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

Wild

by Jenna Kamal
Three sisters living entirely separate lives are united for their grandmother’s funeral, where the disdain and distance between them becomes achingly apparent. In the sticky mess of grief, will they burn or rebuild their bridges?

Directed by Erin Blackmore.

Featuring Felicity Green, Amy Kidd and Meadhbh Maxwell.

WILD is an exciting new co-production from anseo|anois theatre and Rumble Theatre.

It’s the tenth bi-annual meeting of the Michael Ball Appreciation Society and Alex, their founder, has a special surprise for the tenth anniversary. 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 boy blue-eyed boy from Bromsgrove. I Heart Michael Ball is a 60 minute, interactive, one man show about obsession, unrequited love and grief. How far would you go to meet your hero?

Reviews from Split Infinitive’s three Way 2021

Broadway World:
“Millington writes distinct but complementary pieces that intertwine to paint a refreshing point of view.”

A Younger Theatre:
“Alexander Millington effortlessly commands the stage.”

View From The Outside:
“Helen Millington’s direction really brings out the humanity of the piece.”

London Pub Theatres:
“Split Infinitive are an interesting company with enormous potential, approaching delicate subject matter with wit and good hearts.”

An Evening of American Theatre: Paul Robeson & Suzi of the Dress

Suzi of the Dress

By Albert Welling

Featuring Nicole Hall and Christoph Cording

A Pre-Freudian attitude in  a post-Freudian world

Counsellor Suzie does not expect her next client to be the Prince of Denmark, but Hamlet needs serious advice.  His life is a mess.  Suzie’s post-Freudian approach to this Elizabethan enigma proves a challenge for both counsellor and counselee, producing fireworks neither expect.  He’s an arrogant hothead, she’s a cool professional and both are certain they can get inside the other’s head.  Smart and insightful, this new play from UK playwright Albert Welling is full of surprises.

Paul Robeson

By Phillip Hayes Dean

Featuring Robert McNichols as Paul Robeson

Scholar Athlete, Actor, Singer, Activist, Traitor, Hero

A powerful chronicle of the life and music of Paul Robeson, taking us from his childhood in New Jersey to his adult life around the world.  An All-American athlete and a lawyer with Columbia Law School credentials, Robeson comes face to face with racism in America.  Realizing he could not practice as a lawyer, Robeson turns to singing, which leads to acting and his acting leads him around the world.  After spending time in Europe, he returns to the United States, but is accused of being a Communist, an agitator and much more. He is blacklisted and his passport is revoked. But, as the social climate finally begins to change, Robeson perseveres, achieving the glory and respect he rightly earned along the way.

ACT Diploma Yr1 Show

Act Two Year Diploma in Acting – Year 1 end of term show (Invited Audience)

Paler, Still

by Oonagh Wall in collaboration with the company.

Labyrinth

by  LLL Productions

“Today I killed a man.” These first words plunge us into a narrative that hovers ambiguously between murder and vivid fantasy as it depicts a woman on the edge, desperate to break free of the entanglements of a love affair that’s turned toxic. Has she actually killed her lover? Is this a violent reaction to coercive control? We can’t be sure.

The original Portuguese version by Moncho Rodriguez (Labirinto de Amor e Morte) was toured in Brazil and Portugal by actress Marta Carvalho. This new English version, by writer Mark C. Hewitt, captures the obsessive visceral nature of the Portuguese original and adds, perhaps, a subtle layer of dark humour.

“Labyrinth is full-on physical theatre in which Carvalho takes us on a woman’s rollercoaster journey through a myriad of emotions… It resonates on many levels, bringing to mind elements of domestic abuse such as control, coercion, and physical violence…” (Hastings Independent Press)

“Immersive, bold, challenging…” (audience feedback)

A Steady Rain

By Keith Huff

This gritty, witty piece explores complex relationships formed on the tough streets of Chicago. With biting dialogue and a rainbow of emotions, we journey with the two friends and a host of other characters on a fateful journey of love and life.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

ACT Students – Assessed Performances – Private Event.

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.

Macbeth

Directed by Beth Wood

A powerful and haunting adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

When Macbeth kills Duncan and all that is best in himself, the world turns upside down.

Beautiful poetry hits against heightened horror in this ensemble-focused retelling, drawing us into a world of festering ambition and hunger for power that seems frighteningly like our own.

Performance time 1 hour

Is this a real knife? Is this just fantasy?”

Enjoy Shakespeare’s spooky tragedy like never before, as six actors deploy wittily rewritten pop classics, uproariously silly comedy, and an array of highly questionable props to recount the rise and fall of Scotland’s most murdery king! Expect queens and witches, Queen and B*Witched, ABBA, stabbers, and much more besides.

With gloriously repurposed numbers from Broadway, the charts, and the Golden Oldies, Macbeth: The Musical is a hilarious ride, suitable for buffs and beginners, wee ones and wizened ones, and Scots and Sassenachs alike!

No bagpipes were harmed in the making of this musical.

Contains mild comic violence.

Audience reviews:

“Nearly wet myself laughing!”

“ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!”

“The Bard would be proud!”

The Burning Gadulka

The Burning Gadulka is a contemporary Bulgarian monodrama.  Bulgarian actor Miro Kokenov he takes audiences on a tragicomedy journey of doubt, sarcasm and the wonders of nature in his solo performance steeped in Bulgarian folklore. Written by award-winning Bulgarian writer Rayko Baychev, the play which has been translated into English for the first time, delves into love, loss, conflict and self-belief will resonate with anyone searching for answers. Following a series of performance failures at music festivals, a Bulgarian musician faces a midlife crisis as his lifelong love affair with his instrument – the Gadulka, comes to a crashing end more or less at the same time as the sudden arrival of a mysterious girl?

