Wednesday 30 November 2011
Eddie Izzard’s One-Off Brighton Benefit Is Set To Raise Thousands For Burma Campaign UK
Eddie Izzard is set to play a special benefit raising money for Burma Campaign UK, who worked closely with Brighton Dome and Festival for the 2011 Brighton Festival in which Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was Guest Director.
There are between 1,000 and 2,000 political prisoners in Burma who have been imprisoned just for peacefully calling for democracy and freedom in the country.
Once in prison, democracy activists face horrific torture, including electric shocks, rape, iron rods rubbed on their shins until the flesh rubs off, severe beatings and solitary confinement.
Many prisoners are kept in their cells 24 hours a day, given inadequate food and are in poor health.
However, the regime appears to be systematically denying medical treatment to political prisoners.
Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said: "The release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma."
Izzard says about his politics: "I'm not a socialist, I'm a social democrat, I like individualism, enterprise. All the creative guys, it's individual ideas, how do we do this, how do we make that.
"I want to empower people to build things, do things, go take over the world, and go take over Madison Square Garden."
Despite some reforms in Burma, in the past year human rights abuses have actually increased.
Almost 150,000 ethnic people were forced to flee their homes in the past year, double the average number.
Burmese Army attacks against ethnic civilians have increased, and there has been a big increase in the use of gang-rape by the Burmese Army.
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome and Festival said
"Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated to us during Brighton Festival 2011 how important our events were in keeping alive the struggle for democracy, human rights and freedom in Burma and we were proud to play a part in that and celebrate such an inspiring woman through some extraordinary events in May.
"We are delighted therefore to continue this important relationship and support the work of Burma Campaign UK with this special event."
Eddie Izzard Live at Brighton Dome For One Night Only on Monday 12 December - A Benefit with proceeds in aid of Burma Campaign UK. For more info visit www.brightondome.org
by: Mike Cobley
|
|
It really should be ridiculous, but it isn't. Somehow concocting a seemingly obnoxious stew that includes such tasty ingredients as incest, violence, mutilation, and nudity - at Theatre Royal Brighton, no less - all comes together in the mix to serve up one of the tastiest treats of Brighton Festival.
With tongues firmly in cheeks, Spymonkey brought Oedipussy onto the hallowed Brighton stage and unravelled the tale o...
more >>
|
 The Temper Trap pic by Andy Sturmey
With the Festival and Festival Fringe already packing the streets, bars and venues of Brighton, it got pretty wild on the streets of the city when the annual Great Escape Festival was added to the throng over the weekend.
It was difficult to get a foot in many-a venue, let alone an eye on the performers, as vast queues snaked the...
more >>
|
Mariella Frostrup is both the intellectual kingpin and host of The Book Show, on Sky Arts. Featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests, it was great to see the channel's flagship programme leave its studio setting and head to the Brighton Festival for two special recordings.
|
One of the hidden themes of Brighton Festival 2012 so far seems to be of a kind of theatre that is not theatre, at least not as you might expect it to be.
I have seen work enacted well out of any theatrical context in warehouses, theatre in a theatre but with a gla...
more >>
|
I fell under the spell of poet Lemn Sissay at the Pavilion Theatre, on Tuesday night. I fell for his enthusiasm, warmth and unwavering passion for the topic in hand. Hell, when I pass on I reckon Sissay will even make me sound interesting!
With every seat taken, the house lights dipped and a screen came to life with the image of the recently depart...
more >>
|
I have always had a curious fascination about what goes on other people's houses, have you? Are they like me, my family, or not? What do they think? How do they cope with things? How do they live?
Many times on a dark night I have walked home past the station and up over the Seven Dials and looked up or do...
more >>
|
Ashley Varney from Leonards-on Sea accomplished an incredible 30-race running feat when he recently crossed the London Marathon finishing line.
The 42 year old Sussex swimming pool engineer took on 30 races, which he named &...
more >>
|
Shakespeare's plays are best watched standing up. I watched his work like this as a youth paying a fiver for standing matinee places at the rear of the stalls at the old RSC in Stratford Upon Avon, in Warwickshire.
Once, all the standing-ups cheered loudly, like football fans, as Edmund the Bastard was finally killed off i...
more >>
|
"What do you wear to a literary event?" my friend Rachel asked me in the school playground a couple of weeks ago after I had invited her to the Faber Social, at the Corn Exchange, on the opening night of Brighton Festival 2012.
“I don’t know, whatever you like I suppose”, I answered<...
more >>
|
The Bee Detective must have looked, to the assembled band of worthies from the cultural Olympiad, to be just up their street. As they clutched their list of 'things we need from our attempt to show that sports people are intelligent too and that the Olympics is actually not a boring load of expensive shit, a fitness contest sponsored by McDonald's and Coca-Cola, a drug-fuelled cheats paradise with mind numbing events like rifle shooting and wrestling actually CHARGING money to get in' they must have thought like this.
It is about the death of bees, a modern issue with environment relevance… tick!
It is c...
more >>
|
|
|