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Brighton nurse receives prestigious Royal College award

Brighton nurse, Jason Warriner received the Award of Merit at the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) Congress in Liverpool on Saturday (May 13).

The annual RCN Awards celebrate the best in nursing with Fellowships, Honorary Fellowships and Awards of Merit presented to those who have given an outstanding contribution to the profession, along with honours for the Learning Representative, Safety Representative and Steward of the Year.

Jason who is Clinical Services Director at Sussex Beacon has been a leading light in the College for many years and this award is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to nursing.

Jason said: “I am truly honoured to receive this award and I must extend a special thanks to those who nominated me.

 “The RCN plays a pivotal role in promoting excellent nursing practice and representing nurses at work. We also make a crucial contribution to debates around public health and shaping future health policy in the interests of nurses and patients.”

Jason is highly respected both within and outside the RCN. He is the current Chair of the RCN’s Public Health Forum and he has held many positions within the College.

He says he “is passionate” about how the RCN can help benefit individuals, the profession and improve patient care and his work in the field of sexual health and his clinical knowledge is unsurpassed.

The Sussex Beacon provides specialist support and care for people living with HIV. The charity runs both inpatient and outpatient services to promote independence and improve health. 

For more information about work of the Sussex Beacon, click here:

BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: CIRCUS’SISSION: Bosco Tent

CIRCUS’SISSION: THOSE THAT MADE THE CUT!

Bosco Tent:  Spiegeltent

Presented by Head First Acrobats.

A variety mashup of circus superstars, Brighton Spiegeltent legends and the hottest acts of this year’s Brighton Fringe, presented by your favourite Aussies, the boys from Head First Acrobats.

With a rotating cast, each night different fringe artist guests get to showcase their best, weirdest and most hilarious talents, backed up by the incredible acrobatics and comedy of the Head First Acrobats. A little bit raunchy, a little bit weird and a whole lot of fun!

The endlessly lovely boys keep us occupied with their saucy antics and their endless high octane performance mesh well with the lower key singing and hoop work. With a wide range of physical performers from across the fringe this is five shows in one, with the added pleasure (and tasty eye candy) of the Aussie trio (who’s own show Elixir is currently running at the Bosco tent too), we had superb saucy hula hooping Chelsea Angell, dark card magician Tony Roberts with only one card and some beautiful filthy jokes, extreme and utterly disarming clowning, some charming naughty singing from a local Brighton singer Mark Hodge and then Rowan Thomas – one the boys – on his giant steel ring, with some new and very funny montages of their own gymnastic and tongue in cheek acrobatics.

Superb cross section of performers, the tent is fun, the atmosphere electric and we left having been entertained, a little bit of this, some of that and plenty of the other host Cal Harris  ( from head first) certainly knows how to keep the audience hyped up and the participants all have their own engaging traits. It all felt a little unsafe, unhinged and bonkers and that’s just what a decent montage show should feel like.

Recommended as an excellent start to the weekend festivals, they’ve a different show each weekend, same hosts, cross section of the best fringe physical and comical acts and it’s worth a punt as you can’t go wrong with that wide a spread.

9.30pm Friday & Saturday through the Fringe

All photo’s copyright of Sussex photographer photosbydavid.org

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL REVIEW: Five short blasts

Five Shorts Blasts

Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey

Brighton Festival

The authentic nature of the swelling waves, the sun glinting on the bright green sea and the gulls wheeling up above all conspired, along with the chugging engine, wafts of diesel and frantically chopping blades of the propellers to add their own elements to the soundtrack and it’s repetitive, soothing drone soon became a descant to the rising and fall of the boat we rode in.

In international maritime language the sound signal of five short blasts means “I am not sure of your intentions and am concerned we are going to collide”. Vessels use the audible signal of five short blasts to communicate this alarm, using a horn, a whistle, or whatever is to hand. 5 Short Blasts is inspired and deeply informed by this maritime expression of uncertainty, drawing attention to the shared act of navigating the unknown.

I’d suggest you stand and hold on, turn your back on the boat and look out to sea, gaze to the horizon you’ll never reach, or watch the city slowly shrinking to become a smear of tower and brick work along the coast. It’s far more fun than sitting under a blanket and listening in.

Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey are artists who create unexpected situations for listening and here it’s compromised by the change of location but still manages to convey our island life and the way people’s lives are still intimately connected to the sea. The text from Tony Birch and Tim and Julia Crouch written specifically for the estuary at Shoreham but having moved at the last moment still managed to convey some jolts of soul-searching reflective depth. The festival mysteriously claiming ‘tidal complications’ as the reason for its move, although anyone familiar with tide tables, estuaries and alternative facts might deduce otherwise.  However, its site specific departure didn’t detract much, all rivers lead to the ocean after all and it was easy to imagine the various elements being discussed by the voices silently slipping by underneath us and the waves.

