Brighton
-
Wake me up before you play a gig in a Grade II listed gothic ex-church
It’s been a breakneck few days since my dad’s funeral, which went about as well as these events can. The turnout was huge, and the wake was full of stories and cheer. Lots of people from Dad’s overlapping lives (work, family, being a geezer) came up to me to say how much they enjoyed the… Read more
-
Indie Brighton
Does anyone use listings any more? The hope is yes, as I’m setting up a weekly one for Brighton via my newsletter. I’m probably showing my age, but I still love reading about what’s coming up at any given location. Facebook events killed off a lot of the listings sites. The ones that remain are… Read more
-
AndAlso Level Four Improv Showcase, The Lantern Theatre, Brighton
Over the last few months I’ve been doing an improv course with AndAlso (artists formerly known as The Maydays), learning “The Harold”. The Harold format is named after the 1960s Labour Prime Minster Harold Wilson, due to the way scenes and games emerge in the “white heat” of a three beat structure. A lot of… Read more
-
Some Edinburgh posters
After the amusing hoo-hah of Actually It’s About Ethics In Comedy Journalism, I’ve noticed some folks bringing their shows to Edinburgh have quoted me on their posters or in their material. This isn’t new – it’s been a few years now of seeing my own words quoted back at me from a poster in the… Read more
-
The Orient Express, terminating at Luton Airport
It is late night in Brighton, and from my flat window I can hear one of the last trains crossing the ten million bricks of London Road viaduct. Arriving back from Istanbul was a strange, jarring thing. I had only been in the city for five nights, but as always, had adapted quickly. Street cats,… Read more
-
Promoting shows in our collapsing digital realm
I’ve got a show in Brighton next week! It’s being headlined by Jason out of Clearlake, who I interviewed here. I’ve booked some clowns and written some songs about the end of the world, it’s going to be good. Telling people about a thing is tricky nowadays, as far as the internet is concerned. Offline,… Read more
-
All the shows I saw at Brighton Fringe 2024
Over on my newsletter I’ve posted links to all the Fringe, Spiegeltent, and Festival shows I went to this year. I’ve probably forgotten a couple, but this is how posterity shall remember it. I had a lovely time, and enjoyed excellent company throughout. Next year, I think I’ll take a few more risks and see… Read more
-
Re-Enactment: The Diggers, Mark Thomas, Victoria Melody and the Brighton Folk Choir
“Your freedom to uphold / seeing Cavaliers of old / to kill you if they could / and rights from you withhold /Stand up now Diggers all!” Was it all just a fever dream? A sunny Saturday lunchtime, and my folk choir is singing a 17th century folk ballad in Whitehawk, encouraging gardeners with pitchforks… Read more
-
Jack In The Green, Catalyst Club, and Mark Thomas: 3 Brighton Folk Choir gigs in one week
Ours is a seasonal choir, in which we learn old songs with a sense of time and place. Sometimes this can be bittersweet, especially when sing of trees and birds that are now rare or under threat, but it helps reconnect one with the cyclical nature of existence, and the importance of community, ritual, and… Read more
jamesofwalsh 