, Picador’s Poetry Editor Don Paterson presents a wonderful line-up of established names and new voices from this broad church. Picardor is the home of Guest Director Kate Tempest’s poetry. Kate will read from her passionate, political verse from Picador collection Hold Your Own, and long poems Brand New Ancients and Let Them Eat Chaos. Glyn Maxwell is one of Britain’s most respected and awarded contemporary poets, whose book On Poetry was described by Guardian critic Adam Newey as ‘the best book about poetry he has ever read’. You may already know the work of rising
spoken word star Holly McNish from one of her viral YouTube videos (collectively now at 4 million views), as well as her Brighton Festival 2015 performance with Kate Tempest and George the Poet. Described as a Dorothy Parker for the internet age, Lorraine Mariner’s muchloved wry style is demonstrated in her latest collection, There Will Be No More Nonsense. The line-up is completed by poet and forager Richard Osmond, one of the Evening Standard’s ‘new guard’ of young poets, whose Useful Verses follows in the tradition of the best nature writing. Fri 19 May, 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10, £12.50, £17.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) 41
© Lieve Boussauw
Fri 19 – Sat 20 May
Belem
Didier Laloy diatonic accordion Kathy Adam cello A striking combination of cello and accordion, the duo Belem draws on folk, tango and classical traditions to take chamber music in fresh directions. Belem is a meeting of the unexpected: a striking combination of placid cello and rhythmic, edgy accordion which captures a new sound and spirit for the 21st century whilst respecting its folk, tango
and classical roots. The result is both reflective and edgy, sensuous and strongly rhythmic, melancholic and fast-paced, spontaneous and considered. The duo’s charismatic physical presence, combined with its unique musical style, draws its audience in and takes them on a magical, musical journey. Fri 19 May, 9.30pm All Saints Church £17.50, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
© Pamela Raith
Mashi Theatre Tales of Birbal by Sayan Kent, original concept Trina Haldar Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Only Birbal knows... Whatever the question, Birbal – cunning advisor to Mughal Emperor Akbar – has the answer! Mashi Theatre’s travelling storytellers stop by to share the enchanting Tales of Birbal – ancient stories of adventure and problem-solving that have been
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treasured for centuries across the Indian subcontinent. Using puppetry and music, Mashi invites a new generation to unearth the richness in these legends. Age 6+ Duration 50 minutes In association with The Spark Arts For Children. Supported by Z-arts
Sat 20 May, 11.30am & 2.30pm The Grand Hotel, Consort Suite £10, Family Ticket (4 people) £35 BSL interpreted, 2.30pm Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
Sat 20 May
Meow Meow Souvenir
Brighton Festival Exclusive
Created by Meow Meow in collaboration with composers Jherek Bischoff and August Von Trapp, musical direction Jherek Bischoff & design by Andrea Lauer A fantastical song cycle on a half-remembered mis-reported history of Brighton's Theatre Royal.
©Karl Giant courtesy of Festival of Voices
Actress, singer, dancer, Meow Meow is a cabaret diva of the highest order. Her kamikaze performance style has thrilled and inspired audiences globally with her shows The Little Match Girl and Apocalypse Meow and An Audience with Meow. Hard to classify, her collaborations span artforms and genres: Pink Martini, Barry Humphries, Symphonies and Philharmonic Orchestras and Amanda Palmer and the Dresden Dolls to name a few. For this exclusive Brighton Festival performance, Meow Meow joins forces with the Orchester der Kleinen Regiment
to summon the ghosts of Brighton's Theatre Royal, past, present and future featuring original collaborations with composers Jherek Bischoff, August von Trapp, and The Lilliputian Octet. Don’t miss this exceptional performer in a oneoff musical homage to what may have been, and what may still come to pass. Age 14+ Duration 80 minutes
Sat 20 May, 5pm & 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £17.50, £22.50, £25 Under 26s £17.50, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
‘Sensational’ Times ‘Astonishing’ Telegraph ‘Fierce intelligence’ Guardian Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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Sat 20 – Sun 27 May
The Public Theater
The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family by Richard Nelson | UK Premiere Richard Nelson’s The Apple Family Plays was the theatrical highlight of the 2015 Brighton Festival. Now the Tony Award-winning playwright and director follows up with The Gabriels, a landmark series that follows one extraordinary, imperfect American family in real time, tracking their lives throughout the turbulent election year of 2016. History, money, politics, art and culture are all on the table in this moving three play cycle about a family celebrating, remembering and waiting for the world to change. All three plays can be enjoyed individually or sequentially, and you can also watch them in one glorious sitting over the weekends.
‘the most profound achievement in topical theatre’ New York Times on The Gabriels Trilogy
The Gabriel's is supported by
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Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
‘an extraordinary cycle of plays… we seem to be not so much watching a play as eavesdropping on life itself’ êêêêê Guardian on The Apple Family Plays
Play 1: Hungry To the rhythm of peeling, chopping and mixing, Hungry places us in the kitchen of the Gabriel family of Rhinebeck, New York. The family discusses their lives and disappointments, as they fight the fear of being left behind and attempt to find resilience in the face of loss.
The country is now in the midst of the general election for President. In the course of one evening in the house the Gabriels grew up in, history (both theirs and America's), money, politics, family, art and culture are chopped up and mixed together, while a meal is made around the kitchen table.
Play 3: Women of a Certain Age The Gabriels gather once again in Women of a Certain Age to await the result of the election. As they consider the future of their country, town and home, they compare notes on the search for empathy and authenticity at a time when the rules are forever changing. Settle in for three unforgettable evenings with the Gabriels as they celebrate connection and creativity and wait for the world to change. Duration for each play 1 hour 45 minutes
Play 1: Hungry Tue 23 May, 8pm Sat 20, Sun 21 & Sat 27 May, 1.30pm
Play 2: What Did You Expect? Wed 24 May, 8pm Sat 20, Sun 21 & Sat 27 May, 4.15pm
Play 3: Women of a Certain Age Thu 25 May, 8pm Sat 20, Sun 21 & Sat 27 May, 7.30pm ACCA £22, Under 26s £17.50 Festival Standby £10 per show (see p75)
Sat 20 – Sun 27 May
Play 2: What Did You Expect?
Co-produced with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.
The Gabriels Trilogy: See all three plays in one day Sat 20, Sun 21 & Sat 27 May 1.30pm, 4.15pm and 7.30pm £60, Under 26s £48* *Also applies to any combination of all three plays booked at the same time.
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Sat 20 May
‘Hers is a rare talent’ Guardian
Helen Oyeyemi One of the most striking voices in contemporary literature, Helen Oyeyemi talks about her most recent short story collection, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. It is a book of baroque beauty and quicksilver imagination; characters slip from their own story and resurface in another, on a journey that takes us to lost libraries and locked gardens; to marshlands where the drowned dead live; and to a city where the clocks have stopped.
‘These short stories are pure, sensuous enjoyment, packed with colour and passion’ The Times
Gary Younge in conversation with Colin Grant Another Day in the Death of America
Sat 20 May, 3pm Brighton and Hove High School £10 On 23 November 2013, 10 children were shot dead in the USA. None made the national news. It was just another day in the death of America, where on average seven young people are shot dead every day. Gary Younge, one of today’s most admired journalists, told the stories of these random victims in his acclaimed book, a searing examination of the impact of gun crime on ordinary lives. In conversation with the author Colin Grant, he discusses the book, and the role of guns in Trump’s America. Sat 20 May, 7.30pm Brighton and Hove High School £10
Bang Said the Gun Featuring Dan Cockrill, Martin Galton, Laurie Bolger & Rob Auton. With guests Jordan Stephens & Sally Jenkinson Voted the best poetry night in the UK by The Times, Bang Said the Gun is for people who don’t like poetry. Normal rules do not apply here: it’s loud, raucous, political, trivial, serious and very funny. Bang Said the Gun’s unique brand of stand up poetry has been described by Kate Tempest as ‘like mud wrestling with words’ and by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion as ‘a vortex of energy and enthusiasm’. Don’t miss a rich mix of the best and freshest talent that will grab you by the collar and drag you into another world. Duration 2 hours including interval
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Sat 20 May, 8pm The Spire £15 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
© Manchul Kim
‘… a writer we should be delirious to have as a contemporary’ Independent on Sunday
Sun 21 May
Monteverdi: Il Combattimento Les Talens Lyriques with Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset musical director Monteverdi Lamento d’Arianna Il ballo delle Ingrate Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda Our commemoration of Monteverdi’s 450th birthday moves from the sacred (with I Fagiolini on 7 May) to the worldly, with three masterworks dealing with love and loss. In a striking concert opera performance based on Pierre Audi’s production of Madrigals for Dutch National Opera, we hear an exquisite fragment from the lost opera L’Arianna alongside madrigals whose narratives and powerful music have made them fixtures on the stage.
