menu

PREVIEW: Brighton Fringe: High As Sugar

World premier of a new musical inspired by trans icon and Warhol superstar, Holly Woodlawn debuts at Brighton Fringe in June.

WEB.600

Inspired by the real life of late Warhol Superstar, Holly Woodlawn, HIGH AS SUGAR is a new one-person musical about a trans woman in 1970, New York City.

Tanner Efinger is a “highly talented performer” *****Fringe Guru, 2015

Join Sugar as she transports you to her world of underground parties, unlawful indulgence, art-pop, Vaseline and glitter. Sugar lives shamelessly and is adored unreservedly. But when the lights come up, and the glitter fades, is Sugar’s celebration just a mirage?

After performing in Shit-faced Showtime last year, Tanner is thrilled to be back at the Brighton Fringe for the world premiere of this new solo musical. Written and performed by Tanner Efinger; directed by Lizzy McBain; composed by Matt Winkworth; movement direction by Emma Webb; set and design by Suzie Burlton.


Event: High As Sugar

Where: The Warren: Studio 2

When: June 3-5

Time: 6.45pm

Cost: Tickets £9.50/£8 (conc)

To book tickets online, click here:

Tanner will go on to perform at Offbeat in Oxford on June 20 and #Festival46 at The Kings Head Theatre in London on July 20.

 

 

PREVIEW: Brighton Fringe: The Lipsinkers

The LipSinkers make their debut at Brighton Fringe with a unique and radical drag show which cuts an uncompromising line between showbiz insanity and queer political spoof.

WEB.600

The LipSinkers are a drag troupe who mime to pop songs. But their show isn’t A Night Out with Danny La Rue. It’s not RuPaul’s Drag Race. And it’s not for the mild at heart or the mess-averse.

It’s weird, wild, funny and fresh. ***** The Scotsman

Stick around post show for an after-hours session with company and friends. DJing disco, new wave, new romantic, pop with smokin’ hot burlesque Go-Go’s and other weird shit as their Royal Vauxhall Tavern Friday night party is transported to one of  Brighton’s premier live entertainment venue to kick off the weekend.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, The LipSinkers have been at the heart of the alt – cabaret scene since 2006 and regularly perform across the UK and internationally. They have been resident at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern since 2012 and have performed everywhere from the Royal Festival Hall to Butlins via the Labour Party Conference and Soho theatre.

‘Bloody amazing’ The Guardian

 


Event: The LipSinkers – Show and After-Party

Where: Komedia Brighton (Main Space), 44-47 Gardner St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1UN

When: Friday, May 27

Time: Show: 11pm (1 hr) (Doors 10.30pm). The After-Party: Midnight til 3am

Cost: Tickets £10 – Show and After-Party

To book tickets online: click here:

Or telephone:  0845 2938480

For After-Party only. Tickets £2 on the door.

 

PREVIEW: Brighton Fringe: Jane Postlethwaite – ‘Made in Cumbria’

Funny Women finalist Jane Postlethwaite returns to Brighton during the Fringe with her sell-out debut comedy show.

Jane Postlethwaite
Jane Postlethwaite: Photo by Richard Boll Photography

Last year mutli-award finalist Cumbrian comedy actress and writer Jane Postlethwaite brought her  debut  solo character comedy show Made in Cumbria to the Brighton Fringe. The show was a sell-out success, playing to standing-room only audiences

Jane and her comedy characters, became a finalist in both the Funny Women Awards and the Brighton Comedy Festival Squawker Awards 2015.

WEB.300.After further development, Jane returns to the Brighton Fringe this year with a more finely tuned show, introducing another unique character. She will be doing four dates in the Brighton Fringe with the award nominated Lamb Comedy Productions.

Following Brighton Fringe, Jane will be taking her debut show to the Edinburgh Festival with Sweet Venues from August, 5-28, 2016, where she is hotly tipped as the next big character comedy star.

Enter the unique world of Jane’s dark comedy characters – five women who are inspired by her roots in The Lakes. Meet Kirsty Bird a  nervous and lonely  falconry expert, Karroll Karabiner Kavannagh – Cumbria’s number one survival expert, Stella Nova –  the first northern female astronaut, Joy Hope,the darkly twisted children’s author and illustrator and the gentle Mary Façade who runs the Northern School of Mask.

Part of Jane’s motivation for creating her own characters came from being “fed up with watching Southern comedians using a Northern accent for a cheap laugh and representing Northerners as thick and stupid”. She aims to create more original and complex characters with depth, darkness and wit.


Event: Jane Postlethwaite – Made in Cumbria

Where: Lamb Comedy Productions at Nowhere Man, 53 Upper North St, Brighton, BN1 3FH

When: Friday, May 13 / Saturday May 14 @ 8.30pm: Friday, May 27 / Saturday, May 28 @ 8.30pm

Cost: £7.50/£6 Conc

To book tickets online, click here:

 

REVIEW: Wahaca: Mexican Street Market

WahacaWahaca

Mexican Street Market

New Road

Brighton

Mexican markets are places to wander, gossiping with passers-by whilst waiting for tacos, tostadas and quesadillas to be cooked in front of you. Mouth-watering smells, vibrant colours and the hustle-bustle of the market feed the senses and lift the spirits, now new kids on the block Wahaca have brought their modern take of this to the charming colonnades of Brighton’s Cultural Quarter in New Road.

