Seagull Recommends 20/1

Hello and welcome back to Seagull Recommends! This week we've got loads of bits. So many. Coins, ceramics, comedy. Things that don't start with C. You're not ready for how much there is. Enjoy!

If you come across anything coming up in the city that you think we should know about, let us know!

🎶Gigs: Lots of good gigs tonight: The Delgados are at Concorde 2 tonight, very good indie pop with excellent melodies, also very Scottish (tickets); over at The Hope and Ruin tonight is 'Triptych VI: Speedboat, Polite Bureaux & New German Cinema', expect genre-defying new-wave-ish synth pop with guitars (tickets) (there's Triptych another one tomorrow too); and finally, tonight at at Platf9rm in Church Road, Hove is 'HEY GIRL presents: Music night #2 with Karima Francis and Bella Spinks', two very good singer-songwriters with beautiful vocals and excellent lyrics (tickets).

📽️Film: Arthur Miller's The Crucible is showing next Thursday (26th) at the Duke of York's. If you weren't lucky enough to study it during your GCSE's, it tells the story of Salem as it becomes embroiled in witch hunting, and the women who get caught up in it. Captured live from the Olivier stage at the National Theatre, it's on for one night only (tickets).

🎭Theatre: [Jack Tinker voice] "Step behind the curtain of one of the oldest working theatres in the country and a true theatrical treasure." Take a tour of the backstage areas of the Theatre Royal; tomorrow (21st) at 10am and a few other weekends until March (tickets). There's also The Shawshank Redemption showing at the Theatre Royal from Monday 23rd to Saturday 28th (tickets), and Farragut North at New Venture Theatre from tonight until next Saturday, telling the story of a presidential candidate's press secretary set against the backdrop of a tight primary race (tickets).

🤣Comedy: The semi-finals of the Komedia New Comedy Award start on Tuesday (24th)! Hundreds of aspiring comedians entered in the hopes of making it this far; the first heat of three will feature eight comics all battling for a coveted place in the final next month. Well worth attending (tickets)!

🛠️Repair Cafe: Tomorrow morning from 10am to 1pm, a repair cafe is running from  Revaluit HUB, 13 Castle Square. Take along anything that needs fixing, whether it's textiles, computers, things that need glueing, bikes, and volunteers will try their best to fix them for you. This event will also feature a masterclass led by Brighton Repair Cafe in 'How to start and run a Repair Cafe'. It's all free, but to reserve a spot do book a ticket here.

📚Book club: The Feminist Bookshop's monthly book club returns this month with the theme of 'looking forward'. Their pick for this month is Mizuki Tsujimara's Lonely Castle in the Mirror, a Japanese translation following seven young people in Tokyo who are avoiding going to school. They wake up one day to find their mirrors are shining, and upon inspection, find themselves transported into a wondrous castle. Together they embark on a journey to uncover the castle's secrets, making sure to hide their own, all while following the rules of the mysterious Wolf Queen. Beyond the adventure is a touching story about loneliness, mental health, sacrifice and friendship. It takes place on Wednesday 25th—more than enough time to curl up and blast through all 368 pages (tickets).

🎨Painting: Dharma Hove is hosting local artist Alex Foley for his popular, weekly, two-hour oil painting sessions. Perfect for beginners, the sessions start this Thursday (26th) from 6pm to 8pm. The first course is eight sessions, and can be booked weekly or all at once (for the latter, email [email protected]). Paints, paper, and palettes will be provided, but do bring brushes, a non-toxic medium, such as Liquin (ask your local arts shop!) and a rag (tickets).

👗Weaving: Seagull favourite Cult Milk is running a beginner's weaving workshop on Thursday (26th) from 7pm to 9pm at Selina Brighton, Kings Road. You'll learn how to 'warp' your loom (put the string on it), how to get started by tying special knots and of course, how to weave! You'll also be shown the correct way to take your weave off of the loom so that you can take it home and keep it forever. All of the materials for your workshop are included in your ticket so all you need to do is turn up. Any questions, email Cult Milk founder and workshop teacher Amy on [email protected] (tickets).

🪙Coins: Also on Thursday, at Brighton Museum is The Daniels Collection of Sussex Coins and Tokens. From 12:15pm to 1pm, join Dan Robertson, curator of local history and archaeology, for an overview of the James Herbert Daniels collection of Sussex coins and tokens dating back to 1885. No tickets needed, it's free with Brighton Museum admission, or if you're a member or resident.

🏺Ceramics: Are you a ceramics fan? Tuesday (24th) will be your lucky day if so: there's a talk at the Royal Pavilion on George IV’s European Ceramics Collection. From Sèvres used for dining and as decorative pieces, to the commissioning of new services from English factories using exciting new ceramic recipes, this talk will focus on one aspect of King George IV’s extensive collecting habit, including examples acquired for the Royal Pavilion (tickets).

🗺Map: Lemn Sissay’s interactive map, commissioned by Brighton Festival when he was guest editor in May 2021, is live again until Tuesday 31st January for people to add their family stories️. To find out more, click here.

🍱Food: Somehow we've never recommended the Cornish Pasty Shop in Gardner Street, which is shocking and appalling news to us. We're so sorry. We're rectifying it now: they're really good. Choices for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans, we love the sausage rolls, and at Christmas they're the best provider of mince pies in the city.

☕️Tea: When you're done with lunch, pop over the road to Bird and Blend Tea where you'll find dozens and dozens of loose leaf teas in flavours like Chocolate Digestives, Birthday Cake, Mint Choc Rooibos, Creme Egg and Brighton Rock. They also do normal tea, but that's not as exciting. They have matcha too, interesting ones like salted caramel and (our favourite) ice cream. We recommend you try an ice cream matcha soda, or another equally ridiculous sounding but delicious tasting drink. Like the eton mess. Or the unicorn fizz. We did warn you.