The ‘Lamento’, the only part of L’Arianna to have survived, etches Arianna’s grief and longing for death in music of potent poignancy. Il ballo delle Ingrate is a dance which shows the living what to expect if they resist the arts of Cupid, while Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda tells the tale of Tancredi, who, in seeking revenge on his enemy, mistakenly kills his lover, Clorinda. The master of Baroque music performance, Christophe Rousset, and his extraordinary ensemble Les Talens Lyriques bring their rare powers of interpretation and insight to Monteverdi’s riveting masterpieces. Pre-concert talk with Christophe Rousset, 6pm (ticket holders only)
Sun 21 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £18.50, £22.50, £27.50, £32.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
Kelly Reichardt Season Meek's Cutoff 35mm Presentation (2010, USA, Cert. PG) With: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano The story of Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams), a young pioneer who sets out with her husband and other families in 1845 along the infamous Oregon trail. Led by frontier guide Stephen Meek, the families are soon lost and as food and water runs low, they start to mistrust each other and their guide. Set against an inhospitable landscape, Meek's Cutoff is a kind of ‘anti-western’, an enigmatic and desolately beautiful pioneer fable.
Duration 102 minutes
Sun 21 May 1pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students, £6.50 child
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Sun 21 May
Papertale & Half Moon
Boys Don't
What’s a boy to do? From the playground to the classroom, from home to the uncharted waters of online, boys learn that displaying their feelings is a no-no. But what happens to emotion that can’t be let out? Through funny, familiar and sometimes heartbreaking stories drawn from the real-life experiences of its cast of poets and spoken word performers, Boys Don’t delivers insights into male experiences of growing up, and offers the possibility of more open communication for us all.
Plus post-show discussion after each performance A Papertale & Half Moon Theatre production in association with Apples and Snakes
Sun 21 May, 2pm & 4pm The Spire £10
Age 10+ Duration 60 minutes
The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
A History of Britain in 21 Women Jenni Murray and Helen Lewis ‘The power of women to change society against all odds is the thread that connects all of Murray’s 21. It is a personal choice, fascinating for what it reveals incidentally about her own passion to learn and not to conform…’ Daily Telegraph From Boadicea to Thatcher, Jenni Murray’s book A History of Britain in 21 Women tells the stories of women who refused to succumb to the accepted laws of society, who pushed back boundaries and revolutionised our world. One of the country’s most distinguished broadcasters, Jenni is joined by writer, commentator and deputy editor of the New Statesman Helen Lewis to discuss her book and how these women’s lives might inspire a new generation.
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Sun 21 May, 7.30pm Brighton & Hove High School £10
‘If you want to know a country, read its writers. The reality of life in Zimbabwe, a country that has lost its way, is brilliantly conveyed.’ Guardian on An Elegy for Easterly
Petina Gappah crosses the barriers of class, race, gender and sexual politics in Zimbabwe to explore the causes and effects of crime, and to meditate on the nature of justice. Her latest short story collection, Rotten Row, represents a leap in artistry and achievement from An Elegy for Easterly, which won the 2009 Guardian First Book Award. With compassion and humour, Petina Gappah paints portraits of lives aching for meaning to produce a moving and universal tableau. Sun 21 May, 3pm Brighton & Hove High School £10
Rich Hall's Hoedown
Sun 21 – Tue 23 May
Petina Gappah Rotten Row
Join Rich Hall and his virtuoso musical mates for a frankly gratuitous mash-up of the very best of music and comedy, featuring his regular band of talented yet chronically unemployable urchins. Rich Hall’s critically acclaimed grouchy humour and deadpan style has seen him established as a master of absurdist irony and the king of rapid-fire wit. Sun 21 May, 8pm Theatre Royal Brighton £18, Festival Standby £10
The Big Song
World Premiere
by Heathcote Williams, narrated by Roy Hutchins Arrangement & Musical Direction by Kirsty Martin, featuring Hullabaloo Quire, Raise the Roof Community Choir and RISE Up Singing
‘Immaculate wordplay imbued with a genuine passion for the songwriter’s craft’ êêêê Times ‘Singing is a medicinal plant that can split open a sealed-off mind…’ Heathcote Williams The universe sings. Planets sing. Comets sing. The earth itself rings like a bell and vibrates with sound. So, instead of the Big Bang, could there have been the Big Song? The Big Song is a glorious celebration of singing that sweeps from science to spirituality, prehistory to protest, and reminds us of the central role of song in our identity and civilisation. Mon 22 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £8
Adam Buxton’s BUG: David Bowie Special David Bowie was a rock legend – and much more besides. Now comedian Adam Buxton returns to Brighton Festival for a very special BUG show celebrating some of David Bowie’s incredible music video and other on-screen appearances. A must-see for Bowie fans, this BUG special is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some key moments from David Bowie’s life and career on the big screen – and remember the indelible mark he made on our cultural landscape.
Tue 23 May, 8pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £20, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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Tue 23 – Sun 28 May
Eddie Otchere
The Bright Room by Sayan Kent from an original concept by Trina Haldar Acclaimed photographer Eddie Otchere will set up a community darkroom – an open-access space in which the people of Brighton can capture, reflect on and share their experiences, celebrating what it is to be part of a community. You’ll have the chance to reconnect with some of the haptic qualities of traditional photographic processes – from building cameras out of throwaway materials to hand printing pictures – while group workshops and daily exhibitions offer a shared experience of creativity so often missing from our digitised lives.
For more information visit brightonfestival.org Workshops: Tue 23 – Fri 26 May, 4 – 7pm 114 Church Street £5 per hour Materials included Free for Students, unemployed and under 18
Eddie is best known for his photographs depicting hip hop culture since the 1990s. Exhibited and published worldwide, his celebrated works include
Gallery open: Sat 27 & Sun 28 May, 11am – 11pm 114 Church Street FREE
Lyrix Organix
In a special for Brighton Festival, the event is co-headlined by Kojey Radical, an extraordinary 24 year-old poet, musician and striking visual artist. His explosive live shows have led to sold out performances at London’s Jazz Cafe, MOBO Award nominations.
Kojey Radical UnFold Featuring Toby Thompson, Solomon OB, Laurie Ogden Plus guest talk by Deanna Rodger (poet) Lyrix Organix explore what it means ‘To Be Human’ with a double-headliner live show. UnFold is a critically acclaimed live show that champions the next young stars of spoken word, in collaboration with a contemporary classical string section. This edition shines a spotlight on Toby Thompson (described as ‘the future’ by Kate Tempest), Laurie Ogden and Solomon OB (National Slam champion 2016), in a collection of live performances threaded by a soundscape from London String Collective.
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portraits of Wu Tang Clan, Biggie Smalls, Mos Def, Goldie and many others.
The night also features a special guest talk by internationally acclaimed poet Deanna Rodger exploring 'The Art Of Words’.
‘one of the most innovative and exciting presentations of the spoken word I have experienced’ Dean Atta, poet Tue 23 May, 7.30pm The Spire £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75) The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Tristan & Yseult Directed & adapted by Emma Rice Writers Carl Grose & Anna Maria Murphy Sink down upon us. Night of love, make me forget I live. Cornish King Mark is at war: he rules with his head not his heart. But he hasn’t counted on falling head over heels for his enemy’s sister, or expected the arrival of the enigmatic Tristan. This is the original tale of forbidden desires, broken hearts and the agony of choosing one human being over another. Seen through the eyes of the ‘Unloved’, Tristan & Yseult blends comedy, live music, grand passion and tender truths in an irresistible night of love.
Emma Rice’s acclaimed staging of the Cornish legend catapulted Kneehigh onto the national stage, leading to many other memorable productions including Brief Encounter and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, last seen in Brighton in 2015. Tristan & Yseult remains one of the company’s most loved shows, which critics have called ‘a triumph’, ‘deliriously joyful’ and ‘breathtaking in every respect’. Age 10+ Duration 2 hours including interval Supported by Arts Council England and Cornwall Council
Tue 23 – Sat 27 May, 7.30pm Thu 25 & Sat 27 May, 2.30pm Theatre Royal Brighton
Tue 23 – Sat 27 May
Kneehigh
Tue, Wed Evening & Sat Matinee: £12.50, £15, £18.50, £22.50, Under 26s £15 Thu Matinee: £10, £12.50, £16, £20 Schools £10, Under 26s £10 Thu – Sat Evenings: £15, £17.50, £20, £25 Under 26s £17.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
‘If this show doesn’t make you fall in love with theatre, there’s no potion on earth that can help you’ Guardian êêêêê 51
Wed 24 – Thu 25 May
'Hilarious and witty - a joy' Skinny
The Hiccup Project
"It’s okay, I’m dealing with it"
The Brighton-based dance theatre duo brings its multi-award winning May-We-Go-Round? and brand new version of "It’s okay, I’m dealing with it".
