Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence Shortlist Announcement

The Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence has been running since 2011, and this year is in association with The Actors Theatre in Brighton (formerly The Marlborough Theatre).

Previous winners of the award include Toby Marlow, the co-creator of SIX the musical for their event Hot Gay Time Machine at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe.

Judges are seeking high-quality work from emerging talent that has not previously performed at Brighton Fringe.

Runners-up will receive a free registration to participate in Brighton Fringe 2024, whilst the winner will receive a free registration to participate in Brighton Fringe 2024, £500 towards production costs and a favourable deal with The Actors Theatre.

Crap Ballet
Chekhov's Gum is making their Fringe debut with an all-new clown show, Crap Ballet! One's big, the other's small – both suited up and ready to strut, stretch, and shimmy for an hour of stupid.

Unforgettable Girl

Follow a mail-order bride on her journey as she strives to become unforgettable. An irreverent, no-holds-barred, bouffonesque myth about the violence our culture inflicts on bodies of colour.

Birthmarked

Birthmarked is a new concept gig written and performed by Brook Tate and his grand ol' band of pals. With original music likened to Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell, alongside a whale, a paintbrush and a pair of tap shoes, he hopes to shine a light on what it means to be marked... at birth.

Slash

Incorporating fan-fictional pairings such as Lennon/McCartney and Sherlock/Watson, interspersed with meta commentary by infamous second-wave feminists (Camile Paglia, Andrea Dworkin) and mashed up 80s punk songs, they guide the audience through an infernal fantasia of perverted-intertextuality. 

Oat Milk and Honey

Oat Milk and Honey is an avant-garde blend of poetic live music and breathtaking acrobatics performed by two of Australia's leading performing artists, elegantly reflecting on the raw human experience of anxiety.

Playing Latinx

This one-human show merges spoken word poetry, comedy and music to explore both what the Latinx label means in the UK and, on a more personal level, the lengths we all go to fit in.

Character Flaw

Pip navigates the challenges and celebrates the joys of living with ADHD. Gain insight into the often-overlooked experiences of women with ADHD and explore how it has affected Pip's coming-out journey and self-acceptance. Explore the impact of ADHD medication on her identity and join the conversation on how we can be more understanding and accepting of neurodivergent individuals.

Dugsi Daiz

Subverting Somali folk tales and reminiscing about their childhoods, four girls slowly reveal their reasons for being there. This hour together may reveal that they have more in common than they thought. Inspired by The Breakfast Club, this is a hilarious and authentic exploration of the friendship between Somali girls.

Jacob Storms' Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Rising brings these unexplored years (1939-1945) centre stage as the audience plays the role of kind stranger to a young Williams, whilst he experiences the unexpected highs and devastating lows of his early life and career, wherein his most iconic character emerges, himself.

Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story
Join Diana in heaven as she shares the untold and untrue tale of her extraordinary life. Combining drag, multimedia, audience interaction, puppetry and a lot of queer joy – this unique celebration of the People's Princess is as hilarious as it is tasteless.