Seagull Recommends 21/04

Hello and welcome back to Seagull Recommends! This week we've got a talk of the town on Brighton Open Air Theatre's summer season launch afternoon, creativity workshops, yard sales for World Earth Day, and so much more. It's a real bumper crop this week!

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

🎵Festival: The Great Escape has unveiled its full festival and conference line-up, as well as this year's official app. Our editor personally found the app invaluable last year: it helped her organise her schedule between shows and talks, and updated her to any and all last minute changes. We can't wait to see Arlo Parks, Baby Cool, Áine Deane, Girl Scout, English Teacher, Lilo, and many more wonderful acts next month.

🎭Theatre: It's the opening night of Pyrenees at New Venture Theatre tonight! Running until next Saturday (29th), Pyrenees tells the story of a man found lying in the snow at the foot of the Pyrenees who doesn't remember who he is or where he comes from (tickets).

🎨Art: Today and tomorrow are the last days to enjoy Brighton and Hove Arts Council Art Show at Friends Meeting House, with artwork from Brighton Embroidery Group, Society of Sussex Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, and more. Open from 10am to 5pm, admission is free and everything displayed is available to buy.

📚Books: It’s Lesbian Visibility Week next week and The Ledward Centre has some exciting things lined up! One of them is an author talk with Brighton-based author Kirsty Loehr, who will be in the cafe on Monday afternoon from 4:30pm-6pm discussing her new book, A Short History of Queer Women. And, it's free!

🌎Earth day: Celebrate World Earth Day at the Booth Museum tomorrow: look at their amazing natural science collections, learn more about the planet and sustainability, and find out how you can support wildlife in your local area. 10am to 11am is specifically for children with additional needs—find out more here.

🛍Yard sale: ️Also in celebration of World Earth Day tomorrow, Platf9rm Hove is hosting a day of music, coffee and second hand fun. With guest DJs including Platform B and baked goods from Breadwinners, the event focuses on rehoming already loved items; from clothes, shoes, and accessories to vinyl, books and more. Advanced online tickets are £5, which includes a free coffee, or buy a ticket on the door and donate what you can. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to local food bank, CornerStone Community Centre (tickets).

📖Book club: Friend of The Seagull, Roosa, has started a Brighton chapter of the Silent Book Club, and its first meeting is this Sunday at 1pm, at the upstairs function room of The Freemasons pub in Hove. All you need is yourself and a book you enjoy!

💿Record Store Day: Saturday is every vinyl lovers favourite day of the year: Record Store Day! In Brighton and Hove we've got Cult Hero in Brighton Place, Resident Music in Kensington Gardens, Bella Union in Church Street and Rarekind Records in Trafalgar Street—all excellent places taking part this year, all worth checking out.

✍Creative writing: ️Brighton's creative writing programme is open for enrolment for creative writing and poetry courses starting in October. They offer a mix of in-person, blended and online, offering university-level courses for cheaper than the cost of a degree.

📝Creative workshops: If you're aged 13-19 (or know someone who is), Friend of The Seagull Little Green Pig is bringing Amplified back for its fourth year. Amplified is a free creative mentoring opportunity with three workshops, where you'll receive support from screenwriter Suhayla-El Bushra and poet Roy McFarlane, culminating in a performance at Brighton Festival on Saturday 20th May and Sunday 21st May. Travel expenses and lunch are provided too, so there's really no excuse not to go. Sign up ASAP to get your place!

🍱Food: Loading Bar on the seafront is the perfect place if you want very good burgers and loaded fries with every type of board game you could possibly want to play. Ticket to Ride: Europe, anyone?

☕Coffee: Our editor has been craving a black mocha from Black Mocha recently. It's espresso and hot chocolate, and it'll really put hairs on your chest (ed: not literally️, and if it does you should probably get that checked out). Not for the faint hearted!

The Seagull was delighted to be invited to the opening of Brighton Open Air Theatre's (BOAT) summer season on Thursday, where the editor and deputy editor enjoyed quite the afternoon of activities. Lost Pier tickled their tastebuds, with the most delicious pints Brighton boozers could hope to offer. As the team enjoyed their Juicy Buoy pints, they watched Mayor Lizzie Deane pour one so triumphantly foamy that it not only looked like the vicar was in town, but every vicar in the Chichester diocese was in attendance.

Seated in the sunny amphitheatre, the audience enjoyed speeches from the mayor, BOAT patron Simon Evans and his dog (possibly named Buddy) and chair Steve Turner, before hearing about the fabulous upcoming events. Particularly interesting shows include the return of the Summer Comedy Festival, MC Hammersmith, The School For Scandal, Drag in the Park with Alfie Ordinary, and Brighton Little Theatre's Shakespeare in Love. We must also tell you that Brighton Little Theatre is auditioning for said show this Sunday, and looking for 'a small dog who is quite talented who can do a couple of tricks'.

The team cannot thank BOAT enough for the splendid afternoon, and greatly look forward to the upcoming season!