DSC_0271From the moment we arrived at Wahaca the staff were brilliant. A good restaurant experince is about two things-  obviously the food and then the ‘relationship’ with your waiter or serving staff.  The staff at Wahaca get this exactly right, they are friendly, informative and know the food, menu and ingredients well.  We had some great suggestions from our waiter who asked us about our tastes before suggesting items off the menu.  Manager Anna Kearney, dressed in a superb vintage Mexican Tel-Art shirt with a huge beaming cheeky smile explained that that was part of the Wahaca style, relaxed, informal but with quality at the forefront always. Shes assembled a good team, lots of the staff are Brighton veterans with an impressive back story of quality venues behind them.  Thomasina Miers the co-founder of Wahaca (and Masterchef winner)  was on hand to explain their strong commitment to sustainable & fair catering and explained that they buy from Mexico & source direct from cooperatives which support local farming communities & source  tequilas and mescals from small family-run businesses that make the best product.
wah5The menu is laid out in easy to follow segments on the large paper table covering. It’s easy to follow. There’s a superb range of  traditional  street food, with plenty of tapas style options so you can mix and match, nothing too expensive with a few seasonal taco specials.  Kicking off with some light nibbles of a smooth, tangy guacamole with puffed Chicharrons style pork scratching this got us into the mood. We tried both specials; the lamb slow roasted marinated in orange was super and the prawns chopped into a paste with chilli and coriander, both worth a punt.  The street food menu of Taco’s Taquitos, Tostadas or Quesadillias are all very tasty, you can grab three or four and share them.   I went for one of each, a sweet potatoes and feta Taquitos, which was fresh, soft with a creamy finish of the roasted sweet potato, a simple chicken tinga Taco, with the chipotle balanced just right with the spice and a Smokey chipotle chicken Quesadilla was a cheesy, tasty and spiced. We took a side of Frijoles, the standard Mexican bean dish, it was perfect.  Alongside the street food menu is more substantial menu of huge salads, burritos or grilled British meats with a Mexican twist.

WAHACA-3While having some modern takes on traditional street food the kitchens at Wahaca keep their basics un-fiddled with and as true to their roots as it’s possible to be in the UK.

See their full menu here

With a good range of beers, tequilas, and mescaline to run alongside the wine menu there is plenty of choice, the margaritas are authentic, with a tangy kick and the Chelada choices – beer with fresh lime, salt and spice- had a decent, refreshing kick.  The Wahaca single source mescals are superb and we enjoyed them with some helpful advice from the staff on how to best enjoy this smokey smooth, complex but delicious Mexican drink.

drinks2The venue is clean, fresh and accessible, with some of the best people watching to be had in the city. You really can’t beat New Road on a good sunny afternoon to oggle the oddness that wanders by, or enjoy it on a rainy day from the huge windows that ring the restaurant.  The music is funky, Mexicana retro and you can track down the songs on their website afterwards. There’s a large private dinging space, decked out with an urban retro vibe, murals and paintings by Mexican street artist/social campaigner Mazatl, email them for more details about hiring that space.

Wahaca-4With some innovative menu items ( a full gluten free menu ) and seriously welcoming vibe and the ability to pay by app, if you’re in a hurry,  this is a hip, modern and tasty choice for a quick afternoon bites or a more substantial evening out in town. Wahaca donates money from each street dish to their chosen charities and it’s good to see such sustainable commitment in a rapidly expanding restaurant chain. They have won awards for their commitments to sustainable and green food production.  The menu caters for all tastes and pockets, and the all-important ambiance encourages you to relax and enjoy the food.

Cc4ZETDWoAAE6WPWahaca is a very welcome addition to the growing city food scene from the Americans and their modern, original and well balanced take on Mexican cuisine, coupled with their superb location and serious commitment to charming, welcoming and knowledgeable staff mean this is a place to get familiar with.

For more info check out their website here. With a lot of tables kept for drop-in unreserved eating it’s easy to eat on impulse, but with the ability to book and reserve space at the bars for larger parties the folks at Wahaca have it covered and not a unibrow in sight, alas.
Recommended.

 

Whitehawk GP surgery placed in ‘Special Measures’

A report from the Care Quality Commission [CQC] report places Whitehawk GP practice, in Special Measures.

Healthwatch Brighton & Hove

The Broadway GP Surgery in Whitehawk, Brighton has been found inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and given 6 months to remedy the significant number of issues that have been found to be substandard in the surgery.

Healthwatch Brighton & Hove (HWBH) is particularly concerned because this is the eighth practice in Brighton & Hove where there have been problems, in just over a year, and the third practice in the East of the city, where deprivation levels are high and inequalities in health are already a cause for concern.

