Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Benny Hill’s @Broadway Lounge Benny Hill’s is a dreadful little drag bar in Spain that’s dying on its feet. Allan – or Allan Benjamin Hill to use his full name – aka Fanny – has hit hard times, when his past, in the form of his ex-wife catches up with him and turns his life upside down. His wife’s revelation is that he has a dau By Brian Butler • 1 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Trouble with Men @Warren 2 These 2 short vignettes, written and directed by Nick Mylesand presented by Hidden Bell and Oddservants couldn’t be more different. We open with a three-hander, modern-day gay farce, complete with boy in underwear, witty and bitchy one-liners and a neat little ending. Young cutie is waiting for his By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: The Cocktail Pianist 2 @Sweet Waterfront 2 We’ve all sat far away from home in the lounge of some large hotel when the cocktail pianist starts to play. Some notes he gets right, some notes he doesn’t. Some tunes he knows all the way through – others he doesn’t. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: You Give me Fever @Broadway Lounge Jack Lynch has written and directed an absolute gem of a show, which plays just right in the intimate cocktail bar space at the Broadway Lounge. Accompanied by guitarist James Shannon, its solo performer Pippa Winslow, recreates the Greek myth that was Phaedra. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Two Singular Sensations @Purple Playhouse Theatre This intimate homage to the stage musical from Brighton-based Elevation Productions starts with mini toeches shining on the tap dancing feet of Edwin Ray, and on his saxophone-playing life-long friend Emma Jane Morton – in their tribute to A Chorus Line. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Hats off to Laurel and Hardy Tony Carpenter (Laurel) and Philip Hutchinson (Hardy) overcome the first big hurdle of a tribute show in Hats Off to Laurel and Hardy at the Sweet Waterfront – they actually look and sound like the originals. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
News BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: This Boy Tom – a New Musical @Ralli Hall Brighton college drama teacher and BBC Bursary winner Natalie Sexton has written a challenging and entertaining piece about bullying in school, about guilt, hatred, revenge and reconciliation – and all performed by 10 very young actors/singers/dancers who have more talent than an entire Premiere Lea By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Comedy BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Good Grief: Stories at 207 West 88th Bruna is an Italian is an Italian woman of a certain age with hilariously broken English – the building superintendent of a New York apartment block. We first see her in the confessional saying to the unseen priest – “God he is pissed off with me”. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Fannytasticals @Sweet Dukebox If you are a man attending this show on your own – beware – for most of its duration you will be quite justifiably the target of sharp, witty and very crude humour from this 6-woman ensemble. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: MacBlair@The Warren Studio 3 It’s 1994- the young ambitious Tony Blair and the irascible Gordon Brown meet three journalists – ‘hacks’ in a stairwell in Parliament. The “weird journalists” predict TB will be Leader of the Labour Party, Prime Minister and King of the World. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: Ruffian on the stair@The Lantern @ ACT Pretty much Joe Orton’s first play – written in 1964 – this 3-hander deals comically and darkly with love, sex for sale , Catholicism, homosexuality, lies, power and loneliness. By Brian Butler • 1 min read
