Indie Brighton Listings: Monday 4th - Sunday 10th November
Figuring out all the cool and interesting stuff to do in Brighton so you don’t have to, plus: an interview with Scoops Improv
Hello! James here. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to Indie Brighton so far. The response has been somewhere between whelming and overwhelming, and confirms that this is a useful gambit for people other than me, myself and I.
I’m glad.
You can now follow Indie Brighton on Instagram, and I’ll set up a website this week. But this here newsletter is the main conduit so pls subscribe and keep doing what you’re doing.
The listings will always be free, but if you do upgrade to a paid subscription it’ll help me buy more sandwiches and occasionally pay the heating bills.
You will get exclusive content for doing so, along with my eternal gratitude, and maybe even the occasional poorly executed high-five if I meet you in person.
A few changes from last week:
Each listing now links directly to where you can buy tickets, if ticketed.1
Each week I’ll interview someone who’s performing in Brighton (or puts cool stuff on in Brighton) and include that interview in this here newsletter. This week: Scoops Improv.
Venues that are not fully accessible are now marked with an asterisk.
I’m adding a few images, but not too many; I want this to be as easy to read as possible.
I will launch a weekly audio version of the listings as soon as I can.
If there is anything else you can think of that would be useful, do get in touch.
Monday 4th November
The Rock House, Green Door Store, 7pm. £5. Excellent monthly learning-disabled and autistic-led band showcase, presented by Carousel. This month’s lineup includes Beat Express, The Black Bawlerz, Deji, James & Ryan, Theophilus Ajayi and Shark Stuff.
Brighton Folk Choir, Weekly Practice, Rose Hill Tavern, 7pm. £8. Fancy singing seasonal folk songs in four-part harmonies in a supportive atmosphere? Jo Burke’s weekly sessions are the place to be.
Cinema Crapadiso, Caroline of Brunswick*, 7pm. Free. Nerds curate so-shit-they’re-good movies for the delectation of you, the punter.
Los Fastidios, Prince Albert*, 7pm. £14. Genius anti-fascist Italian ska / punk / Britpop, plus support.
Tuesday 5th November
Scoops - Live Improv Comedy, The Actors*, 8pm. £4/7. Loveable nerds put on high quality improvised comedy for a reasonable price. See interview with Scoops below.
Ed’s Comedy Club, Presuming Ed’s*, 8pm. Free. New material / open mic night upstairs of London Road’s most (only) boho cafe/bar.
Wednesday 6th November
Cool Aid Comedy, Caroline of Brunswick*, 7:30pm. Free. Brighton’s longest-running new material stand-up night, this week MCed by the fabulous Dawn Williams.
Zine Club, The Actors, 7pm. Free. Bring your own projects and materials and keep zine culture alive (go on then, here’s one of my past zines).
Thursday 7th November
Tarot: Shuffle, The Old Market, 8pm. £17/15. Brilliant, charming, weirdo alternative comedy humans bring their critically acclaimed show to Hove. “We would call it improv but we’ve got some self respect: this is sketch comedy in nighties”.
The Branding Needs Work, Caxton Arms*, 7:30pm. Your host, Simon, runs a new material and new human comedian night. The door to the room is via the stage, so bear this in mind if arriving late.
Cate Ferris + Leroy Horns, The Rose Hill, 7pm. £7. Ethereal, eclectic, and epic loopy electro pop from an artist Diva Magazine calls “a creative queen”.
Friday 8th November
Glimmer Warning: New Note Orchestra and Wham Jam Thank You Ma'am Choir, The Old Market, 7:30pm. £14. Award-winning ensemble made up of musicians in recovery from addiction, with a 60-strong community choir in support. Expect joy, and plenty of it.
I f***ing h8 clubbing, Green Door Store, 11pm. £5. The only club night in Brighton that claims to play both Katy Perry AND Belle & Sebastian. “Featuring unexperienced DJs with the egos of Pete Tong and a playlist as confusing as Snoop Dogg’s reggae career.” Lovely stuff.
Saturday 9th November
Queer (Joy) #2: Poetry & Spoken Word, The Rose Hill, 6:30pm. £8-14. (PWYW option available). A celebration and showcase of LGBTQIA+ artists from the Brighton scene and beyond, focusing on poetry this week. Headliner: Subira Joy.