The Spire
In a world that needs everything to be fine, what do we do when things aren’t okay? Through dance, comedy, chat and song, Cristina and Chess unravel some of their own struggles and vulnerabilities, and try to piece together how to cope in "It’s okay, I’m dealing with it". May-We-Go-Round? is a collision of fiercely energetic dance and comedic theatre. Honest, provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, they jangle through the merry-go-round of romance, taking audiences along for the bitter-sweet ride. A show for anyone that's been in love or lusted from afar. Developed with support from Dance East, Dance Base and Greenwich Dance. Supported by Arts Council England. The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Tariq Ali The Dilemmas of Lenin
Wed 24 May, 8pm Age 14+ Plus post-show discussion
May-We-Go-Round? Thu 25 May, 8pm
The Spire
Age 14+
Price per show: £12.50 Under 26s £10, Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Kitchen Dance Workshops (Age 16 – 25) Do you like dancing around your kitchen without a care or being a bit silly? If so, then The Hiccup Project needs you! Take part in these fun and energetic workshops and together you’ll create a short ‘curtain raiser’ for their performances at The Spire. Sat 6, 13 & 20 May, 11 – 2pm The Spire FREE (booking required)
Open Workshop (all ages and experience 14+) Mon 22 May, 6.30 – 8.30pm The Spire FREE (booking required)
‘An outlier and intellectual bomb-thrower.’ Observer on Tariq Ali
with Alex von Tunzelmann
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© Nina Subin
In his illuminating new portrait of the Russian leader, Ali reveals that no modern thinker has better understood, nor more clearly articulated, the need to change the world than Lenin. But do Lenin’s ideas, as expressed in his actions and his political writings, still have any significance for us? In this centenary year of the Russian Revolution, this book raises important questions related to political representation and how we might challenge capitalism today. Ali discusses his book with the author and historian Alex von Tunzelmann.
Wed 24 May, 7.30pm Brighthelm Centre £10
This Bright Field World Premiere | Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival Brighton-based choreographer and designer, Theo Clinkard follows his recent commissions for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba with This Bright Field, a new work for his company, to premiere as part of Brighton Festival 2017. Clinkard and his exceptional company of twelve international dancers have crafted an event in two parts that focuses the subjective and objective gaze within private and public spaces. Audience and performers share the stage for a captivating and intimate mobile installation before the second part presents a dynamic landscape of emboldened collective energy. Clinkard’s striking designs, live music by acclaimed composer James Keane and lighting by renowned designer Guy Hoare, ensure that This Bright Field is a site for memorable encounters and an empowered experience of togetherness. Over the last five years, Theo Clinkard has built an international reputation for creating affecting and visually arresting work, including the recent large-scale commission The Listening Room, created in Havana for twenty dancers
at Danza Contemporanea de Cuba and performed at Brighton Dome in March. We are thrilled to welcome Theo Clinkard to the family of Associate Artists here at Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival.
Thu 25 May
Theo Clinkard
‘Clinkard’s choreography has an unforced, unhurried quality… intimate, human-scale and charged with joy’ Observer on Of Land & Tongue Duration 15 minutes (installation) + 40 minutes (performance) Age 14+ May contain nudity Plus post-show discussion (BSL interpreted) This Bright Field is a Dance4 co-production. Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival, Dance4, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, The Lowry and Tramway, with additional support from Greenwich Dance and The Point.
Thu 25 May Part One Book a slot, every 20 minutes between 5pm – 7pm Part Two, 8pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £12.50, £15 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Under 19s £10
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Thu 25 – Sun 28 May
Circa
Depart Co-commissioned by Brighton Festival The exhilarating Australian ensemble Circa returns to thrill Brighton Festival audiences once again, following hits like Beyond in 2015, and How Like an Angel in 2013. Inspired by the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, Depart will take you on a haunting journey through the underworld in the uniquely atmospheric location of Woodvale Cemetery. Taking over the cemetery, circus artists will dance above your head, surprising you with extraordinary feats of physicality as they guide you through the space between life and death in this astonishing visual feast. Led by Yaron Lifschitz with a creative team including electronic musician Lapalux, this ethereal collaboration brings together acrobats, aerialists, choral singers and video artists for an outdoor circus experience that audiences have described as ‘mesmerising’, ‘hauntingly beautiful’ and ‘pure magic’. Age 13+ Duration 75 minutes Co-commissioned with LIFT, the National Centre for Circus Arts, Spitalfields Music, Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and LeftCoast. Supported by Arts Council England.
Thu 25 – Sun 28 May, 8.30pm & 10.15pm Woodvale Cemetery £20, Under 26s £15 Advance booking only
Festival Standby £10 (available on the day in person from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, Church Street from 10am – see p75). This is an outdoor promenade performance. Please wear appropriate footwear and dress for the weather. Wheelchair users may have difficulties. If you have specific access requirements contact access@brightonfestival.org or call 01273 261541/525
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Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
©Tristram Kenton
‘the Australian circus company... may be well on their way to world domination’ Guardian on Beyond
Thu 25 – Sat 27 May
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
The Comedy of Errors
‘Open-air theatre as it should be, and at its very, very best’ BBC I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's most riotous and farcical plays, in which merchants, masters, parents, servants and a long-suffering wife find themselves comically entwined over the course of one hectic day. Bring a picnic and the whole family for this funny, fastpaced production complete with full Elizabethan costume,
music and dance – brought to you by the UK’s premier all-male theatre company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Duration 2 hours 15 minutes (including interval)
Thu 25 May, 6pm Fri 26 May, 1pm & 6pm Sat 27 May, 1pm & 6pm Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) £17.50, Under 19s £10, Festival Standby £10 Family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) £50 Members' first night offer: £15 Relaxed performance: Sat 27 May, 1pm
RP
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
Raja Shehadeh
‘Few Palestinians have opened their minds and their hearts with such frankness.’ New York Times on Palestinian Walks
Raja Shehadeh is Palestine’s leading writer, a lawyer and human-rights activist, and the winner of the 2008 Orwell Prize (for Palestinian Walks). His latest work, Where the Line is Drawn, uses reportage, analysis and memoir to explore the devastating effect of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and ask whether bitter enemies can ever forge a common future. Brave and controversial, he talks to the writer and translator Daniel Hahn about the book and a life in which it has become impossible to escape politics or the past. Thu 25 May, 7.30pm Brighthelm Centre £10
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Thu 25 – Sun 28 May
Vélo Théatre
A Handful of People UK Premiere | Brighton Festival Commission
‘One must not be frightened of happiness, it is just a beautiful moment which passes’ Romain Gary At a time when people all over the world gather together spontaneously to rethink society, and thousands are forced to leave their countries and start walking, aren’t we all just looking for a place to live in peace?
Internationally renowned French company Vélo Théatre (Brighton Festival 2009 – The Rabbit in the Moon and 2015 -– The Frog at the Bottom of the Well..) bring us their latest carefully crafted piece of ‘Object Theatre’. Touring regularly worldwide, its joy in manipulating objects persists, intact and intense. Age 10+
Featuring a beautiful miniature set model with in-built surprises and enriched by audio/visual testimonies of those seeking refuge, Vélo Théatre explore the importance of the little things – the tiny sparks. Enter their world and embark on a journey in pursuit of happiness.
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May Fri 26, 6pm; Sat 27, 11am & 3pm; Sun 28, 11am Brighthelm Centre £12.50, Family Ticket (4 people) £45 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
Yinka Kuitenbrouwer
‘This show is a gem’
One Hundred Homes
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
Broadway Baby êêêêê How do we define what makes a ‘home’? Belgian theatre maker Yinka Kuitenbrouwer visited over 100 people to find out – from newborns to pensioners, natives to immigrants, farmers to squatters. With the help of snapshots, quotes and a plate of biscuits, Yinka recalls her encounters in tellingly encyclopaedic detail in this disarmingly simple and quietly impactful performance. Taking place at The Bevy (the UK’s first communityowned estate pub), One Hundred Homes is a lovingly conceived intimate performance full of warmth and insight that won rave reviews at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe. Age 14+ DRIFT VZW (Belgium) and Richard Jordan Productions (UK), with Theatre Royal Plymouth, Big in Belgium in association with Summerhall. Presented at Brighton Festival in association with Quiet Down There and the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. With support of the Government of Flanders.
Brighton Festival International Programme supported by
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Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 2pm & 7pm The Bevy Community Pub £10
© Jannica Honey
(I Could Go On Singing) Over the Rainbow Stand hand-in-hand with Glasgow-based performance artist FK Alexander and witness others do the same. With live accompaniment from noise band Okishima Island Tourist Association, she sings along to the final recording made by Judy Garland of Over The Rainbow, just four months before her death. Winner of the Total Theatre Award for Emerging Artist at Edinburgh Fringe 2016, this affecting performance is an intimate, visceral experience of undivided attention. It’s a loud but loving noise.
