So, May came and went, and with it the Brighton Festival. This year it felt a bit like we didn’t make a lot of use of it (at least in comparison to previous years), but actually, looking back, we didn’t do so bad if you include the fringe too :
- Open Houses – a friend and I visited a couple of open houses on the first day of the festival. A particular highlight was a 6th floor flat in Embassy Court which had a wonderful view over the West Pier and beyond
- 77 Million Paintings – the Brian Eno installation in Fabrica. I visited this 4 times in total, twice with friends where it was a quick few minutes in and out style visit, and twice during lunchtimes where I sat down and let it absorb me. The latter was the better, and it felt like a kind of meditation.
- Speaker Flower Sound Installation – another Brian Eno installation, this time in Marlborough House on the Old Steine, and another one I visited during my lunch hour. Was an interesting installation, but was more fascinating to wander around the Grade 1 listed building which has been out of the public eye for a while
- Nicholas Parsons Happy Hour – held in a tent on the grounds of a church which meant that road noise and sirens interrupted. He had some fun guests – a comedy song guy and a Spanish magician – both of which were fun. Part of it was a question and answer session, and we wished we’d known ahead of time so we could have prepared some good questions
- The Penny Dreadfuls – excellent sketch comedy show. We booked tickets purely because we’d enjoyed the Guy Fawkes play broadcast last year on Radio 4, and this was a wise move. I’ll definitely keep my eyes out for The Penny Dreadful’s visiting Brighton again.
- Before I sleep – a wonderful piece of theatre which has been extended until 13th June. It is hosted in the Old Coop building on London Road, and its wonderful to see this building reused, even if only on a temporary building. This is the 2nd dreamthinkspeak production we’ve seen as part of the festival, and I’m planning on looking out for anything they do here again, they have an interesting take on classical literature which is quite intriguing
As we’ve previously mentioned, the whole ticketing system is a bit ridiculous, especially for the fringe. Buying tickets on line, getting a print out with a bar code on it, which then get exchanged for a real ticket at the venue all seems a bit long-winded.
