Where creativity meets connection
DANCE FOR PEACE
Sat 4 Oct
Tide Club, Kings Road Arches, Brighton BN1 1NB
Sussex’s finest dancefloor fillers gather for a good cause in one of Brighton’s best clubs. This successful fundraising night is again supporting the charity, Medical Aid For Palestinians. This daytime party (3 – 10 pm) is taking over both rooms at the seafront club, offering discerning clubbers the finest upfront house sounds.
The awesome DJ line-up features Danny Howells, Russell Small, Pete Bones, Wildblood & Queenie, Nick Hook, Carl Loben, Miss Monument, Bruno Numero Uno, Joey Hertz, Fergus, Tom Yates, Billy Mauseth, and Phil Able.
With the horrors of famine and genocide intensifying in Gaza, it’s never been more important for the house music and clubbing community to stand up for peace and show solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. All proceeds from the event will go towards humanitarian aid for the victims of the war in Gaza.
Get tickets here (advance £10)
London Film Festival for free
Thu 9 – Sun 19 Oct
BFI Southbank, Waterloo SE1 8XT
The 69th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled an incredible line-up of events taking place in its LFF For Free programme. From illustrated talks to panel discussions, film screenings to DJ nights and family fun workshops, LFF for Free opens the festival up to everyone, with every event completely free of charge across the festival at BFI Southbank.
This year’s free talks and workshops will delve into a fascinating array of topics, including how film and television shape our visions of the future, how cinema reinforces or challenges stereotypes of aging femininity, the on-screen portrayal of migration and the diaspora as well as contemporary depictions of sex and sexuality in film and television.
Launched in 2020, LFF Expanded is the festival’s showcase of immersive art, extended realities and gaming, inviting audiences to explore bold new frontiers of storytelling. This year’s Expanded programme includes FUTURE BOTANICA, a free installation where audiences collaborate with AI to co-create virtual landscapes where new forms of nature bloom before their eyes, transforming BFI IMAX into a speculative ecosystem of the future.
Now in its second edition, the free Games Lounge at BFI IMAX invites everyone to dive into a playful, and accessible showcase of imaginative, moving and wildly inventive games from around the world. Film in Print, a celebration of writing about film, also returns to the LFF for a second year. Elsewhere, Lights, Camera, Genre! will take audiences on a journey with a series of lunchtime talks through the diverse and dynamic world that is movie genres.
There are a couple of free family events, inspired by the screenings in this year’s LFF for the whole family to get stuck in. Bring your imagination and sense of fun to Little Amelie’s Wall of Wonder - a giant, colourful space where you can share your thoughts, drawings, and questions about life, childhood, and the mysteries of the world. Ahead of the Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences screening, you can embark on a journey from Japan to Germany in the creative workshop Animated Journeys: Explore the Animation from Around the World. You can even set the dancefloor alight on the festivals’ Friday and Saturday nights with a series of free DJ nights inspired by films in the festival.
Murder At Midnight
Mon 27 – Fri 31 Oct
Devonshire Park Theatre, Compton Street, Eastbourne BN21 4BW
Philip Franks directs this tightly woven comedy thriller, which stars national favourites Jason Durr (Heartbeat, Casualty), Susie Blake (Victoria Wood’s as Seen on TV, Coronation Street), Max Bowden (EastEnders), and Katie McGlynn (Waterloo Road, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks).
It’s New Year’s Eve in a quiet corner of Kent, and a killer is in the house… We meet Jonny ‘The Cyclops’ - the notorious gangster, his glamorous wife, his trigger-happy sidekick, his mum—who’s seeing things, her very jittery carer, plus a vicar who’s hiding something, and a nervous burglar dressed as a clown. Throw in a suitcase full of cash, a stash of deadly weapons, and one infamous unsolved murder… What could possibly go wrong?
Murder at Midnight blends razor-sharp wit with chilling suspense, proving that even the best-laid plans can unravel spectacularly when the wrong people are in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time!