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May
FK Alexander
'Nothing will quite prepare you for the emotional impact and intimacy of this extraordinary piece’ Guardian Fri 26 May, 6pm – 10pm Sat 27 – Sun 28 May, 2pm – 6pm The Spire £15, Under 26s £10, Festival Standby £10 (see p75) This is a four-hour durational performance, audiences are invited to come and go as they please. Supported by Arts Council England The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
Doric String Quartet
and the depth of its interpretation. The ensemble spans the history of the string quartet, from the Classical poise of Haydn (known as ‘the father of the string quartet’) to John Adams’s contemporary wit. Haydn’s Op 64 quartets are intimate pieces with a relaxed tunefulness — a bracing contrast to the rich textures and restless intensity of Brahms’s C minor quartet. John Adams says that his dances were 'alleged' ‘because the steps for them had yet to be invented'. Dry, droll and sardonic in tone, they bring the artform bang up to date.
Haydn String Quartet in C major Op 64 No 1, Hob III:65 Brahms
String Quartet in C minor Op 51 No 1
John Adams Haydn
John’s Book of Alleged Dances (selection) String Quartet in E-flat major Op 64 No 6, Hob III:64
Widely hailed as a leading quartet of its generation, the Doric String Quartet is noted for its fresh approach
‘This is a superb ensemble, intelligent, technically brilliant, wonderfully balanced.’ Times Fri 26 May, 7.30pm All Saints Church £18.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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Fri 26 – Sat 27 May
‘On stage, she seems to lose herself. To watch her is to fall into a trance... artists like Tempest expand our horizons' Matt Trueman, What's On Stage
‘An essential narrator for our time' êêêê Telegraph
A poet, rapper, playwright, and impassioned performer, Kate Tempest is an artist who refuses to conform to genre boundaries. Whether it’s her self-performed epic poem Brand New Ancients (winner of the 2013 Ted Hughes Prize), her electrifying debut novel The Bricks That Built The Houses, or her Mercury Music Prize-nominated album Everybody Down, when you experience her powerful oratory, you’ll know why she is being hailed as the voice of a jilted generation. Hot on the heels of a headline tour in support of second studio album Let Them Eat Chaos, Kate Tempest and her band bring a specially
Jake Arnott in conversation with Mark Lawson
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extended live show to kick off the final weekend of Brighton Festival in fine style. Support comes from Melbourne MC REMI, who, with musical collaborator Sensible J, has become one of the fastest-rising hip-hop acts in Australia. REMI's sophomore LP Divas and Demons was released last year through his own label and included the widely loved single For Good featuring Sampa the Great. Fri 26 May, 8.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Seated £16.50, £18.50; Standing £18.50 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Jake Arnott’s bestselling debut novel The Long Firm was made into a BAFTA-nominated television series. Now he is back with a triumphant new book: in The Fatal Tree he transports the reader to the pungent streets of 1720s London. This is the tale of Edgworth Bess and Jack Sheppard, the Bonnie and Clyde of their day. Arnott masterfully blends fact and fiction in this riveting tale of crime and rough justice, love and treachery. This is a novel that makes Georgian London tangible – and fascinating: a tour de force by one of Britain’s most inventive and exciting novelists.
‘His prose is as smooth as a seersucker suit, as sweet as a purple heart’ Robert MacFarlane, Observer
© Crispin Highes
Sat 27 May, 7.30pm Brighton & Hove High School £10
© Ben Quinton
Kate Tempest & band Plus REMI
with Travis Alabanza + Lasana Shabazz Brighton Festival Exclusive
‘Mykki Blanco is the most compelling rapper of his generation’ i-D
Sat 27 May
Mykki Blanco
Hold tight for an extravaganza of music and performance from pioneering queer artists of colour from both sides of the Atlantic. We’ve teamed up with The Marlborough Theatre to offer a chance to party, show solidarity, and vent some artistically expressed rage against the status quo. US rapper Mykki Blanco will blow your preconceptions away with his fast, ferocious style – as influenced by punk and riot grrrl as hip hop. The performance artist-turnedrapper has toured with Bjork, Tricky and Basement Jaxx, and counts Florence Welch and Grimes amongst his many fans. This past autumn saw the release of the longawaited debut Mykki album, the most personal collection of work yet from the gender-bending queer pioneer. Mykki is joined by two fierce performance artists: Travis Alabanza (currently artist in residence at the Tate), and Lasana Shabazz, a regular performer with Duckie, the V&A and Southbank Centre, who both recently featured in Scottee’s acclaimed Roundhouse show, Putting Words in Your Mouth. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. In partnership with The Marlborough Pub & Theatre.
Sat 27 May, 9pm The Spire £15, Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
The Rap Around Plus don’t miss The Rap Around – a freestyling and rhyme-writing workshop with Mykki and UK hip hop pioneer Dizraeli that will help you unleash your inner MC. Age 16+
Sat 27 May, 4pm The Marlborough Pub & Theatre £5
The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
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Sun 28 May
Kelly Reichardt Season Night Moves (2013, USA, Cert. 15) With: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard Co-written by Kelly Reichardt’s regular collaborator Jonathan Raymond, Night Moves is a compelling, character-driven thriller in which a trio of ecoradicals from Oregon hatch a plan to blow up a local dam that’s damaging the environment. A powerful exercise in brooding tension, this is a gripping gem of a story complemented by starkly beautiful cinematography and a haunting score.
Duration 113 minutes
Sun 28 May 1pm Duke of York’s Picturehouse £11, £10 retired, students
Deborah Frances-White The Guilty Feminist ‘Very funny… pure guiltfree pleasure.’ The Guardian
Comedian Deborah Frances-White records a live episode of her hit podcast The Guilty Feminist, the show in which she explores her noble goals as a 21st century feminist and the hypocrisies and insecurities which undermine them. She is joined by guest co-host Jessica Fostekew and very special guests Rebekah Staton and Sharon Horgan to discuss motherhood and the joys and pressures of being a feminist parent. Sharon Horgan is the star and co-writer of hit sitcoms Pulling and Catastrophe and also co-wrote BBC’s Motherland. Rebekah Staton co-starred in Pulling and created the role of Della Garry, the extraordinary mother in Caitlin Moran’s Raised by Wolves. Jessica Fostekew is a regular host of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s The Comedy Club and Deborah has her own awardwinning BBC Radio 4 series Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice and is the host of comedy panel show Global Pillage. Sun 28 May, 7.30pm Theatre Royal Brighton £15, Festival Standby £10
Hanif Kureishi ‘An extraordinarily gifted creator of characters and a shrewd observer of human folly.’ Time Out One of the UK’s most celebrated novelists discusses his latest work, The Nothing. With characteristic black humour and deftness of touch, the author of seminal works such as The Buddha of Suburbia and Intimacy has produced a tense and captivating exploration of lust, helplessness and deception. In conversation with the author and broadcaster Mark Lawson, he looks back on a visionary career in which he has explored 60
some of the great themes of our day: identity, cultural difference, and religious fundamentalism. Sun 28 May, 7.30pm Brighton and Hove High School £10
Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man Lincoln Portrait John Adams Harmonium Diego Masson conductor Britten Sinfonia Brighton Festival Chorus
Sun 28 May
Britten Sinfonia Brighton Festival Chorus
Words and music intertwine memorably in works by America’s greatest classical composers, as Britten Sinfonia and the mighty Brighton Festival Chorus join forces for a programme inspired by great speeches and poetry. In 1942, shortly after the USA entered WW2, Copland was commissioned to write a work to fortify and comfort people during the time of national distress. The resulting Lincoln Portrait is a stirring setting of extracts from great speeches made by Abraham Lincoln, including the Gettysburg Address. Fanfare for the Common Man was inspired by a speech given in the same year by Vice President Henry A. Wallace. John Adam's Harmonium, harnessing poetry by Donne and Dickinson, is a glittering symphony that, drawing on the full power of a massed chorus, brings the Festival to a resplendent close. Sun 28 May, 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £18.50, £22.50, £27.50, £30 Festival Standby £10 (see p75) Touch Tour 6.15pm (see p71)
Festival Extra
'There are few more thrilling things in British music than Britten Sinfonia' Daily Telegraph poppers and b-boys Just Dance, whose performance includes live Korean drumming; Canadian urban contemporary duo Tentacle Tribe; and Soweto Skeleton Movers, who perform comedic contortionism fused with Pantsula, a style from their native South Africa. Spilling off stage and taking over the whole building, dance workshops, graffiti, DJs, and freestyle sessions make Breakin’ Convention an unforgettable experience for all the family.
