Here are Fringe Review editor Paul Levy’s five early theatre show recommendations for Brighton Fringe 2023…
First off is Anna & Marina from award-winning Brighton based theatre company Brighton Theatre. with a reputation as a company brimming with experimentation but with a solid history as assured theatre makers, Anna & Marina has to be on your bucket list for theatre at Brighton Fringe. “Two rival poets meet for the first time just as their country is being invaded by the largest military force in world history. Will they unite to defend the Motherland from annihilation, even though it means supporting a regime that has banned their work and executed family members?”
Next we have Destiny which plays early in the Fringe at the unique Rotunda Bubble, this acclaimed solo piece from a company that has worked with Bristol Old Vic this gritty piece is all about a young person who is “is desperate to see beyond the neighbourhood and find hope in hopelessness.”.
Lovers of cult TV series The Prisoner will want to see Who is No.1? from award-winning The Foundry Group in the initimate below stairs setting of the Latest Music Bar. “The latest comedy play from the multi-award-winning writing duo Brian Mitchell (co-writer of The Ministry of Biscuits) and Joseph Nixon (co-writer of West-End hit The Shark Is Broken), explores the age-old tensions between artist and patron, prophet and king, telling the truth and pleasing the crowd, and why artists sometimes risk everything for their vision.”
The Spirit of Woodstock, reviewed as outstanding in 2022 by FringeReview comes to new fringe venue hub Caravanserai. An epic “theatrical romp through the 60s & 70s. An exciting smorgasbord of theatrical vignettes, a whistle-stop tour of your memories & of modern history. In lightning-fast succession, 65 distinct moments from the 60s, then (in Part 2) the 70s,…. the people, the events, the musicians, the upheavals, the iconic junctures that shaped our world. Bathed in the soundscapes & music of the times, enhanced by the audience’s memories & imaginations, taking you back to a world that was both revolutionary & challenging. Funny, poignant, moving. “There are two parts to the proceedings with Part 1 (Woodstock & The 60s) on Thurs and Sat. and Part 2 (Children of The Revolution & The 70s) on Fri and Sun.
Our final opening choice is Unwanted Objects which plays at the pop up Fringe venue the Rotunda, comes with the highly reveiwed pedigree as a story and song show that is billed as “An exploration of sentimentality, our possessions and the meaning we attach to them.”
More to come.
