Once again, the Brighton Festival will be coming back and this time it’s promising to be more thrilling than ever before, featuring exhibitions and live events. Kate Tempest is the guest director this year and the critically acclaimed poet, playwright, novelist and recording artist will be putting all her qualifications to good use and she will also be performing during the festival. Just as it has in previous years, the Fringe Festival will be supporting this year’s festival as well with some people arguing that it’s more representative of the heart and soul of the city. The Old Steine Gardens will once again be the centre of the Fringe Festival. The garden is close to the Palace Pier which has now been turned into two amazing performance areas.
For those with a taste for the strange, radio broadcaster, Dr David Bramwell from the BBC has six events planned under the name The Odditorium, named after his popular podcast and these shows will be shifting between the two stages at the Palace Pier which have been named the Bosch and Spiegeltent. The Odditorium will have a different range of events including talks on women in modern music who are underrated, psychic TV and even the return of Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen. Alan Moore performed at last year’s Adventures on the Edge of Culture under the Odditorium banner. This time, he will be accompanied by writers John Higgs and Iain Sinclair and they’ll be presenting ‘The Ghosts of Watling Street’ which was inspired by Higgs’ new book.
The three writers will be taking the audience on a journey through Britain, exploring its hidden history, culture, geography, legends and myth, as they travel through one of the oldest roads in Britain, Watling Street. These tall tales will pass through many parts of the country revealing a haunted Britain unlike anything the audience has ever experienced. There will also be music and visuals to add to the already haunting atmosphere. Sinclair, Moore, Bramwell and Higgs will also analyse and discuss the new released Panda’s Fen TV play. The play is about an alternate England that’s nothing like the present and was made by writer David Rudkin and the Director, Alan Clarke.
‘The Ghosts of Watling Street’ will be showing on 24th May from 6.30pm to 9.30pm at the Spiegeltent. Tickets are £16 each but you can also book in advance.