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PREVIEW: Brighton Fringe: Sellotape Sisters

Signal Theatre Company bring their outrageous new comedy, Sellotape Sisters to the Brighton Fringe this month.

 

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It’s 1966. Legendary soap opera Sellotape Sisters (the pretensions of Downton and the production values of Crossroads) has been cancelled.

With no ideas left for the final episode, the writers raid the actors’ private lives for storylines. In shock and denial, and with the last live broadcast looming and twenty-two million viewers watching, will the cast stick to the script?

Find out as Noises Off meets The Killing of Sister George in this farcical but heartfelt new play from former Coronation Street storyliner Lee Mattinson, produced by comedy specialists Signal.

…an author with a fertile and restless imagination, most at home with finding truth in the most mind-blowing or unlikely situations….. British Theatre Guide on Lee Mattinson

Signal Theatre Company have been producing funny plays to make people laugh since 2007. Their last (and biggest and boldest) show was the first London revival of Catherine (Mamma Mia!) Johnson’s 1998 play Shang-a-Lang at the King’s Head, Islington in 2014.

All their productions to date have been revivals, but for Sellotape Sisters they have teamed up with the brilliant Lee Mattinson.

…coarsely funny …mixes life lessons with verbal zingers. …enjoyably slick, snappy production… conspicuously well played… The Times on Signal’s Shang-a-Lang


Event: Sellotape Sisters by Lee Mattinson

Where: The Warren: Studio 2, St Peter’s Church North York Place, Brighton

When: May 17-22

Time: On 17 & 22@18.45pm: From 18-20@20.45pm: On 21@14.45pm

Cost: Tickets £10, concs £8.50, students £7

To book tickets online, click here:

Locals Greens re-elect leadership team for 2016-17

Following a vote by local Green Party members, Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty has been re-elected unopposed as the Convenor of the Green group of councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council.

Cllr Phélim Mac Cafferty
Phélim Mac Cafferty

Deputy convenor roles were also voted on, with councillors Alex Phillips and Lizzie Deane elected unopposed in a job share arrangement for Deputy Convenor (external relations), Councillor Phillips having been elected to this post for the second year running. Councillors Amanda Knight and Louisa Greenbaum were elected unopposed in a job share for Deputy Convenor (internal relations).

The Green group of councillors currently hold 11 out of 54 seats on Brighton and Hove Council, the third-largest party in the city. Councillor Mac Cafferty was elected convenor of the Green group in May 2015.

Councillors Phillips and Deane have been Green Councillors since 2009 and 2010 respectively, while Councillors Knight and Greenbaum were both elected as Green councillors for the first time in Goldsmid and St Peter’s & North Laine wards in 2015.

Councillor Mac Cafferty, said: “I am thrilled to have been re-elected as Convenor with a united group of Green Councillors. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to local party members for placing their continued support in me. As convenor our first priority is to continue the hard work for our residents. 

“As the only political group consistently opposed to austerity and cuts to public services, our group has a key role to play in holding the Labour council administration to account.” 

Cllr Alex Phillips
Cllr Alex Phillips

Speaking on behalf of the deputy external convenors, Councillor Alex Phillips said: “The Greens remain a powerful voice in Brighton & Hove, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work together with Councillor Deane to strengthen that voice and ensure we have more time and resources to get out there and engage with the city’s residents.  People are desperate for an end to the doom and gloom of austerity politics – and Greens can provide the alternative”.

Cllr Amanda Knight
Cllr Amanda Knight

Speaking on behalf of the deputy external convenors, Councillor Amanda Knight, said: “My first year as a local Councillor has taken some getting used to but it has been fantastic to be a part of such a supportive and welcoming team, and to have the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of residents.  As internal deputy convenors, Louisa and I will support the group to go from strength to strength, and be the most effective group we can be”.

 

Zoe supports the Bears

Funny lady Zoe Lyons sends a message of support to the organisers of Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) which rolls into town from June 16-19.

Zoe Lyons
Zoe Lyons

Through a full programme of fun events, BBW will be raising funds for the Rainbow Fund, who through their independent grants programme, give grants to local LGBT/HIV organisations who provide effective front line services to LGBT people in Brighton and Hove.

Zoe Lyons, Patron of the Rainbow Fund, says: “Wishing all you lovely Bears a fabulous weekend in Brighton this June. Have a truck load of fun and thanks to each and every one of you for supporting The Rainbow Fund and all the great causes it helps in Brighton And Hove”

You can help with fundraising by buying this year’s limited edition T-shirt which Zoe is wearing in the photo above from Prowler in St James Street or purchase a wristband giving you great discounts in gay venues across the city during the weekend celebrations.

To purchase a wristband online, click here:

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REVIEW: Brighton Festival: Smoke and Mirrors

Cirko 2

Smoke and Mirrors

The Ricochet Project 

Tue 10 May, 8pm

The Ricochet Project is pushing the boundaries of contemporary circus using poetic acrobatics, contemporary dance, contortion and high-flying feats to explore the human condition. This carefully explored, almost forensic two handed (four?) feat of endurance, acrobatic skills, mesmerising body movements and dance is a very clean looking performance, lights, sound and set all stripped back to an essence, this allows full concentration on the performers and allows much more space for the narrative to develop and boy do these performers concentrate.

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The packed house were hugely appreciative of the performers and the spellbound rapture and concentration is testament to the dexterity and pure controlled skill of this pair. Dancers Codhi Harrell and Laura Stokes are astonishing as they writhe, curl, stretch and fall in and out of the space around them, bringing gasps and murmurs from the audience astonished by the abilities of these dancers to contort their bodies in such expressive blunt ways.  There were small moments of wry humour knitted into the ongoing struggle for something which, for me, always stayed nebulous and coldly out of touch, so I relaxed and just enjoyed the spectacle passing in front of me.

The stark brutal lighting gave nowhere to hide, and there were some moments where I felt fully engaged by the whole performance, but then they slipped away again. The music was excellent, bouncing around through various exotic and Arabic electronica, sound bites looped and refolded were given an ethereal edge to some of the aerialist sections, but ultimately this was cold serious purity that was less than the sum of its parts.  For a piece centred on ‘revealing the inner workings of the mind and our search to find a place of realness and connection’ it felt oddly without meaning and with no heart.  I left feeling impressed by the technical skill and energy of the performers but left saddened and slightly hollowed out by the piece.

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See full details of the performance here

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