Comedy BRIGHTON COMEDY FESTIVAL Kat Pope goes in search of a laugh at the Brighton Comedy Festival, and is surprised at just what makes her chortle By Kat Pope • 9 min read
Arts RUSSELL BRAND – Messiah Complex: Brighton Centre: Review While there is, of course, a place for dourness, cynicism and misanthropy in comedy, sometimes a performer as innately likeable and warm-hearted as Russell Brand makes a very welcome change. I don’t think it’s just his shtick, I feel Brand really is the cheeky chappy of his stage persona. A particul By Contributor • 1 min read
Comedy BRIGHTON COMEDY FESTIVAL OPENING GALA: Brighton Dome: Review The Brighton Comedy Festival opens this week. Kat Pope went down to the Opening Gala to sample the fare on offer. By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Arts Die Fledermaus: ENO : Opera Review With saucy wit and a hefty dollop of dark camp this was not just bubbly froth, but gave the whirling swirling melodies a dark foundation of obsession and decadence on which to do their frivolous waltz. It was more dance macabre in places but then making this Strauss operetta relevant to the tired cy By Eric Page • 5 min read
Arts Fidelio: English National Opera: Review A musically profound production of Beethoven’s only opera with some fine singing, wrapped in this metaphorical maze of cold confusion it fails to offer the gasp out loud moments promised, although there are challenging and physiologically complex hues to the directors interpretation that are relevan By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts BRIEFS: THE SECOND COMING: London Wonderground: Review The boys and their acts are well balanced throughout the night with some very funny ensemble numbers built around funny themes, and there’s few dull moments with a quick turn over and some loud pumping music this is a show heavy on the spectacle, sequins and spangle, and if the acts doesn’t interest By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts Stewart Lee: Brighton Dome: Review Political comedy is notoriously hard to get right: on one hand you can end up slightly too earnest, too right-on and not particularly funny (a lot of ’80s alternative comedy). On the other you can appear merely snarky and even hypocritical (The 10 O’clock Show). Part of Lee’s greatness is that he’s By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts Coward: Marlborough Theatre: Review Lovers of Noël Coward may be surprised at James Martin Charlton‘s portrayal of the Master as a man with sex foremost on his mind. Although we still get the dapper dandy possessed of an elegant wit living a glamorous life, the play also presents a man who tells no lie when he describes himself as […] By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Reviews KAT CALLS You find me still chasing my own tail, short on time, short on sanity, and short on patience with PC World. Very little new there then… SID IS AN IDIOT Now, summer wouldn’t be summer without a lovely outdoor Shakespeare (that’s half my readers lost), and Sid and I headed over to Worthing in plenty [ By Kat Pope • 14 min read
Music NEW JERSEY NIGHTS: Congress, Eastbourne: Review So, you’ve seen Jersey Boys but still need a bit of a Valli fix? Then New Jersey Nights might be the very thing for you. Kat Pope walks like a man to the Congress to find out. By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Reviews THARK: Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London: Review Kat Pope visits Thark in Finsbury Park. Oh, the larks! By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Reviews PRIVATES ON PARADE: Theatre Royal Brighton: Review In Peter Nichols’s 1977 review-style play with music, we follow the story of an incongruous group of men who entertain the soldiers, sailors and airman stationed overseas in Malaysia in 1948 during the Communist insurgency. A motley bunch of naïfs and strays, the privates here on parade are mostly g By Kat Pope • 4 min read