Will his crippling shyness and his crisis of confidence destroy any relationship before it can begin? Has he lost his power over the musical instrument, or has the instrument lost its power over him? Where do the pandas come into the dilemma?

The performance is inspired by Bulgarian culture and reveals to the audience the characteristics of Bulgarian folklore, traditional dances, and costumes.

It will be performed in Bulgarian only.

In Memoriam

Alex Grey, funeral director and functioning alcoholic, has found himself suffering from a grave depression and sense of low self esteem. Haunted by the regrets of his past, he searches for understanding and fulfilment whilst finding support from his loyal colleague and brother Nathan, and Nathan’s witchy wife ‘Carol’.

Guided by a mysterious grave digger, Alex is pointed towards clues that the world he lives in is not what he thought it was. This hilariously dark comedy introduces us to some weird and wonderful characters whilst tackling some serious and sensitive subjects. There is strong language throughout and some themes that maybe unsuitable for children.

It’s the tenth bi-annual meeting of the Michael Ball Appreciation Society and Alex, their founder, has a special surprise for the tenth anniversary. 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 boy blue-eyed boy from Bromsgrove. I Heart Michael Ball is a 60 minute, interactive, one man show about obsession, unrequited love and grief. How far would you go to meet your hero?

Reviews from Split Infinitive’s three Way 2021

Broadway World:
“Millington writes distinct but complementary pieces that intertwine to paint a refreshing point of view.”

A Younger Theatre:
“Alexander Millington effortlessly commands the stage.”

View From The Outside:
“Helen Millington’s direction really brings out the humanity of the piece.”

London Pub Theatres:
“Split Infinitive are an interesting company with enormous potential, approaching delicate subject matter with wit and good hearts.”

ACT Theatre Bookclub

Have you made a New Year’s resolution to read more plays in 2023? Challenge yourself to join us in reading a new play every month this year!

In January we’re reading Slave Play by @jeremyoharris “one of the most promising playwrights of his generation” (Vogue) and the “theatre world’s vital new voice”.

The Old South lives on at the MacGregor Plantation – in the breeze, in the cotton fields… and in the crack of the whip. Nothing is as it seems, and yet everything is as it seems.

Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play rips apart history to shed new light on the nexus of race, gender and sexuality in twenty-first-century America. It opened at New York Theatre Workshop in November 2018, and transferred to Broadway the following year.

‘The single most daring thing I’ve seen in a theatre in a long time’ — New York Times

Join us in the Finlay Bar for our first in-person meeting of the ACT Theatre Book Club.

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

ACT Youth Theatre Present

When This Is Over

Devised by the company
Directed by Graeme Dalling
In association with Company Three and Nick Hern Books

Damien

by Aldyth Morris

The story of Father Damien de Veuster, the leper priest of Molokai and patron saint of outcasts.

“Daniel Finlay’s tour-de-force performance spans the full range of human emotion”. ***** Fringe Guru

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

Paler, Still

by Oonagh Wall in collaboration with the company.

The Maydays present: Double Bill – Improv Performance Showcases

A double-bill of Maydays students performing their end-of-term shows!

First up, the Beginners group will perform short sharp and hilarious games a la Whose Line is it Anyway? Then our Story Makers course will weave an entirely improvised tale, inspired by audience suggestions!

Damien

by Aldyth Morris

The story of Father Damien de Veuster, the leper priest of Molokai and patron saint of outcasts.

“Daniel Finlay’s tour-de-force performance spans the full range of human emotion”. ***** Fringe Guru

Paler, Still

by Oonagh Wall in collaboration with the company.

Lord God

by Brian Mitchell and Philip Reeve

From the writers of ‘The Ministry of Biscuits’ and ‘Pugs of the Frozen North’ stage show – author Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines)
and playwright and composer Brian Mitchell (‘Those Magnificent Men’) – comes the divine new musical comedy Lord God

When the Lord God is persuaded by His retainer and chief-cook-and-bottle-washer Gabriel to take an incognito holiday in a Devonshire seaside hotel (largely to get Him out from under His angels’ feet), He looks forward to a fortnight of uninterrupted tennis, billiards, tea on the terrace and the latest Agatha Christie. But the presence of campaigning atheist Professor ‘Minty’ Tweddle and her fiance, notoriously hard-to-please theatre critic Rex Addison, upsets His plans and leads to all manner of supernatural scrapes, japes and narrow escapes and the invention of a hot new global dance craze.

Can our hero persuade Minty He really exists?
Can He solve the Problem of Evil before breakfast?
What exactly is Rex Addison up to?
Will Gabriel step in once more to save the Almighty’s bacon?

Find out the answers to these questions and all the mysteries of Creation in the new musical comedy Lord God, from best-selling author Philip Reeve and award-winning playwright and composer Brian Mitchell, whose previous collaborations include the recent sell-out stage adaptation of Pugs of the Frozen North and the acclaimed musical comedy The Ministry of Biscuits.  Building on their reputation for thought-provoking comedy, Lord God takes a timely look at morality, faith, and why sometimes it is best not to take things too seriously.

Produced by the “renowned and very popular” (London Pub Theatres) company The Foundry Group, and with a top-notch cast including Joanna Neary (Ideal), and Murray Simon (The Ministry of Biscuits), Lord God promises a night of  witty lyrics, toe-tapping tunes and thoughtful frivolity.

