Autumn at Brighton Dome: New Season Highlights

A new double-bill by all-male ballet company BalletBoyz, cabaret show from Alan Cumming, and stand-up comedy from Sue Perkins are just a few of the delights in store in the Brighton Dome autumn programme.

In September, Brighton Digital Festival takes place and Brighton Dome will host four related events during this period, including Reasons To: (5-7 Sep) a conference for designers and coders; The Long Progress Bar 2016 (8 Sep), a festival celebrating radical imagination, with talks, screenings and live music; Bring Your Own Beamer (16-17 Sep), Pop-Up Brighton’s projection-based event with much experimentation and collaboration; SPECTRUM Digital Festival Special (23 Sep), where electronic beats and stunning visuals combine in the latest in the series which sees Brighton Dome partner with Resident Records.

There is an abundance of top comedy talent at Brighton Dome this autumn, including Sue Perkins, whose show Live! In Spectacles coincides with the release of her memoir. Dutch comic Hans Teeuwen (14 Oct) whose fans include the likes of Stewart Lee and Bridget Christie, makes a welcome return to the UK after six years. Award-winning Nina Conti (15 Oct), performs alongside her ventriloquist’s puppet, Monkey, and uses face masks to turn her audience into puppets. Other well-known names include German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn (27 Nov), and master of spontaneous stand-up Ross Noble (8 & 9 Dec).

With their first UK tour in four years, reggae and ska legends Toots and the Maytals (2 Sep) take to the stage, launching a busy and diverse contemporary music programme. Having received rave reviews at Edinburgh International Festival, Alan Cumming (7 Oct) will bring his cabaret show Sings Sappy Songs to Brighton. John Carpenter (20 Oct) is known for scoring many of the horror genre’s most striking soundtracks, and this will be his first ever live UK performance. Flit (30 Oct) is an all-star collaboration including musicians from Lau, Portishead, Mogwai and The Unthanks, a multimedia live show inspired by stories of human migration. Acoustic-electronica trio GoGo Penguin (2 Nov) have been hailed as the most exciting new band to emerge from the UK in years. Nigel Kennedy plays Hendrix (25 Nov) sees the biggest-selling classical violinist of all time take on Jimi Hendrix classics. Multi-million selling and award-winning singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae (3 Nov) is back with her third album.

The classical programme is as rich as ever with Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s afternoon concerts making a welcome return, joined by Ukrainian violinist Andriy Viytovych (9 Oct), Brighton Festival Chorus (6 Nov), soprano Rebecca Bottone (31 Dec), and with a showcase of British film scores (4 Dec). London Philharmonic Orchestra’s new Brighton season features violinist Tasmin Little (29 Oct) and cellist Dane Johansen (26 Nov). Described as one of the finest young string quartets, the Doric String Quartet (20 Sep) open the chamber music season, while the Coffee Concert series features Heath Quartet (23 Oct), Amy Harman, Olivier Stankiewicz and Tom Poster (20 Nov), and Trio Isimsiz (18 Dec)

A one-man show told through spoken word written and performed by Sean Mahoney, Until You Hear That Bell, set within boxing rounds (21 Sep) starts the theatre programme. Award-winning playwright Sabrina Mahfouz has woven together the voices of 1,000 UK teenage girls in Layla’s Room (22 Sep). The genre-defying Antarctica (15 Nov) is a performance lecture by Chris Dobrowolski, former artist in residence at the British Antarctic Survey.

Inimitable all-male company BalletBoyz return to Brighton Dome for two nights (12 & 13 Oct) with a new double-bill that takes a powerful and provocative look at life and death. The family-friendly We Are The Monsters (25 Sep) is a fantastical dance performance for younger audiences. Also for children is sci-fi treasure hunt Project: Oggbots (28-30 Oct), which combines street theatre, interactive gaming and basic electrical engineering.

So join us this autumn for some spectacular shows. Explore the full line-up here.