Now over for 2026, Brightonians and champions of the famous Brighton Spigeltent, Adrian and Izzy send us a “wish you were here” potcard from Ventnor Fringe.
Date Friday 17th July – Sunday 26th July 2026
We’ve been talking to Ventnor Fringe for a couple of years around the wonderful Bosco Theater that we love so much – and we’ve read the reviews – so when last- minute show cancellations freed up some time and with a good range of affordable accommodation available online we jumped on a train and a hovercraft to sunny Isle of Wight. There’s no railway to Ventnor anymore so from Ryde it’s train to Shanklin then a bus. Yes it isn’t straightforward to get to, but it really isn’t hard.
I think a place’s creativity is shaped by their people and their people are shaped by the landscape and Ventnor is quite special. You probably think of Cowes and Ryde and the Solent sailing crowd across from Lymington – but it’s not like that. Ventnor sits on the southern side of the island facing all the weather of the English Channel driven from the Atlantic. Ventnor’s coast is doing all the heavy lifting, which for an island of sandstone and gravel makes for one of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe. Bombed hard in World War 2, the railways culled in the 60s, the Pier dismantled in the 90s and all the trials and tribulation of Britain’s seaside towns what does that mean for character? Well, certainly a robust community spirit of an innate dogged resilience but also maybe the quiet acceptance that we need to make our own fortune and… que sera sera?
It’s quite an origin story… in 2010, inspired by the original Isle of Wight festivals, a bunch of 17 year-old schoolkids – yep 17 year-olds – thought they would produce a Fringe festival and so they did, going on to establishing a Community Interest Company which has produced the Fringe since the beginning. In 2014 they were able to buy the old Post Office to create the year-round cultural centre Ventnor Exchange which they call “the town’s front room, filled with decent coffee, tasty cocktails, comfy sofas, music, board games, quiz nights, comedy, parties, talks and everything in between”. Two of those founders are still running the organisation now and the others are around and involved. Creativity is a virus.
Check out https://ventnorexchange.co.uk/
Sunny golden beaches and beautiful natural surroundings make for stunning backdrops and sea views but also means very few areas of flat ground where you’d choose to site a festival. Everything in Ventnor is uphill or downhill – it’s good walking practice for Edinburgh. So clever use of the town’s landscape creates a uniquely immersive atmosphere as, by necessity, the Fringe sprawls across Ventnor’s parks, hidden spaces and coastline, with performances popping up in secret coves, woodlands, churches, an undertaker’s yard, front rooms, tents, caves and even the putting green is requisitioned for Fringe Family Fun. Carefully positioning a big top and a circus tent into a grassy clifftop bowl makes a pretty funky late-night hangout Club Lunar featuring a packed line up of international musical collectives and circus pop-ups.
Ventnor Fringe sits neatly in the calendar in the lead-up to the big one. The programme is interesting and eclectic with enough of a smattering of ‘names’ if that’s your shtick. Ten days with an opening and a closing weekend feels like a good length. Community engagement is great and audiences are strong. Make the effort.
It’s a lovely Fringe and a distinctive cultural experience that we shall definitely return to.
Adrian and Izzy
Brighton Spiegeltent
