The festival programme no one heard of!
Brighton Festival 2006
by commonorgarden
A Deaf Person's Guide to the Brighton Festival in May 2010
By John Walker
1st May 2010: Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson is a one-woman publishing phenomenon. A staggering 25 million copies of her books have now been sold worldwide in 34 languages. She has been awarded an OBE and DBE for services to children's literature and was Children's Laureate from 2005-07. Her books include The Story of Tracy Beaker, Girls in Love and Dustbin Baby, all adapted as major TV series. Find out first hand what makes Jacqueline Wilson one of the world's most celebrated children's authors in this unmissable Festival visit.
Interpreted by Sue MacLaine.
Corn Exchange; 4pm; £5; age 7+
6th and 7th May 2010: Pop Goes the Rainbow
In what could hardly be a bigger contrast from our performance of ‘Choral Propaganda’ for 2009’s Brighton Festival Fringe with the stirring messages from its Socialist anthems and Suffragette marching songs, this year we will be performing good old fun pop! There will be some Beatles, a little American West coast, a little Kylie and of course in true Rainbow Chorus style, a few surprises in our box too. We wouldn’t want you to think that we’re getting predictable ...
We will have the lovely DJs Spinny & Susanna playing some tunes for your pleasure and the event will be Sign Interpreted by Marco Nardi. Refreshments will be available too.
Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton; 7.30pm; £8
7th May 2010: This is Acappella!
'I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends...' For Brian Eno, singing could well be a panacea for our age! Here Brighton Festival's Guest Artistic Director prescribes a healthy dose of acappella in a one off celebration of the unaccompanied voice.
The Persuasions have kept the acappella art form alive for over four decades. They cut their teeth singing on street corners and subway stations in early 1960s Brooklyn. Since then they've opened for Frank Zappa and Ray Charles, performed with Stevie Wonder and Van Morrison and released over 20 albums.
Interpreted by Sue MacLaine.
Concert Hall; 8pm; £10, £15, £18.50
11th May 2010: Double Sentence
When Tom Fry is sent to prison he finds himself not only being punished for the crime he committed but also punished for being deaf. Double Sentence is a play about a young man’s struggle to be understood in a world where even the loudest have to fight to be heard.
Produced by Deafinitely Theatre
The Old Market, Upper Market Street; £10, £8; Age 14+
14th May 2010: Signs of a Star Shaped Diva
Tammy, the alter-ego of undertaker Sue Graves, has to make a life-changing decision with the help of her most trusted friends - Judy Garland, Dolly Parton, Billie Holiday, Dusty Springfield and Patsy Cline. It’s a choice between love and fame, will she make the right decision or live to regret the path she takes?
A virtuoso performance by Caroline Parker takes us on an emotional rollercoaster of signed song, captioned dialogue, interpreting and telling the stories of songs that have touched a generation... but it is Sue's story that will touch your heart.
Produced by Graeae
Hawth Studio, Crawley; 7.45pm; £13, £8
15th May 2010: Deaf Culture Day
The Our Space project, funded by Community and University Partnership Project, has a final event to bring together all of the successes of the project in this final event.
The Deaf Culture Day will be hosted at Hamilton Lodge School on 15th May 2010 and will include a range of artistic expressions of Deaf people's lives. It is a place to celebrate what it means to be Deaf and be proud of their successes.
Event organised by RAD
Hamilton Lodge School, Walpole Road; 10am to 4pm; Free entry.
15th May 2010: MacBeth
Macbeth is the great tragedy of the imagination. A man and a woman, bound together in ambition, are destroyed in a welter of blood. Cheek by Jowl's startling new production conjures Shakespeare's world of witchcraft, ghosts and apparitions in an hallucinatory experience of sound and shadow.
Cheek by Jowl have established an international reputation for bringing 'fresh life to the classics using intense, vivid performances like a laser of light to set the text ablaze' (The Guardian). Founded by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the company has toured to over 300 cities in 40 countries and is an Associate Company at The Barbican, London.
Interpreted by Sue MacLaine
Theatre Royal Brighton; 7.30pm; £12.50, £18.50; £22.50
18th May 2010: All that I was/All that I am
Welcome legendary star of stage and cruise ship: Mr Sid Lester! Back on the boards for one last curtain call...
With his 'eccentric tap routines, music hall patter and modern touch' (Evening Standard 1953), Sid Lester was part of what made Variety great. Now, in his 70s, coping with the loss of his beloved wife and dance partner Florrie, this is the last go-around for Sid. Written and performed by Sue MacLaine (with choreography by Janine Fletcher), this budding 'one-woman one-man show' is presented as part of Brighton Festival's Platform series. A funny and poignant reflection on what was and what is...
Interpreted by Marco Nardi
Pavilion Theatre; 8pm; £4
Brian Eno: This is an illustrated talk!
What is the purpose of Art? Do we need it or do we just like it? Are they different? Brian Eno discusses haircuts, surrender, complexity theory, painting, generative art, cybernetics, screwdrivers, autopoiesis, and music, and tries to show how they're connected.
Interpreted by Sue MacLaine
Concert Hall; 8pm; £12.50