Play the Town Launch Party
🌟 Embark on an Adventure: Join Us for the Launch of Play the Town! 🌟
Get ready to unlock the magic of art and exploration on April 30th with the exciting launch of Play the Town, an interactive treasure trail that will transform our town into a vibrant canvas of creativity!
FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT PARTY
🌟 Unlock Your Curiosity at the Opening Party of A Curious Town Plays Festival! 🌟
Join us as the gates swing wide open, officially launching A Curious Town Plays Festival! Step into St Andrew’s Mews and immerse yourself in a world of wonders waiting at every turn.
Prepare for an unforgettable experience with a dazzling array of performances. Enjoy captivating burlesque and fire acts, evocative poetry, lively walkabout games, energizing DJs, live bands, and more—there’s something to enchant everyone!
Take a leisurely stroll through the Curiosity Cabinet, showcasing works from local artists, and unleash your playful spirit in the Curious Arcade. Be sure to visit The Dollhouse, where you can dance your heart out at the Kitchen Disco, explore your alter ego or engage in delightful parlour games in the Dressing Room and more —there’s a surprise around every corner!
Indulge in delicious food and drink, including signature Curious Cocktails, from our amazing partners in the Mews.
For updates on the incredible lineup, keep an eye on our website and social media channels. Don’t miss this enchanting festival opening party—come and explore the magic!
*Adults only after 8.30pm*
The Game Bus
All Aboard The Game Bus!
Step aboard a one-of-a-kind gaming destination for a day and night of board game antics, team challenges, and non-stop fun! On May 10th, a refurbished double-decker bus in Bexhill transforms into the ultimate pop-up games café, with tables set for laughter, friendly competition, and a bit of organised gaming chaos. With two sittings—daytime for families and evening for adults-only—you can choose the perfect time to roll the dice, test your wits, and dive into a world of play. The on-board café will be serving up tasty bites and drinks, with a cheeky tipple available for our grown-up guests in the evening.
Leading the fun is Peter Jenkinson, aka The Toyologist, a true expert in all things play. With years of experience testing, reviewing, and championing the best games around, Peter has written for national publications, co-founded the Board Game Club, and built a career out of finding the most engaging and innovative ways to play. If anyone knows how to turn a game night into an unforgettable experience, it’s him!
🎟 Grab your tickets now and let the games begin!
Wild Poets
‘If you go down to the woods today…’
A multi-sensory poetic journey for all ages. This 30min exploration using spoken word and sensory input to deepen our connection with nature.
Created with volunteers, the event follows directly on from the ‘Wild Gods’ workshop with Rosy Pendlebury, so why not do both? If you are interested in performing and would like to be involved as a volunteer facilitator please attend the workshop on 23rd April, otherwise just come and enjoy in the magical (and art filled) Speckled Wood.
Curious Cabaret
Naughty nuns, top calibre performers and a flaming saxophone have made the annual Curious Cabaret the talk of this Curious Town. Returning to the stunning St Leonard’s Church, hosts The Duchess & Son (award winning Desmond O’Connor and Twice Shy Theatre) will transport you on a delectably devilish journey via a host of the most talented and curious characters.
Featuring a selection of the very best local and guest performers, prepare to be astounded by a heady concoction of aerial prowess, titillating burlesque, hula hooping & fire wizardry, alongside belly laughs, more than a sprinkle of magic, dancing and a whole lot more…
Feeling truly sinful? Well, you certainly will be after encountering a member of our curious convent, resplendent in their pink or purple robes. However, no need to condemn yourself to a lifetime down below just yet. Seek out Sister Mary Joanna who will be waiting to hear your many sins in her very special Confession booth.
Come Play with Us in this very Curious Cabaret…
Church of Duster's Alternative Sunday Service
Get ready to worship at the Church of Duster!!
After the GLORIOUS success of last year’s Alternative Sunday Service we had no choice but to give the people what they wanted and are resurrecting, and disinfecting, the Parish…
Speaking of resurrections, this year we’re going to be putting the FUN in FUNeral! That’s right, it’s not a woke it’s a wake!
Heather Duster’s Sunday Service is an alternative Drag show like you’ve never seen before! It’s the church service that would have even gotten a 21 year old you up, despite crawling into bed at 6am and waking up fully clothed, clutching a Henry Hoover (that isn’t yours!) with last night's kebab smeared across your cheek.
This will be a community event of biblical proportions. It’s guna be a dead good show! Join your charismatic church leader, and Queen of Clean, Heather Duster for this Fabulous and Flirty Funeral at the greatly anticipated second Church of Duster. The power of Drag compels you!!
Don’t coffin, cough up for a ticket and you won’t be disappointed! It really is the funeral of the season darling, come for the sandwiches but stay for the lolz.
Spend your Sunday worshiping drag idols, indulge in drinking the holy spirits and belt out hymns from the likes of Madonna, ABBA and Dolly. Pay your respects to our special guest performers Sweet FA, Gem The Clown, Tayris, Loose Willis, Just Saul and more! At a funeral you can expect the unexpected.
In the name of the scrub daddy™, the mop and the holy duster - put on your sexiest mourning dress fit for a big night out. Black is the new black baby!
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
Pope Francis
“Shut up and take my money!”
Mother Teresa
“I’d betray anyone for a ticket!”