International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre
Breakin’ Convention 2017 A Sadler’s Wells Project The world's biggest festival of hip hop dance theatre showcasing the very best from around the world and around the corner returns, curated and hosted by UK hip hop pioneer Jonzi D. This year’s line-up includes South Korean super crew of
‘One of the world’s leading showcases of hip-hop dance and dance theatre ’ Guardian Tue 30 May, 7.30pm & Wed 31 May, 3pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £10, £12.50, £15, £20 Under 26s £10, Under 16s half price Festival Standby £10 (see p75)
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Lunchtimes
Lunchtimes
Our series of daytime concerts featuring classical stars of the future
Timothy Ridout viola with John Reid piano Schumann
Drei Fantasiestücke Op 73
John Hawkins Urizen Brahms
Sonata in E flat Op120 No 2
Last year Timothy Ridout became the first British winner of the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, the latest in a succession of prominent awards
that has placed him at the forefront of today’s violists. He is joined by pianist John Reid, a principal with the acclaimed Aurora Orchestra, for a programme that moves from the full-blown Romanticism of Schumann and Brahms to the starker expressiveness of John Hawkins’s Urizen. In association with Young Classical Artist’s Trust
Mon 8 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Palisander Hannah St Clair Buggs recorder Lydia Gosnell recorder Miriam Nerval recorder Caoimhe de Paor recorder Including works by: Ortiz, Dowland, Holborne, Tallis, Vivaldi, Susato, Rameau, De Cabezon, Vaughan Williams and Franco
Following rave reviews for its appearances at St John’s Smith Square, the recorder quartet Palisander comes to Brighton with a programme inspired by the voyages to the New World by Columbus, Drake and Raleigh. Balancing music from the explorers’ native courts with pieces inspired by the sea, explorations into the
Alke Quartet Mendelssohn String Quartet No 6 in F minor Op 80 Janácek
String Quartet No1, ‘Kreutzer Sonata’
Schubert
Quartet No 13 in A minor D703, ‘Quartettsatz
The dynamic young Alke Quartet has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting chamber music ensembles around today, praised by The Times for its ‘astonishing stylistic and tonal unanimity’. Following
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music of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and works inspired by Anglo–Spanish conflicts, this virtuosic ensemble plays a range of recorders, both Renaissance its Festival debut last year, it makes a welcome return with a programme that ranges from the anguished brilliance of Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 to the power of Schubert’s ‘Quartettsatz’. In between, Janácek’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ is a passionate study of psychological drama inspired by the heroine of a Tolstoy story. Fri 12 May, 1pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10
and Baroque in design. Thu 11 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Michael Foyle violin Raphael Lang cello Maksim Stsura piano Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor Op 50
Founded in 2015, the Vivo Piano Trio has already performed to acclaim at the Evgeny Mravinsky International Festival, St Petersburg, and the Estonia Town Hall, Tallinn. Its members are forging respected solo careers; Foyle and
Tyler Hay piano Tyler Hay piano Chopin
Scherzo No 1 in B minor Op 20
Haydn
Sonata in E-flat major
Liszt
Méphisto Waltz No 1
Variations on Weinen Klagen Sorgen Zagen
The fearless virtuosity of Tyler Hay has propelled him to the top of his class: last year he won the Gold Medal at the Royal Northern College of Music,
Glyndebourne’s Jerwood Young Artists This special lunchtime concert is presented by members of this year’s Jerwood Young Artists. Selected from the acclaimed Glyndebourne chorus, the singers will perform a recital programme including operatic excerpts from across the repertoire.
Vickers Bovey Guitar Duo Julian Vickers guitar Daniel Bovey guitar Scarlatti Sonata K141 (Toccata) Giuliani Grandi Variazioni Concertante Dodgson
Pastourelle
Sérgio Assad
Jobiniana No 1
Nikita Koshkin Concertino Piazzolla
Tango Suite
Lunchtimes
Vivo Piano Trio
Stsura appeared at least year’s Brighton Festival as a duo. The Trio performs one of the masterpieces of the trio repertoire: Tchaikovsky’s mighty Piano Trio builds from introspection to ecstasy in music that is profound, brooding, lyrical and uplifting by turns. Mon 15th May, 1pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10
where he recently completed his studies, and he has already made his Wigmore Hall debut. His dazzling technique is brilliantly harnessed in a programme in which Haydn’s last and greatest piano sonata is flanked by Chopin’s dramatic and fiendishly complicated Scherzo No 1 and two contrasting works by Liszt. In association with the Royal Overseas League
In association with The Worshipful Company of Musicians
Wed 17 May, 1pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10
As part of Glyndebourne’s commitment to supporting the development of young singers, the international opera company has been working with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation for several years to provide innovative training and performance opportunities. Fri 19 May, 1pm Theatre Royal Brighton £10 Julian Vickers and Daniel Bovey combine a natural affinity for the established guitar masterworks with a love of new and contemporary music; their programme for this concert ranges from the exquisite intricacies of Scarlatti to the sensuous sweep of the tango and the eloquence of newer works.
Mon 22 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
In association with The Tillett Trust
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Lunchtimes
Kaleidoscope Saxophone Quartet Including works by: Grieg, Piazzolla, Barbara Thompson, Michael Torke and Dvorák.
A feast of melody and evocative soundscapes arranged for the moody musicality of the saxophone, this programme is the perfect vehicle for the verve and virtuosity of the Kaleidoscope Saxophone
Pelléas Ensemble Henry Roberts flute Luba Tunnicliffe viola Oliver Wass harp Dubois
Terzettino
Debussy
Syrinx L. 129
Bennett
Sonata after Syrinx (selection)
Rameau
Pièces de clavecin en concerts
Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
In the six years since it was founded, the Pelléas Ensemble has garnered awards and acclaim not only for its superlative playing but for its imaginative programmes
Quartet. Equally at home with the classical and the contemporary, this exciting young ensemble brings unexpected colours and insights to a wide range of works. From the lyricism of Dvorák and Grieg to the toe-tapping rhythms of Piazzolla’s tango and Barbara Thompson’s jazz-infused quartet. In association with The Worshipful Company of Musicians
and the immediacy with which it communicates to audiences. Winners of The Tillett Trusts 2016 Young Artist’s Competition and the Grand and Audiences prizes at the 2016 St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition, the trio performs French music spanning 200 years alongside a piece by the late Richard Rodney Bennett inspired by Debussy’s pivotal work for solo flute. In association with The Tillett Trust
Thu 25 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Fri 26 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Jazz Lunchtimes
Yussef Kamaal
Yussef Kamaal’s music is shaped by the sound of London. The hum of jungle, grime and broken beats from bassy pirate radio broadcasts has shaped their self-taught approach to playing jazz. The pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams, have had little in the way of formal training. Instead, their sound is indebted to
Thelonious Monk’s piano as much as the drum programming of Kaidi Tatham, as heard on their debut album Black Focus. ‘It’s all about the
Dinosaur
Jurd, Dinosaur released their debut album Together, As One last year to widespread critical acclaim: The Guardian praised its ‘impressionistic electric-jazz moodiness seamlessly wrapped around Celtic folk melodies’ whilst All About Jazz hailed the album ‘as one of the best debut albums for years’. Definitely one to watch.
‘Beautifully played and effortlessly confident' Guardian êêêêê Described as a new British jazz supergroup, Dinosaur is one of the most creative ensembles to have emerged in recent years. Led by trumpeter, composer and BBC New Generation artist Laura
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drums and the keys,’ Williams says. Sat 20 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Sat 27 May, 1pm St Nicholas Church £10
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
Our annual celebration of words and pictures for young people
The YA Panel Optimism for Difficult Times How do you write about tough subjects with honesty, hope and humour? Sharing their experiences and offering tips for budding writers are: Alex Wheatle, winner of the 2016 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for Crongton Knights, a hard-hitting novel set on a estate plagued by knife crime; Brightonborn Patrice Lawrence, whose
urban thriller Orangeboy was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Book Award; Non Pratt, a ‘writer to watch’ (Guardian) whose novels include Trouble, Remix and Truth or Dare; and Queen of Teen 2014 Juno Dawson, author of 6 YA novels and a bestselling non-fiction guide to life for young LGBT people, This Book is Gay.
Who Let the Gods Out: The Show Maz Evans Come and make some mythological mayhem in this epic family show. Inspired by the world of Who Let the Gods Out?, its author Maz Evans presents an Olympic serving of Greek mythology – as you’ve
Adventures with Dylan! Guy Parker-Rees Come on an adventure with Dylan the stripy dog and meet his creator, best-selling illustrator Guy Parker-Rees. He will introduce you to Dylan's world and his friends
26 Letters
26 Letters
Age 12+
Fri 12 May, 6pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7 never seen it before. Are you a Mastermind like Athene? A God of Fashion like Hermes? Or a romantic rascal like Zeus? And are you heroic enough to beat Maz’s Mythological Mallet? Age 8+
Sat 13 May, 10.30am Sallis Benney Theatre £7
through stories, drawing and lots of fun. Guy will also read from his latest book Be Brave Little Penguin, which sees him team up once again with the author of the bestselling Giraffes Can't Dance. Age 4 – 7
Sat 13 May, 12.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7
The Bolds by Julian Clary and David Roberts The Bolds can get a bit wild and love to laugh. Why? Because despite their impeccably human lifestyle in suburban Teddington, they’re hyenas with a nose for trouble and a hankering to help. Created by one of the UK’s bestloved entertainers, Julian Clary,
and the award-winning illustrator David Roberts, The Bolds is a series of tales packed with fun, adventure and laughter. Julian reads two stories, The Bolds On Holiday and The Bolds to the Rescue, while David draws live in this hilarious and creative event. Age 7+
Sat 13 May, 3pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7
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26 Letters
The Odyssey
told by Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton
The story of Odysseus’ ten-year journey from Troy is a terrific adventure story shot through with moments of insight, humour and horror. This gripping performance by two of Britain’s leading storytellers is suitable for adults and young people over twelve. Age 12+ Duration 2 hours
Sat 13th May, 6pm Sallis Benney Theatre £10
'The nation's most celebrated storytelling duo in a performance that is serious, moving and vital' Times
Beetle Mania with M.G. Leonard Did you know the rhinoceros beetle can lift over 800 times its own body weight? That the bombardier beetle can shoot acid out of its own bottom? And that some people actually EAT bugs – which might just help save the planet?