Written by acclaimed modern playwright Torben Betts and produced by the award-winning Original Theatre (Birdsong, Murder in the Dark, The Mirror Crack’d), this is a gripping murder mystery filled with twists, chilling suspense and wickedly dark humour – guaranteed to keep you guessing until the final stroke of midnight.
www.trafalgartickets.com/eastbourne-theatres-eastbourne
Self Esteem
Thus 9 – Fri 10 Oct
O2 Academy, Stockwell Road, Brixton SW9 9SL
Self Esteem is out on tour this month for a huge UK headline tour in support of her album A Complicated Woman. The album has cemented her place as one of the UK’s most vital and visionary pop voices. A bold, dazzling follow-up to her Mercury and BRIT-nominated breakthrough Prioritise Pleasure (2021), the record has been praised for its expansive soundscapes and its unflinching, relatable explorations of womanhood.
Built around a jubilant choir of collaborators and friends, from Nadine Shah and Moonchild Sanelly to drag star Meatball and actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, A Complicated Woman carries the intimacy of Self Esteem’s songwriting into a more communal, celebratory space.
It marks yet another high point in a career built on fearlessly telling the truth, Taylor has firmly established herself as one of Britain’s most exciting and uncompromising stars.
www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybrixton
Brighton Italian Festival 2025
Thu 2 – Fri 24 Oct
Venues across Brighton & Hove
This exciting new festival is promising a rich programme of music, food, comedy, talks, and cultural workshops, all celebrating the best of Italian culture, while shining a spotlight on the many Italians who have made the city their home. It’s centred on offering the most authentic, original and fun festival possible, forming a connection between Brighton and Italy, to create an experience you’ll remember.
It opens with a special evening at the Brighton i360, featuring Marco Montemagno, one of Italy’s most influential digital entrepreneurs and communicators. Known for his sharp insights on technology, innovation and the future of work, Montemagno makes a rare UK appearance in what promises to be an inspiring start to the festival. A live music night at Horatio Bar on Brighton Palace Pier will showcase Italian-Brightonian bands, setting the tone for a month of entertainment. The following day, scooters take centre stage with The Italian Scooter Job - a Vespa charity ride through the city inspired by The Italian Job, ending at the legendary Quadrophenia Alley.
Other highlights include La Notte Italiana, a night of DJs, Negroni cocktails and prizes for the most stylish Italian look; an Italian Techno Night led by Brighton-based Italian DJs; a Comedy Night at Komedia featuring Italian and British comedians; and an evocative Opera in the Paganini Room, held in the very room where the virtuoso violinist once performed. Alongside the headline events, festival-goers can take part in pizza and pasta-making workshops, wine tastings, language meetups and family-friendly activities, bringing the flavours and spirit of Italy to the heart of Brighton.
www.brightonitalianfestival.com
Dreamy Place 2025
Tue 21 – Sun 26 Oct
Venues across Brighton & Hove
Celebrating creative technologies and collective experience, Dreamy Place with six days of exhibitions, performances and events. Designed to engage curious minds of all ages, and including mixed reality, games, dance, and music, the festival harnesses tech and play to explore some serious topics such as surveillance, the environment, philosophy, data, memory, and identities.
Highlights include an immersive listening experience, exploring how lost artefacts buried beneath our feet can reveal meaningful stories. A deeply atmospheric 20-minute audio drama by sound designer Anna Bertmark weaves together Brighton Beach's hidden histories, environmental mysteries, and the stories of those who search its shores. There’s also a celebration of the creative community at the University of Sussex, curated by student collective PATCH. Here you can experience an explosive live display of experimental music, visuals, and performance from students and alumni - featuring sets from Robinson's Village, the ambient project of James Burns, electronic duo Noise Peddler and sound artist and producer Furrowed who will be joined on stage by Cederick Knox for an improvisation involving a grand piano and a live-cut record.
Nullspace Motel blends live art, pole, and dance with philosophical mini-videogames in a fractured road trip through Ish’s memories. Onstage and onscreen intertwine like collage, inviting audiences to question identity, power, memory, and what remains unknowable within ourselves.
