Brighton Fringe Review: THE BIG BITE-SIZE BREAKFAST SHOW, Ironworks Studio

“And then what?”

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, returning to the Brighton Fringe Festival for the first time since 2006, has quite a fun concept for a Fringe show - audience members are greeted with a croissant, a strawberry and a choice of a hot drink before taking their seats for the performance. Instead of just being one play in an hour, audiences see multiple “bite-size” ten-minute plays, getting the chance to see four or five works in one sitting. For long-running events like the Brighton Fringe Festival, there are several “menu”options to choose from, with each having different plays - there’s also an offer to get discounts if you go for multiple menus!

The first play, Undress Me Clarence by Doug Grissom, is a two-hander, with a woman telling the man with her to - as one might guess from the title - visually and verbally undress her, going into detail on how he would do it. The two actors work well together, with the man, Clarence, getting more and more frustrated as the woman has him be more specific and sometimes completely rewrite how the undressing occurs. 

Continuing with the theme of undressing, Transactions, written by Scott McAteer, has a man visiting a prostitute he has seen many times before, with the same unusual request as always - he has her dress up in a long nightgown and get into bed with him, pretending to be his wife of fifteen years as they roleplay a marriage. The pair get into some pretty interesting conversations on what is real and what is imaginary when it comes to love, creating a nice tension between the two. 

Unlike the first two works, The Rehearsal by Michael Kalenderian begins with just one actor one the stage, pretending to have a conversation with a woman named Courtney. As he continues, the audience learns more about the relationship that he once had with her and what he plans to tell her once she arrives - if she arrives. As one might expect based on the previous shows, Saturday Night Brighton, Sunday Morning Portslade by Alex Brown is also about relationships, though this one is what appears to be the aftermath of a one-night stand, with one character not remembering how she got from Brighton to Portslade and the other encouraging them to make up their own memories.

Interpreter by Jonathan Kaufman is another show about relationships, but this time, instead of a romantic relationship, there is diplomatic tension between the President of the United States of America and an ambassador, with one poor interpreter having to translate both of them as they argue over missiles and airbases. Unfortunately, due to where I was seated, I couldn’t see the actor playing the ambassador at all and missed quite a bit of physical comedy based on the laughs from the audience. It was silly and ended the show on a high note, as audiences left with smiles on their faces.

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show is a fun show that is perfect for the start to your day at the Brighton Fringe Festival. Menu Four is one full of a range of relationships and drama. One can never be disappointed with new work, a hot drink and a croissant!

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show ran at the Brighton Fringe Festival from 3 - 26 May.

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