Brighton Festival Fringe

The Brighton Festival Fringe is one of Brighton’s best selling points: Britain’s second biggest Fringe Festival, and the third largest in the world, Brighton attracts all kind of mad theatre and comedy performers for this one month, where the entire town is transformed into the theatrical Mecca it claims to be all year round. Street theatre, rooms above pubs showing little pieces, that sort of thing: it’s nothing on the madness of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but manages to beat it with experimentalism, Where Edinburgh is actually a place to showcase amazing ability, Brighton steers more towards temporary madness: exciting, out there, bizarre events that have to be seen to be believed!
In comparison to the main Festival, the Fringe’s prices are more than reasonable, often between £5 and £10 for a night that could offer anything from stand-​up to a full-​length theatre piece to outdoor Shakespeare to dance-​comedy… I could keep going: I’ve been reviewing the Fringe for years, and there’s always something mad to dip your toe into. The free programmes can be found around town from March onwards, and list every single show: pick one up and see if you can find the courage to go: it’ll either be one of the maddest and most exciting nights of your life, or an unmitigated disaster! Give it a try.

Running alongside the official Brighton festival, the Brighton Fringe festival is much more edgy, less othrodox and just as integral to expressing the city character — if not more. A quirky collection of street theatre, art installations, comedians, burlesque, indie music and generally anything celebrating the arts, the Fringe festival is my favourite time of the year in Brighton. Running as usual from May 1^st — 23^rd.

The Fringe has been going almost as long as the actual Brighton Festival and it runs along side it for three spectacular weeks in May. If you have the money and space, you can be a part of the Fringe. This gives huge freedom and an eclectic range of different shows, but as there is no quality control they really could go either way. I haven’t seen anything as obscure and linear as a man throwing shoes at a wall but the amateur stand up comedy can be quite awful sometimes.

Whilst the main Brighton Festival tends to involve more high brow and mainstream theatre, dance, music and literature events, Brighton Festival Fringe offers a platform for aspiring and underground artists and madhatters.
As my fellow Unilocalers photos show, there’s always a fun circus /​performance element to the fringe with free events involving stilt walkers, jugglers, flame-​throwers and live performers. The real body of the fringe however, involves local and national comedians, performance artists, film-​makers, theatre companies, artists and photographers putting on their own shows and exhibitions in venues right across the city. Most of the events are cheap as chips so it’s well worth taking a risk and going to see a handful of different events.
Pick up a free brochure around the city in the weeks running upto the festival or check the website for further details and teaser trailers. What have you got to lose?

Brighton Festival Fringe is a fantastic yearly festival, with hundreds of events getting all of Brighton involved and giving exposure to lesser known talents. This factor, accompanied with events for only a few bob, makes it in many ways better than the main Brighton Festival.
Last year the Unitarian Church put on one or two events every day, ranging from Last Five Years by Sussex Uni Postgraduate students, to a children’s musical of Alice in Wonderland (accompanied by some old black and white video footage of a little known old film version). The Quadrant also gets very involved, with comedy acts for under a fiver every night last year. The streets are also alive with street performers, bands and stalls around the South Lanes, North Laine and Jubilee Square, as well as the Spiegel Tent in the Old Steine. Any one can get involved (although with this inevitably comes the hit n miss element to many events, such as one self-​indulgent comedy/​ranting night I attended at the then Joogleberry Playhouse) — if you are an aspiring musician/​actor/​writer/​whatever this is a great opportunity to get yourself seen. You’ll find events as varied as dance classes, food workshops, exercise classes, jewellery making, club nights, creative writing workshops, artist’s open houses and ghost tours… It’s almost impossible not to get involved!

Brighton Festival Fringe has, as the name suggests, grown out of the Brighton Festival. It is an open access Arts festival, which brings together all sorts of events, including theatre, visual art, dance and comedy, to create a month long cultural extravaganza of fun! The intent is to entertain but also to educate audiences through varied and exciting art.
What’s great about Brighton Fringe is that its open to new and emerging talent as well as established performers and companies. This inclusive policy means that all sorts of people stage events and the Fringe festival continues to grow annually. As well as more traditional art forms, the festival also includes innovative new music as well as cinema, performance art and even club nights!
The festival takes place in May each year. Every year I vow to myself that I will go to more events and every year I fail miserably. Even if you don’t get yourself organised enough to check out specific events, you will feel the festival in the air, for the Fringe exploits Brighton’s inherent spirit of fun and frivolity, and creates a happy buzz all over town! The Old Steine is an especially great place to soak up the atmosphere, as there is always a giant beer tent (some times the E4 Udder Belly) set up as well as the Speigeltent, where the Silent Discos are held.