If keeping a secret can corrode the soul, and revealing it liberate, Patrick Sandford must feel a sense of scorching release on performing Groomed to a paying audience for the first time. His story of sexual abuse at the age of 10 by a manipulative but respected teacher, is not easy viewing, but is tempered […]

Lucy Grace’s one act, one woman show is charming in its simplicity, its honesty, and her sympathetic delivery. It comes to Brighton following a successful run in Edinburgh last year and shares the story of one young woman’s quiet revolution against the conformity of office life, triggered by her theft of a neglected office plant, […]

I like a traditional boozer: wood panels, carpet, functioning jukebox, and a decent sherry. So it’s no surprise that the Heart and Hand in Brighton’s North Laine has long been a favourite. Years ago I noticed a framed poem on the wall; odd, I thought, it doesn’t quite suit the rest of the décor. Now, […]

As we enter the theatre space in dim light, we see a figure on the stage, sitting on a chair. A body, a human body. A male human body. An ‘effeminate’ male human body. Attributes noted: long legged, skinny ribbed, strong bone structure, light brown skin. Almost naked, dressed just in red underpants, red high […]

So here we are in the queue. Me and Ernie the pug, my doggie companion for the evening, plus his human, Eliza. Ernie makes great noises, almost like talking or singing, a kind of wild monkey-chatter yap. Next to us is Tati, a small and rather elderly lady doggie who stands with dignified poise as […]