Reviews
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Comedy Competitions Were A Mistake
Comedy competitions are silly things to take seriously, but sometimes you see an injustice so egregious it makes you wonder if David Cameron’s meritocracy was a scam after all. Someone more cynical than me would decry the Brighton New Comedy Award as a thinly-veiled marketing campaign for the Jill Edwards stand-up comedy course. At the… Read more
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Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be 2025 edition: The Divine Comedy, Babybird, and Echobelly live in Brighton
I’m not sure what I do more often, vow to stop attending nostalgia shows or write up the nostalgia shows I’ve attended. In the past week I’ve seen three bands, all of whom were at their creative peak in the 1990s. These bands fill venues of various sizes by playing songs from 30 years ago… Read more
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REVIEW: Brighton Fringe: Dian Cathal – Deadnamed
In Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea novels, names are literally magic. To know the true name of a rock, a bird, or even a human, is to have mastery over it, they, or them. This is why, in Earthsea, most people go by a nickname: telling someone your true name is an act of intense love,… Read more
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BRIGHTON FRINGE: QUERTY (Jen Zheng and Beck Walker)
One split bill, two queer, neurodivergent comedians, sweaty back room of a pub: what’s not to like? Here on an early Friday evening, the weekend still a whirlpool of possibilities, we see two of the best young stand-ups working their way towards a debut hour (or, indeed, two debut hours). In football parlance, this is… Read more
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Brighton Fringe: Baba
Baba is you, me, or anyone. Borders are whims of the powerful, after all, and the difference between a migrant and a citizen is a hastily drawn line on a map. Halima Habil – Romanian-Moroccan, Gaulier-trained clown, understands this better than anyone. She’s worked with Clowns Without Borders in London, Bucharest, and Casablanca, and is… Read more
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Brighton Fringe: Kate Cheka – A Messiah Comes
Can art change the world? This is the weighty topic at the heart of Kate Cheka’s debut hour, one that wowed Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 and has lost none of its relevance and refreshing political directness. You don’t see many left wing stand-ups these days – not to be confused with liberal, vaguely “progressive” comedians,… Read more
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Brighton Fringe: That Witch Helen – The Actors Theatre
A muddled and confusing attempt at feminist reinvention. Helen of Troy was “the face that launch’d a thousand ships”, and “burnt the topless towers of Illium”. Most remember the opening line of Marlow’s poem, but it’s the second line That Witch Helen focuses on: how women are blamed for men’s violence. Blending a mixture of… Read more
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