Shows at Rialto Theatre

Sex, Lies & Improvisation

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Laughing Horse @ Caroline of Brunswick / Rialto Theatre
20th May 2022 - 28th May 2023

A dark comedy about lying together.

Lost in the Willows

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UK Regional & Tours
Rialto Theatre
4th - 6th Oct 2022

Kenneth Grahame claimed the only period in his life he enjoyed was his carefree childhood.

Big Band Burlesque

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Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
27th - 29th May 2022

LET’S KEEP DANCING! Big Band Burlesque bring a show led by beautiful Belle de Beauvoir and belligerent Beatrix Valhalla.

S.O.E.

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
25th - 27th May 2022

The Special Operations Executive – also known as “Churchill’s Secret Army” or “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” – is tasked with espionage, sabotage and reconna…

The Best of Miss Hope Springs (...it's a very short show)

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Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
24th - 26th May 2022

Brighton Fringe 2021 Award Winner Miss Hope Springs recently celebrated a decade of decadence as resident songstress at London’s premier cabaret room Le Crazy Coqs in Piccadilly.

Underdogs

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
24th - 28th May 2022

When they’re in a hole, some people start digging.

In PurSUEt

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
21st - 29th May 2022

Fresh from VAULT Festival comes the Edinburgh Fringe sell-out sensation: ‘In PurSUEt’.

Musclebound

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
20th - 22nd May 2022

Rosy’s theatre debut ‘Passionate Machine’ won Best New Play at the 2018 Fringe - and now she’s back for more.

Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
19th - 22nd May 2022

The greatest comedy double act of all time: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, now in the autumn of their careers embark on a grueling tour of British theatres and variety halls.

Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy

Searchlight Theatre Company returns to the Brighton Fringe with their delightful show Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy at the Rialto Theatre.

ROOM based on A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Heather Alexander lit up the stage as she portrayed one of the most fearless female writers in history - Virginia Woolf.

ROOM

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
17th - 22nd May 2022

It is 1929.

Horsepower

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
17th - 19th May 2022

Harriet Gandy’s: HORSEPOWER’ is back and touring from Brighton Fringe to Edinburgh Fringe 2022.

A Very Great Mischief

Today, when we think about sexuality, we tend to see broad (but not total) acceptance and can at times take it for granted.

Joanna Neary's Wife On Earth

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
14th - 15th May 2022

Brighton favourite, award-winning comedy actress and stand-up Jo Neary returns by popular demand, with her best-loved characters in a sarcastic show about marriage, music, and moan…

A Very Great Mischief

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
14th - 18th May 2022

“You are going to tell the whole world that there is such an offence.

Biscuit Barrel: No Time to Digestive

Biscuit Barrel: No Time to Digestive is a whistlestop sketch show that ate and left no crumbs.

Caitlin

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
13th - 15th May 2022

Before Dylan Thomas drank himself to death at the tender age of 39, he and his wife Caitlin boozed, binged and brawled their way through the bars of Britain in the 1930s and ’40s…

Caitlin

So you think you know Dylan Thomas? Maybe for his work and his volatile mindset through drinking, but have you ever wondered what his wife Caitlin really thought of him? We find ou…

Biscuit Barrel: No Time to Digestive

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
13th - 14th May 2022

69 sketches in the space of an hour! Hyperactive comedy group Biscuit Barrel return to Brighton Fringe! A quickfire sketch show with a mechanical murderer on-the-loose - no charact…

Accidental Birth of an Anarchist

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
10th - 15th May 2022

An Anarchist- activist or terrorist? Two Novice activists get jobs on a North Sea oil rig with the sole intention of staging a sit-in protest.

The God Of Carnage

Meet Veronique (Sophie Dearlove) and her husband Michel (Neil James), and Alain (Tom Dussek) and his wife Annette (Jenny Delisle).

The God Of Carnage

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
8th - 14th May 2022

Dark comedy performed by multiple award-winning Pretty Villain Productions.

Done to Death by Jove!

Done to Death By Jove was a comedic celebration of the murder mystery novel.

