Gscene News Archive

Last weeks festival award ceremony at the Speigel tent was like much of my experience of the festival itself, a self satisfied jolly, with little that was original or good, the odd highlight of silliness and the best moment and biggest laugh coming from a total power failure, which for one blissful moment brought the whole show to a stop.

The awards were hosted by Latest 7 magazine. ?Nominations were invited from the public and from reviewers working for local media. The winners were decided by a panel of judges representing Radio Reverb, Juice FM, BBC Sussex, Latest 7, GScene Magazine, 360 and 180 News.

Hosted by our very own Trudy Styles with her co-hosts Brian Mitchell and Dave Mountfield, Trudy wasn’t so much the ham in the sandwich as the thickly spread marge.

Mr. Mountfield used his doleful wit to his usual rapier effect, his mock irony and humble presence getting him through an under rehearsed and under funny routine and why the other two even thought they might join him onstage was a wonder to the crowd.

A drag queen lost for words, guppy like, is not a happy site to see and even the hecklers seemed to get the better laughs.

Trudy seems to be spending a little too much on costumes and too little on material. Sharpen that tongue Trude. However, in fairness, the easy to please and mostly straight and drunk audience liked the oddly sad songs that Trudy obviously felt she was treating us too.

The less said the better about the misogynous wit of Mitchell.

With a smattering of acts from the Festival including a ‘rising comedy star’ who wasn’t even introduced by the hosts – who got his biggest laugh from said power failure, the handcrafted ceramic trophies by Wendy Jung were then duly handed out.

With some deserving people getting exactly what they deserved. Special mention should go (from me) to Fiona Fletcher for Fletch at St Andrews and the winner of the ‘star of the festival’ - 78-year-old stripper & stand-up Lynn Ruth Miller, who alas, didn’t perform her sex-pistols song.

The Parlure Spiegel tent at Brighton Festival Fringe still had filthy mirrors, covered in grubby finger marks and the whole tent was dirty, dusty and sticky which summed up this whole experience for me.

I went to the opening night three weeks ago and the mirrors were filthy, let’s hope next year they remember to show some respect to their audience. Thank goodness the bar staff were so brilliant.

Best Male Performer: Danny Alder (A Fistful of Snow)
Best Female Performer: Nicola Haydn (Janis)
Best Music Event:? Lady Carol of the Moon
Best Classical Music Act: Brodowski Quartet
Best Cabaret: Copperdollar
Best Theatre Performance: The First Domino
Best Comedy Show: The Haunted Moustache
Best International Act: Hofesh Schecter
Best Children’s Event:? The Man Who Planted Trees
Best Literature/Workshop Event: Jah Wobble and Jon Savage
Best Outdoor Event: The Erpingham Camp
Best Venue:? Upstairs@Three and Ten
Most Groundbreaking Act: The Blind Tiger Club
Star of the Festival?: Lynn Ruth Miller in Ageing is Amazing
Outstanding Contribution to the Festival: Fiona Fletcher of Fletch Productions

Pictured: Star of the Festival Ruth Miller