This GP Practice has been found to be “Unsatisfactory” on Safety, Effective Services and Leadership and as “Requiring Improvement” on Providing Caring Services and Being Responsive to People’s Needs.

For example, the report found:

♦ Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe with no evidence that appropriate recruitment checks on staff had been undertaken prior to their employment.

♦ Effective arrangements for managing medicines, including emergency drugs, vaccines and high risk medicines were not in place.

♦ Not all staff were clear about how to report incidents, near misses and concerns.

♦ Not all staff who acted as chaperones had received training for the role. Also there was no evidence to show that all staff had received up to date training on basic life support.

♦ Not all staff who acted as chaperones had received a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS check).

♦ Staff had not received any training on infection control.

♦ The practice was unable to demonstrate effective management of complaints since 2014.

♦ The practice had not undertaken any audits of clinical practice to ensure improved outcomes for patients and there was no evidence of any quality improvement.

♦ There was a large variation in practice performance against the quality and outcomes framework (QOF) and national prescribing indicators compared to the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national averages.

The CQC report lists 14 areas where the providers must make improvements and 3 additional areas where they should make improvements.

The practice has 6 months to make the required improvements or face further action by the CQC.

The Broadway Practice provides GP services to over 2400 people in the Whitehawk locality and is based at the Wellsbourne Centre, East Brighton

Fran McCabe
Fran McCabe

Fran McCabe, chair of HWBH, said: “This is yet another example of a low quality service in an area which has had a series of problems with the provision of GP services. East Brighton faces multiple social disadvantages, is the most disadvantaged part of our City and local people deserve better quality, reliable, safe and accessible GP services.”

This CQC inspection echo’s issues that have been found to be unsatisfactory in other CQC inspections in Brighton and Hove including the Goodwood Court Medical Centre which was closed by the CQC in the last year.

Over the last year HWBH received over 500 responses from local people in a questionnaire based survey they conducted into people experiences of GP services. In addition, using their ‘Enter and View’ powers they visited 15 GP Practices and will shortly be providing them with detailed feedback based on their findings.

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove will continue to work closely with NHS England and the local Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG] to help improve GP services and other health and social care services in Brighton and Hove.

New Pleasure Gardens for Pride Festival Weekend

Brighton Pride Festival is set to get even bigger in 2016 with the creation of a new Festival Zone and Community Cultural Hub in the centre of the City.

Pride Pleasure Gardens

The Pride Pleasure Gardens will run over three days across Old Steine and Victoria Gardens.

Victoria Gardens will feature the Pride Community Stage with special performances over the weekend. Entry is free all weekend apart from a special ticketed benefit concert for The Rainbow Fund, featuring Heather Peace and Lucy Spraggan on Friday 5 from 6pm.

Pride will be working alongside Street Diner, Brighton’s hottest street food market who always ensure you arrive hungry and leave happy, to create the Pride Food Village.

Street Diner at Victoria Gardens will deliver the best in locally sourced food allowing you to relax and recharge in the centre of the city. Add entertainment courtesy of the Pride Community Stage and Bar and Victoria Gardens will sparkle throughout the Pride celebrations.

The Old Steine will be transformed into an exotic Pride experience with Pleasure Gardens  and Pride Pavilion  featuring entertainers, street performers and a kitchen area destined to dazzle your taste buds with food stalls and seating.

They’ll also be a VIP area hosted by Absolute magazine and plenty of bars especially designed to enhance your Pride experience throughout the festivities.

The Pride Pavilion venue inside the gardens will feature off the wall cabaret and disco madness with among others Dynamite BoogalooSink The Pink and English Disco Lovers. Tickets may be purchased in advance.

Entry to the Old Steine Pleasure Gardens will be free (apart from during Pride Village Party times when wristbands will be required or for Pride Pavilion ticketed events.

The Pride Pleasure Gardens, will bring the best of Brighton’s community and culture to the heart of the city for your Pride pleasure.


Event: The Pleasure Gardens

Where: Old Steine and Victoria Gardens

When: August 5 – August 7, 2016

For more details of events and how to book tickets, click here:

Self defence classes for all ages

The Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum will hold another popular Self Defence Class on Friday, May 20 from 2pm to 4pm at Kicks Martial Arts Centre, 185 Lewes Rd, Brighton, BN2 3LD.

WEB.600

The session will re-introduce and build on the principles of self-defence delivered in previous classes run by the Safety Forum and will include how a person can keep safe with or without using physical techniques.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to discuss and practice techniques to increase personal confidence and help them distract or escape a potential attacker with techniques being adapted to suit differing ages and physical abilities, however this is not a session in martial arts.

Refreshments will be provided. Attendance fee is £3 per person with remaining costs subsidised by a grant from the Rainbow Fund.

There are only 18 spaces available so to book your place or discuss any access requirements email training@lgbt-help.com or call Billie on 01273 855620 and select option 4

X