Testicle
Testicle
I was kicked in the Testicle when I was 8 years old and didn’t tell anyone until I was 13, this is the story of what might have been had that fateful day not happpened. It takes balls to be who you are.
Marie Lloyd Stole My Life
Marie Lloyd Stole My Life
MARIE LLOYD STOLE MY LIFESCANDAL, STARDOM AND SUFFRAGE – WITH SONGS!
It’s 1886 and 15 year old Marie Lloyd is about to become the “Queen of the Music Hall” but at what cost, and to whom…?
Meet Nelly Power – She’s a big star with a life more dramatic offstage than on and she’s about to lose everything thanks to her terrible taste in men and the machinations of an up and coming new teenage sensation. None other than Marie Lloyd herself!
In the true spirit of all comedy based on tragedy, Nelly tells the story of her life and career with amusing anecdotes and a wry sense of humour. This is an hilarious and poignant real-life tale of female empowerment in a patriarchal society, along with ageism, sexism and many other factors that haven’t changed in 150 years. Let us take you back in time to tell, through the eyes of the now-forgotten Nelly Power, the story of how the Queen of the Music Hall came to fame. All together now….
“the audience…. witness the powerful presence of a star performer”, Mark Aspen Reviews
“intricate, delicate dialogue, delivered with heart-breaking warmth”, Mumble Theatre Press”
“a beautifully written play”, LouReviews Blog
Running Time: 75 minutes
Performer: Lottie Walker as Nelly Power
Playwright: J. J. Leppink
The Loop
The Loop
‘What exactly can I do with this? How can this work? My head is very– It’s so complicated. I really don’t think sticky notes can solve this riddle… This horror film that is happening on repeat in my head.’
‘The Loop’ is an autobiographical dramatic piece that puts one person’s experiences living with OCD under a spotlight. In the next 60 minutes, you’re invited to witness Olive’s journey through a series of therapy sessions.
Mind Fog Theatre
Content Warning: Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Mental Illness, Sexual Abuse, Suicide/Self Harm, Swearing.
The Last
The Last
From The Last Man by Mary Shelley
“I am a victim of fate – bound for nowhere, adrift and alone”
Set in a 21st century wracked by deadly plague, Mary Shelley’s 1826 novel The Last Man is poignant and hugely relevant today. Written after the death of her husband and three of her children, it expresses Mary’s own sense of loss and isolation, and features characters based on Mary herself, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and sisters Fanny Godwin and Claire Claremont.
This one-woman adaptation explores the book’s biographical elements and Shelley’s graphic depiction of a world wracked by pandemic.
“Superb” – Hidden Gem, Fringe Review, 2022
Adapted by award-winning writer Sam Chittenden
Directed by Janette Eddisford
The Loop
The Loop
‘What exactly can I do with this? How can this work? My head is very– It’s so complicated. I really don’t think sticky notes can solve this riddle… This horror film that is happening on repeat in my head.’
‘The Loop’ is an autobiographical dramatic piece that puts one person’s experiences living with OCD under a spotlight. In the next 60 minutes, you’re invited to witness Olive’s journey through a series of therapy sessions.
Mind Fog Theatre
Content Warning: Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Mental Illness, Sexual Abuse, Suicide/Self Harm, Swearing.
POP UP AT THE LANTERN 2
POP UP AT THE LANTERN 2
GARETH GREGG –
http://instagram.com/garethgregg
FRASER MORLEY –
http://instagram.com/frasersartcreations
CHERRY PLUM –
http://instagram.com/cherrypumart
MARTIN ANSCOMBE –
http://instagram.com/martysartwork1
EVE SWETMAN –
http://instagram.com/eve_swetman_collage
ANNA FARLOW –
http://instagram.com/glow_white_ceramics
and MORE TO COME.
FREE ENTRY.
LICENSED BAR & COFFEE SHOP
The Loop
The Loop
‘What exactly can I do with this? How can this work? My head is very– It’s so complicated. I really don’t think sticky notes can solve this riddle… This horror film that is happening on repeat in my head.’
‘The Loop’ is an autobiographical dramatic piece that puts one person’s experiences living with OCD under a spotlight. In the next 60 minutes, you’re invited to witness Olive’s journey through a series of therapy sessions.
Mind Fog Theatre
Content Warning: Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Mental Illness, Sexual Abuse, Suicide/Self Harm, Swearing.
Lady Bracknell's Confinement
Lady Bracknell’s Confinement
A one person showing – The Revelations of Augusta Bracknell!
