The Verse’s Lottie Wilson and Alex Berdugo tell us what they’re looking forward to at Brighton Festival, an annual event celebrating the Arts and Brighton’s culture.
This year the Brighton Festival stems from the 6th until the 28th of May, celebrating an eclectic mix of music, theatre, dance, film, literature and much more. With Kate Tempest as the Guest Director, it is sure to be a great year for this widely anticipated event.
Returning for its fifty-first instalment, promising its usual array of exceptional art, film, literature, dance and music. The festival is regarded as one of Europe’s leading art festivals -offering a plethora of unique events from the 6th to the 28th of May.
In a recent interview, the 31-year-old, whose 2016 release Let Them Eat Chaos gave her fans a whole new pallet of spoken word driven music, has spoke about this year’s programme; that includes work from poets, lyricists and storytellers. Tempest states that “Everything is narrative… we’ve made it up!”, a pertinent sentiment for this year’s proceedings.
The poet is most excited about Your Place – a new initiative that allows the Brighton Festival to reach everyone within the city. With community hubs established in Whitehawk and Hangleton, the Festival artists will be running free workshops and programmed events for further afield residents. Tempest wants the show to ‘reflect the wider population of Brighton who maybe can’t afford to get in to the city centre’.
Another new feature of this years Festival is the Pay It Forward programme. This charitable notion allows a donated five pounds to be matched by the Festival, this then allows someone who can’t afford a ticket to attend an event. The poet believes that it is an ‘active way that people can help make the Festival a bit more open and create space for more people to come and check out some of these amazing artists’.
One of these artists is Kate Tempest herself – she is commencing the festivities on the 6th of May. Her event will include a performance of Let Them Eat Chaos, as well as several of her other poems.
A special adaption of Swan Lake will also be showing from the 9th to the 10th of May. This is a brand new vision of the ballet classic by Michael Keegan-Dolan, one that will provide a unique twist on the timeless tale. Slow Moving Clouds, esteemed Dublin based band, have reworked the soundtrack and added a whole new minimalist dimension to its tone. This performance of Swan Lake has been hailed with critical acclaim in Dublin and at Sadlers Wells, so it will be a smash-hit at the Brighton Festival!
As well as these acts, Chess and Cristina of The Hiccup Project are set to leave their mark on Brighton with their two main events. They will be performing a brand new version of it’s okay, I’m dealing with it. This is a comedic set that features dance and song to explore when, in life, things are no longer going fine. They will also be giving a performance of May-We-Go-Round?, their boisterous comedy focused on the rollercoaster ride of romance. Described as ‘a collision of fiercely energetic dance and comedic theatre’ by the Brighton Festival website, The Hiccup Project will provide fun, provocative and memorable moments in this year’s line up.
Don’t miss these incredible performances in the Brighton Festival – along with many, many more!
Make sure to check out the Brighton Festival website and grab some festival tickets.