Done to Death by Jove!

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
7th - 29th May 2022

‘The 39 Steps’ meets Agatha Christie via Holmes and Watson! A cast of six bring a comic flurry of suspects and sleuths together to discover whodunnit, and how.

Lost in the Willows

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
7th - 29th May 2022

Loss and loneliness stalked Kenneth Grahame, the author of The Wind in The Willows.

HYENAS!

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
6th - 7th May 2022

The HYENAS are taking you ‘OUT OUT’ on the Hen do of your life! So Buckle up and suck into that slag dress! Expect audience participation and crap karaoke, and pray we make it out …

Am I Invisible Yet?

Listing
Brighton Fringe
Rialto Theatre
6th - 8th May 2022

Former Chumbawamba vocalist Dunstan Bruce performs his new one-hour play; a rollercoaster of despair, anger, love and ultimately hope.

Warhol: Bullet Karma

Garry Roost’s one-hander, Warhol: Bullet Karma, at the Rialto Theatre, as part of the Brighton Fringe, explores aspects of the artist’s life through encounters with various peo…

Liz and Jessie's Undiscovered Country

A family comedy show with a twist, Liz and Jessie's Undiscovered Country follows Liz and Jessie as they set out to explore places in the UK that may have had a connection to th…

Fern Hill and Other Dylan Thomas

Having studied Dylan Thomas at university, fallen in love with Richard Burton's classic interpretation of Under Milk Wood and having a strong Welsh family connection, I was exc…

Mayhem at the Cabaret Voltaire

The apologetic opening to Mayhem at the Cabaret Voltaire, explaining the failure of the actors to turn up, might seem out of place in any standard piece of theatre, but then it wou…

Cinebra: Glenda & Rita

Glenda and Rita are two black and white stars from the 30s and 40s, who are trying to fit into a modern world of technicolour, personal labels, and what it really means to be a sta…

I am Echoborg Online

Is artificial intelligence here to save us or to destroy us? Is the future more like Cameron’s Terminator or Spielberg’s A.

Watson: The Final Problem

Following on from his success at the Brighton Fringe with Waiting for Hamlet, a two-hander with Nicholas Collett, Tim Marriott returns to the Rialto Theatre with a solo show that i…

Diary of an Expat

Diary of an Expat makes a striking impression even before Cecilia Gragnani enters the stage for her solo play at the Rialto Theatre, directed by Katharina Reinthaller.

Make-up

One day perhaps someone will write a play about a drag queen where, beneath the frock and below the wig, above the high heels and under the layers of slap exists a man who is happy…

The Sensemaker

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is anything but that when played ad nauseam on a loop while you are kept on hold by a robotic voice saying, “All our operators are currently busy.

After All These Years

After All These Years is a trilogy of plays courtesy of Close Quarter Productions and Theatre Reviva! in association with Holofcener Ltd.

Chamberlain: Peace in our Time

History is brought to life, and the man behind one of the most famous speeches in British history is revealed in this delightful two-hander, Chamberlain: Peace in our Time, from Se…

Drama King

Unless you have studied the history of theatre it's easy to imagine that performances on stage have always been very much as they are today.

Waiting for Hamlet

Waiting for Hamlet has itself been waiting for some time.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

There seems to be a resurgence of interest in the adaptability of works by Robert Louis Stevenson for the stage, with productions popping up in many quarters.

Why I Am an Avocado

The title of the show and the name of the company drew me to this production.

The Vertical Hour by David Hare

The burst of applause did not mark the end of the performance.

Lionel and Cindy: The Greatest Love Story

Char Brockes and Jack O'Neill (Ava Cardo) brought the Rialto Theatre to life with their unique styles of drag and slapstick comedy, in order to explore the theme of Romantic Co…

The Tragedy of Dorian Gray

Blue Devil Productions closed the Rialto Theatre’s Brighton Fringe season last week with a two-act production,The Tragedy of Dorian Gray; their first full-length play.

