The Caroline of Brunswick offers a year-round, much enjoyed music programme, but spreads it’s comedy and a bit of theatre wings in May.
Visit the Caroline of Brunswick’s web site for full listings and show information
They are part of Laughing Horse Comedy as well.
39 Ditchling Road, Brighton BN1 4SB (Map)
Box Office: 01273 624434
I want to see … at the Caroline of Brunswick
Our intuitive show-finding tool
I want to see…
…an adult twist on the beloved children’s story. Then see The Very Well-Fed Caterpillar
… a comedy, mind-reading show, demonstrating all the likely ingredients of a mind-blowing show including telepathy, thought control and of course the big final prediction. Then see Mind Show: Unboxing
… some highly intelligent stand-up comedy. Then see Frank Foucault: Shoes
… a comedy show, fresh from the Adelaide Fringe. Then see Fabulon
… a famous, rising comedian. Then see Harriet Kemsley’s New Show
… some edgy solo comedy. Then see Bodily
We’ll be adding more recommendations in the run up to, and during the Fringe.
INTERVIEW
Heather Bagnall, Co-Founding Artistic Director and performer at Tasty Monster Productions talks about Everybody’s Crazy…Or Maybe It’s Just Me!
What’s the theme of your show?
Mental Illness, Crisis, Miscarriage and Google
What’s new or unique about the show?
Everybody’s Crazy… is a live action, choose-your-own intervention adventure. It deals with the very real issues of mental illness, crisis and desperation in a comic way. The show is about a woman in crisis, dealing with her own issues and family members who are doing the best they can but with very real mental health issues. Despite the warning signs, no one realizes she is in crisis so she decides to hold an intervention for herself.
How did the show come into being?
This show started out as something very different. I had an idea for a character, based on some of my own life experience, who has this kookie family and was laughing about the trials and tribulations of dealing with the mentally ill and I decided to write for SOLOCom to challenge myself to write a strict comedy, since I usually write comedic drama. A week before the deadline, I had a miscarriage and I decided that this was where I was, so this was where I needed to write from because when you miscarry, no one wants to talk about it, no one wants to help because they don’t know what to do, it’s still so taboo. So I took elements of my original concept and two days before deadline rewrote the entire show which was oddly cathartic and immensely resonant. I was still rewriting jokes in the dressing room and the first performance was a bit of an outer-body experience.
Describe one of your rehearsals.
Well, the rehearsals are a little more structured now than when I first created it, obviously. The key to this show is to keep it feeling fresh, to not push too heavily on the humor or force the character to “be funny” because I’m not making fun of mental illness, I’m lifting up the people who deal with it, whether it’s the sufferers or the caregivers. As it’s a solo show, most of my time is spent refining Jackie so she remains earnest without getting too dark.
How is the show developing?
I am still working with the original elements of the show which was incredibly low tech. I’m constantly having to resist the temptation to add bells and whistles, or more to the point, projections to the show since there are elements of social media, but it’s also supposed to feel like you are in my living room so it’s a delicate balance. Eventually I would actually like to find a venue which is a living room to produce this show.
How has the writer been involved?
Well, she’s a pain in the *ss but I have to deal with her.
How have you experimented?
This whole show was an experiment, as a writer and as a performer. And we’re playing with the lines between theatre, performance art, and interactive comedy.
Where do your ideas come from?
My ideas come from my life, or articles I read, or stories I hear, book, I’ve read. They often begin as a kernel of an idea and grow from there.
How do your challenge yourself?
I constantly challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone, as a writer and a performer, and to get out of my own way in general. This show challenges the audience to laugh at a subject which might make them uncomfortable laughing at, and as a writer I constantly challenge myself to approach stories from a perspective I haven’t heard before. When I wrote Ferdinand, I wanted to write a story about a single Dad who cares for his son but it is very much my influence on that narrative-why was it important? Because short of a handful of movies and books, most father / son stories were of a troubled relationship, devoid of compassion without nurturing which leaves them as the model, and I wanted to create a new model.
What are your future plans for the show ?
I would love to do a Living Room tour of this show, and give a portion of the proceeds to a support group for parents of miscarriage or caregivers of mentally ill family. I would love to do talkbacks where people can tell their stories, so we could demystify and destigmatize crisis, mental illness and miscarriage.
What are your favourite shows, and why?