Heading to a new space in the centre of North Laine, Glitch v3 draws visitors into a dimly lit space where layered projections shift, collapse, and respond to your touch. Through a simple trackpad, you take control – moving through fragments of a nonlinear narrative about being othered, masked, watched, and reshaped.
You can also experience a unique cinematic journey with Dreamy Place as we present films co-curated with Oska Bright Film Festival - the world's largest festival dedicated to showcasing films made by, or featuring, learning disabled and autistic creators from around the globe. This unforgettable outdoor film trail through the vibrant streets of Brighton. Watch five captivating short films projected onto buildings and walls, as we guide you on a leisurely 1km walk through the city’s iconic streets.
Deadly Live!
Mon 27 Oct
The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX
This Autumn half-term, award-winning presenter Steve Backshall is bringing the ultimate wildlife adventure to arenas nationwide. This is an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat experience based on the hugely popular BBC Deadly franchise.
Join Steve as he embarks on heart-pounding adventures, tackling daring stunts, mind-blowing experiments, and cutting-edge science. Brace yourself as he tracks down some of the world’s most formidable predators—the creatures most would never dare to face!
From big cats and birds of prey to Dinomania dinosaurs, snakes, and more, this electrifying live show takes you across land, sea, and sky in an unforgettable wildlife spectacle. Think you can handle the thrill? Don’t miss out on the ultimate half-term experience for adventurers of all ages!
Brighton Dome Comedy Festival.
Fri 17–Sun 26 Oct
Brighton Dome, Church Street, Brighton BN1 1UE
From Taskmaster contestants and sitcom stars to the hottest new tickets on the circuit, via silly children’s shows and a mixed bill of teenage-friendly standup, comedy fans of all ages and tastes are catered for at next month’s Brighton Dome Comedy Festival.
New to the line-up, actor and comedian Richard Ayoade introduces his brand-new book Afterthoughts with an invitation to audiences to explore over 500 of his most colossal notions and opinions. The Festival edition of Brighton Dome’s flagship comedy showcase, Live at Brighton Dome, is headlined by podcaster and The Traitors: Uncloaked presenter Ed Gamble, joined by TV and Taskmaster star Lucy Beaumont. Top of the bill of swear-free, teenager-friendly edition Live at Brighton Dome BLEEPED is Ted Lasso and Upstart Crow actor Spencer Jones, with prop-based tomfoolery, visual gags and a very angry cockerel.
A collection of cult comedy favourites takes to the stage in the Studio Theatre, including a double bill of shows fresh from acclaimed runs in Edinburgh. Character comedians Siblings deliver an hour of absurd, raucous and downright delirious sketch comedy as they enter the surreal world of sleeping minds in Dreamweavers. Afterwards, ventriloquist clown Lachlan Werner introduces audiences to Jack Hammer, the strongest boy in the world, for a genre-bending circus ring of stunts, sea-lions, sci-fi and secrets in WonderTwunk.
Lou Wall performs Breaking the Fifth Wall, featuring her signature meme-fuelled PowerPoints and musical comedy. Chortle’s One to Watch 2022 Lily Phillips, who recently supported Australian star Celeste Barber at Brighton Dome, makes a return to the venue with new show Crying, and Lucy Pearman is The Moon who dreams of stardom in Lunartic, which was nominated for best variety and comedy show at Leicester Comedy Festival this year. Multibuy ticket offers are available for select Studio Theatre shows.
For families, Spencer Jones performs the premiere of his first ever show for children, The Experimental Kids’ Show, which will leave the whole family in hysterics. Comedian and children’s writer Olaf Falafel brings the Stupidest Super Stupid Show So Far to the Festival, which was voted one of Time Out’s Top Kids Shows 2024. In a showcase on the closing Sunday, the next generation of comic superstars will demonstrate the results of a series of comedy workshops for young people in partnership with Komedia Productions.
www.brightondome.org/comedyfestival
Mark O'Donnell
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