THEATRE: INTIMATE ENCOUNTERS New Venture Theatre Fri 4th – Sat 6th
Just when you thought the eyebrow-raising promises of Fringe season had been consigned to another summer passed, New Venture turn over a 45-minute “performance installation” involving the tasty prospect of physical contact with performers in extreme darkness. The actors will be responding to the reactions of their audience, who will take centre stage in the auditorium as they enter at staggered intervals. Taking on six shows a day, the cast have every reason to be as nervous as their shadowed visitors. (BM)

ART: FLOOR PLAN Phoenix Gallery from Sat 5th An architectural group show to kick off the autumn season at the Phoenix, focusing on the psychological relationship between people and the physical aesthetic (or lack of) surrounding us. The six exhibitors have made too much to nattily summarise, among them graffiti, photography, imagined labyrinths, collages, paintings and found objects, digital imagery on large-scale canvas and an exploration of the historic building housing the gallery itself. The artists will also be discussing their theme at the gallery on Wed 23. (BM)

ART: DREAMSCAPES Art At Five Sat 5th – Sun 20th
A welcome combination of three accomplished and vibrant artists, united by their interpretations of the natural world. Nick Vivian is a prominent London artist with a distinctive kaleidoscopic palette which perfectly describes the daily journey of natural light – his work is contrasted by the subtle hues and textures of Brighton’s own Kim Anderson, whose work echoes the fleeting moments that make up the constant evolution of nature. This is set against Yvonne Coomber’s floral explosions in an obvious and amorous announcement about her relationship with the untamed countryside. Beautiful work, all of it. (NC)

EVENT: THE SANDPIT TOUR Lighthouse Wed 9th
No amount of swanky Playstation games can beat a good session of hide-and-seek, according to the philosophy behind the Sandpit tour. Participants are asked to devise and try out mock-up games with resident artists including hostage situations, crime sprees and theatrical dispatches. They say it aims to create “new ways of being together”, but we bet someone still throws a tantrum, thumps their mate in the face and is later found sobbing into their 12th lager at a nearby pub. (BM)

FILM: FISH TANK Duke Of York’s Fri 11th – Thurs 17th
Powerful acting, skinny girls in council estate flats who hate everyone around them and bleak scenery – Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank could have turned into a cliché quicker than you can say gritty realism. As it turned out, the story of a 15-year-old who embarks upon a semi-relationship with her mother’s new boyfriend became a deserved winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, full of humour, fragility, tension, fizzing romance and beautiful cinematography. Go see. (BM)

ART: WORKS FOR TURNTABLE Permanent Gallery until Sun 20th
Stephen Cornford is a sculptor who enjoys messing around with audio technology and bits of instruments, forming kinetic chimes by combining pianos with bits of bicycles and similar debris. In this one he’s placed various objects he’s found in flea markets on rotating decks, striking springs, wire, guitar strings and elastic bands as they go. The resulting recordings have been turned into a seven inch vinyl of his own, with sleeve notes scribbled by The Wire editor Anne Hilde Neset. (BM)

THEATRE: RED SEA FISH Pavilion Theatre Weds 16th – Fri 18th
A potential one to watch here, as local arts collective Two Bins present a production which is off to New York’s Brits Off Broadway Festival in November after winning widespread praise for its originality and inventiveness. Two troubled partnerships make up the stories – one between a retired thief who’s allergic to sunlight and the son he verbally abuses, the other between a lothario on the pull in an arcade and a conquest who proves eerily reminiscent of his long-dead wife. (BM)

COMEDY: TIM MINCHIN Dome Fri 18th
A frequent apparent of watching Tim Minchin is how much his style shouldn’t work. His joyously offensive outbursts usually take on fairly obvious subjects, his piano-pop routine includes nine-minute beat poems and anti-romantic R&B numbers, and the bug-eyed Aussie would be the first to admit that his stand-up is not the strongest. The fact that he’s become a huge draw in spite of these hurdles says everything about his sense of pace, comic timing and, yes, lyrical ability. (BM)

THEATRE: THE PILLOWMAN Little Theatre from Thurs 29th
Brutal, randomly cruel and violent, Irish writer Martin McDonagh’s play shocked and disgusted when it debuted in 2003. Set in a non-descript totalitarian state, it re-enacts scenes from the imagination of a novelist being questioned by police after a series of grim short stories from his pen appear to inspire a series of child murders. Best avoided if you’re on a first date, the Olivier Award-nominated work should make for an intriguing, unsettling watch. (BM)

DANCE: STATE OF EMERGENCY PRESENT MISSION POSSIBLE Pavilion Theatre Weds 30th
A three-part show taking what could be an alarming through-the-microscope look at the male psyche from three leading black choreographers. Five lithe young dancers will be studying classic male role models (unspecified here, although we suspect butchers, postmen and the like aren’t likely to be included) and portraying snapshots of the male role in society in the 21st century. The director, Deborah Baddoo, has been a pioneer for black dance since the 80s, so this should be an interesting night out. (NC)

Words by Ben Miller and Nick Coquet