Find out about these awesome beetles and more in a bug-tastic event with M.G. Leonard, author of the bestselling Beetle Boy and its sequel Beetle Queen. This promises to be an hour packed full with fun, facts and – of course – beetles! Age 8+
Sun 14 May, 12.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7
Andy Riley Join writer and cartoonist Andy Riley for an event filled with evil laughs, striding music, and royally good drawing… Andy is the Emmy Award-winning writer of the hit film Gnomeo and Juliet and adaptations of David Walliams’s Gangsta Granny and The Boy in the Dress. Don your crowns to explore his King
Patrick Ness Just one of a handful of writers to have won the Carnegie Medal on two occasions, Patrick Ness is the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls. Meet the writer in conversation with author, columnist and activist Juno Dawson (Mind your Head, All of the Above) about his hotly anticipated new book for young
adults, Release. An honest, raw and compelling tale taking place over a single life-altering day, dubbed Judy Bloom meets Mrs Dalloway, Release is a book that celebrates us all for surviving the battlefield of our teenage years Age 14+
Sun 14 May, 2.30pm Sallis Benney Theatre £7
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
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Flashypants books, including a chocolate-obsessed child hero and a villain who comes with his very own marching band. Then challenge Andy to draw anything at all, before taking part in a spine-tingling evil laughing contest. Age 6+
Sun 14 May, 10.30am Sallis Benney Theatre £7
It's amazing how often food finds its way into Nick's picture books. In this food-themed spectacular (with the odd shark thrown in), the much-loved illustrator shares tasty favourites and stories that
are new on the menu. You'll also meet the cake-loving characters from his very first chapter book, The Cat and the King. Bring paper, drawing things, and something to rest on if you want to draw along. Age 5 – 8
Mon 15 May, 5.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £7.50
Translation Workshop What it’s like to be a book translator? In this workshop, led by Maria Kozlovskaya Wiltshire, you’ll have fun translating from Russian, even if you don't know a single word! No knowledge of
Writing workshop with Candy Gourlay Planning Your Hero's Journey The Hero's Journey is a pattern found in all the best narratives – you can find it in many books and popular cinema. Candy
26 Letters
Nick Sharratt Sausages, Spaghetti and Sharks in Parks
outlines the steps of the Hero's Journey using examples from Pixar and Star Wars, then leads you to create your own story,
a foreign language is required: all you need is a love of books, a desire to improve your creative writing skills, and a willingness to trying something new. Age 8+ Sun 21 May, 11.30am Brighton Dome Founders Room £7 using comic book techniques. Candy Gourlay grew up in the Philippines and her novels for young people have been nominated for the UK's top children's book prizes such as the Carnegie, the Guardian Prize and the Blue Peter Award. Age: 11 – 15 Duration 2 Hours
Sun 21 May, 2.30pm Founders Room £12
Young City Reads 2017 Young story-lovers, get ready to enjoy another thrilling book this year. You are invited to read and discuss A.F. Harrold’s Fizzlebert Stump The Boy Who Ran Away from the Circus (and Joined the Library) – the story of a boy, a book, some very bad people, some very brave deeds, and the importance of rubber teeth for lions. This city-wide 'big read', brought to you by Collected Works CIC, is designed to spread a love of books to the widest possible audience of young readers throughout Brighton & Hove.
Young City Reads Big Eventt A.F. Harrold and illustrator Sarah Horne take centre stage for a live and interactive talk. Produced by Collected Works CIC
Age 7 – 12
Tue 23 May, 1.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall £3 Teachers who would like to sign up their class for the 'big read' please visit collectedworks.co.uk/ young-city-reads
Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
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26 Letters
Mango and Bambang Polly Faber & Clara Vulliamy As Clara draws, Polly reads the enchanting story of a little girl called Mango and her pet tapir Bambang. Hear all about their wild adventures, listen to
Chris Haughton
Dare to Write with Siobhan Curham Many people dream of writing but it can be hard to know where to start. In this inspirational workshop, author and coach Siobhan Curham gives you the tools to achieve your writing dreams. Drawing on her own personal experiences and sharing
Adopt an Author
tapir music, draw your very own Bambang, and maybe even have a go at flamenco dancing in this interactive event. Age 6 – 8
Sat 27 May, 11am Edward Street Lecture Theatre, University of Brighton £7 Acclaimed author and illustrator of A Bit Lost, Oh No George! and Shh! We Have a Plan Chris Haughton brings you an actionpacked interactive event. Full of stories, fun animation, clever props, dancing and drawing
games, children and adults alike will delight in meeting a cast of quirky characters! Age 3+
Sat 27 May, 1pm Edward Street Lecture Theatre, University of Brighton £7
some of the techniques used by the characters in her novel, The Moonlight Dreamers, Siobhan will dare you to dream big when it comes to your writing. Age 11 – 15
Sat 27 May, 3pm Edward Street Lecture Theatre, University of Brighton £7 An exciting schools initiative which links classes with children’s authors to promote literacy, encourage writing and develop creativity. After 8 weeks of fun email discussions with their adopted author, classes attend a 'Meet your Author' party during the Festival. This year local primary schools Carden, Goldstone, Mile
Oak and St Luke's are adopting Guy Bass, Rob Lloyd Jones, Ross Montgomery and Ali Sparkes. To follow their experience visit adoptanauthor.wordpress.com If your school would like to take part in 2018 please contact: sarah@collectedworks.co.uk Produced by Collected Works CIC Supported by The Lynn Foundation and Mrs A Lacy-Tate Trust
Peacock Poetry Prize Calling all young people aged 8 -19! Unleash your creativity and submit a poem or three to our annual poetry competition. This year’s theme is our Guest Director Kate Tempest’s choice of Everyday Epic. From a pebbled beach to a stranger’s smile, from a sporting milestone to a quiet read, we invite you to reflect on the small observations and achievements of our daily lives. Finalists and their friends and relatives are invited to a prize giving reception in Central Brighton. This year we are also delighted to be presenting some of the winning poems in Preston Park and Queens Park as part of a Poems in the Park trail. In partnership with Brighton & Hove 6th Form College (BHASVIC) and Brighton and Hove environmental education (Bhee) Brighton Festival Family Programme supported by
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Email your entry, stating full name, age, date of birth to peacock@brightonfestival.org Category age groups: 8 – 10, 11 – 13, 14 – 16, 17 – 19 Deadline for entries: Mon 3 Apr, 5pm Prize giving ceremony: Thu 25 May, 5pm
8 Apr – 8 Oct
brightonmuseums.org.uk
John Constable stayed in Brighton 1824-1828, when Constable repeatedly walked along the coast and up onto the Downs. Constable and Brighton follows his walking and painting sequences as he explored the local landscape. The exhibition explores the impact and influence of the work he made here, and brings the sketches, drawings and paintings he created back to Brighton for the first time. Image: John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837), Seascape Study: Boat and Stormy Sky, ca. 1824-1828
Artists Open Houses weekends
© Martina Bellotto
Sat 6 – Sun 28 May
aoh.org.uk
Visiting local artists in their homes and studios is an unmissable part of the festival season. Over four weekends in May, artists open their doors to offer work from over 1,000 artists exhibiting in 200 venues across the city, out to Ditchling, Lewes and beyond. Artists work in media ranging from painting, photography and sculpture to ceramics, textiles and jewellery. With homemade tea and cake on offer too, the Artists Open Houses are a very special weekend treat.
© Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: John Hammond
Alongside Brighton Festival
Constable and Brighton
Brighton Fringe 5 May – 4 Jun 2017
brightonfringe.org
This vast celebration of all things creative, and the largest fringe festival in the world, consists of nearly one thousand events and performances across a dizzying array of art forms. Start your Brighton Fringe with a trip to one of two Fringe City sites this year: every Saturday and Sunday at New Road, and every Thursday and Friday evening at Bartholomew Square in association with Sweet Venues.
The Great Escape Thu 18 – Sat 20 May
g reatescapefestival.com
The festival for new music returns to Brighton for its 12th edition, bringing with it 450 of the most exciting up and coming artists of 2017, and featuring Rag’n’Bone Man as the spotlight artist of TGE at Brighton Festival. Line up also includes Goat Girl, Cabbage, Drones Club, Ray BLK and many more.
