Brighton, Brighton Life, Fringe, The Arts, theatre, Theatre

Bring Your Own Baby

December 1, 2023 westhillwhistler Leave a comment

Nadia Abbas reports on a new comedy show coming to Brighton

Being a new parent is an exciting and magical time, as you finally get to meet your bundle of joy after waiting for what feels like forever. You become immersed in a world of toys, milk bottles, and baby clothes, and your house is filled with adorable baby laughs, screeching cries, and melodious nursery rhymes. As wonderful as this time is, sometimes parents need a break. But gone are the days of partying and no responsibilities, so where can new parents go for some fun and laughter? The Bring Your Own Baby Comedy show in Brighton allows new parents to enjoy a hilarious afternoon of adult comedy and delicious drinks alongside their baby this December.

The Bring Your Own Baby Comedy show will take place on the 5th of December 2023, from 12-1:30 pm at Komedia in Brighton. It is suitable for parents and babies aged up to 15 months. It will feature hysterical comedy stars Mark Cram, MC Robyn Perkins, and Joe Bor, and there will be a fully stocked bar. Carly Smallman, Bring Your Own Baby Comedy director, said: “The purpose of the comedy shows is to give parents a great night out during the day so they can have a laugh during those tricky first months.” Parents can also bring friends and family along to this event who don’t have children. Carly Smallman, said: “We try and keep it as friendly as possible; if someone’s baby screams, we don’t mind at all. We’ve had worse heckles than a baby crying!”.

This event is suitable for babies because the venue will have soft flooring, toys, baby changing, and buggy parking areas. The Bring Your Own Baby Comedy and Komedia team will also be available to help parents with anything they may need. Carly Smallman, said: “We are breastfeeding friendly, so if people need to whip a boob out or get a bottle out and feed their baby, they can. If they want to walk around at the back with the baby to shush them, the guests are welcome to do that.”

This event has won several awards, including a UK Enterprise Award for Best Mental Health Boost for Parents and a HOOP Award for Best Bring-along Baby Activity. Carly Smallman, said: “I’ve had parents come up to me and hug me and thank me, and say that’s the most fun I’ve had since my baby was born.” This event has also won a Prestige Award for Best Family Friendly Comedy Service. Carly Smallman, said: “There was one woman who said that during the show, her son kept staring at her, and she was like, ‘Why is my baby staring at me?’ And then she realised it was the first time she had laughed since he was born.”

Tickets for this event cost £13, and babies can attend for free. They are available to purchase from Bring Your Own Baby Comedy’s website.

To find out more, visit https://byobcomedy.com/?fbclid=IwAR0UdaFKN2blNKjcdcQgPG5_I0Xl95fA3DseVWjHUl_iE2nT3ySvPb4_upI.

Allison Ferns, Brighton, Brighton Metropole, Cinderella, Pantomime

Cinderella’s the Xmas panto (Oh no it isn’t… )

November 13, 2023 westhillwhistler Leave a comment

Sorry – you have to write things like that. Nadia Abbas reports on the Christmas panto at the Metropole

The fantastical tale of Cinderella, with its shimmering glass slippers, magical fairy godmothers, and wicked stepsisters, has been a family favourite for decades. Brighton residents now have the chance to experience this classic story on stage as the Cinderella pantomime is being performed at the Hilton Brighton Metropole this December. Adults, children, and Disney fans will be able to watch Cinderella’s delightful adventure as she transforms from a mistreated maid into a beautiful princess fit for a prince.

Cinderella will be performed at the Double Tree by Hilton Brighton Metropole on the 20th-30th of December 2023, and features a stellar cast, including BBC Sussex presenter Allison Ferns, who will play Cinderella’s evil stepmother, Baroness Hardup. drag icon Miss Jason (Jason Sutton) will be playing villainous stepsister Sindy, Kane Matthews will play Prince Charming and Ellie Earl takes the lead role.

David Hill, the producer of this pantomime and the founder of Brighton-based event company E3 Events, said: “The audience can expect big song and dance numbers, lots of slapstick, lots of fun, lots of booing when the villains are on, and obviously dazzling costumes”.

This pantomime will follow the traditional story of Cinderella, but there will be some exciting, modern twists to this iconic fairy tale. This includes the addition of Dandini’s character, who is Prince Charming’s trusty sidekick, who was not in the Disney film. There will also be an adults-only performance of this pantomime on the 28^th of December at 8 p.m. David Hill, said: “The brief to the cast will be to deliver the same show, but we will give them license to be a little bit more creative and rude in their language. It will be a lot of fun.”

Ellie Earl said: “We’ll rehearse pretty much full-time for about a week and a half. It doesn’t sound like much, but when it’s all day every day, it’s going to be quite intense.”

The panto also plans to support local charities with its performances, including the Focus Foundation and The Sussex Beacon. “It’s an opportunity for us to give a little back”, said David Hill.

Ticket prices for this pantomime range from £8.50-£35 and can be purchased from Brighton Family Panto’s website.

To find out more, visit https://www.brightonfamilypanto.com/

Brighton Dome, Brighton Life, Dexys, Events, Features, Kevin Rowland, Music

Review: Dexys at The Dome

September 20, 2023 westhillwhistler Leave a comment

We’d just finished another year at Manchester Polytechnic and summer was staring at us. Before heading to our respective homes, a few of us went up to Newcastle for the weekend to visit a friend. We saw a sign “BBC Radio One Roadshow with Dexys Midnight Runners”. What to do? We were very cool, I mean very cool, and a Radio One Roadshow? Seriously not cool. It was probably introduced by Richard Skinner or, I don’t know, Peter Powell or something. And it was in a tent. I know. A Radio One gig in a tent. You’d think we were going to see Nik Kershaw or maybe Howard Jones. But it was Dexys and we loved Dexys. So we went. And it was extraordinary. It was so extraordinary it was released as a CD in 1995. The shock of the power of the horn section, the passion and emotion of the songs, the everything of Kevin Rowland. Back then, pop music was about synths, about artifice, about dressing up as a pirate or a Pierott clown. Dexys were about horns, about soul, about passion.