“A Freudian Nightmare” The Scotsman
“Funny, touching, above all, different. GO!” The Times
I Am Home
I Am Home
Being Human is a given, being humane is a choice.
I am Home is a hard hitting verbatim piece, focusing on the perspectives of those who are living or have lived the homeless experience. From where home was, to what it has become and what it means to be homeless in 2022.
The piece fuses devised imagery and physical theatre with verbatim story- telling.
There’s a story behind every person. There’s a reason why they are the way they are. Something in the past created them and unless we address the stigma, sometimes it is impossible to fix.
God On High
God on High
Tulip, a young, free spirited vicar, whose debt-ridden church is on the brink of closure, needs a miracle.
Living in a parish with a rising drug problem, trying to revive her failing love life, dealing with her bankrupt church, her oversexed nan, plus horny parishioners, she now has to acknowledge her grief after the recent, unexpected, death of her mother. With wavering faith, and bombarded with what appear to be signs from God, Tulip needs help. When an unexpected inheritance from her mother is announced, she finds herself asking is God testing her faith or has He found the perfect way to solve all her problems?
God on High is a loosely autobiographical play by Rhoda Dell. Four years ago Rhoda heard a spiritual voice announcing that her mother, who was in good health, was going to die and how. And then she did… on Good Friday!
Since then life has continued to demonstrate to Rhoda that she may not be the sole author of her story. Following this realisation, she has found life a lot more interesting- when you let go of how you think life should look, to endless possibilities appear.
Rhoda holds a Masters in Theology from The University of St Andrews, and trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Acting and Singing.
Directed by Karen Rabinowitz:
An international director, choreographer and movement director, and from 1995-2014 she was Course Leader for the Musical Theatre Course at the Royal Academy of Music. Karen is particularly interested in working on new musicals and plays.
Original Music by Sam Hall:
A Kent based composer, lyricist, musical director, orchestrator and multi-instrumentalist. Sam is currently the Musical Director for The Bodyguard UK Tour 2023/24. Sam studied contemporary classical composition at the Royal College of Music with his music and arrangements being played by first class orchestras including the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recently, Sam’s musical On The Edge was included in the MMD Claude-Michel Schönberg Masterclass.
Poster design by Nigel Hook:
Who has designed a wide range of drama, musical and opera productions throughout the U.K. & Europe.
He is the winner of the 2017 Tony Award for best Set Design and The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for The Play That Goes Wrong.
The Last
The Last
From The Last Man by Mary Shelley
“I am a victim of fate – bound for nowhere, adrift and alone”
Set in a 21st century wracked by deadly plague, Mary Shelley’s 1826 novel The Last Man is poignant and hugely relevant today. Written after the death of her husband and three of her children, it expresses Mary’s own sense of loss and isolation, and features characters based on Mary herself, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and sisters Fanny Godwin and Claire Claremont.
This one-woman adaptation explores the book’s biographical elements and Shelley’s graphic depiction of a world wracked by pandemic.
“Superb” – Hidden Gem, Fringe Review, 2022
Adapted by award-winning writer Sam Chittenden
Directed by Janette Eddisford
Days
Days
This 5-star Brighton Company is back with a brand new comedy eco-thriller
In a future where the world is running out of energy, teams are looking for new ways to create power. One team suddenly comes up with an idea and plan that could solve everything, but this has disastrous unforeseen repercussions… and only one of them remembers. What starts as exciting and fun suddenly becomes a thriller race against time. A play about the moments that fuel our lives, about thinking things through; of risks, loyalty and love.
A new play by award winning Brighton based playwright Susanne Crosby
Twilight Theatre premiered Susanne Crosby’s critically acclaimed “Waiting for Curry” to Hove Grown Festival in 2017. After sold out shows in Brighton Fringe Festival 2018, they were invited to perform at Kings Head Theatre, London in January 2019.
“Waiting for Curry”: ★★★★ (James Roy, Meridian FM)
“Highly Recommended” (Fringe Review)
Audience feedback: “It’s like The Peep Show meets Pinter, without the pauses”
Chemistry
Chemistry
ProtaGonism Theatre & Different Theatre
Chemistry, written by Sam Chittenden, is set in a future world in which people can’t touch. Instead of sexual intercourse, babies are conceived through IVF, overseen by robot operators known as Fosterers.
In order to maintain human involvement in the reproductive process, prospective parents are required to meet so they can approve their genetic matching and to agree to the child being raised by the Fosterers and taught from the Rulings.