Swiftogeddon: The Taylor Themed Club Night, Komedia, 11pm. £10. Genuinely they play Taylor Swift all night, so this is somewhere between club night and live art installation. Needlessly, a caveat: *THIS EVENT IS FAN CREATED & NOT ENDORSED BY THE ARTIST*
Sunday 10th November
Brighton Jazz Mafia, The Brunswick, 7:30pm. Free. 18-piece big band high jinks plus original tunes. Past members rumoured to sleep with the fishes.
Music Open Mic, The Actors*, 8pm. Free. Friendly open mic at one of Brighton’s friendliest venues.
Interview with Scoops Improv
Hello! You’re an excellent monthly improv show with excellent special guests. How would you describe improv to someone without mentioning Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Hello! I’d say it’s like football, but instead of trying to kick a ball into a net you’re trying to delight an audience, and everyone’s on the same team, so there’s a LOT of goals. I can see why people tend to mention Whose Line Is It Anyway.
What sort of thing could a punter who has never been to your show expect from the night, other than the unexpected?
Every show is a different line-up of acts, and it’s usually an eclectic mix of styles. So alongside improv in classic forms we’re all familiar with, there’s often a wildcard act doing something even jaded old improvisers have never seen before.
How did you get into improv in the first place?
I moved to Brighton and needed to make friends. I dipped my foot into improv, loved it, and never looked back.
What do you say to the rumours that improv is in fact a pyramid scheme?
Absolute nonsense. Incidentally if anyone’s interested in running Scoops shows in their own town, they can buy into our franchise model for a mere £60,000.
Other than your good selves, are there any improv acts on the circuit at present you particularly enjoy?
I don’t want to show favouritism among acts that have performed at Scoops, so I’ll mention one that hasn’t - I love Murder, She Didn’t Write, who improvise brilliant and very silly murder mysteries.
I’ve never seen an improv show where they do so much kissing, which I’m keen to bring into all the acts I’m part of.
What’s the Brighton improv scene like? Thriving, moribund, erotic, or middling?
Thriving! AndAlso Improv teach regular courses which bring a constant influx of new improvisers, and they’re currently fundraising for a venue in central Brighton that will house an improv theatre with regular shows, so it’s an exciting time!
Is Brighton a good place for comedy more generally? Do you have any favourite venues or rival happenings?
There’s lots going on! Extra Topping is a monthly show that showcases all forms of comedy except stand-up - so improv, sketch, musical and character comedy, and some brilliant surreal acts. Then we’ve got the Komedia for more traditional comedy offerings, and Brighton Dome for the household names who attract a huge audience.
What are the three most common shouted out suggestions, and why are none of them “Dunstable?”2
“Film noir”3 (if they’re asked for a genre), “Brother and sister” (if they’re asked for a relationship), and “Spatula” (if they’re asked for a household object).
Dunstable only tends to come up if you ask the audience to shout out market towns in Bedfordshire that were likely founded between the 6th and 8th centuries once the early Anglo-Saxons had settled in the area and subdued local Romano-Britons.
Do you enter “flow” state when on stage doing improv and say things and do things before you even realise you’re saying and doing them? Or is your brain permanently a-whirring?
There’s an element of flow state but I try not to submit to it completely. There are practical things to think about during a show - remembering characters’ names, keeping an eye on the time, any set structures of the format you’re performing that you need to adhere to - so the trick is to let half your brain worry about those things without interfering too much with the other half that just wants to be in the moment and play.
Finally: you sometimes do a wonderful show about cowboys. Do you have a favourite cowboy ever? This can be fictional or historical, we don’t mind which.
The only correct answer is Texas Pete from SuperTed.
Scoops Improv takes place upstairs at The Actors on the first Tuesday of every month.
GLOSSARY
PWYW = Pay What You Want. These nights want everyone to feel welcome, regardless of individual financial circumstances
* = a venue that is not accessible. There’s nuance here4, but with so many venues in Brighton being rooms above Victorian Gin Palaces, it’s important to be clear.
I’ll only ever link to the event’s own ticket page or website - not sending any traffic to ticketmaster, that’s for sure! Those guys are bad.
Full disclosure: I shouted out Dunstable as a suggestion at a Scoops show earlier this year, not realising this location was for an entire musical. They then asked me to flesh out the various things I love about Dunstable, with several follow-up questions, and I had to lie through my teeth as… I’ve never been to Dunstable. I think I said it had a good ring road and one-way system.
Fuck. I always ask for noir. I will up my game. And please everyone, stop saying Spatula.
For example: The Actors’ zine club is accessible cos it’s on the ground floor, but Scoops isn’t, cos it’s upstairs.