“The latest vintage-inspired slice of Englishness from the engagingly skewed Foundry Group….  Clever Gilbert & Sullivanesque lyrics and sparky lines… Sweet, gentle, full of heart….a huge hit with the crowd.”

– Philippa Hammond, Sussex Playwrights Reviews.

Duty

by Bomafabia Wokoma

The Ruffian on the Stair

The Ruffian on the Stair is the first play Joe Orton ever wrote. Rarely performed, this production set in a sordid bedsit has been described as ‘dripping with menace’ and ‘compelling’.

Mike and Joyce are a poor London couple living in a bedsit. Mike is an ex-boxer living on the dole who makes extra cash by running people down for money, and Joyce is an ex-prostitute.

It is an unsympathetic yet comedic one-act portrayal of working class England, as played out by a couple and a mysterious young man who toys with their lives. It was based on The Boy Hairdresser, a novel by Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell.

Maydays Performance Showcases

Join the students from our Intro to Improv & Intro to Longform Performance Courses for their improv showcases, they’re ready to strut their stuff for friends and family!

Dark Unicorn Productions Proudly Presents 
The Laughing Unicorn:
Hannah Brackenbury: Victorious, supported by Barry and Sian: Greatest Tits

With Covid and then the necessary but frustrating cancellation of “Two Way Mirror” having given us much to tear our hair out over, Dark Unicorn Productions Ltd has dusted itself off, shaken its mane and is proud to present the first in a small number of fundraising events to help secure our future in providing top class professional entertainment for communities across the south-east.

The Laughing Unicorn is a one-ticket-two-shows comedy extravaganza in the intimate surroundings of Brighton’s Lantern Theatre, running for just two nights – July 1 and 2, 2022.

For just £20, you will get a seat for two of the nation’s best sketch and comedy song acts.

First up is Barry and Sian with their 2022 show Greatest Tits. On the scene since 2014, this duo (accompanied with music and sarcasm by Dark Unicorn’s own Paddy Cooper) are masters of sketch comedy, creating a world of hilarious characters, running gags, zeitgeisty songs and pop culture satire. Winners of the BoomTish Best Newcomer award, Grand Finalists in the Leicester Square Theatre’s national SketchOff competition, they are worth their weight in comedy gold.

Then, after the interval, Brighton’s own world-class comedy singer-songwriter Hannah Brackenbury with the last chance for Brighton audiences to see her touring one-woman show about the influence of Victoria Wood on her life and career. Full to bursting with a mixture of VW classics and Brackenbury originals, this is as moving as it is hilarious and is a show not to be missed.

Limited VIP tickets at £35 are also available, which guarantee a front row seat, a complimentary glass of house wine, bottle of beer or soft drink and a free copy of Hannah’s album, which you will be able to get signed when you mingle with the cast in the bar afterwards.

As all performers are members of the LGBTQ+ community, there will also be a bucket collection for local LGBTQ+ mental health charity MindOut.

Tickets are strictly limited and whether you’re coming strictly for the giggles or to support independent arts production, this is not a show to be missed!

No additional detail for this event.

‘Darling Buds of May’ actor Tyler Butterworth tells the funny, moving and unashamedly nostalgic story of his much-loved parents, the nation’s first female TV impressionist Janet Brown, and the inimitable ‘Carry On’ star Peter Butterworth.

From heroic wartime escapades at POW camp Stalag Luft III to a night at Chequers with Mrs Thatcher, ‘A Bit of a Carry On’ is a warm and uplifting journey from wartime to showtime, taking us deep into the golden age of British TV and film comedy. With classic film and tv clips, rare photographs and a Q&A with Tyler, ‘A Bit of a Carry On’ is your chance to really get to know two of British comedy’s brightest stars, who lived to make us laugh.

Don’t Be A Stranger

written by charlie Douglas, with help from Jay Langley

Ash moved away from Cornwall 5 years ago from their small village named Trewith, but now they’re back to mourn the life of their friend Tom during a wake in a pub that’s all to familiar. And the bartender; an old distant flame, Bry, burned out from shame.

But one thing’s missing from the speeches, the songs, the memories of their dear friend. Tom was gay. Tom was too afraid. Tom had a boyfriend. A beautiful boyfriend. Tom couldn’t handle it. And that’s why the korev is being poured.

In this new short play, Ash finds it hard to face grief in the face in a place filled with incomplete stories and memories which they can’t say. Is it easier to die and live a life of truth or stay, but never live. But one thing’s for sure, and that’s…

Don’t be a stranger, ok?

Lord God

by Brian Mitchell and Philip Reeve

From the writers of ‘The Ministry of Biscuits’ and ‘Pugs of the Frozen North’ stage show – author Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines)
and playwright and composer Brian Mitchell (‘Those Magnificent Men’) – comes the divine new musical comedy Lord God

When the Lord God is persuaded by His retainer and chief-cook-and-bottle-washer Gabriel to take an incognito holiday in a Devonshire seaside hotel (largely to get Him out from under His angels’ feet), He looks forward to a fortnight of uninterrupted tennis, billiards, tea on the terrace and the latest Agatha Christie. But the presence of campaigning atheist Professor ‘Minty’ Tweddle and her fiance, notoriously hard-to-please theatre critic Rex Addison, upsets His plans and leads to all manner of supernatural scrapes, japes and narrow escapes and the invention of a hot new global dance craze.

Can our hero persuade Minty He really exists?
Can He solve the Problem of Evil before breakfast?
What exactly is Rex Addison up to?
Will Gabriel step in once more to save the Almighty’s bacon?

