Autumn/Winter 2018 programme announced

Bringing history to life, innovative theatre, lavish electronic ensembles & more in our Autumn/Winter season

When Eastenders star Lisa Hammond and best mate Rachael Spence made their first show ten years ago, they hit the streets and asked the public for ideas. The public’s alternately funny and heartbreaking reactions provided the inspiration for their first show No Idea. Part theatre, part improv, part comedy sketch show, Still No Idea is a raucous exposé of good intentions gone bad (28/29 Sep).
Live at Brighton Dome (15 Sep)Our regular comedy night Live at Brighton Dome returns: headliners Rob Delaney and James Acaster star alongside generous support from John Kearns, Fern Brady, Desiree Burch, Mark Watson and more (15 Sep & 10 Nov). Austentatious – an improvised comedy play starring a cast of the country’s quickest comic performers – heads to the Concert Hall (23 Sep), along with an impressive roster of acts: Dave Gorman (30 Sep & 1 Oct), Joe Lycett (5 Oct), Michael McIntyre (27 Sep), Dara O’Briain (12/13 Oct), Sarah Millican (31 Oct & 1 Nov), Ross Noble (18 Nov), Kevin Bridges (27-29 Nov), Dylan Moran (30 Nov), Tom Allen (1 Dec), David O’Doherty (5 Dec) and Adam Buxton’s BUG X (11 Dec). Grayson Perry meanwhile hosts an intelligent evening of laughs, discussion, insight and costume changes (4 Nov).

Part of Brighton Digital Festival, User Not Found combines a specially created app with live performance to explore the ethics of digital ownership, written by Chris Goode. The Edinburgh Festival hit will be taking place in The Garden Café, St Ann’s Well Gardens (6 Oct), perfect for fans of site-specific theatre such as Brighton Festival 2018 hits Rear View and The Arms of Sleep.

User Not FoundThe history of Brighton Dome and the Royal Pavilion Estate will be brought to life in an array of events, including Trench Brothers, a new work commemorating the contributions of ethnic minority soldiers during the First World War. The show is made all the more poignant by its location in Brighton Dome, which served as an Indian Military Hospital during the war (17 Oct). Heritage Open Day will feature a range of talks and behind-the-scenes tours including an opportunity to learn more about celebrated landscape designer Humphry Repton’s unrealised vision of the Royal Pavilion Estate (15 Sep). Ambulation meanwhile is a 50 minute guided walk around the Royal Pavilion Estate, incorporating a mix of performance, radio broadcasts and live field recordings to create an experience of the city that is at once familiar and abstract (18-20 Oct).

The themes of collaboration and interpretation colour much of this season's contemporary music programme: including José González joining forces with maverick orchestra The String Theory (21 Sep). Jazz Jamaica All Stars will be joined by a line-up of established and rising stars to celebrate 50 years of Trojan Records in The Trojan Story (29 Sep) and kraftwerk re:werk will see Charles Hazlewood conduct the Army of Generals and The British Paraorchestra, taking Kraftwerk’s iconic album Trans-Europe Express as the starting point for a thrilling symphonic trip (17 Nov).

kraftwerk:rewerkHaving collaborated with artists such as Nico Muhly and Oneohtrix Point Never, James McVinnie will perform an evening of music by Philip Glass on piano and our Concert Hall organ (2 Oct), John Grant returns in support of upcoming album Love is Magic (29 Oct), and Will Gregory (one half of Goldfrapp) will stretch the possibilities of the Moog synthesiser. The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble will feature ten musicians on stage, including Portishead’s Adrian Utley and composer Graham Fitkin (7 Nov).

Dance show SHOW will be performed by Shechter II, featuring choreography and music from Brighton Festival 2014 Guest Director Hofesh Shechter (6 Nov), whereas Michael Clark Company’s to a simple rock ’n’ roll . . . song - an Olivier Award-nominated production - includes tributes to Erik Satie and notable Brighton Dome performers Patti Smith and David Bowie (10 Oct).

SHOWAs work on the refurbishment of the Studio Theatre and Corn Exchange venues continues, Brighton Dome events are popping up in external venues: popular spoken word night Trope returns to The Basement with a headline set from Zena Edwards (19 Oct), and the chamber music Coffee Concerts continue at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (From 21 Oct). POT, which heads to Dorothy Stringer School, is a restless new thriller from Ambreen Razia (writer of The Diary of a Hounslow Girl) that reveals the hidden lives of Britain’s invisible children, adrift in the care system and at the mercy of gang culture (4 Oct).

Presented as part of our commitment to support the development of artists, The Works is an opportunity for artists to seek the opinions of audience members to hone their work (22 Nov). Our flagship Creative Learning project Miss Represented, an arts collective of artists, support workers and young women, will perform at The Barge in October after their successful 2017 tour. Inclusive ballet dance company Flamingo Chicks will be running a workshop as a part of Umbrella Club, Brighton Dome’s club for children and young people with life-shortening conditions and their siblings and carers, and Southeast-based charity Forward Facing will enjoy an Alice in Wonderland themed workshop and tea party in the Founders Room.

Music Marathon

SPECTRUM, our project dedicated to nurturing and cultivating Brighton’s vibrant music scene, returns to Brighton Museum for a Winter special (6 Dec). Former SPECTRUM performers and other young musicians will also be taking part in a Music Marathon, a fundraising event with Brighton & Hove Music & Arts, who united with Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival in 2017 (17 Nov).

For younger audiences there is NEST, a stunning multi-sensory experience for pre-walking babies and their parents and carers which unfolds in a custom-built performance tent (16-18 Dec), a mixture of magic, circus and silliness for children aged 2-5 in Sleepyhead (18-20 Oct), a Playmakes craft session (20 Oct), Black History Family Day (24 Nov) and more.

NESTBoth London Philharmonic Orchestra and Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra return with strong seasons, a few highlights include violinist Carolin Widmann performing Vaughan Williams’ sublime The Lark Ascending with the LPO (24 Nov) and BPO’s account of Parry’s From Death to Life, a profoundly moving response to World War One, commissioned for the 1914 Brighton Music Festival (14 Oct).

Further ahead, we are hosting a plethora of festive concerts for consideration in your Christmas calendar, including Kate Rusby (4 Dec), Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (8 Dec), Brighton Festival Chorus (9 Dec), The Big Christmas Singalong! (13 Dec), The Snowman & Peter and The Wolf (24 Dec) as well as Ballet Theatre UK’s Sleeping Beauty (29/30 Dec). After the success of Pirates of the Carabina’s FLOWN at Brighton Festival 2014 and again at Brighton Dome in 2015, the company return with HOME, an ingenious new circus show with an inventive, interconnected set and original live score (15-23 Dec). 

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