Brighton Dome’s autumn events season offers acclaimed performance, champions regional artists & hosts big-name stars

• This autumn at Brighton Dome, audiences can experience world-class theatre and dance, charming family performances, sublime classical concerts & uplifting spoken word
• The venue’s events programme is firmly rooted in the region, celebrating Sussex’s extraordinary artistic community & showcasing Brighton’s heritage through free open days
• Brighton Dome also welcomes a host of music stars, big name comedians and household names including Katherine Jenkins, Chris Ramsey, Joe Marler, Chris Packham & Susie Dent

From cutting-edge new theatre to celebrated performance, Brighton Dome brings high-quality productions to its historic event spaces this autumn. On the Corn Exchange stage, Once Upon a Time in Sokoto, by celebrated Nigerian-bornpoet, playwright and artistInua Ellamstells the epic story of a beautiful but unlikely friendship between an enslaved woman and her former master. It is presented by Touring Together, a brand-new nationwide initiative Brighton Dome is part of that is committed to bringing bold new theatre to audiences across the country. Pushing the form of documentary theatre and dance, Woodhill uses gut-punching choreography and music to tell the true story of the deaths of three men at HMP Woodhill and their families’ fight for answers. The Studio Theatrehas performances fresh from Edinburgh, including Man or Bear, a darkly comic play about fear and friendship inspired by a viral meme and Crush, which follows the meet-cute of two Somali teenagers in an eating disorder clinic, alongside Fire Fire, a brand-new play about climate change, taking big risks and discovering shared purpose. “Vivid one-man show” (The Guardian) Nation is a fable about national identity, while award-winning performance artist Louise Orwin embarks on a loud, unpredictable and funny helter-skelter nosedive through the TikTok universe in FAMEHUNGRY.

Local artists appearing at Brighton Dome across the season include East Sussex based choreographer Ben Duke’s Lost Dog Dance company, whose Juliet & Romeo is a humorous and heartfelt dance duet that reveals the real story of Shakespeare’s most famous couple. Brighton legend AFLO. the poet’s spoken word nights Status Flo bring together award-winning poets and the city's freshest voices, with October’s event marking Black History Month and November’s themed around Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Two free open days showcase Brighton’s cultural heritage, as Heritage Open Day explores the everyday histories of the people who bring Brighton Dome to life and African Night Fever’s Family Day Take Parthonours the city’s diaspora communities through workshops, performances and global cuisine. In celebration of Brighton’s comedy scene, Brighton Dome Comedy Festival has partnered with much-loved venue Komedia this year to bring audiences even more laughs in October.

In classical music, autumn sees the start of new event seasons from Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, who have performed at Brighton Dome Concert Hall for nearly 100 years, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Sunday morning Coffee Concerts, plus performances from Katherine Jenkins and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

A host of contemporary music stars also play at Brighton Dome, including Embrace on a 30-year anniversary tour, all-female powerhouse collective Les Amazones D’Afrique and US rappers Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE. Big-name comedians such as Phil Wang, Chris Ramsey and Lucy Beaumont perform new standup routines, while Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler records an episode of his podcast live at the venue and naturalist Chris Packham and wordsmith Susie Dent discuss their specialist subjects.

For families, immersive storytelling brings much loved characters to life, including the stage version of beloved CBeebies TV show In the Night Garden in September and Your Toys by Lewes-based company Slot Machine Theatre, which uses extraordinary puppetry skills to create a cast from toys belonging to children in the audience across the October half term. Later in the year, Rabbit & Rey and the Lost Things follows the funny and heart-tugging quest of Rey and their fiercely loyal bunny companion to find all the things they’ve ever lost and throughout autumn, interactive Crafty Kids workshops in Brighton Dome’s Anita’s Room offer opportunities for children and their grown-ups to get creative, with all materials provided and the mess tidied up afterwards too!

Elsewhere, the familiar becomes unexpected in a series of events from LGBTQ+ artists. Award-winning cabaret artist Fatt Butcher’s Congregational turns choral music on its head with a thumping series of newly composed hymns blending house and trance with gospel and classical, in a service that pays tribute to the dancefloor. Acclaimed dance duo Thick & Tight, known for their distinctive mix of choreography, mime, theatre and drag, present a variety show crossed with a biology lecture in Natural Behaviour, a queer look at what it means to be natural or unnatural. 

Throughout December, Brighton Dome invites audiences to immerse themselves in the festive spirit and celebrate with friends and family at Ceilidh the Musical, Christmas concerts and singalongs from Brighton Festival Chorus, Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus and Choir with No Name, organ-accompanied karaoke with Brighton’s own Ida Barr in Organoke and Duck Pond, a spectacular circus reimagining of Swan Lake from acclaimed Australian company Circa. For young families, Little Red Hen is an energetic adaptation of the much-loved fable about an industrious chicken and her lazy farmyard friends, using puppetry, live music and unforgettable comedy.