Find out the answers to these questions and all the mysteries of Creation in the new musical comedy Lord God, from best-selling author Philip Reeve and award-winning playwright and composer Brian Mitchell, whose previous collaborations include the recent sell-out stage adaptation of Pugs of the Frozen North and the acclaimed musical comedy The Ministry of Biscuits.  Building on their reputation for thought-provoking comedy, Lord God takes a timely look at morality, faith, and why sometimes it is best not to take things too seriously.

Produced by the “renowned and very popular” (London Pub Theatres) company The Foundry Group, and with a top-notch cast including Joanna Neary (Ideal), and Murray Simon (The Ministry of Biscuits), Lord God promises a night of  witty lyrics, toe-tapping tunes and thoughtful frivolity.

“The latest vintage-inspired slice of Englishness from the engagingly skewed Foundry Group….  Clever Gilbert & Sullivanesque lyrics and sparky lines… Sweet, gentle, full of heart….a huge hit with the crowd.”

– Philippa Hammond, Sussex Playwrights Reviews.

Rock Bottom

By Fresh Life Theatre

Shakespeare’s best loved clown, Bottom, is reimagined in Fresh Life Theatre’s new one-man show.

Bottom has spent his life pushing the people closest to him away, so it makes sense for him to perform a socially-distanced show. Combining the masterful wit and language of the Bard with fast-paced, sensitive new-writing, Charlie Day has created a production which has something for everyone. Bottom has been left to put a play on all by himself. Watch as he battles his demons, all in an effort to…make you like him.

Mental health is a very prominent issue in the world today, especially with everything people are going through. The show looks to open a discussion about mental health, especially men’s mental health, and hopefully make some men less reluctant to speak up.

So please, give Bottom the attention he needs!

Age suitability: 16 +

A Steady Rain

By Keith Huff

This gritty, witty piece explores complex relationships formed on the tough streets of Chicago. With biting dialogue and a rainbow of emotions, we journey with the two friends and a host of other characters on a fateful journey of love and life.

Extremism

By Anders Lustgarten

Strode’s College Final Performance. A group of students get locked in a classroom after they have taken their classmate Jamal away for performing an extremist act.

A Steady Rain

By Keith Huff

This gritty, witty piece explores complex relationships formed on the tough streets of Chicago. With biting dialogue and a rainbow of emotions, we journey with the two friends and a host of other characters on a fateful journey of love and life.

What Makes Me Tic?

What makes me Tic? Is an audience immersive theatre show that raises awareness to Tourette’s Syndrome. Using comedy and multi rolling techniques we see in to lives of individuals with the condition who have kindly shared their stories for this piece. Audiences will be left mesmerised and inspired.

His Letters

By John Martin Stevens

Dreamshed Theatre

During the early years of the second world war two evacuees meet in a small Wiltshire town where a friendship and love affair begins that will last a lifetime.

When, sixty years later their love letters and other correspondence are rediscovered, it soon becomes clear that whilst war brought them together, peace could have torn them apart.

This new drama written and performed by local writer John Martin Stevens, weaves together real events with imaginative and at times heartfelt storytelling as a son discovers that history is indeed written by the victor.

Running time 60mins

Age 14+

Talking Heads –
A Lady of Letters & A Bed Among the Lentils

by Alan Bennett

Like You

by Footdown Productions

Six people, five stories, one truck. Follow the lives inspired by real people as they experience the world of modern slavery.

Like You is a live, abstract, physical theatre performance about the timely subject of Human Trafficking. This show put on by Footdown Productions, focuses on the journey of six young adults, five females and one Queer male, that are being trafficked, around the UK, in the back of a truck. This project deals with different types of trauma, including how the characters have been manipulated and betrayed by people they trusted.

Exploring themes such as drug trafficking, the porn industry, dating apps, traveling and, sexual abuse, showing the audience just how close to home this subject actually is. The company will offer an ‘After- Care Package’ to provide the audience members with resources to aid them in making a conscious effort to be anti-trafficking and to consider ethical lifestyle choices.

Appetite Everywhere

by Hot Lemon

For women, says the philosopher Susan Bordo, hunger is themost insistent raving and pre-eminent source of their anger and frustration. The anger and frustration I experienced in my life was persistent and clever. It was a literal hunger for food, for sex, for pleasure, power and respect. Now I want to eat the world. Will you join me at the table?

A new writing feminist comedy piece.

Age restriction : 15+

Written and performed by Janet Behan
Directed by Jessica Higgs

Funny and shocking by turns, “Why Shouldn’t I Go?” tells the stories of three very different Irishwomen with one thing in common – religion and the impact it has had on their lives.

ReviewsGate **** …  “a sixty minute theatrical delight “

The UpComing ***** “Why Shouldn’t I Go? is a masterpiece about the everyday horrors that can lurk behind closed doors.”

Joe went a little bit mad during lockdown – just like you did – and it’s hilariously cathartic to watch. This smash-hit Camden Fringe show is inspired by the writer’s ridiculous lockdown diaries – and it’s the best way to laugh away the trauma of the past 18 months. Joe’s stuck in a tiny flat trying to make sense of the pandemic. One day, whilst watching a government briefing on TV, he decides to answer back. This sets off a surreal conversation with… Boris? Or maybe it’s his friend on Facebook? Or… maybe it’s his fridge. All Joe knows is, he definitely doesn’t know.

Brought to you by writer-director team Mark Daniels and Edwina Strobl, this Offie-nominated dark satirical comedy offers a unique take on the British response to the pandemic. The play’s two actors (rising stars Kathryn Haywood and Edward Bartram) take you on a high-energy farcical journey from panic buying to Jackie Weaver via Matt Hancock, with an unhealthy dose of Tory British gusto thrown in. It’s a relatable purging of the strange times we’ve been living through. It’s absurd laugh-out-loud comedy at its best. And it’s definitely not one to be missed. You simply have to see it.

