– A Double Bill:
The Accrington Pals (scenes from)
+ Picnic on a Battlefield

Directed by Alan Perrin

ACT presents a double bill of plays exploring the theme of war and its effect on those directly and indirectly involved.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)

Accrington Pals, first performed by the RSC in 1981, is a play that allows us to enter the minds of the common people who lost so much during the Great War - soldiers who enlisted, in innocence and ignorance, to fight for their country and the women left behind. Whelan pits the idealistic socialism of the artist, Tom, with the individualism of May’s self-help philosophy. The play, inspired by the real tragedy of The Accrington Pals, is based on actual events around the Battle of the Somme and explores how the propaganda machine shaped public opinion.

Picnic on a Battlefield, written in 1958, is set during a battle. During a lull in the fighting at the front, soldier Zapo gets a surprise visit from his parents who have decided to cheer him up with a picnic.  A series of comic situations highlights the family's impossible encounter with the Other.


www.actbrighton.org

31 March:
1 April:
2 April:

Presented byAct Productions

Amateur Transplants (aka deviant doctors Adam Kay and Suman Biswas) sing smutty songs at a piano. They are "Superbly politically incorrect, gloriously funny" (Scotsman), "Very very funny indeed" (Radio 1) and "A cult hit" (Sunday Times). 6 million people downloaded the London Underground Song - you were potentially one of them.


www.amateurtransplants.com

- Potentially Offensive -

Directed by Cal McCrystal 

Pluck, the classical string trio with a seriously silly side, presents a tribute 
to the musicians who played on until the end. Nobody knows what filled the days of those brave few before tragedy struck... 

So Pluck have made it up! 

Sensitive lead violinist Wally and brutally sincere multi-instrumentalist W'Theodore are joined aboard the fated vessel by stowaway Roger, a strangely small yet enthusiastic young man.

As they entertain the guests on board, tensions build as Wally and W'Theodore begin to suspect that Roger is not quite the man he claims to be…  

Featuring a real iceberg, one massive porthole and the biggest peanut you may ever see - and NO Celine Dion!! 

“Gloriously funny” 
The Scotsman 

“Classical music for all ages and shoe sizes” 
The Sunday Times 

“A brilliant mix of high comedy, astonishing musicianship and a touch of 
romance” **** 
The List 


www.pluck.me.uk


Presented by Pluck

World Premiere

In a bed and breakfast on the Brighton sea front at the end of summer nine people's lives dance around the possibility and impossibility of love. Claire needs more money than she's ever owned. Christopher needs to see her one more time. Michael needs to tell Alison a truth he couldn't dare utter. Alison needs to never hear it. Gary and Ellie need one night alone. Archie needs to save some poor sod's life. Sally needs to get out of town, and Steve, who owns the whole desperate place to begin with, needs to tell her he loves her.

Over the course of 24 hours at the edge of England at the start of its final century all of their lives are changed forever.

A musical about addiction, sex, betrayal and hope, Marine Parade brings together one of England's most exciting new theatre companies Animalink with Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens and American Music Club's Mark Eitzel - 'America's greatest living lyricist' (The Guardian).


Simon Stephens has emerged in this millennium as an outstanding playwright.' Financial Times

Supported by Arts Council England, ETT and Yes/No Productions


PLEASE NOTE: Tickets are only available from Brighton Festival Ticket Office directly and are not on sale through The Old Market Box Office.

Presented by Animalink + Brighton Festival

What really goes on behind the doors of a psychiatric hospital?

Throughout this brand new play we hear the stories of six real-life people who recently met as patients on an acute secure psychiatric ward in a London hospital, the writer of this piece being one of them. The entire script is taken from interviews conducted by the writer with each of the patients and combined with extracts from the writer’s own diary about her time on the ward. The result is a unique and powerful piece of verbatim theatre, which explores the experiences of Mental Health Service Users behind locked doors.

The stories that are told in this piece represent the "voices" of the patients that were never heard by the consultants or the nurses on the ward. This ground-breaking piece of theatre reveals the views and personal histories of a group of people who are often hidden and excluded from mainstream society and allows their voices to finally be heard.

Funded by The Arts Counci

www.hearingvoicesplay.co.uk


Presented by Clare Summerskill
with Artemis Theatre