Imaginations Ignite: A Host Of Events For Children and Families At Brighton Festival 2023

Brighton Festival’s family friendly events will "spark imagination and inspire collaboration," from May 6 to 28.

Immersive soundscape The Sleeping Tree brings the Sumatran rainforest to life in the centre of Brighton; interactive installation Groundswell encourages families to work together to create a moving artwork, and an explosive performance helps audiences imagine what it’s like to be an acrobat in Gravity & Other Myths.

Across Brighton Festival’s opening weekend (6-7 May), the world premiere of sound installation The Sleeping Tree surrounds audiences with the captivating noises of the Sumatran rainforest and the distinct calls of a family of Siamang Gibbons. Award-winning arts studio Invisible Flock worked with rangers and primatologists in Sumatra to capture a 3-month-long soundscape of the jungle. The installation changes hour by hour across the day, as it follows the gibbons as they wake, roam and sleep.

Throughout May, families can feel the earth move beneath their feet in a UK premiere from award-winning Australian artist Matthias Schack-Arnott. Groundswellis a free, large-scale immersive artwork that invites bystanders onto a raised platform, where every person’s movement sets in motion thousands of illuminated balls to create oceanic waves of sound and light, highlighting the power of collaboration. Groundswell is presented in partnership with Brighton Fringe and made possible by The Pebble Trust, whose annual support of Brighton Festival’s major productions and installations offers audiences innovative and unique ways of seeing and experiencing the city. 

Acrobatics meets physics in the UK premiere of Out of Chaos, a mesmerising show from award-winning Australian circus company Gravity & Other Myths, from 9 to 11 May. Suitable for ages 5 and up, the performance celebrates the magic of connection between acrobats and their audience, offering an insight into what it feels like to be jumping, tumbling and falling on stage, in real time.

Little Murmur (13-14 May) is a dance theatre show from British South Asian dancer and choreographer Aakash Odedra, who was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age and found school very challenging. Defined by his learning difficulties, not his abilities, dance became his way of communicating. A stunning visual treat, Little Murmur is suitable for ages 7 and up and uses projections, sounds and a blizzard of paper and confetti to have an open and honest conversation about facing the challenges of dyslexia and overcoming the odds.  

Marking the completion of a major refurbishment project, the iconic Brighton Dome’s Grade I and II listed Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre reopen with immersive exhibition Van Gogh Alive as the inaugural event from 12 May. The exhibition features over 3,000 images of the Dutch artist's work presented in stunning detail. Accompanying sounds, visuals and even aromas from Provence will add life to Van Gogh’s work and families can also explore the iconic ‘Sunflower selfie’ room and a ‘Starry Night’ installation, which is brand-new for Brighton Festival audiences. 

A series of free, family-friendly pop-up performances come to Brighton and Crawley in A Weekend Without Walls (27-28 May). Highlights include Choogh Choogh, a dance that recreates a train journey through India; Ancient Futures, which blends circus and storytelling with Sound System culture and West African folklore for a spectacular dance party; and Mughal Miniatures, a series of living pictures that evoke scenes of Indian princely courts and lush gardens.  

Throughout May, Brighton Festival’s Young Readers programme will welcome well-known writers to read their latest works and host workshops, including former children’s laureate Jacqueline Wilson (21 May), bestselling authors M. G. Leonard (May 7) and Liz Pichon (28 May) and Thomas Taylor (14 May), who will introduce his latest instalment of the Eerie-On-Sea Mysteries series, Festergrimm. Katie and Kevin Tsang will take readers on an action-packed adventure with Journey to the Dragon Realm (13 May) and actor and author Stephen Mangan and illustrator Anita Mangan will introduce children to The Unlikely Rise of Harry Sponge (28 May). For younger children, multi-award-winning authors Rachel Bright and Jim Field host a puppet show, while best-selling illustrator Guy Parker-Rees leads a messy arts and craft session.

To celebrate the start of Brighton Festival, over 5000 school children will take to the streets of Brighton for the annual Children’s Parade (7 May). Community arts charity, Same Sky, has come together with teachers, students and volunteers to make magnificent sculptures, choreograph dance routines and compose parade chants that encapsulate this year’s parade theme: One World, learning and growing from each other.

Brighton Festival was established in 1967 and is the largest annual curated multi-arts festival in England. This year’s Guest Director is critically acclaimed musician, producer, DJ and broadcaster Nabihah Iqbal and she invites everyone to Gather Round in an ambitious celebration of community, collaboration and the joy of shared experiences.

Explore the full programme at brightonfestival.org

Additional Highlights

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (20-21 May)
This magical and visually stunning adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s darkly comic tale uses music, puppetry and live video projection to explore the human response to those who are different. Suitable for ages 8 and up.

Bakkhai (13-14 May) 
Following a sell-out run of Romeo and Juliet at Brighton Festival 2022, ThirdSpace (formerly Windmill Young Actors) return with a reimagining of the ancient Greek tragedy that reframes the classic revolt against authority as tribal youth versus a chorus of predatory corporatists. Suitable for children aged 12 and up.

Club Origami (26-27 May)
Dance and live music meet the magic of origami in this immersive and interactive dance show for ages 0-7.

Galatea (6-21 May)
Set in a world where gods walk among mortals, the world premiere of Galatea tells a 400 year-old tale of love, joy and the importance of welcoming outsiders by Shakespeare’s best-selling contemporary, John Lyly. Commissioned by Brighton Festival, Galatea has been adapted by theatre maker and Sussex local Emma Frankland, in collaboration with Brighton’s Marlborough Productions, historian Andy Kesson and landscape theatre company Wildworks, working alongside the local community in Shoreham-by-Sea. Galatea is suitable for ages 8 and upwards and audiences are invited to bring chairs and blankets and immerse themselves in this large-scale outdoor performance, featuring a vibrant cast of LGBTQIA+ and Deaf performers.

Kidnapped (18-19 May)
Children aged 12 and up will love comical coming-of-age rom-com adventure Kidnapped, which sees 19-year-old Davie navigating murderous foes and an inept crew of pirates, while armed with nothing but a hand-drawn map. Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, Kidnapped is jam-packed with 18th century romance and 20th century pop music.

We Touch, We Play, We Dance (13 May)
Children under 3 are invited to take part in a playful performance. Four dancers weave around the space, guiding children through a series of exchanges and encounters, with high fives, hugs and dancing. Created by Second Hand Dance, who were Shortlisted for the Arts Foundation Award for Children’s Theatre.