“Funny, intelligent, satirical” ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Theatre News
“The catharsis we all need” ⭐⭐⭐⭐, London Pub Theatres
“Thanks to Joe, I no longer feel quite so alone” ⭐⭐⭐⭐, A Younger Theatre

Brought to you in partnership with mental health charity, Campaign to End Loneliness.

Lord God

by Brian Mitchell and Philip Reeve

From the writers of ‘The Ministry of Biscuits’ and ‘Pugs of the Frozen North’ stage show – author Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines)
and playwright and composer Brian Mitchell (‘Those Magnificent Men’) – comes the divine new musical comedy Lord God

When the Lord God is persuaded by His retainer and chief-cook-and-bottle-washer Gabriel to take an incognito holiday in a Devonshire seaside hotel (largely to get Him out from under His angels’ feet), He looks forward to a fortnight of uninterrupted tennis, billiards, tea on the terrace and the latest Agatha Christie. But the presence of campaigning atheist Professor ‘Minty’ Tweddle and her fiance, notoriously hard-to-please theatre critic Rex Addison, upsets His plans and leads to all manner of supernatural scrapes, japes and narrow escapes and the invention of a hot new global dance craze.

Can our hero persuade Minty He really exists?
Can He solve the Problem of Evil before breakfast?
What exactly is Rex Addison up to?
Will Gabriel step in once more to save the Almighty’s bacon?

Find out the answers to these questions and all the mysteries of Creation in the new musical comedy Lord God, from best-selling author Philip Reeve and award-winning playwright and composer Brian Mitchell, whose previous collaborations include the recent sell-out stage adaptation of Pugs of the Frozen North and the acclaimed musical comedy The Ministry of Biscuits.  Building on their reputation for thought-provoking comedy, Lord God takes a timely look at morality, faith, and why sometimes it is best not to take things too seriously.

Produced by the “renowned and very popular” (London Pub Theatres) company The Foundry Group, and with a top-notch cast including Joanna Neary (Ideal), and Murray Simon (The Ministry of Biscuits), Lord God promises a night of  witty lyrics, toe-tapping tunes and thoughtful frivolity.

“The latest vintage-inspired slice of Englishness from the engagingly skewed Foundry Group….  Clever Gilbert & Sullivanesque lyrics and sparky lines… Sweet, gentle, full of heart….a huge hit with the crowd.”

– Philippa Hammond, Sussex Playwrights Reviews.

Maydays Musical Improv Showcase

Flashback the Musical – Performance Showcase

Students from the Maydays Advanced Performance Musical Improv Course showcase their work.

About the course: This is an advanced workshop aimed at those with previous musical improv experience. Lots of modern storytelling uses non-linear narrative and in this course, we’ll use the technique of flashbacks to dive into the pasts of our characters (think Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things and The Good Place). This is an advanced music performance course in which we’ll spend 6 weeks working on the techniques that will take us through to our flashback musical show.

Performance Showcase of The Maydays, Intro to Improv Comedy – Performance Course

Come and see the graduates of The Maydays, level two, Intro to Improv – Performance course strut their improv superpowers in this celebration of their 6-weeks work.

The Maydays Present: An Improv Celebration

Death and the Maiden

tríada presents Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, an immersive theatre production, fresh from its debut in Hove this summer where it received the status of “groundbreaking” work by Fringe reviews.

tríada is a Greco-British theatre company tackling big social issues in small, intimate, diverse spaces. We create immersive performances that provoke thought and incite conversation by dealing with the truths of the human condition. We select and perform for our audiences an array of comic, dramatic and political plays that are timeless and universal, ’discussing’ everyday issues such as relationships, family, society, love and trust. By operating in people’s ‘personal space’, we aim to subvert the notion of temporary suspension of disbelief, instead provoking audiences to believe, react and respond to man’s inhumanity to man.

With a distinctive, diverse use of space, tríada aims to create new experiences for our audiences, in a live, almost cinematic approach, while embracing the fascinating energy of theatre. In this way every performance is different, unique.

“Triada Theatre don’t so much break a fourth wall as pick it up, port it and enter your home with it intact.” Fringe Review 2022. 

Cast –

Dr. Roberto Miranda – John Newcombe

Paulina Salas – Fenia Gianni

Gerardo Escobar – Matt Turpin

Can’t Pay Won’t Pay by Dario Fo

Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ is a classic political farce by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo.

This fast-paced comedy, set in a working class suburb of Milan in Italy in the 70s, centres on economic crisis and rising prices, creating parallels with the current cost of living crisis in the UK and around the world.

With absurd plot twists, witty dialogue, and flavours of classic 1970’s era British comedy, Tríada theatre company has produced a thrilling play about unpaid bills, household crises, marital meltdowns, and relationships.

Animal Farm

by George Orwell adapted by­­­­­­ Ian Wooldridge

George Orwell’s classic tale of farmyard animals who rise up against their human oppressor, only to fall prey to one of their own, is sadly as relevant today as it was in 1945. It was originally written in response to the Russian Revolution of 1917, which was itself was caused by bad state management of a crisis (WW1) leading to a huge rise in the cost of living and food shortages.

To Britain in 2023, this sounds distressingly familiar.

Rabbit in Headlights

Larry & Casting Shadows

LARRY
Keith Drinkel stars as Sir Laurence Olivier in this solo show that has been performed extensively in London, the UK & France. In a New York hotel room, Olivier prepares for his first day of filming on ‘Marathon Man’.