In one such pairing meeting, the sophisticated Bea and first-timer Jay try to navigate the process and their responses to each other.
Testicle
Testicle
I was kicked in the Testicle when I was 8 years old and didn’t tell anyone until I was 13, this is the story of what might have been had that fateful day not happpened. It takes balls to be who you are.
Safer
Safer
by Sarah Jane Dickenson
“If I hadn’t got out of my car that day, I would not, absolutely not be here strutting my rugby fit bear body, wearing f**k-right-off amazing dangly earrings on the streets of Hull.”
For Butterfly Boy – sitting alone in a Fiat 500 in the pouring rain – the reasons for joining a gay and inclusive rugby union team in a rugby league obsessed city didn’t seem that apparent. But once in the changing room a whole new world opens up.
Inspired by the true stories of International Gay Rugby players, SAFER is a hard hitting, tender and funny exploration of the toxic side of team sports and how one new team decided to tackle it head on.
The play runs for 60 minutes and there is a 15 minute Q&A after each performance.
13+ Years. Content Warning: Swearing
Safer
Safer
by Sarah Jane Dickenson
“If I hadn’t got out of my car that day, I would not, absolutely not be here strutting my rugby fit bear body, wearing f**k-right-off amazing dangly earrings on the streets of Hull.”
For Butterfly Boy – sitting alone in a Fiat 500 in the pouring rain – the reasons for joining a gay and inclusive rugby union team in a rugby league obsessed city didn’t seem that apparent. But once in the changing room a whole new world opens up.
Inspired by the true stories of International Gay Rugby players, SAFER is a hard hitting, tender and funny exploration of the toxic side of team sports and how one new team decided to tackle it head on.
The play runs for 60 minutes and there is a 15 minute Q&A after each performance.
13+ Years. Content Warning: Swearing
After All These Years
After All These Years
A comedy about the passing of time, and memory, and love, and last chances
Nominated for the Outstanding Theatre Award in the 2021 Brighton Fringe, Close Quarter Productions and Theatre Reviva! return with a brand new production of After All These Years in 2023.
Relationships can be a delicate balance of hope, desire, memory, regret and much more besides, especially when two former showbiz couples think they know all there is to know about each other.
“The finest premiere I’ve seen in this Fringe. This Chekhovian elegy for the dance of age is in a defining league of its own. A superb play, it should be, as one director present said, in the West End.”
Fringe Review (2021)
Other plays by Giles Cole include: The Art of Concealment – The Life of Terence Rattigan, which premiered in the Brighton Fringe of 2011, and then transferred in a new production to London’s Jermyn Street Theatre and subsequently Riverside Studios in 2012, gathering four- and five-star reviews from The Times, The Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent and The Daily Mail.
This was followed in 2015 by The Heart of Things, a family drama which also premiered at Jermyn Street Theatre and a double bill of two short plays, When Love Grows Old, was part of the Brighton Fringe in 2017. Giles is currently working on Alliance, a commission from Holofcener Ltd, which is planned for larger-scale production in 2023/4 and based on the three weeks Churchill spent in the White House over Christmas 1941. He has also written seven plays for BBC Radio 4.
In tandem with Theatre Reviva!, Close Quarter Productions produced the first Brighton Fringe run of After All These Years in 2021, which later transferred to the Ventnor Festival. This was then followed by a short tour of R.C. Sheriff’s classic, Journey’s End. Other productions with which CQP has been involved include the revival of A.A. Milne’s The Dover Road at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2016; more recently, the UK tour of The Lavender Hill Mob starring Miles Jupp and, in New York, American Buffalo, Two Jews Talking, The Old Man and the Pool and The Ohio State Murders.
Chemistry
Chemistry
ProtaGonism Theatre & Different Theatre
Chemistry, written by Sam Chittenden, is set in a future world in which people can’t touch. Instead of sexual intercourse, babies are conceived through IVF, overseen by robot operators known as Fosterers.
In order to maintain human involvement in the reproductive process, prospective parents are required to meet so they can approve their genetic matching and to agree to the child being raised by the Fosterers and taught from the Rulings.
In one such pairing meeting, the sophisticated Bea and first-timer Jay try to navigate the process and their responses to each other.
HóPe
HóPe
Written and performed by Giullianna Martinez, HóPe follows 2 interwoven storylines: a woman facing her mother’s blood cancer diagnosis and the life of Colombian revolutionary Policarpa Salavarrieta.