Between Two Waves

Between Two Waves by Australian playwright Ian Meadows interweaves an urgent call to recognise the world’s impending climate crisis and the troubled smaller world of a young clim…

A Life Twice Given

Review
★★★
Monica Yell
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
1st Nov, 2019

A simple production, A Life Twice Given stretches itself to do justice to a very complicated idea, with only limited resources and space.

Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope

The minute he walks calmly onto the stage and surveys the audience you know you’re in for something very special.

Numbers

It is extremely unusual to see something completely new and fresh in theatre, let alone something surprising, but Numbers is just that.

BREXIT

If someone were to ask me what BREXIT (the show) was all about, I’d find it difficult to sum it up in a few words.

Icons

A single actor, Jack Klaff, tell a series of interconnected stories about the most influential minds of the 20th century in Icons.

Earnest & Wilde: Let's Face the Music (and Franz)

Another triumphant show from Ciadhra McGuire and Erik Igelström or, as they’re better known on stage, Earnest and Wilde.

Ross & Rachel

Billed as a ‘dark, uncompromising play about the myths of modern love’, this starts promisingly enough but soon veers off.

Betrayal by Harold Pinter

This seems like perfect timing for another outing of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, on the week Joan Bakewell picked up her BAFTA fellowship award.

FREAK

Anna Jordan’s two-hander FREAK is an unflinching look at female sexuality in a 21st century context.

Those Magnificent Men

An intriguing tale made more interesting by the telling, Those Magnificent Men is both delightful and funny from beginning to end.

The Geminus

An adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer, The Geminus tells the story of a young sea captain who, after discovering a fugitive clinging to the side ship, embarks on a j…

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Ivan has done everything he was meant to do.

Impromptu Shakespeare

Consisting of a small team of incredibly brave actors, Impromtu Shakespeare sees them improvising an entire 'Shakespeare' play based on audience suggestions.

Four Thieves Vinegar

The plague.

I am a Camera

I Am A Camera was an ambitious undertaking, and unfortunately this time it didn’t pay off.

Closer

Award-winning company Pretty Villian return to Brighton Fringe with Closer, an unembellished look at the lives of four characters as they become increasingly intertwined with one a…

It's A Wonderful Life

Review
★★★
Lois Zoppi
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
18th Dec, 2018

Unmasked Theatre are filling the week before Christmas with a stage adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1946 festive favourite.

Diary Of A Somebody

Review
★★★
Alex McCord
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
3rd Dec, 2018

LifeLikeTheatre brings the Orton Diaries to the stage at Rialto Theatre, Brighton and attempts to explore the final months of Orton’s life at the height of the swinging sixties.

Monsters - A Modern Frankenstein Story

Review
★★★
Julia French
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
16th Nov, 2018

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is 200 years old and yet the universality of the novel’s core message keeps her creation in the very centre of popular culture.

Owls

Review
★★★★
Alex McCord
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
15th Jul, 2018

On the roof of multi-storey car park, two strangers collide.

Face to Face

You are invited to witness a series of intimate moments of vulnerability and loathing between two broken individuals seeking closure from a murder nine years ago.

Cooked

With the teaser image of a banana on a plate and a blurb that includes previous accolades listed on its promotional material, Cooked promises to be a darkly comic rom-com where a n…

Falkland: The War the World Forgot

Falkland opens with a projected collage of imagery from the time of the Falkands war – punk rock, Brezhnev, Pacman, the Brixton riots, the wedding of Charles and Diana.

Lovecraft's Monsters

In the suitably gothic grandeur of the Rialto theatre, David Crawford bounds onto the stage to tell us the tale of H.

Stand and Deliver

It's 1736, George II is on the throne, witchcraft laws are being appealed and the British Empire was starting to take shape.

Clueless Theatre Presents: Two by Jim Cartwright

Review
★★★★
Eleanor Hart
Brighton Fringe
Multiple Venues
28th May, 2018

What's your tipple? Pint of lager and a packet of cheese and onion crisps? How about an evening being transported to the White Oak pub where you will meet an eclectic mix of ch…

Marx in Soho by Howard Zinn

Walking into the Rialto Theatre felt like being transported back to a more gothic age.