The boat stopped at one point, we drifted along with the tide and narrative, tea and a flap jack came out, a wonderful moment of sweet British island life and all felt well.  The narrative murmured about types of mud, slurp, slop ,slurry, slough, giving us the definitions of each, like a land forecast from Dr. Seuss while out to sea, slush, slag, silt, it was evocative and faintly twee but huddled under blankets in the seriously powerful pitching sea my fellow festivalers looked vulnerable, small and fragile and its possibly one of the very few festival shows I’ve attended which has such a direct connection to the sea that makes this city so special.

An interesting boat trip, some food for thought, a moment feeling free of the land and riding the wild white breakers of the churning sea, safe in a boat, with a few moments of delightful silliness which I won’t spoil but contain more than one trombone it all adds up to something delightful, ethereal and touching.  Not quite graspable, certainly not profound, but authentic and palpable none the less. I felt free for an hour it even made the return to the wretched marina bearable.

I went and had a smoked mackerel bun afterwards from the award-winning Jack and Linda at the Fishing Museum, and looked out over the sea and thought of the men and women who fish and work in, on and under that great sparkling apparent wilderness.

Recommended.

Saturday May 6 – Sunday May 28, around high tide (Everyday except 8, 9, 15 – 17, 24 & 25 May)

Time slots dependent on the tides

BRIGHTON FRINGE PREVIEW: The Circus of Horrors @Preston Park

After taking to the road over 22 years ago and touring all over the world the phenomenon returns with its latest brand new show especially designed for Brighton Fringe Festival. 

The spectacular features an amazing amalgamation of bizarre and fantastic circus acts act’s all woven into a sensational shock/horror story and the darkest of magic – taking the show to a whole new level, it’s driven by a mainly original soundscape and performed with a forked tongue firmly in each cheek, you’ll certainly Die Laughing.

Annually the Circus of Horrors plays over 100 UK theatres and this tour has expanded to take in festivals throughout the world including The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan (twice), the Wacken Festival in Germany plus shows in Chile, Uruguay, Holland, Belgium, Argentina, France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong and Moscow where it became the 1st UK Circus ever to perform in Russia. The show also played an astounding 10 nights at London’s O2.                   

This is not the first time that The Circus of Horrors has created history, as it became the only circus ever to reach the finals of Britain’s Got Talent and the first circus to perform in London’s West End for over 100 years.

The Circus Of Horrors’ appearances on various subsequent TV shows have turned what started as a cult show into a household name – taking the extreme to the mainstream.

Its’ TV credits now boast The X Factor, The Slammer, Daybreak, Fairground Attractions, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Body Shockers, Fake Reaction, This Morning, Ant & Dec, The One Show and A Royal Command Performance. 

The Circus of Horrors started it’s gruesome beginnings at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival and became an instant hit, touring all over the world from Chile to Chatham, Argentina to Aberdeen, Japan to Jersey including festival appearances with Alice Cooper, Ermine, Motley Cure, Oasis, Iron Maiden, The Manic St Preachers, Foo Fighters and many more.

For video footage chick here:

What the media say:

♦ ‘The Circus of Horrors completely WOWED the audience’ The Daily Mail.

♦ ‘A Bloody Great Night Out’…..The Times

♦ ‘Freaking Awesome’….. The Sun

♦ ‘Bloody Good Fun – Barnum Would be proud’…..Time Out

♦ ‘Circus Without A Condom’….. The Telegraph

What the celebrities say:

♦ ‘I loved it ‘….. Simon Cowell

♦ ‘Fantastic, that’s what I call entertainment’….. David Hasselhoff

♦ ‘That was incredible’….. Ant or Dec

♦ ‘Totally Unbelievable’…..Scott Mills, Radio 1

You have to go and see this if. One day something will go wrong and you will be able to say I was there….. Graham Norton.


Event: CIRCUS OF HORRORS

Where: Circus Big Top, Preston Park, Brighton

When: Saturday May 27 and June 3

Time: 9pm

Cost: £28: For 2for1 offer for the show telephone the onsite box office on 08458355050 and quote the promotional GORY .

Offer not valid in conjunction with any other discount or against tickets already purchased.

BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Two Singular Sensations @Purple Playhouse Theatre

This intimate homage to the stage musical from Brighton-based Elevation Productions starts with mini toeches shining on the tap dancing feet of Edwin Ray, and on his saxophone-playing life-long friend Emma Jane Morton – in their tribute to A Chorus Line.

It’s a terrific opening to 75 minutes of high octane singing, dancing, instrument playing   and chat all with the required maximum of what show people call “tits and teeth”.

This up tempo introduction to the business we call show has the two performers giving never less than 110 per cent effort and enthusiasm – filling the small cabaret club style venue with movement and sheer joy.

They treat us to solos and duets from Half a Sixpence, Me and My Girl, Anything Goes, Little Shop of Horrors, The Drowsy Chaperone, and even White Christmas – to name only a few.