That was June 1982 and Kevin’s outfits have changed a few times since then, but the fashion for passion has never wavered. Time’s passed but they – he – are still extraordinary. And last night at The Dome was just as extraordinary as ever.

A homecoming gig – Kevin lives down here, don’t you know – this was as much a celebration as anything – celebrating the history of the band and the audience, celebrating the songs, celebrating survival. The night was split in two halves: the first given over to the new album, “The Feminine Divine”, the second a run through of the old. Playing your new album which probably no one’s heard for the first hour of a gig, it’s asking a lot and is at the same time fantastically ambitious and arrogant. So far, so Dexys.

“The Feminine Divine” is as ever a step away from the expected which is, I guess, the expected. A treatise on Kevin’s relationship with women and how it’s changed, played live it’s stripped back, theatrical (between each song there was a ‘dramatic scene’ between band members Rowland, Jim Patterson, Sean Read and Michael Timothy), less horn more synth. Dressed in a dark blue pantalon suit, white beret and striped t-shirt (you know these things are important), Rowland held the stage, his voice at 70 still really strong and still carrying that familiar plaintive soulful plea.

While the new songs held up, the place really came alive during the second half when the lights came up, the horns came out to play and, standing on the balcony, he started up

“I won’t need to think of nice things to say,
I don’t want to want this way anymore,
Shh now and hear comes silence,
from this comes strength I promise”

which led, naturally, to

“You’ve always been searching for something…” from 1982’s “Plan B”. And on it went. “Geno”, “Jackie Wilson Said” (complete with backdrop of Jocky Wilson), “Until I Believe In My Soul” through to the much loved but rarely played “Tell Me When My Light Turns Green”. As the lights came up, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

photo: Sandra Vijandi

Uncategorized

The Return of Dexys

September 13, 2023 westhillwhistler Leave a comment

If there’s a finer sight in Brighton than seeing Kevin Rowland, resplendent in his dapper finery, out and about, it’s seeing Kevin on stage – equally resplendent in much the same finery.

Around this time last year, we were robbed of seeing Dexys on stage after Kevin had a motorbike accident, but – it never rains but it pours – now we’ve not only got a new Dexys album, “The Feminine Divine”, but we’ve also got a tour – dates are available but the relevant one for us is next Tuesday (Sept 19^th) at The Dome.

“The Feminine Divine” is as ever a step away from the expected. Written with original Dexys trombonist Big Jim Patterson (a non touring member), the first half is all music hall swagger. Lovely but not a million miles from what you might figure. The second half though… Co-written with Sean Read and Mike Timothy, it’s a synth heavy cabaret, described as “steamy, fizzy and sultry”. Keep moving, keep running, keep changing. Can’t wait.

https://brightondome.org/

Cricket, Skip Kelly, Sport

Skip Kelly – Bazball, schmazball

July 22, 2023 westhillwhistler Leave a comment

I may be the first sports writer who’s willing to admit that I am not that good at the sport I write about. This possibly isn’t news to anyone who has seen me play football, but recent advancements in modern technology such as the video camera have enabled yours truly to watch games I’ve played in and finally understanding why I quite often didn’t play the closing stages of games. Or the opening stages either.

It raises interesting questions around perspectives in grassroots sport because before the advent of video evidence, I was convinced I was playing exceptionally well and was harshly substituted and although I rarely challenged the coach understanding they had decisions to make. (The few times I have been recorded serve a similar purpose to Colonel Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men by screaming “You can’t handle the truth.”)

Similarly, I’m not the first sports writer to have outlandish opinions about a sport I know very little about. I have never once picked up a cricket bat, but it is my steadfast belief that if I did and could be bothered I would be one of the finest batsmen the world has ever seen. People often say they would love to see me deal with a ball traveling towards me at up to 80 miles an hour and my response is I would simply just whack it as hard as I could. This was often met with uproarious laughter like every single one of my anecdotes. Those of you that have played cricket may scoff and spit out your tea and scones having read that but I have played hurling – Ireland’s bat and ball game in which everyone carries a stick at all times and striking the ball unopposed like you do in cricket is a pipe dream.

Some may question if I claim to be so good at cricket then why don’t I make a lucrative career out of it. The main reason being I am not motivated by money, I am motivated purely by Montpelier Women’s Football Club. The other thing is I don’t want to travel as much as any top class athlete has to and although there is travel involved with MVWFC it never takes up any more than a day of traveling.

You never truly know what someone thinks of you until you die and all those lovely things are said about you at your funeral but I have found a shortcut with cricket fans. I simply offer my opinion on how good I am at cricket and what I get in return is a summation of my personality. Recently someone agreed with this and pointed out that I would take great pleasure in winding up bowlers by staying in for as long as possible. Which takes us to the current Ashes series – or, by the time you read this, the last Ashes series – which has been incredibly entertaining and equally vindicating. Although as a coach I understand a defensive style and the importance of staying in for an extended period of time, where’s the fun in that? I’ve always enjoyed coaches whose modus operandi is to win in the most entertaining way possible and Brendon McCullum certainly falls into that category because, although there is a thinking that all sport is a results based business, I couldn’t disagree more. The verb used to describe sport at all levels is play and with that there are connotations of being child-like and free from the realities and responsibilities of the big bad world. We play sports to exercise, to socialise and to entertain ourselves and others. There is something incredibly beautiful about athletes at the pinnacle of their career being reminded of this and being told to just whack it as hard as you can.

The Whistler