BRIGHTON JOURNAL NEWS TEAM
Brighton 22nd May-The 60th Brighton Festival reaches its final weekend, and the city is sending it off in style. The headline draw is Akram Khan Company’s farewell touring production, Thikra: Night of Remembering, at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May, with tickets from £17.50. It is one of the last chances to see the legendary choreographer’s company on tour, and it will sell fast.
Over at the Corn Exchange, international company Fix+Foxy turn the room into an absurdist wild west with Dark Noon (running 21–24 May) — a sharp, strange piece of theatre that has drawn glowing notices. And Saturday is your final chance to catch Last Haus on Earth by performance artists Klanghaus in Anita’s Room at the Dome, a kaleidoscopic blend of live music and visual art that dissolves the line between gig and gallery.
If you would rather keep your money in your pocket, this is the weekend for it. The Festival’s Weekends Without Walls returns on 23–24 May with free outdoor performances dotted across the city — expect dance, hip hop, high-wire circus and physical comedy in public spaces, no ticket required. Down on the seafront, Ivan Morison and Heather Peak’s monumental sculpture installation Soft Machines sits on Hove Promenade until 24 May, free to wander past and well worth the walk.
The weekend also hands the stage to the next generation. From 24–25 May, Create Music and Lighthouse present a Youth Curated Weekend in the Dome Studio Theatre — two days of exhibitions, live music and panel discussions shaped entirely by young people from across the city.
Theatre
It is a strong weekend for the stage. At the Corn Exchange, international company Fix+Foxy turn the room into an absurdist wild west with Dark Noon (running until Sunday 24 May) — a sharp, strange piece that has drawn glowing notices. Over at the Theatre Royal, this is your last chance to catch Emma Rice’s acclaimed staging of Malory Towers, which closes on Saturday 23 May after a celebrated run. And Saturday is also the final outing for Last Haus on Earth by performance artists Klanghaus in Anita’s Room at the Dome, a kaleidoscopic blend of live music and visual art that dissolves the line between gig and gallery. The Theatre Royal also begins its popular Backstage Tours on Saturday, a peek behind the curtain of one of the country’s oldest working theatres.
Comedy
For laughs, Komedia in the North Laine is the place to be, with stand-up running across Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights — multiple shows daily, so check the listings and grab a late slot if the early ones sell out. The Brighton Dome Studio Theatre also hosts a Festival comedy bill on Friday 22 May, tickets £17, rounding off the week’s programme with something lighter.
Brighton Local
This is more than the end of another festival season. It marks the 60th edition of England’s largest curated multi-arts festival, a fixture that has shaped Brighton’s identity as the cultural capital of the south coast for six decades. The closing weekend leans hard into what makes the city distinctive — free, public, on the seafront and open to everyone, not locked behind box-office prices. For residents, it is a reminder that some of the best of Brighton costs nothing but the time to turn up.
Beyond the Festival, the pubs and bars of the North Laine and Kemptown will be busy all weekend, and with the seafront installations drawing crowds, expect a lively atmosphere from the Lanes down to Hove Lawns. Pack a layer for the sea breeze and make a day of it.
Related Reading
- Your guide to Brighton’s best seafront pubs
- Free things to do in Brighton this month
- Brighton Festival 2026: the full programme