Judas
Confession Booth, Walkabout Performers + More…
EARLY BIRD TICKETS: £18 OR £14 LOW INCOME
TICKETS £22 OR £16 LOW INCOME
£35 VIP
Heather Duster
is the self titled Queen of Clean! Sweeping the nation with her polished performances she'll wipe the floor and leave you wanting more! Her sparkling singing voice landed her in the final of The Gold Rush season 3 and she's since been sweeping stages across London and the UK
. She has performed at venues such as The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, The Tate Modern, Google head office, Mighty Hoopla Festival and many more! She has hosted Hastings Pride, Queer on the Pier and a year-long residency at The Nest.
"
Heather Duster was so f*cking phenom., highlight of my life"
"Heather Duster was an absolute joy to watch. Her lip syncing is perfection and the acts - genius!!"
Loose Willis
is an award-winning international drag king who serves rock ’n’ roll scuzz, high-camp glamour and comedy excellence. With 10 years of experience as a host, stand up, boylesque performance and all around dirty rotten scoundrel, he is a Creative Associate of the Offie award-winning drag king troupe Pecs and a co-runner and host of Fist Club - a queer professional wrestling cabaret. You might have seen him hanging loose at Soho Theatre, the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, Shakespeare's Globe, Torture Garden or Slaystation.
Gem the Clown
is Brighton's beloved small brown clown and winner of the Winter Big Drag Pageant 2024 and Brighton’s Next Drag Monarch 2024. Blending burlesque, drag, and clowning, Gem transports you into her dreamy cartoon world with a glittering grin, artful costumes, kitschy characters, and plenty of rhinestones.
Sweet FA
Huddersfield boy done God, is the answer to the question, what would happen if Alan Bennett did Sister Act?
He's a love letter to queer Catholics, he's just a Holy fool, and he'll be your Father Figure, baby (with your consent, OFC.) Described by Len Blanco as "so wholesome, it's punk" he uses comedy and music to skewer the church, state and kyriarchy, and to preach queer love and solidarity.
He's the producer and host of Drag Down the Borders, Pride’s Got Talent finalist, and won Not Another Drag Competition season 3.0. Sweet FA has performed at venues all over London including London Pride, the West End, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the Glory and the Bishopsgate Institute.
Tayris
The Big Beast of Brighton is black in stock! Queen of Afropunk Camp, Winner of the 2021 Big Drag Pageant, and the self-proclaimed P.O.C. - Powerhouse of Colour, Tayris is coming to perspire and inspire!
Vocalist, Lip Sync Assassin, Tap Dancer, Burlesque Artist, Emcee AND versatile top, on every stage Tayris hits she serves, gives curves, and spreads the lurrrveeee!
Just Saul
is a Sussex-based magician and master of ceremonies with over a decade of professional experience and 30 years of honing his craft. For over a decade, he’s been bringing gasps, laughter, and WTF moments to events across the country.
After all, what is a funeral without a magician?
Steel Pans
Returning to A Curious Town once again due to popular demand, the extremely talented musician and teacher Jim Bernardin (worldmusicworkshops.co.uk) will guide you through this fun workshop on the steelpan drums and other percussion instruments. You will not only have fun trying these unusual and beautiful instruments and learn the basics, but you will also be able to play a tune by the end.
Jim learnt to sight-read as a kit drummer, and quickly established himself drumming for shows and backing artists in residencies on land and on cruise-ships. He later studied the marimba, piano, steel pan and more recently the bass guitar, gaining a first class music degree in 1998 and a Masters 2020.
Teaching has been a passion for twenty five years now, as has creating and directing successful community projects like Worthing Steel Band from 2012-2021.
In addition to his bespoke multicultural-influenced percussion workshops, Jim remains an active musician on steel pan and drum kit in the genres of Latin Jazz, Caribbean, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music.
Village Fete
Bless our bunting! It’s the Curious Coastal Village Fete. Join our hip Rev Colin Durr and our gorgeous grannies for an afternoon of hilarity. With lots of stations to explore and try your hand at, this will be a day of silly fun and prizes to be won, for all the family.
With all the charm and wholesome informality of a traditional English Village Fete, A Curious Town brings you a day with all the norms, plus a few curious twists. Come along between midday and 5pm to gorge yourself on cream teas, Pimms and high quality local produce from our market stalls. Take part in vegetable carving, get in a spin with our hula hoop workshop and let your creative side out with flower arranging and cake decorating. Have your face painted, enter the raffle to win fabulous prizes, or get your furry best friend to enter into the dog show - because pets deserve prizes too!
And don’t forget to explore the space while you’re at it! St Leonards church will be filled with fantastic artwork in the exhibition, installation pieces upstairs, and curious musicians and walkabout performers roaming around to entertain you!
Bowl-Side Cinema: Youth Docs After Dark
What happens when you hand the camera to the next generation? Step into the skate bowl at Source Park, sink into a beanbag, and find out.
This one-of-a-kind screening spotlights a series of bold, thought-provoking documentary shorts crafted by the young creatives of The Benbow Youth Film Collective, part of The Bright Foundation. Their lens, their stories—raw, real, and refreshingly unfiltered.
Projected onto the big screen in the atmospheric underbelly of Source Park, this is cinema with a side of skate culture. And yes, The Courtyard’s finest food vendors will be serving all evening, so you won’t go hungry.
Hagstone Stunners presents the May All Day Smackdown
Perfect for wrestling fans & curious folk of all ages - get ready to rumble in a lucid dream! Hagstone Stunners is a show that brings Hastings folklore to life through a mix of drag, high flying wrestling and comedy theatre. This is not wrestling as you’ve seen it before!
The Playbus
Welcoming all Grown Ups aboard the Playbus - the Final Stop of A Curious Town Plays festival!
Join the double decked red wonder on this most curious journey, stopping for marvellous music, playful performances and superb surprises.