Brighton Fringe is back in town so SOURCE’s theatre writers give their top picks for this year’s festival.

Destiny
Rotunda Theatre, May 5th-8th
Wiltshire-based writer/actor Florence Espeut-Nickless is quickly making a name for herself in theatre. This is in no small part due to her one-person show, ‘Destiny’, which has been described as “captivating” by The Guardian and shortlisted for Theatre West’s Write On Women Award. Previously seen at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, as well as at Edinburgh Festival, this storming monologue is a visceral take on class and its consequences in modern Britain. And it’s one we’re very keen to catch. (ET)

A Couple Of Swells
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus, May 5th & 12th
Lemon Squeeze return to Brighton Fringe this year following their sell-out production ‘Crunch!’ which stormed the 2022 festival. This time they arrive with their highly anticipated new show ‘A Couple Of Swells’ – a jaunty adventure through the music hall age and the early days of ‘drag kings’ that tells the true life story of male impersonators Vesta Tilley and Hetty King. It’s sure to be packed with plenty of songs and spirit and the audience will even be invited to cast their vote for the winner of best male impersonator in the world! (ET)

Streets of London
Rotunda Theatre, May 11th-14th, 20th-21st, 27th-28th
Julie is living on the streets of London. She’s outside the system but keeps an old balloon around her neck. What’s her story? This drama is all about living on the edge, between begging and boozing. You’ve seen it in Brighton, and you’ve seen it in London and Edinburgh. This one-woman theatre performance is all about the true street stories of love, drugs, and the battle to cling onto hope when you’re invisible. Sometimes she sells painted balloons to people that pass. Let’s find out more. (MA)

Eight
The Actors, May 11th & 13th
It’s great to be welcoming Newhaven’s exciting new theatre company Ignite to the Fringe this year. They’ll be presenting Ella Hickson’s ‘Eight’, a series of no-nonsense monologues with tragic and comical insights into: prostitution, suicide, adultery, necrophilia, addiction, poverty, lust, and youth… Beat that! They probably can. First performed in Edinburgh in 2008, ‘Eight’ takes on the financial crash, loss of identity, the pandemic and disillusionment. Each character explains how their story relates to the pervasive apathy of modernity and the effects it has on the human psyche. It’s a spotlight on distress. But there’s always the bar downstairs. (MA)

The Eagle And The Seagull
Rotunda Theatre, May 16th-21st
The concept of fierce rivalry between football fans is both intriguing and baffling – even for a football fan. ‘The Eagle And The Seagull’ charts the bitter but relatively incomprehensible feud between fans of Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion (one that has sparked a fair bit of controversy over recent years) and looks to boil it down to a human comedy-drama set within a Spanish prison cell. With their previous work, ‘The Hitman And Her’, garnering good critical reception at Reading Fringe Festival a few years back this looks like a welcome and exciting return for theatre company Stage D’Or. (ET)

The Spirit Of Woodstock Parts I & II
Caravanserai, May 18th-21st
From acclaimed Lewes-based theatre company Something Underground comes a whistle-stop tour through the 60s and 70s (in two parts) with an accompanying soundtrack from those eras. The rapid-fire play delivers a dose of nostalgia as well as a glimpse into some glam (and not-so-glam) moments of modern history. We saw the first part in St Ann’s Well Gardens a few years back; since then the play has won an International Fringe Encore Series award. This “smorgasbord of theatrical vignettes” promises revolution with its rhythm and is sure to prove a hit at this year’s festival. (ET)

The Telling: Into The Melting Pot
Ralli Hall Community Centre, May 23rd
‘The Telling’ is a performance of stories about women forced to migrate from Seville in Spain during the late 15th century. This takes on racial, religious and gender issues still relevant today. Yet there was a brief time in that region of Andalusia when Christian, Jewish and Muslim people had lived side by side, sharing their stories and music. This performance, written by Clare Norburn and directed by BAFTA-nominated Nicholas Renton, is accompanied by a small ensemble playing harp, oud, percussion and recorders. The Sephardic songs and medieval music – complemented by full staging and lighting – should be an unusual soundtrack to a thought-provoking evening of words and music. (MA)

Pericles
Caravanserai, May 23rd-26th
There’s a chance to catch up with ‘Pericles’ – one of the Bard’s less hawked plays – at the Caravanserai pop-up venue next to St Peter’s church. Let’s hope the traffic noise doesn’t impinge on the performance. ‘Pericles’ in five words? How about: incest, murder, storms, integrity and redemption? But this adaption by Kelly Hunter (Trafalgar Studios, Bridge Theatre) promises a new approach devised by a multilingual cast with “live music, dance and emotional heartbreak” while throwing in “kidnaps and resurrections”. Surely that’s worth a look? (MA)

Chemistry
The Lantern @ ACT, May 25th-29th
Sam Chittenden is not afraid of undertaking sensitive and risky theatre. We’re looking forward to her latest play which explores an Orwellian future where direct physical contact between humans has been forbidden. We watch as Bea and Jay navigate an IVF reproductive process overseen by robot operators. Sam has been an important writer, actor and director in Brighton and beyond for many years. She’s previously directed ‘Clean House’ (reviewed here) – telling the stories of Brighton women in the laundry business, and adapted Kafka’s Metamorphosis. We’ll be queuing up for ‘Chemistry’! (MA)

Frydays
Komedia Studio, June 3rd & 4th
Following a well-received stint at Camden People’s Theatre, this new comedy musical set within a seaside chippy comes to Brighton, where chips on the beach is practically an official pastime. This bright and absurdist two-hander promises a lot of fun, with plenty of instruments and a roll call of larger-than-life characters all brought into focus by writer-performers Madeline Hatt and Louis Turner. The play was awarded a Brighton Fringe staff bursary and looks set to earn its… *ahem* plaice… at the festival. (ET)

Words by Ethan Taylor and Mike Aiken