Newsletter May 2008
When it comes to the old ‘beside the seaside’ towns of Britain, Blackpool may be King, but Brighton with its mix of elegance and decadence, its cosmopolitan character and its vibrant homosexual community, is certainly the Queen.
From May 3rd – 25th the seaside town is the place to be with a host of arts and entertainments over the three weeks as part of the Brighton Festival. Now in its 42nd year, the Brighton Festival is the biggest of its kind in England and this year includes 10 world and UK premieres among over 200 hundreds events from around the world, across the UK and among Brighton's own celebrated arts community.
This year’s events include classical music from the Tokyo String Quartet and the
Philharmonic Orchestra along with a stunning Armonico Consort production of The Marriage of Figaro. The festival also sees world music from Miriam Makeba, Manic Organic and an Afro tribute to the great James Brown with Still Black Still Proud. There’s also the chance to have breakfast with the bard with productions of Shakespeare classics served up alongside the main courses of Pizza Express in a truly unique a’ la carte experience. While the festival finale sees a Ceilidh from the Flying Chaucers bringing events to a close with a good old knees up!
Alongside the official festival programme is the Brighton Fringe Festival with a plethora of off-the-wall performances and alternative events. Fringe events include colourful cabaret productions from Speigeltent, Voodoo Vaudeville and
the Ladyboys of Bangkok, comedy from Andrew Maxwell and Cirque de Improv and theatre productions including Power Lunch, a play by Alan Ball, the acclaimed writer of American Beauty and Six Feet Under.
The festival characterises Brighton’s reputation as England’s pleasure capital, a reputation the town has held since its regency heyday. During the early 18th Century Brighton was famously the royal playground of the Prince Regent, later King George IV . Brighton was nothing more than a fishing port along the English Channel until the 1780s when the Prince Regent arrived. The Prince loved the town so much that in 1787 he had a neoclassical villa built in Indian style (at great expense!) by Henry Holland and later John Nash.
The Royal Pavilion served the Prince as a venue for his decadent excesses and a love nest for him and his mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert. Brighton’s landmark building, the Royal Pavilion is an architectural marvel mixing Moorish, Indian and Chinese styles.
Brighton’s second epoch came during the Victorian era as the steam train brought the town within the reach of day trippers from London seeking the sea air and golden sandy beaches. More recently Brighton has witnessed a process of gentrification which has restored the town to much of its former glory and making Brighton fashionable once again.
Brighton boasts a modern seafront with a variety of bars, restaurants and nightclubs overlooking Brighton’s Blue Flag Beach along with countless trendy boutiques around the maze of narrow streets and alleyways known as The Lanes.
Brighton is also widely considered as the Gay Capital of Britain in a similar vein to San Francisco in the US or Cologne in Germany, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Brighton during the festival promises to be the place to be this May – don’t miss it!
For information on bookings contact one of our guides.
