Sussex’s baby expertise and medical humour coming soon to Brighton festivals
Sussex staff and students will soon be debating inequality, performing medical comedy and showing off their knowledge of how babies think at Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe.
At The University is sponsoring ‘The Apple Family Plays’, playwright Richard Nelson’s four play cycle telling the story of the fictional, liberal Apple family of upstate New York. The plays will run from 2-3 May, with a back-to-back showing of all four taking place on 4 May.
The Sussex Baby Lab has helped theatre company Flying Eye to create a magical show for babies and toddlers, running from 6-7 May. ‘GLOW’ will feature glowing globes, a dancer in the sky, live music and a host of experiences for the infants’ senses; Professor Anna Franklin from the Baby Lab advised Flying Eye on infant vision, colour perception, and what babies find most stimulating.
Participants can choose to be a ‘walker’ or a ‘runner’ in ‘The Company of Wolves’, an interactive theatre adventure based on Angela Carter’s stories. This event will be taking place within Stanmer Park next to Sussex campus on the evenings of 7-9 May.
Sussex historian Professor Rod Kedward will be discussing the French Resistance along with writer Caroline Moorhead at ‘Resistance’ on Sunday 10 May. Professor Kedward recorded a series of interviews with ordinary men and women from the Resistance while in southern France in the late 1960s.
Sussex economics professor Mariana Mazzucato will be speaking at ‘The Equality Conundrum’, a panel debate on inequality on 22 May, with other panellists including Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee and Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) will hold ‘The Brighton and Sussex Medical School Debate’, an exploration of the medical, ethical, and human aspects of facing cancer. This will take place on 24 May and will involve the Dean of BSMS, Professor Malcolm Reed, along with BSMS professors Bobbie Farsides and Lesley Fallowfield.
People with Parkinson’s Disease, researchers, graphic artists and comic creators have collaborated on ‘Telling the Story of Parkinson’s Disease: Can Comics Help?’, an event to be held at the Sussex campus on 7 May that will use visuals and discussion to explore whether there is a place for comics in telling patient stories.
‘The Marie Curie Project’ is a musical comedy, peer-reviewed by scientists at Sussex, about the life of the famous scientist Marie Curie. Running from 8-10 May, the show will include glowing powders with extraordinary powers, lives saved and destroyed, incredible scientific breakthroughs, and very silly songs.
A French theatre company’s play about the complex history of the French Resistance will be performed on the Sussex campus on 9 and 10 May. Set in Occupied France, ‘Partisans’ by Le Compagnie des Barriques depicts the crucial moment when various political groups came together to form a unified Resistance movement.
Students from BSMS will be taking part in their annual ‘BSMS Medic Revue’ from 14-16 May; come along for a night of sketches, live music and videos showcasing the funny side of medicine.