‘Director Daniel Finlay keeps the two-act play zipping along with a good mix of actorish humour & glimpses into a life well lived’. (The Stage)

CASTING SHADOWS
A rehearsed reading of the BBC Radio 4 play adapted by its author from his original full-length stage play. It’s 1962 & Max Miller & Terence Rattigan have been invited by Laurence Olivier to spend a summer’s afternoon in his Brighton beach hut. With Keith Drinkel as Olivier, Julien Ball as Rattigan & Trevor Littledale as Miller.

‘A barometer of mid-twentieth century British theatre’. (Time Out)

‘My father would have loved this play’. (Tamsin Olivier)

Part of:  Retrospective: A Week Of Plays About Theatre, Actors & Writers By Mark Burgess – 24th-28th October 2023

Joan & The Baron and Sam O’Bedlam

JOAN & the BARON
Rehearsed reading of the BBC Radio 4 play based on the remarkable friendship between influential theatre director Joan Littlewood & Baron Philippe de Rothschild.

‘Pick of the Day’. (Sunday Times Culture Magazine & The Observer)

‘Charming play’. (Mail on Sunday)

SAM O’BEDLAM
Rehearsed reading of the BBC Radio 4 play & the story behind the writing of Samuel Beckett’s classic play ‘Waiting for Godot’.

‘A superb introduction to the man, Samuel Beckett, & his most famous work’. (Radio Times)

Part of:  Retrospective: A Week Of Plays About Theatre, Actors & Writers By Mark Burgess – 24th-28th October 2023

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

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.

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.

The Maydays Performance Showcase – Musical Harold Advanced Performance Course

Join the students from our Advanced Musical Harold Performance Course for their improv showcase, after 12 weeks, they’re ready to strut their stuff for friends and family!

2145 by Emma Kelly

2145 is a dark, comic road trip to the future where no one knows who’s in control. It’s Thelma and Louise meets Red Dwarf for the stage.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

by Bertolt Brecht

ACT Diploma Yr2 Public Show.

An Evening of American Theatre: Paul Robeson & Suzi of the Dress

Suzi of the Dress

By Albert Welling

Featuring Nicole Hall and Christoph Cording

A Pre-Freudian attitude in  a post-Freudian world

Counsellor Suzie does not expect her next client to be the Prince of Denmark, but Hamlet needs serious advice.  His life is a mess.  Suzie’s post-Freudian approach to this Elizabethan enigma proves a challenge for both counsellor and counselee, producing fireworks neither expect.  He’s an arrogant hothead, she’s a cool professional and both are certain they can get inside the other’s head.  Smart and insightful, this new play from UK playwright Albert Welling is full of surprises.

Paul Robeson

By Phillip Hayes Dean

Featuring Robert McNichols as Paul Robeson

Scholar Athlete, Actor, Singer, Activist, Traitor, Hero

A powerful chronicle of the life and music of Paul Robeson, taking us from his childhood in New Jersey to his adult life around the world.  An All-American athlete and a lawyer with Columbia Law School credentials, Robeson comes face to face with racism in America.  Realizing he could not practice as a lawyer, Robeson turns to singing, which leads to acting and his acting leads him around the world.  After spending time in Europe, he returns to the United States, but is accused of being a Communist, an agitator and much more. He is blacklisted and his passport is revoked. But, as the social climate finally begins to change, Robeson perseveres, achieving the glory and respect he rightly earned along the way.

Scriptease

Private Event.

A Royal Threesome

By Sandy Trueman

Based on the true story of the worst-matched royal couple in history: a soap-opera of secret wives; scheming mistresses; spying courtiers and scandal galore. A marriage motivated, not by love, but by the Prince Regent’s colossal debts caused by scything his way through society ladies, as well as maids, cooks, prostitutes, and actresses. So pressing was his financial need, he was prepared to forget he already had a wife when he married his cousin! On his wedding night he was so drunk he slept with his head in the fireplace. However, he had underestimated Caroline’s willingness to fight back, and a royal battle ensued.

Note: Adult themes.

Labyrinth

by  LLL Productions

“Today I killed a man.” These first words plunge us into a narrative that hovers ambiguously between murder and vivid fantasy as it depicts a woman on the edge, desperate to break free of the entanglements of a love affair that’s turned toxic. Has she actually killed her lover? Is this a violent reaction to coercive control? We can’t be sure.

The original Portuguese version by Moncho Rodriguez (Labirinto de Amor e Morte) was toured in Brazil and Portugal by actress Marta Carvalho. This new English version, by writer Mark C. Hewitt, captures the obsessive visceral nature of the Portuguese original and adds, perhaps, a subtle layer of dark humour.

“Labyrinth is full-on physical theatre in which Carvalho takes us on a woman’s rollercoaster journey through a myriad of emotions… It resonates on many levels, bringing to mind elements of domestic abuse such as control, coercion, and physical violence…” (Hastings Independent Press)

“Immersive, bold, challenging…” (audience feedback)

Prison Dialogues

By Mark C. Hewitt

Prison Dialogues consists of interweaving male and female dialogues set in the everyday of prison. Two men, three women and a text full of banter that leans playfully towards the futile. Prison Dialogues is written by Mark C. Hewitt, whose last Brighton Fringe play, The Revenge Fantasy Club, was shortlisted for the Best New Play Award in 2013. This new play, which is loosely informed by the writer’s observations while working as an artist in UK prisons, is performed by Leann O’Kasi, Sarah J. Lewis, Araba Jane, Connor Mills and Sonny Jaiteh. With incidental music by Brighton composer Peter Copley.