Edwin is a truly amazing dancer and his athletic, balletic and sometimes touchingly sensitive moves set a great tone. Emma seems to be able to play every instrument going and in I Don’ t Want to Show Up she plays sax, flute, clarinet, oboe and accordion, while singing and dancing in between times.

They move easily between high octane Broadway belters and more subtle offerings and in I Love a Piano they even tap dance sitting down.

Their immense talent needs to slow down a little because the frenetic pace sometimes relies on over-use of props which detract from their amazing song and dance talent.

An outside director looking at their material would I am sure cut the biographical chat and the “why we love theatre and why it’s our life” stuff – which teeters on the edge of cheesiness in my view.

But what they really need is a bigger stage to play on. They are phenomenally talented and loveable and I predict a big break is round the corner. So in the words of another song “Hey Mr Producer, I’m talking to you sir” discover them.

They are accompanied by a very talented trio of musicians – Caroline Stephenson, Jack Summerfield and Michael Currie.

Two Singular Sensations was playing at the Purple Playhouse, Hove. Its run has ended.


TWO SINGULAR SENSATIONS

Presented by Elevation Productions

Venue: Purple Playhouse Theatre, Hove

Date of performance: May 13

Reviewed by: Brian Butler

BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Hats off to Laurel and Hardy

Tony Carpenter (Laurel) and Philip Hutchinson (Hardy) overcome the first big hurdle of a tribute show in Hats Off to Laurel and Hardy at the Sweet Waterfront – they actually look and sound like the originals.

Their characterisations are endearing and life-like and they add to this atmosphere by projecting black and white film of their versions of some of the comedy duo’s best moments.

My particular favourite, when I was a child, was The Music Box – where they repeatedly try to move an upright piano up an impossibly steep flight of outdoor steps.  Their reproduction of that film is truly side-splitting.

These elements of the show work really well along with some snappy to-ing and fro-ing in their live dialogue. What is less successful is the over-long and slightly limp narrative of “we did this ” and “we did that “ – chronicling their rise to fame and their string of failed marriages..

Lucky Dog is a theatre company which specialises in telling the true stories behind famous people. Highly laudible as that is, at times in this show it feels a bit like a first year degree course lecture.

But we do get some terrific one-liners, as in : “If I hadn’t have seen you , I wouldn’t have recognised you”.

They hated being on tv’s This is Your Life at the end of their careers and as Stan says: “we didn’t even get paid”.

What the historical analysis does yield are facts about them that we probably don’t know – their origins, the fact that Stan was a terrific director and writer and hated acting – except with Ollie.

Or that Ollie was unhappy all his life with his weight – “People all over the world were laughing at the fat man – I hate being fat”.

I hadn’t realised how often they did stage and variety shows in England and Europe largely because of impresario Bernard Delfont.

Their sad decline and serious illnesses cast a dark cloud in the last fifteen minutes of the show, but in a touching little scene they are reunited in death. As a final voice-over says “God Bless Our Clowns. “

The show has ended its run at the Fringe.


HATS OFF TO LAUREL AND HARDY

Presented by Lucky Dog Theatre Productions

Venue: Sweet Waterfront 1

Date of performance: May 13

Reviewed by: Brian Butler

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL REVIEW: If I could I would: Mimbre

If I could I would…

Mimbre

All Saints Church

Brighton Festival

If I Could I Would was a fast-paced piece of physical theatre featuring virtuoso acrobatics, imagination and humour that recognised it sometimes takes a superhuman effort to rise above the relentless demands of everyday urban life.

The all-female cast perform an array of familiar characters in a day where coffee is spilled, the commute is a trial, street-life is a threat and office politics get under the skin. From every woman to superwoman, the show delivered a heart-warming message to everyone about resilience in the face of the everyday grind.

For more info on Mimbre, click here:

The trio quickly won over the audience with their superb acrobatics and breath-taking balancing, all done with a gentle every-day casual edge. There are some superb quick changes which are seriously impressive and the set is constantly morphing as the piece progresses. The second part of the show having an extended narrative concerning two rather spry and cheeky older lades, who had appeared in the first part, this time they were more active delivering a wonderfully engaging and cheeky performance of giving the third acrobat, who’s day had not been going quite so well, a taste of being a super heroine. With wonderful echoes of Supergran they were delightful. The agility and strength paired superbly with the accomplished physical theatre to combine into a fun, thrilling and entertaining show.

Mimbre don’t challenge; they change and provide a healthy counter narrative to the usual edge-of-danger acrobatics and physical theatre and ‘If I could I would’ allows them to convince us that we’ve all got capacity to fly, have pools of resilience and sometimes you just need two cheeky old ladies at a bus stop to give you a push.

I left All Saints grinning and delighted by the warmth of the performers and the quality of their compelling optimistic physical narrative, it’s so lovely to see older women held up and celebrated in such a beautifully subversive way.

See the full show details here

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