What a night! And what a weekend! Stockholm…

The Brighton Festival is up and running and the weather has been amazing. Saturday’s Children’s Parade took up most of the day with all the usual colour and noise from the many children who take to the streets for this annual event. Great fun!

But I want to elaborate on my Saturday night in Brighton. We arrived at about 7 pm and headed for the Corn Exchange. We entered New Road under a large banner proclaiming ‘Fringe City’ and were aware that a number of street performance acts were packing up for the night. The crowds were already milling about outside the Theatre Royal and the bench seats opposite the theatre were pretty full. Incidentally, on my way home later that night I discovered that there are small lights set in these benches that flash on and off giving quite a fairyland effect. A very attractive idea.

The weather was very pleasant and the crowds had spilled out of the pubs and sat at tables set out in this newly pedestrianised area which leads to the North Laine. Brighton really is the place to be if you want to spend the evening eating or drinking whilst soaking up the atmosphere. There’s nowhere quite like it.

And now we come to Stockholm. Well, I’m not going to spoil it for any of you that already have tickets. All I can say is “If you don’t have tickets, go get some”. It is one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve seen. It isn’t just a play, it’s an experience. The drama and movement are crafted together to produce something quite stunning. The story builds and the whole production builds with it. Speech, music, dance/movement, special effects – it’s really quite something. You won’t walk out and forget it. It leaves an impression.

It is certainly worth going to see and is definitely up to the usual Brighton Festival standard.

Hilary