Life Would Be Pretty Dull Without Sex, Raves and MDMA is a solo dark comedy by Bex Wall, co written with Sarah Asante Gregory. It follows Bex, a woman in her forties, as grief, rave culture, desire and reckless freedom collide. Set against the energy of 1990s dance music, the show mixes raw honesty, humour and emotional release in a story about loss, connection and choosing to live fully intentionally.
Bex chatted to Paul Levy in the final days of Brighton Fringe 2026 about the show which plays an extra date at Caravanserai.
Oh, and also…
I am posting some of my Brighton Fringe final week reflections here and will add ther final version when I have a bit more time… (ed – Paul Levy).
I haven’t had much spare timeto sit down and reflect on my highlights of this year’s Brighton Fringe. Some of my best conversations, as is the case every year, and also at other fringe festivals such as the “big one” (Edinburgh, in case you were wondering, are the pop-up, unplanned, happenstance ones. Particular favourites this year were first of all a conversation that happened during May but was not in Brighton at all. It was a catch up conversation with Grid Iron Theatre’s Ben Harrison, which took place at this year’s London based theatre gathering Devoted and Disgruntled.
Ben chatted about their way making theatre and their new production Mayflies. Grid Iron are based in edinburgh -wait a moment – we are talking about Brighton! But it was interesting, getting away from Brighton during May and that gave me a perspective. Brighton down south and Edinburgh up north, and many shows do both. I notice though that more shows in Edinburgh also play Camden, not doing a full Edinburgh run and then also play Brighton Fringe, with before or after Edfringe (and a few do both)!. I do think Brighton, in its continued post-Covid era recovery, is become a main stop off point for shows touring Fringes. A good thing, I reckon. And so perhaps it is not surprising that I found myself sitting at Pavilion Gardens cafe in conversation with Brighton Fringe regular Tom Corradini about his new physical theatre venue at Edfringe 2026, Teatro Fisico,
Back to the seaside and another pop-up interview was with solo performer Sameera Bowers. This was a multimedia solo comedy, which I didn’t get to see! I don’t tend to see much standup comedy. It not really “my thing” – I tend to laugh more at sketch comedy and I don’t feel qualified to review. But I do like to give a voice to themed shows, especially those that are quirky. As a writer on creativity, I like inventive work and I enjoyed thid conversation immensely. At the other end of the Fringe I got to chance to chat with Rushali Parterey who was playing her final dates at the Lantern Theatre. She had struggled for audience (she won’t be the only one), playing to some audiences of less than 5. In conversation with myself and Peter Williams (photographer) I was inspired by her positive attitude to the experience and said she was loving ths Fringe!
All our experiences are an opportunity to learn and when we move focus away from “my show”, there are hundreds of other shows to see and venues to check out. But it raised the question of what is the “right” venue? We suggested The Walrus or the Caroline of Brunswick might be better for stand-up comedy in Brighton. Playing a long run in a theatre venue can be a bit of a risk. yet everything is a learning curve.
My favourite conversation of the Fringe was with Polis Loizou about his horror solo theatre piece. You Oughta Be In Pictures. This was a interview and it’s what I love most about fringe theatre – his writing and theatre crafting process. Polis has a very gentle passion about him and I could have chatted longer.