Charleston Festival Fri 19 – Mon 29 May
charleston.org.uk/festivals
Where books, ideas and creativity bloom The Charleston Festival presents a programme to delight and stimulate with topics such as Russian Revolution, modern politics, human rights, science and the arts. Including an array of mind-expanding writers, thinkers and entertainers such as Vanessa Redgrave, Harriet Harman, Philippe Sands, Elif Shafak, Colm Tóibín, Ann Patchett, Deborah Levy; David Olusoga; William Dalrymple; Elizabeth Strout; Sarah Perry; Helen Macdonald.
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Venues
Designing our Future While Brighton Dome Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre are undergoing an exciting refurbishment, our Ticket Office can now be found at the Church Street entrance. These building works, which will reveal and restore long-lost heritage features as well as provide new state-of-the-art facilities, are the first phase of an overarching development of the Royal Pavilion Estate. During this time of change, Brighton Dome Concert Hall remains open for business but you will also find us popping up in a host of new partner venues across the city.
Leadership Support
To find out more about the renovations taking place at Brighton Dome visit brightondome.org/ourfuture
Venues Brighton Dome
Concert Hall Founders Room
Church Street, BN1 1UE Access info: 01273 261525 / 261541 brightondome.org
Glyndebourne Near Lewes East Sussex, BN8 5UU Wheelchair access – foyer circle level only
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts University of Sussex, Falmer, BN1 9RA
Duke's at Komedia 44 Gardner Street, BN1 1UN Theatre Royal Brighton New Road, BN1 1SD
Brighton and Hove High School Senior Hall Montpelier Road, BN1 3AT Brighton Open Air Theatre Dyke Road Park, Dyke Road BN3 6EH Duke of York’s Picturehouse Preston Road, BN1 4NA East Brighton Park Wilson Avenue, BN2 5TS
Nearest accessible toilet: Whitehawk Library
Easthill Park Easthill Way, Portslade, BN41 2FA Shoreham Harbour Sussex Yacht Club
85/89 Brighton Road, Shoreham-by-Sea BN43 6RA The Spire St Mark’s Chapel, Eastern Road, BN2 5JN The Spire Programme supported by GM Building
The New Steine St James's Street, BN2 1PB All Saints Church The Drive, Hove BN3 3QE
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Woodvale Cemetery Lewes Road, BN2 3QB
Brighthelm Centre North Road, BN1 1YD
Bevy Community Pub 50 Hillside, BN2 4TF
Edward Street Lecture Theatre, University of Brighton 154–155 Edward Street BN2 0JG
Fabrica 40 Duke Street, BN1 1AG
Grand Hotel, Consort Suite 97-99 King's Road, BN1 2FW The Old Market Upper Market Street, Hove, BN3 1AS
St. Nicholas Church Church Street, BN1 3LJ
Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft Lodge Hill Lane, Ditchling, BN6 8SP
Sallis Benney Theatre 58–67 Grand Parade BN2 OJY University of Brighton Gallery 58–67 Grand Parade BN2 OJY
ONCA Gallery 14 St George’s Place BN1 4GB Lighthouse 28 Kensington Street, BN1 4AJ For accesss info, email access@brightonfestival.org The Beach, Doughnut Groyne (East Street Groyne) 250 King's Road, BN1 1NB 114 Church Street BN1 1UD
Accessibility at Brighton Festival supported by
British Sign Language Interpreted
Audio Description Live commentary interspersed with the actors’ dialogue via a discreet headset. Please request this service when booking.
Please confirm when booking if you require this service, so that we can reserve you an appropriate seat.
Plan B for Utopia (p21) Sun 7 May, 7.30pm
Summit (p21) Mon 8 & Tue 9 May, 8pm (Integrated BSL)
Highly Visual Performances
The Preston Bill (p26) Wed 10 May, 8pm (Integrated BSL) Democracy Debate (p32) Sat 13 May, 7.30pm
The following performances are highly visual with few or no words: For the Birds (p.8) Sat 6 – Sun 28 May
Without Walls Weekend (p7) Sun 14 May, 12pm – 5pm
The Life Rooms (p12) Sat 6 – Sat 27 May
Now You See It (p34) Sun 14 May, 7.30pm (BSL interpreted post show discussion)
Nest (p17) Sun 7 & Mon 8 May 10am, 11.15am, 12.30pm, 2pm
Tales of Birbal (p42) Sat 20 May, 2.30pm
Plan B for Utopia (p21) Sun 7 & Mon 8 May, 7.30pm
This Bright Field (p53) Thu 25 May (BSL interpreted post show discussion)
Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore (p22) Mon 8 & Tue 9 May, 2.30pm, 4.30pm & 6.30pm
Touch Tours
Swan Lake (p24) Tue 9 & Wed 10 May, 8pm
These events allow blind and visually impaired audiences to visit the set and feel the props ahead of the performance. Touch tours are free but must be accompanied with a ticket for the show.
Driftwood (p27) Thu 11 – Sun 14 May Now You See It (p34) Sun 14 May, 7.30pm SPECTRA: CAST (p31) Sat 13 – Sun 14 May 12pm – 5pm
Plan B for Utopia (p21) Sun 7 May, 5.30pm
milonga (p39) Thu 18 & Fri 19 May, 7.30pm
Britten Sinfonia (p61) Sun 28 May, 6.15pm
This Bright Field (p53) Thu 25 May
Relaxed Performance
Access
Assisted Performances & Events
RP
Open to everyone, these performances welcome audiences with an Autistic Spectrum Condition or a learning disability. There is a relaxed attitude to noise and moving around, and there may be small changes to light and sound effects. Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore (p22) Tues 9 May, 2.30pm
Depart (p54) Thu 25 – Sun 28 May, 8.30pm & 10.15pm
Get In Touch To book tickets for all these events please call our ticket office on 01273 709709 or email tickets@brightondome.org
If I Could I Would (p30) Fri 12 May, 7.00pm
If you have a specific access enquiry please feel free to get in touch. You can call us on 01273 261541/525 or email access@brightonfestival.org
Driftwood (p27) Sat 13 May, 2pm
For more information: brightonfestival.org/access
The Comedy of Errors (p55) Sat 27 May, 1.00pm
Large print & audio brochure available on request 71
Events at a glance
Outdoor
Gary Younge with Colin Grant (p46) Jenni Murray and Helen Lewis (p48)
Children’s Parade (p14)
Petina Gappah (p49)
The Hum (p13)
Tariq Ali (p52)
Apple and Snakes In Their Shoes – Poem Trail (p18)
Raja Shehadeh (p55)
For the Birds (p8)
Jake Arnott & Mark Lawson (p58)
Five Short Blasts: Shoreham (p11)
Hanif Kureishi (p60)
Walter & Zoniel SPECTRA: CAST (p31) Your Place (p6) Weekend Without Walls (p7) The Unfair (p40) The Lord Chamberlain’s Men The Comedy of Errors (p55) nabokov Storytelling Army (p6)
Spoken Word Apples and Snakes In Their Shoes with Patience Agbabi, Dizraeli & Tommy Sissons (p18) Kat Francois Raising Lazarus (p23) Daniel Morden & Hugh Lupton The Odyssey (p66) Luke Wright The Toll (p40) An Evening with Picador Poetry – Glyn Maxwell, Lorraine Mariner, Hollie McNish, Richard Osmond & Kate Tempest (p41)
Contemporary Music Kate Tempest Opening Gig (p16) Hot 8 Brass Band (p16) Mica Levi Under The Skin with Live Orchestra (p19) Kate Tempest with Mica Levi & Orchestrate (p28) Ocean Wisdom, The Four Owls & Jam Baxter (p29) Shirley Collins Lodestar Live (p35) The Furrow Collective and Anna & Elizabeth (p36) Meow Meow Souvenir (p43) FK Alexander (I Could Go On Singing) Over the Rainbow (p57) Kate Tempest & band + REMI (p58) Mykki Blanco (p59)
Theatre
Bang Said The Gun with Dan Cockrill, Martin Galton, Laurie Bolger & Rob Auton (p46)
Andy Smith & Fuel Summit (p21)
Lyrix Organix (p50)
Andy Smith & Fuel Preston Bill (p26)
Books & Debate Emma Cline The Girls (p15) BSMS Conversation HIV: Is Victory in Sight? (p17) George Monbiot and Ewan McLennan Breaking the Spell of Loneliness (p18) Eimear McBride introduces Megan Bradbury (p20) Tessa Ross In Conversation (p22) Polly Toynbee and David Walker (p23) Ali Smith (p25) Billy Bragg with Alexis Petridis (p26) Xiaolu Guo (p30)
Tamara Saulwick Endings (p25) nabokov Box Clever (p31) Dom Coyote & The Bloodmoneys Songs for the End of the World (p37) Penned in the Margins No Dogs, No Indians (p38) The Public Theater The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family (p44) Papertale & Half Moon Boys Don’t (p48) Kneehigh Tristan & Yseult (p51) Vélo Théatre A Handful of People (p56) Yinka Kuitenbrouwer One Hundred Homes (p56)
Dance
Democracy Debate What Comes Next? (p32)
Joan Clevillé Dance Plan B for Utopia (p21)
City Reads 2017: Sharon Duggal (p33)
Vincent Dance Theatre Virgin Territory (p23)
The Story Collider (p34)
Teac Damsa Swan Lake / Loch na hEala (p24)
Jackie Kay introduces Zaffar Kunial (p37)
Probe Now You See It (p34)
Helen Oyeyemi (p46)
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui milonga (p39) The Hiccup Project "It’s okay, I’m dealing with it" (p52)
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Theo Clinkard This Bright Field (p53) Breakin’ Convention (p61)
Circus Casus Circus Driftwood (p27) Mimbre If I Could I Would (p30) Circa Depart (p54)
