Brighton Festival & Fringe

Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe began yesterday, and despite it being a Saturday (meaning the city would be packed) I travelled there to check out some of what the events have to offer! I also made some progress on The List, hurrah!

Read on to hear about the events, art, music and comedy I saw yesterday!

I reached Brighton to find the city gearing up for the Children's Parade. Rather than wait around to see it, I nipped off to Primark to pick up one of the Marvel superhero t-shirts from the men's section. I wandered around a couple of other shops and then went down to the seafront in time to see the last part of the parade. Particularly liked the witch! She was jointed so could loom at people in the crowds!

The Tight Modern was one of the things I wanted to check out. Designed to look like a miniature Tate Modern, it's the tiniest little temporary art gallery, filled with artwork from sixty disabled and marginalised artists. Yes, sixty.

And I'm pretty sure there's a reason it's called the tight modern ;) It's definitely a squeeze! There was a lot of great art inside, and visitors were asked to vote for their favourites.
The Tight Modern is a touring exhibition and will appear in London, Eastbourne and St Helens later in the year. You can find them on Twitter and Facebook.

At that point, my dad popped into Brighton and bought me lunch from Giraffe. Yay! Food!

After lunch we wandered around Brighton more. New Road had been transformed into Fringe City, filled with performers of all kinds. Paul Fitzgerald, "The Human Jukebox" was particularly entertaining! Very fast-paced, creating flawless medleys of songs (never heard a man move from Cotton Eye Joe to Tell Me Ma so seamlessly). I uploaded a video clip of these guys to Instagram, here.

Pavilion Gardens was also home to various performers but the ones who grabbed my attention were these guys. I didn't get their names and they were being filmed so I felt I couldn't interrupt, but their music was calming amidst the craziness of the crowds. 

There were a lot of musicians about in and around Fringe City and Pavilion Gardens during the afternoon, as part of the music event Pitch Perfect. It was great to see such a variation of acts perform.

Along in Pavilion Street, outside the Marlborough Theatre, was a performer playing the steel drum! I was instantly won over by the fact she was playing the Doctor Who theme. (Video here).

Dad wanted to look at the Tight Modern, so we went back to the seafront, and from there ended up at the Volks Railway. I'll write about that in a separate post.
Afterwards, Dad had to head home, but I stuck around in Brighton to enjoy a couple of comedy shows!

(And here is where I stop using my own pictures, because I didn't take any in the shows. Instead I've shamelessly pinched them from the Brighton Fringe website. Sorry guys.)

First up was Am I Right Ladies?!, a work in progress by Luisa Omielan.
Fast-talking Luisa brought up some of the unfortunate (and unacceptable!) truths of being a woman, with some hilarious anecdotes and some dancing in between. Luisa's show was like listening to a best mate having a rant, only funnier.
You can find Luisa on Twitter and Facebook and she'll be performing at Brighton Fringe for the rest of the month. The performance is free, with donations taken on the door at the end. It's definitely one to see if you get the chance.

Next up, I hot-footed it through the crowds (okay, I shuffled) to the next venue, in order to see Anna Morris' work in progress Bitchelors.
The show began with Anna in character as Georgina (of Georgina's Wedding Blog fame) presenting the four finalists for 'Woman of the Year'. The contestants (each played by Anna) all had funny quirks and showed off the variation of characters she can do, with a brilliant finale.
Anna can be found on Facebook and Twitter, but you should definitely check out her YouTube videos too (link above). You can see Bitchelors at Brighton Fringe on 5th, 30th and 31st May. Once again, the performance is free with donations collected on the door at the end. And once again, you should see it if you get the chance.

Bitchelors was the last event I went to for the day, so after that I headed home to put up my aching feet and drink copious amounts of reviving tea. Still, it was a great day and I had fun sampling what the festivals have to offer.

Important tip for free events: arrive early. I only just got to the venue for Am I Right Ladies?! in time as I was sidetracked by a street market and then had to find the place! I reached the venue for Bitchelors ten minutes early and it was already packed solid. Arrive early!!!

Brighton Festival is running until 25th May, with Brighton Fringe running until 1st June. Both have lots of free and paid events to offer, including dance, cabaret, theatre, comedy and visual arts.

Will probably pop down there again sometime before it all finishes, to see more of the art exhibitions.

This was NOT a sponsored post. I write about the events I attend, the shops, products and brands I like, solely because I like them and want others to hear about them.