Chris Neville-Smith's blog on theatre

It matters less than it used to with late online listings becoming a viable route – but Edinburgh Fringe’s paper programme was officially launched today. As usual, the headline figure everyone looks for is the number of ...

As that’s the end of coverage for Brighton Fringe coverage 2026. Thank you to everyone who’s been following this over the last month. Also please do let me know if you find this new format more or less user-friendly than my old one. I’m hoping that links to individual reviews are a plus, but I’ll go by what you think.

Anyway, time for a closing summary. After some c...

And we’ve reach the end. Today is the last day of Brighton Fringe. There is an awards ceremony this evening, but I tend to give minimal coverage to that, because the majority of nominees are things I haven’t seen, and therefore don’t have that much to say.

But I do have my own picks to do. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: my lists for Pick of the Fringe an H...

The one venue which felt like a bit of a let-down for me was The Lantern. In previous years I’ve seen some plays that were excellent, or memorable, or both, but until the last day there was nothing I’d seen that particularly stood out. Until my final evening came, I chose something as a schedule-filler – and what a way to round off the last night.

Neddy, real name S...

This was one of two lucky dip shows for Brighton Fringe: one chosen simply because it fir a gap in my schedule. At first glance, this is a light-hearted play, with tow men dressed as middle-aged housewives (possibly a homage to the Les Dawson sketches of the day) gassing on about nothing in particular.

As it happens, this is a company I’ve seen before. This is my th...