Cinebra: A History Of Horror

Dark and dramatic, tension-packed, teen-angst parody.

Caitlin

Caitlin is a theatrical portrait of Dylan Thomas’ wild wife, Caitlin Macnamara, and features Caitlin herself telling the story of their volatile and passionate relationship.

After

Set in an apocalyptical world, After feels like a theatrical experiment on many levels.

Antony and Cleopatra

I had expected more passion and more punch from Unmasked Theatre's rendition of the classic Shakespearean play Antony and Cleopatra.

Anna

The past is littered with magnificent women who deserve to be remembered and Anna Brassey is one of them: curator, collector, philanthropist, photographer, founder member of St Joh…

Hymns for Robots

Hymns for Robots is a play about the life of Delia Derbyshire, played by Jessie Coller, the uncredited mind behind the Doctor Who theme tune and the mother of electronic music.

Martin Lingus

Martin’s overbearing mother dies leaving him homeless, helpless and unfortunately hopeless.

The Polished Scar

Are leaders born or are they raised? The latter would seem to be the case in Duncan Henderson’s excellent one man play The Polished Scar.

Rope

Nietzsche’s notion of the Übermensch receives one scant mention towards the end of Patrick Hamilton's Rope, yet it is the driving force that underpins the play.

What's Wrong with Monotony?

What's Wrong With Monotony? sees a dishevelled, defeated writer struggling to put pen to paper, an activity I can confirm takes up more than half of every writer's career.

Half Baked

Review
★★
Nicholas Abrams
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
18th Oct, 2017

It’s rare when the title of a show manages to effectively review itself.

Bones

As the audience files into the dark Rialto theatre space, a lonely figure paces across the stage, dressed in baggy tracksuit bottoms, a grubby white T-shirt and baseball hat, ang…

Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton

Summer in the south is aggressively hot and stiflingly humid.

Tennessee Williams Double: Ivan's Widow & Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen

Written by Williams in the period before his death, Fox and Hound take on two of his most difficult one act plays.

Slooshy Wordshow

A chair, a poetry book, a man, and a bottle of water to wet his whistle – other than these there is no set and the stage is bare.

Blue/Orange

With the election and the possible demise of the National Health Service just around the corner, Pretty Villain Productions could not have picked a better time to showcase Joe Penh…

Bug Camp

We are told in the blurb that being a grown up sucks.

The Elephant Girls

Forget lovable rogues and artful dodgers, this uncomfortable monologue tells the true story of a London awash with criminal gangs in the interwar years.

New York Stories

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see when I arrived at the Rialto Theatre.

Doing What It Says On The Tin

An emotional yet comedic performance from Tom Dussek on Sunday evening at the charming Rialto Theatre.

Poe's Last Night

A name as loaded with dark, romantic foreboding as Poe’s Last Night incurs comparison with the titles of Poe’s own works; it suggests mystery, a locked room of buried secrets.

Cinebra: A History Of Horror

Meet Megan and Sophie.

Open Sky present Scorched

“There’s some pain you can’t grit your teeth through”, is something said by the sole performer in Scorched as he reflects on his time during WWII.

The Empress and Me

Imperial China, with its exotic riches and intrigues, remains as compelling to audiences today as it did in the early part of the 20th century, when the Princess Der Ling toured he…

Bad Dad

From the slapstick physical beginning of this self-penned one-man monologue, through to the show’s philosophical conclusion, the laughs come thick and fast in Bad Dad.

Stones

A lengthy incarceration, a war outside of the prison walls, and two forgotten prisoners losing their grip on time and reality, Stones is essentially a slow unravelling of two cha…

Living Between Lies

Everybody lies.

My Dear Miss Terry

Review
★★★
Oliver Lugg
Brighton
Rialto Theatre
7th Apr, 2016

The word ‘Dear’ within the title of this production from Jean Rogers is exactly the right word for the intimate relationship that is evoked from the love letters sent between Ir…

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