The Fantasticks is my all-time because the show is a metaphor and deals with the loss of innocence. I love metaphor as an element of storytelling.
I also think just about anything by Ahrens and Flaherty is brilliant with the standouts being Ragtime, I mean how could you go wrong with a book by Terrence McNally, and Once on This Island.
I still get teary listening to the cast recording when she turns into…a tree! A tree that grew up and cracked the gates of the bazone so they could never close again, a tree where the children played…And now I’m teary again. I love all kinds of shows but I think stories which give people hope resonate most with me, and comedies of course., and where those meet, I’m hooked. I don’t watch a lot of television but I do have a new favorite show, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt by Tina Fey, one of my favorite comedy writers. Kimmy was kidnapped and held in a bunker for 15 years but she doesn’t want that to define her. It’s a comedy that deals with something really terrible, but the whole message of the show is that terrible things happen but that we don’t have to let that define who we are.
Show dates, times and booking info: June 1, 2 Laughing Horse @Temple Bar 11:15 pm
Book here
June 3 Laughing Horse @Caroline of Brunswick 10:00 pm
Company web site: http://www.
INTERVIEW
Paul Vickers, Mr.Twonkey, talks about Twonkey’s Night Train to Liechtenstein
What’s the theme of your show?
A tale of Inherited Wealth and Murder
When I was a young boy I sent a letter to Prince Charles asking if could take it upon him to visit smaller countries like San Marino, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. I felt it was important not to neglect them due to size. I have family in Liechtenstein they would love to meet the future kings. I got a letter back from the prince saying he had just been on a skiing holiday in Liechtenstein with the boys. In fact they pinned the letter on the notice board at school. I was bullied to tears. People reacted by trying to kill me. Pretty soon the letter was vandalized and destroyed by thugs. I feel its time for me to go to Liechtenstein. I need to pick up the money left for me by my auntie in her will, what could go wrong? Let me tell you about my late rich eccentric Auntie.
“It’s a hard world for little things”
(Lillian Gish in Night of the Hunter.)
This year Mr.Twonkey is going to make you cry in his first ever four-handkerchief show. Join him in his new fancy adventure featuring a tiny Al Capone, a mysterious package and a sexual dance that leads us off a cliff. We travel to the belly button of Europe to unlock a safety deposit box. Why is Mr. Trombone so sad and what’s it like to work as a gigolo?
How did the show come into being?
A dashing Yorkshire man (I.E Me) returned home from a holiday in Chicago and out of one the books on his shelf they rolled a Tiny Al Capone.
“They couldn’t kill me; I’ve been hiding there all along Tiny Al Capone, Tiny Al Capone”.
Until one day he slipped into a Babyfoot Table and was kicked into a light fitting and fried Tiny Al Capone,Tiny Al Capone.
That was the first seed of an idea.
Describe one of your rehearsals.
I sit with my puppets and sing to them.
Sometimes people come look at me and cheer me along.
Sometimes I drink tea and look out the window and think.
Sometimes I sit in the dark and cry.
How is the show developing?
It’s my best show …Please come! send Philip Hutchinson (he’s Wonderful).
Lynn Ruth Miller never comes….she’s all hot air but I still love her….but she is a tease.
How has the writer been involved?
I am the writer.
How have you experimented?
Bloody hell…..Yes I have…..always…ALWAYS.
Where do your ideas come from?
Twonkeyverse!
How do your challenge yourself or yourselves?
It’s challenging writing a new show every year but I love it…..and i’m getting good at it now.
What are your favourite shows, and why?
Maid Of Cabbage was great last year.
Lucy Pearman mixed Catherine Cookson with Father Ted with ease.
Show dates, times and booking info:
THE DATES:
Brighton Fringe 2018 The Caroline of Brunswick 2018:
11th and 12th of May 19:30 hours.
Prague Fringe at the Museum of Alchemists 2018:
25th,26th and 27th of May 19:45 hours.
London The Bill Murray Comedy Club 2018:
14th of June 18:45 hours.
Buxton Fringe at The Old Clubhouse 2018:
13th July, 19:00 hours and 14th July, 22:00 hours.
Edinburgh Fringe 2018 Heroes at Dragonfly:
3rd to the 26th of August (apart from the 8th and the 22nd) 18:00 hours.
Book here
Company web site: http://twonkey.blogspot.co.uk
