Brighton Fringe 2025
Three Minutes Inside My Brain
Jennifer Jordan
Genre: Character Stand up, Comedic, Comedy, Immersive, Interactive
Venue: The Actors
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
Get ready to be shrunk down and taken on a whirlwind adventure inside Jennifer’s brain. It’s weird in there, but also probably familiar.
Review
Solo theatre piece Three Minutes Inside My Brain took us on the “experience of a lifetime” as we were compressed into a tiny bus and transported into Jennifer’s brain. This talented performer shared fascinating and informative facts about the brain in a variety of formats – voice, voiceover, games etc. It was a very diverse and creative conceived show.
The comical games, including Bingo and a three-minute game to represent the thoughts in Jennifer’s mind, were highlights of the performance, as was the use of endearing puppets. The performance cleverly used shifts in tone and lighting to reflect changes in mood and mental state, creating moments of unease that deepened the audience’s emotional connection. These subtle theatrical devices added a psychological dimension to the show, prompting both discomfort and empathy in equal measure. I could easily describe many of the neat things that actually happened but I won’t spoil it for you.
The concepts that were used were novel in thet way they were used to explain how the brain works and were very amusing. The references to Kermit the Frog were very funny – Jennifer allowed the audience to experience a very vulnerable side to her but, by making us laugh, it felt more approachable and relatable and heightened the connection between the audience and performer. It was easy to resonate with what was being described – Jennifer’s understanding of the mind and of different types of people meant there was something everyone could resonate with.
The use of audience participation was interesting and skilfully done – people were given different tasks, to much comic effect. I’ll give just one example from many. One part included giving a topic for Jennifer to talk about for three minutes, drawing a map, holding up parts of a long tube and choosing a ball. The use of audience participation in the activities made for a highly engaging and interactive show – an in all good interactive theatre – we had a vital part to play in it. One interactive sequence was particularly powerful in conveying the complexity of navigating multiple, simultaneous thoughts. Rather than simply describing this experience, the performance invited the audience to engage with it directly. This participatory approach offered a vivid, first-hand sense of cognitive overload, fostering a deeper empathy and emotional resonance. For some, it appeared to offer a rare moment of recognition and connection, making the experience all the more moving.
Asking the audience to volunteer was also very inclusive . And anyone who did not wish to go up on stage didn’t have to.
Having a BSL interpreter was a very big plus to the performance, particularly in terms of inclusion, and the way in which the interpreter was included in the performance itself made for very interesting viewing and heightened the feeling of inclusivity. It was, however, ironic – although not Jennifer’s fault – that the venue did not present as being wheelchair accessible.
While the performance was clearly a comedy, and Jennifer was undeniably humorous, there was an emotional impact – the person I attended with cried as it resonated so much with them, and Jennifer’s portrayal of the inner voice will haunt me for some time.
Perhaps in order to improve the performance there could be more images. I also would have liked to have seen the map that one of the audience drew.
Allowing the audience into the depth of your brain is a very risky and potentially controversial thing to do. However, a very clever performance was created here. By using a unique take on fact sharing – transporting us into Jennifer’s brain by shrinking us and putting us in a bus was a highlight – and subtly explaining the different parts of the brain, we learned something without being overloaded. The section where Jennifer presented as being “shut down” was very thought-provoking and enabled the audience to really grasp and empathise with what Jennifer experiences. It was a “hands on” approach – by the end of the performance I felt as if I understood and had felt what Jennifer experienced.
It gave a clear insight into the workings of the mind and a unique method of explaining what anxiety feels like and what can be done to alleviate it. This was a feel-good, quirky comedy – it deserves a much wider audience than it got tonight.