An LLL Production

Age suitability: 16 +

Prison Dialogues

by Mark Hewitt

ACT Diploma In Acting present
Landmines
by Phil Davies

A stark, fast-paced and fraught play about political upheaval and the media’s relationship with civil violence and terrorism in modern Britain.

A peaceful politician is slain on the streets of Vida’s hometown. Reeling from the tragedy, Vida embarks on an increasingly dangerous mission to confront the rise in bigotry and fascism.

But just as she feels most alone, she discovers there are others who feel the same as her – and now the deadly potential of their combined power is about to be unleashed.

Content guidance: This play contains very strong language, references to drug use, sexual activity and violence, onstage portrayals of violence, and explorations of adult themes including racism.

Directed by Mark Carroll.

In their latest multi character sketch show, Bumfluffery, Dyball and Kerr unleash an array of unforgettably infectious characters.

High class character comedy The Observer
Gifted comic actors The Stage
Pant wettingly, cheek achingly, laugh-out-loud comedy Three Weeks Edinburgh

Joe & Ken

60’s gay playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth are ruminating over their paltry existence. The public don’t care for them. Homosexuality is illegal.  Together they embark upon plan to make it as writers. As Joe’s success rockets, Kenneth’s career diminishes, sinking him into depression and self loathing. All Kenneth wants now is for Joe to be in a relationship. Sometimes though, love can never be enough.

Full of poignancy and humour, ‘Joe & Ken’ explores the couples increasing frustrations, heartaches and jealousies.

ACT Year 1 Show – Invited Audience

The Cherry Orchard

by Anton Chekhov translation by Michael Frayn

“Frayn’s translation, which strikes me as splendidly lucid and alive…will be acted again and again” (New Statesman).

In Chekhov’s tragi-comedy – perhaps his most popular play – the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. Their estate is hopelessly in debt and when urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they are confronted by an impossible decision. “At the time when The Cherry Orchard was written, the years before the revolution of 1905, Chekhov considered revolution in Russia irreversible and desirable.”

ACT Diploma in Acting Yr2 Students Public Show

Men Talking

An evening of men sharing intimate stories about life, loss, hope & connection (in support of A Band Of Brothers).

Co-produced by Fenia Gianni (from Triada Theatre Company), Sarah Anne Barfoot (from Tanglehead Productions) & Mark Culmer.

Two

By Jim Cartwright

Set in a local northern pub – Two tells the story of the The Landlord and Landlady, their cheery greeting and friendly banter barely disguises their contempt for each other. They met outside the pub when they were kids and now they own the place. During the course of the evening assorted customers pass through, and we get a small snapshot into each of their lives.

From the award-winning writer of Little Voice and Road – Jim Cartwright’s third play Two, was first performed in 1989 at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, then transferred to the Young Vic Theatre. It won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best New Play.

The Pitchfork Disney by Philip Ridley

ACT Foundation in Acting

End of term performance for the ACT Foundation course – invited audience only.

Coma

By Prospero Thaetre Company

A woman springs awake from a Coma brought on by trauma. But she wakes as both her 60 year old and her 16 year old self.

ACT Diploma in Acting

End of term performance for the ACT Diploma course – invited audience only.

Ghost Stories For Christmas 2019

Now in its 7th year, the original Brighton Ghost Stories For Christmas charity fundraiser returns to The Lantern Theatre from 18th to 21st December 2019.

Featuring stories by Ramsey Campbell, John Paul Fitch and Neil Gaiman, this year we return to our roots and are raising funds for The Clocktower Sanctuary, the charity we supported with our very first show.

Join us for a glass of mulled wine and tales of messages from beyond the grave, mysterious wedding gifts, and a dark fable about a man who hates Christmas….

Tickets are £10 and include a glass of mulled wine or mulled apple juice on arrival

For the shows from the 18th to 20th doors will open at 7.30pm with the performance starting at 8.00pm. On the 21st doors will open at 8.30pm with the performance starting at 9.00pm to allow audience members to attend The Burning of The Clocks.

Please note that there is no late entry to performances – please ensure that you are punctual to avoid missing out!

Running time 1 hour 15 minutes and a 20 minute interval.

ACT Diploma – End of Term Play (Invited Audience)

Geneva Convention (A Work in Progress)

War. Brutality. Collapse. Ripples of peripheral trauma. Four female voices. In Geneva. Or wherever. Chaotic sense of being a human being in this world. But everything is fine. Everything is fine … and not fine.
An experimental drama by Mark C. Hewitt performed by an international cast. With music by Thomas Strønen.

“The. following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever: violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.”

ACT Foundation – Term 1 Production

Closed show ACT Staff and Students only.

ACT Foundation Show

Invited audience only.

ACT Diploma Yr1 Show

Invited audience only.

Wild

by Jenna Kamal

Three sisters living entirely separate lives are united for their grandmother’s funeral, where the disdain and distance between them becomes achingly apparent. In the sticky mess of grief, will they burn or rebuild their bridges?

Directed by Erin Blackmore.

Featuring Felicity Green, Amy Kidd and Meadhbh Maxwell.

WILD is an exciting new co-production from anseo|anois theatre and Rumble Theatre.

Staged Readings from ACT Playwriting Course

New work from the students of our An Introduction to Playwriting course.
Over the length of the course the students develop a new piece of writing that is then showcased in this script in hand performance by professional actors.

ACT Diploma YR1 Term 1 Production

Closed show ACT Staff and Students only.