Classical Music Chineke! Orchestra (p15) I Fagiolini Monteverdi: The Other Vespers (p20) Sarah Connolly (p29) London Symphony Orchestra (p32) Paul Lewis (p33) Brighton Youth Orchestra (p34) Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu (p36) Brighton Festival Youth Choir (p40) Belem (p42) Les Talens Lyriques with Christophe Rousset (p47) The Big Song (p49) Doric String Quartet (p57) Britten Sinfonia and Brighton Festival Chorus (p61)
Lunchtimes Timothy Ridout (p62) Palisander (p62) Alke Quartet (p62) Vivo Piano Trio (p63) Tyler Hay (p63) Glyndebourne’s Jerwood Young Artists (p63) Vickers Bovey Guitar Duo (p63) Kaleidoscope Saxophone Quartet (p64) Pelléas Ensemble (p64) Yussef Kamaal (p64) Dinosaur (p64)
Comedy Jeremy Hardy (p38) Rich Hall’s Hoedown (p49) Adam Buxton’s BUG David Bowie Special (p49) Deborah Frances-White The Guilty Feminist (p60)
Art & Film Ipek Duben They/Onlar (p10) Cathie Pilkington The Life Rooms (p12) Cathie Pilkington Doll For Petra (p13) Lynette Wallworth Collisions (p14) Kelly Reichardt River of Grass (p17) Mica Levi Under The Skin with Live Orchestra (p19) Kelly Reichardt Old Joy (p25) David Lynch The Art Life (p26) Wrangler and Francesca & Mica Levi The Unfilmables (p35)
Events at a glance
The Hiccup Project May-We-Go-Round? (p52)
Kelly Reichardt Wendy and Lucy (p37) Kelly Reichardt Meek’s Cutoff (p47) Eddie Otchere The Bright Room (p50) Kelly Reichardt Night Moves (p60)
Children & Family Anna Beecher & Rachel Lincoln NEST (p17) The Unicorn Theatre Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore (p22) BAFTA Kids (p30) Weekend Without Walls (p7) Mashi Theatre Tales of Birbal (p42)
26 Letters The YA Panel Optimism for Difficult Times (p65) Maz Evans Who Let the Gods Out (p65) Guy Parker-Rees Adventures with Dylan! (p65) Julian Clary and David Roberts The Bolds (p65) Daniel Morden & Hugh Lupton The Odyssey (p66) M.G. Leonard Beetle Mania (p66) Andy Riley King Flashypants (p66) Patrick Ness Release (p66) Nick Sharratt Sausages, Spaghetti and Sharks in Parks (p67) Maria Kozlovskaya Wiltshire Translation Workshop (p67) Candy Gourlay Writing Workshop (p67) Young City Reads Big Event with A. F. Arnold and Sarah Home (p67) Polly Faber & Clara Vulliamy Mango and Bambang (p68) Chris Haughton (p68) Siobhan Curham Dare to Write (p68)
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Join us and support our work in the city Joining our membership scheme is a great way to stay involved all year round. Support from our Members also helps us to continue with a huge variety of community-led projects such as the annual Children’s Parade, and to engage and inspire new audiences.
Bronze Membership starts from just £30 a year. To find out more contact Victoria on 01273 260827 or visit brightonfestival.org/membership
All of our membership levels come with a range of benefits including priority booking on all Brighton Festival events, selected Brighton Dome events, and no per-order fees on ticket bookings. We even offer our Members backstage access to the work we present, with invitations to behind-the-scenes rehearsals.
Look out for Members’ offers on top price tickets throughout these pages, available on first night performances wherever you see this icon: Image: Driftwood Thu 11 – Sun 14 May (see p27)
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Brighton Festival Ticket Office supported and co-designed by
brightonfestival.org 01273 709709
£10 Festival Standby - subject to availability Book best available seats in person from the venue just before the show on many events. Festival Standbys are only available to under 26s, over 60s, JSA/IS, registered disabled/DLA or IB, Equity/BECTU/ SDUK, Members, Brighton Festival artists and those with Pay-It-Forward vouchers. For Depart and For the Birds these tickets are bookable in person from 10am on the day of the performance and for Five Short Blasts, from 10am the day before. Festival Standbys can be booked in person and online in advance with Pay-It-Forward Vouchers.
Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival Ticket Office East Gate, Church Street, Brighton BN1 1UE Mon – Sat, 10am – 5pm (6pm on performance days at Brighton Dome until Fri 5 May)
Members' First Night Offers
Mon – Sun, 10am – 7pm (Sat 6 – Sun 28 May)
There are 27 free events and over 100 performances and events with tickets for £10 or less to help you see more of this year's Brighton Festival programme.
Public booking opens: Fri 24 Feb, 9am There is a £2 per order charge for all phone and online bookings (not applicable to Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival members). Plus: 50p standard post, £1.50 signed for mail. If collecting tickets, please bring the same card used to purchase online or by phone. For standing events, tickets can only be posted out by signed-for mail.
Pay-It-Forward This year we’re asking you to join the Pay-It-Forward movement and help more people experience Brighton Festival. Pay an extra £5 when you book your tickets and we’ll match it to give a £10 Pay-It-Forward Festival Ticket Voucher to someone unable to afford the opportunity. Vouchers will be distributed at Your Place (p6), local schools and our partner organisations. For more information visit brightonfestival.org/your_visit
See more for less Multi-buy Offer Buy tickets for six different Brighton Festival events and we’ll give you the cheapest free. Terms & conditions: One transaction, through the Ticket Office only. Not available online. Only tickets for different events are valid (i.e. not six tickets for the same event). The number of free sixth tickets tallies with the equivalent number of paid tickets in your transaction (i.e. you get two free if two tickets are bought for each of the other five events).
Groups Groups of 10+ save 10% and groups of 20+ save 20% on all events
Look out for Members’ offers on top price tickets. Available on first night performances wherever you see this icon.
Free and £10 or less
Food & Drink Throughout the Festival, Brighton Dome’s Café-bar will be open Tue to Sun 11am – 4pm (except Sat 20 May) serving a selection of delicious cakes, snacks and speciality coffees. You can also enjoy the café and bars for evening performances in the Concert Hall, from when the doors open until the end of the interval. Members receive a 20% discount.
Booking Information
Book your tickets
See the show, buy the book Independent book shop The Book Nook will be on hand selling titles at most of our Books and Debates and 26 Letters events.
Meet the artists For your chance to interact with our Brighton Festival artists and companies, look out for pre and post show details across the event pages. Admission is free to performance ticket-holders, unless otherwise stated.
Festival volunteers Help make England’s biggest annual mixed arts festival happen and join our invaluable team of volunteers. Email volunteers@brightonfestival.org to find out how you can be part of this year’s 50th Brighton Festival.
Programming partners
Dance Consortium | South East Dance | nabokov same sky dream & build
Brochure correct at time of going to press. Brighton Festival reserves the right to alter the programme without prior notice if necessary. Full terms and conditions available at brightonfestival.org Brighton Festival would like to thank all the artists, partners, venues, sponsors and individual supporters,
and the entire team of staff and volunteers at Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival. Brighton Festival is produced and promoted by Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd. Registered Charity number 249748. 12a Pavilion Buildings, Castle Square, Brighton BN1 1EE
Brighton Festival Chief Executive Andrew Comben andrew.comben@brightonfestival.org Brighton Festival Programmers Beth Burgess, Tim Brown, Sally Cowling, Danni Colgan, Hilary Cooke, Rosie Crane, Rob Jones,Gill Kay, Alice O’Keeffe, Tanya Peters, Pippa Smith
Brochure concept/cover Johnson Banks johnsonbanks.co.uk Illustration Adam Sage claretandblack.com Brochure design Jordan Uwins Brochure editor Lucy Brooks Copywriting Oliver Tims & Rasheed Rahman
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brightonfestival.org 01273 709709 brightonfestival brightfest brightonfestival #brightonfestival
‘I believe that art is social. It should be a part of life. No big deal – just life itself.’
Free Events Art & Film
Kate Tempest
Contemporary Music Comedy
Books & Debate Children & Family Circus Classical
Dance Outdoor Spoken Word Theatre Lunchtimes 26 Letters Assisted Performances