Queer, Loud and Proud: Brighton Dome's autumn season Is unmissable
From house inflected hymns to biology-lecture-as-dance-show, from razor sharp standup to full throttle drag pageantry, the Dome's programme reads like a love letter to Queer Brighton
Kicking things off in the Corn Exchange, Thick & Tight bring their acclaimed Natural Behaviour to Brighton on 13 October, gloriously unclassifiable work. Part dance piece, part theatrical lecture, part fever dream, the show flings itself between species and genres, asking pointed, funny questions about what "natural" even means. If you've followed Thick & Tight's trajectory, you'll know they've built a reputation on refusing to sit still in one artistic lane; this is them at their most gleefully genre-fluid.
Then, on 30 October, cabaret powerhouse Fatt Butcher takes over the Corn Exchange for Congregational; this is the one to circle in red pen. Reworking the choral service into something entirely new, Fatt Butcher fuses house, trance, gospel and classical influences into a live performance built around a choir of professional LGBTQ+ singers. Our own Rainbow Chorus joins them onstage, turning this touring production into something rooted firmly in Brighton. The piece began life during a residency at the Dome's Anita's Room back in 2025, and now returns as part of a limited UK tour, backed by DJ and piano. Expect euphoria, expect volume, expect something that feels less like a gig and more like Queer communion.
This year's Brighton Dome Comedy Festival marks a first-time partnership with Komedia, and the queer talent on the bill is impressive. Simon Amstell brings I Love It Here to the Concert Hall on 22 October, his typically candid, self-lacerating hour digs into first loves, queer awakenings and the messy business of starting again. Amstell has spent two decades perfecting this kind of exposed, disarming honesty, serving up the laughter with the truths.
Two nights earlier, Catherine Bohart lands in the Corn Exchange with brand-new material, Borrowing Trouble (16 October), turning her attention to mental health, lesbian break-ups and the particular chaos of family dynamics; all filtered through the sharp, self-aware wit that's made her a festival favourite. And over in the more intimate Studio Theatre, BBC New Comedy Award winner Dan Tiernan presents Quartz and All (23 October), a show about coming out as gay, and, delightfully, as a devoted crystal enthusiast. It's a smaller room, but expect Dan to punch well above his carat.
Come December, SNL UK's Larry Dean returns with Hellbent (13 December, Corn Exchange), taking aim at queer marriage and the pressure to "grow up," Australian comic Josh Thomas beloved for Please Like Me and his Netflix specials, brings the joyfully daft Jiggle Jiggle to the Studio Theatre on 6 December. Two very different comic sensibilities.
If autumn is about reinvention, December is about homecoming. On 10 December, Brighton's Big Drag Pageant returns to the Concert Hall for a winter edition, bringing together a cast of the city's finest underground and alternative drag talent, hosted by Brighton favourite Alfie Ordinary. If you've caught previous pageants, you already know the energy in that room is unlike anywhere else in the city.
Brighton Gay Men's Chorus take the Concert Hall stage on 12 December with a new festive show built around a camp murder-mystery narrative, told through a string of Christmas classics which promises to be heatrical as well as tuneful. And rounding out the month, Brighton's own rapping pensioner Ida Barr returns on 18 December with ORGANOKE, an evening of organ-backed Christmas karaoke that promises exactly the kind of chaotic, inclusive, communal fun the festive season demands and Ida is norotious for.
The Domes LGBTQ+ programming is a wide offer, the formal ambition of Thick & Tight and Fatt Butcher, reworking classical forms into something distinctly queer. There's heavyweight comedy of Amstell, Bohart and Tiernan, each mining personal history for laughs without ever flattening it. And unapologetically local, communal joy of the drag pageant, the chorus and Ida Barr's karaoke chaos, shows that exist because Brighton's queer scene is deep enough, and confident enough, to fill a room on its own terms. These are just highlights, check out the full programe as Brighton Dome has built a programme that moves from serious artistic statement to unfiltered community celebration and back again..
Tickets for all shows are available now, get in early for Congregational and the Big Drag Pageant especially, as both are likely to sell out fast. See you there.
More info or to book tickets from the Dome website
Scene was founded in Brighton in 1993, at a time when news stories about Pride protests were considered radical.
Since then, Scene has remained proudly independent, building a platform for queer voices. Every subscription helps us to report on the stories that matter to LGBTQ+ people across the UK and beyond.
Your support funds our journalists and contributes to Pride Community Foundation’s grant-making and policy work.
Member discussion