Brighton Fringe 2012 looks set to be bigger and better than ever
So Brighton Fringe Festival is just around the corner and from when it arrives on the 5th May 2012 until it leaves us again on 27th May, Brighton will play host to a deluge of cultural and artistic events.
The Brighton Fringe is bringing theatre, dance, photography, art, literature and music to our wonderful city and there is something for everyone from the youngest of tots to the wisest of elders, and everybody in-between of course.
There are over 675 events on the menu at 2012’s Fringe Festival and they are taking place all over town at over 190 venues. Performances and events will be brought to you by local artistes as well as other performers and creative types from across the UK, and there are also around 30 small companies from outside this country of ours who are going to be turning up to get involved in the gaiety.
You can, and should, bring your children along as this year will see the first appearance of a family dedicated pop-up venue ‘The Hurly Burly’. This fantastic setting will be erected in the front gardens of St Peter’s Church and will host a number of child-friendly shows which will take place all through the day, switching to more adult-orientated work in the evenings.
Brighton Fringe is England’s largest arts festival and the 2012 brochure was unveiled last month with a colourful launch party at London’s Leicester Square Theatre in the company of participants, supporters, partners and Friends of Brighton Fringe.
There will be cultural events from theatre to visual art, from dance to comedy, from music to film. With Citroën as the headline sponsors for the second consecutive year, Brighton Fringe 2012 promises to be the biggest and best yet.
Highlights So what are the stand out events at Brighton Fringe Festival 2012? Well, here I have chosen a few which are getting me excited.
One of the most definite highlights on the bill this year is ‘Dip Your Toe’, which is Brighton Fringe’s response to the Cultural Olympiad’s ‘The Boat Project’. There will be six custom-built Victorian bathing machines which will be scattered around the city to house a broad range of performances with both strong community links and wider international elements. With puppet shows, audio and live performances, galleries and even a camera-obscura, the machines will also welcome the Olympiad’s boat when it arrives in Brighton on the first stop of its maiden voyage in May.
Hendrick’s returns to Jubilee Gardens with their Library of Delightfully Peculiar Writings which will present a huge and exciting literary programme.
The cabaret programme also looks fantastic, with the award-winning Bourgeois and Maurice, the utterly fabulous Lynn Ruth MIller and Radio 1’s King of Cabaret Des O’Connor.
And if laughs are are what you are after then simply feast your eyes on the list of fantastic comedians who are on the lineup to perform at Brighton Fringe Festival 2012. The acts include the fantastic Jimeoin, the wonderful Isy Suttie and the hilarious Mark Steel, along with Gina Yashere, Nick Helm, Brian Gittins and many many more.
And all the children in Brighton can attend as the humongous kids’ festival rolls into town with puppets, comedy and storytelling.
So, as I said before there really is something for everyone and it really is worth making the most of this wonderful occasion by spending as much time at Brighton Fringe 2012 as you can!
Pictures: Mike Page