Wayne Imms has been holding The Space (Southern performance and creative energies) events in Brighton since 2006, and this year’s line up of music and film industry guests is as strong, if not better, than ever. The evenings consist of friendly in-depth interviews with occasional performances by musical guests and a Q+A session with the audience at the end.
Wayne’s ability to book the cream of the crop is a thing of wonder, with previous guests such as film directors Alan Parker, Mike Leigh, Mike Hodges and Nicolas Roeg, producers William Orbit and Trevor Horn, musicians Clare Grogan, Chas Hodges, Chris Difford, Tim Rice, Ana Matronic, Martin Fry and dozens more.
There have also been a number of film production and design legends including Gary Kurtz(Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, American Graffiti), Tony Garnett (Kes, Cathy Come Home, This Life), John Lloyd (Blackadder, QI, Not the Nine o’Clock News) and Deborah Nadoolman Landis (whose husband John Landis was in attendance).
The list of actors who have been previous guests is incredible: Terence Stamp (our favourite ever Space guest), Steven Berkoff, Maxine Peake, Jane Horrocks, Mark Gatiss, David Warner, the list goes on. And so to the events coming up this Summer at their current home at The Tusk Club in The Walrus, 10 Ship Street, Brighton.
Thursday 8th August – John Thomson
Known primarily for Cold Feet and The Fast Show, Thomson’s career began in stand up with his hilarious Bernard Manning pastiche Bernard Righton. His TV credits include Coronation Street, Blackpool, Playing the Field and Men Behaving Badly. He won the Perrier Award, with Steve Coogan in 1992.
Thursday 15th August – Phil Manzanera
Lead guitarist of Roxy Music since 1972, Manzanera played on all their classics such as Love is the Drug, Dance Away, Virginia Plain, Angel Eyes, Over You and Avalon. Between 1975 and 2023, he recorded eighteen studio albums, including some with Tim Finn, formerly of Split Enz and Crowded House, and Roxy bandmate Andy Mackay. In March 2024, he published Revolución to Roxy, a memoir of his life, including his highly prolific career in music. Copies will be sold and signed at this event.
Wednesday 28th August – Steve Diggle and Phil Davis
Steve Diggle is the lead vocalist of Buzzcocks, the legendary punk band, formed in 1976. He initially was the bassist and later became the lead guitarist. After they broke up in the early eighties, he formed another band, Flag of Convenience, before disbanding in 1989, when Buzzcocks reformed. Steve became the lead singer after the death of frontman Pete Shelley. Between 2000 and 2016, he has released four solo albums. Buzzcocks are still a highly active band; they have toured countless times in recent years and continue to record music. Steve’s memoir, Autonomy: Portrait of a Buzzcock, will be released in August.
Phil Davis is a renowned actor, known for a variety of roles in film, theatre and television. They include films directed by Mike Leigh, including Vera Drake and High Hopes, the 45 year-old classic Quadrophenia, Poldark and Sherlock. He also starred in the four series’ of the BBC crime drama Whitechapel, as well as films such as The Bounty, alongside Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. Recent appearances include Trying, the comedy series for Apple TV+ and the acclaimed Channel 4 drama Truelove.
Jim Sclavunos and Daniel Kleinman, Monday 2nd September
Jim Sclavunos is a multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer and a writer from New York. He has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for thirty years and his other collaborations have been with the likes of Sonic Youth, The Cramps, Iggy Pop and Marianne Faithful. A recent Brighton appearance was with Nicole Arkins last Summer – read our review here . As well as writing and recording solo material, too, Jim co-founded the Bad Seeds’ offshoot project Grinderman and has been a highly prolific musician since the seventies with other bands and artists. He has recorded on a total of ten of their albums, including the latest, Wild God, released in August 2024.
Danel Kleinman has directed many music videos and award-winning television commercials, as well as designing the title sequences for eight James Bond films, from Goldeneye to No Time To Die. His music videos have included The Pretenders’ Middle of the Road, Simple Minds’ Don’t You (Forget About Me), Madonna’s Dress You Up, Adam and the Ants’ Antmusic and Fleetwood Mac’s Big Love. His memorable commercials have been for leading brands such as Guinness, Levi’s, X-Box, Specsavers and Audi. In 2006, he co-founded the multi-award-winning production company Rattling Stick, which he still works with.
At the end of each event, the guests are asked to draw tickets for the raffle. The prizes are often connected to the guests with DVDs, records, books and event tickets on offer.
For more information and to book tickets, visit The Space website here.
Terence Stamp photo by Ed Moore