1817 Nueva Granada Viceroy of Spain (now present-day Colombia)
‘La Pola’ as she was commonly known, has been living with Andrea Ricaurte de Lozano, a noblewoman whose home doubled as a center of operations in support of the revolutionary movement. She finds employment as a seamstress and works in the homes of Spanish military leaders and authorities. Undercover, she alters and mends for them while collecting valuable intelligence, revealing the names of key royalists, and recruiting Spanish royalists to join the resistance.
Present Day.
Andy struggles to accept the reality of her mother’s multiple myeloma diagnosis and takes the reins to find her treatment. She immerses herself in learning everything she can about the disease. Afraid accepting her condition will mean she’s giving up on her, she goes on a journey of exploring the differences between true acceptance and giving up. In pursuit of her mother’s healing, she unexpectedly finds her own.
In a world where uncertainty is the only certainty, we have a choice to resist or accept. HóPe inspires us to reflect on our own meaning of freedom, and the ways in which we are bound. Whether from illness, oppression or fear, freedom can come in many forms.
HóPe is a beautiful reflection on how the ancestral spirit of those who came before us, such as La Pola, lives within us, through our protagonist and in turn through her mother.
Content warning: Swearing, there will be a gunshot sound effect
Minimum age 13+ Running Time : 50 mins
After All These Years
After All These Years
A comedy about the passing of time, and memory, and love, and last chances
Nominated for the Outstanding Theatre Award in the 2021 Brighton Fringe, Close Quarter Productions and Theatre Reviva! return with a brand new production of After All These Years in 2023.
Relationships can be a delicate balance of hope, desire, memory, regret and much more besides, especially when two former showbiz couples think they know all there is to know about each other.
“The finest premiere I’ve seen in this Fringe. This Chekhovian elegy for the dance of age is in a defining league of its own. A superb play, it should be, as one director present said, in the West End.”
Fringe Review (2021)
Other plays by Giles Cole include: The Art of Concealment – The Life of Terence Rattigan, which premiered in the Brighton Fringe of 2011, and then transferred in a new production to London’s Jermyn Street Theatre and subsequently Riverside Studios in 2012, gathering four- and five-star reviews from The Times, The Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent and The Daily Mail.
This was followed in 2015 by The Heart of Things, a family drama which also premiered at Jermyn Street Theatre and a double bill of two short plays, When Love Grows Old, was part of the Brighton Fringe in 2017. Giles is currently working on Alliance, a commission from Holofcener Ltd, which is planned for larger-scale production in 2023/4 and based on the three weeks Churchill spent in the White House over Christmas 1941. He has also written seven plays for BBC Radio 4.
In tandem with Theatre Reviva!, Close Quarter Productions produced the first Brighton Fringe run of After All These Years in 2021, which later transferred to the Ventnor Festival. This was then followed by a short tour of R.C. Sheriff’s classic, Journey’s End. Other productions with which CQP has been involved include the revival of A.A. Milne’s The Dover Road at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2016; more recently, the UK tour of The Lavender Hill Mob starring Miles Jupp and, in New York, American Buffalo, Two Jews Talking, The Old Man and the Pool and The Ohio State Murders.
I Heart Michael Ball
t’s the 10th bi-annual meeting of the Michael Ball Appreciation Society and Alex, their founder, has a special surprise to mark the occasion.
Alex has been obsessed with Michael Ball since he was a young boy, when he first heard The Very Best of Michael Ball in his brother’s car. Just as the conductor directs his musicians, Alex orchestrates a fiendish plan to finally meet the blue-eyed boy from Bromsgrove.
I Heart Michael Ball is a 60 minute (no interval), interactive, one man show exploring grief and obsession.
“This is a brilliant show.” & “Truly heart-breaking” ★★★★ (Everything Theatre)
“This show is an experience.” & “Millington is exceptional” ★★★★ (Longstaff Reviews)
“Raw, hilarious and scary” & “Millington is wonderfully charismatic” ★★★★ (West End Best Friend)
“Excellent, creepy entertainment” & “Millington works the audience like a master” (London Pub Theatres)
I HEART MICHAEL BALL has been nominated for an OFF FEST Award 2022 for its performance at the Camden Fringe. It has also been nominated for the following Broadway World UK awards:
Best Direction of a New Production of a Play – Helen Millington
Best Leading Performer in a New Production of a Play – Alexander Millington
Best Musical Direction of a New Production of a Play or Musical – Helen Millington
Best New Production of a Play – I Heart Michael Ball
I Heart Michael Ball is Supported in 2022 using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.