ACT Foundation – End of Term Play (invited Audience)

ACT Foundation Show (Invited Audience)

ACT Foundation in Acting – end of term show – Invited Audience only.

An Introduction to Playwriting : Staged Readings

A selection of new plays from the students of ACT’s Introduction To Playwriting Course.

Each student has developed a new short play during the course and these will be performed (script in hand) by professional actors.

Ghost Stories for Christmas 2021

Have yourself a scary little Christmas…. Brighton’s original Ghost Stories for Christmas returns to The Lantern Theatre, featuring a trio of spine tingling tales from masters of horror Ramsey Campbell and John Paul Fitch and, for the first time, award winning novelist Kate Mosse.

Following a break in 2020 due to ill health, director and producer Craig Johnson says ‘We are delighted to be back at The Lantern this year performing our annual show, which has been a staple of the Brighton Christmas Season since our first production 9 years ago. After a serious health scare in 2020 we are proud to be donating our proceeds from the show to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, without which I may have ended up quite literally in a ghost story. I am eternally grateful for the care I received from all of the staff there and so it feels fantastic to be giving something back, particularly following all of the efforts made by the NHS over the past two years.”

This year’s show promises tales of horror, melancholy and dark humour and features a ghostly bride, malevolent decorations and a rather unusual Christmas miracle. Please note that this production, which contains strong language, is not suitable for children.

Because our audience capacity is now reduced, and we want to raise as much money as possible for the NHS, we will not be including mulled wine within this year’s ticket.

ACT Youth Theatre Present

When This Is Over

Devised by the company
Directed by Graeme Dalling
In association with Company Three and Nick Hern Books

2145 by Emma Kelly

2145 is a dark, comic road trip to the future where no one knows who’s in control. It’s Thelma and Louise meets Red Dwarf for the stage.

The Zoo Story

by Edward Albee

The Unconscious Theatre Collective proudly presents (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winner) Edward Albee’s seminal piece ‘Zoo Story’.

Two very different men meet by chance in Central Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. A play about isolation, social disparity, hope and connection, and the inhumanity of modern life. Witty, strange, but ultimately poignant and grounded, the friendly chat they begin will have profound effects on the direction of both their lives.

We are a London-based company of international actors with a commitment to truthful and improvisational work.

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

The Zoo Story

by Edward Albee

The Unconscious Theatre Collective proudly presents (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winner) Edward Albee’s seminal piece ‘Zoo Story’.

Two very different men meet by chance in Central Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. A play about isolation, social disparity, hope and connection, and the inhumanity of modern life. Witty, strange, but ultimately poignant and grounded, the friendly chat they begin will have profound effects on the direction of both their lives.

We are a London-based company of international actors with a commitment to truthful and improvisational work.

The Ruffian on the Stair

The Ruffian on the Stair is the first play Joe Orton ever wrote. Rarely performed, this production set in a sordid bedsit has been described as ‘dripping with menace’ and ‘compelling’.

Mike and Joyce are a poor London couple living in a bedsit. Mike is an ex-boxer living on the dole who makes extra cash by running people down for money, and Joyce is an ex-prostitute.

It is an unsympathetic yet comedic one-act portrayal of working class England, as played out by a couple and a mysterious young man who toys with their lives. It was based on The Boy Hairdresser, a novel by Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell.

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.

The Ruffian on the Stair

The Ruffian on the Stair is the first play Joe Orton ever wrote. Rarely performed, this production set in a sordid bedsit has been described as ‘dripping with menace’ and ‘compelling’.

Mike and Joyce are a poor London couple living in a bedsit. Mike is an ex-boxer living on the dole who makes extra cash by running people down for money, and Joyce is an ex-prostitute.

It is an unsympathetic yet comedic one-act portrayal of working class England, as played out by a couple and a mysterious young man who toys with their lives. It was based on The Boy Hairdresser, a novel by Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell.

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.

Ghost Stories For Christmas 2019

Now in its 7th year, the original Brighton Ghost Stories For Christmas charity fundraiser returns to The Lantern Theatre from 18th to 21st December 2019.

Featuring stories by Ramsey Campbell, John Paul Fitch and Neil Gaiman, this year we return to our roots and are raising funds for The Clocktower Sanctuary, the charity we supported with our very first show.

Join us for a glass of mulled wine and tales of messages from beyond the grave, mysterious wedding gifts, and a dark fable about a man who hates Christmas….

Tickets are £10 and include a glass of mulled wine or mulled apple juice on arrival

For the shows from the 18th to 20th doors will open at 7.30pm with the performance starting at 8.00pm. On the 21st doors will open at 8.30pm with the performance starting at 9.00pm to allow audience members to attend The Burning of The Clocks.

Please note that there is no late entry to performances – please ensure that you are punctual to avoid missing out!

Running time 1 hour 15 minutes and a 20 minute interval.

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.

Bad Clowns: Invasion            
by Bad Clowns Comedy

For many years the Bureau for Alien Defence has kept the world safe from extra-terrestrial threats. Now a mind-controlling alien has infiltrated Earth. And worst of all, it’s taken over one of the audience members. Can our intrepid special agents locate and neutralise this alien before it’s too late?

‘A slick, briskly paced and wonderfully anarchic production’ ★★★★★ (LondonTheatre1)
‘Brilliantly put together, witty and entertaining’ ★★★★★ (West End Best Friend)
‘Takes high-concept comedy to new and perilous heights’ ★★★★ (Broadway Baby)
‘A fast-paced hour of delectable silliness’ ★★★★ (Threeweeks)

Best of the Fest Comedy – IYAF 2018

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”

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.

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.

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.