Wisdom of a Brighton Whore (Parts 1 & 2)

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Betsy: Wisdom of a Brighton Whore - "I'll show you what I've been hiding, for thousands of years"

Playing at …..at Fitzroy House, Lewes, 27 July 2024 Performed by Imogen Strachan.  Written & Directed by Jonathan Brown

Two Award-winning Off-Broadway Shows come to Lewes

This July brings another chance to see this iconic and award-winning play about Brighton's Victorian hidden underworld. Once The Prince Regent began frequenting Brighton, the market for prostitution took… a sudden upturn!

"Betsy: Wisdom of a Brighton Whore (Part 2)" combines a gripping plot from award-winning writer and director Jonathan Brown, passionate acting from Imogen Strachan, and the atmospheric Victorian venue of Fitzroy House, Lewes, creating an incredibly intense drama.

A Tale of Sex, Seduction and Survival.  This sordid tale takes you on a journey into the murky, sordid and dangerous depths of Brighton's Underworld, an evocation of memories and past lives.  Betsy, a sauce box, a church bell and a woman on the edge, with mouths to feed, nobs to fleece, and blobby boys to repel. Writer Jonathan Brown says, "It's 1820 (ish) and Betsy is a Brightonian, "at work". Having parted company from the St Mary's Home for Penitent Women, it isn't long before she meets Guardian of the Town and Chair of the Committee for the Provision of the poor, George Bintshaft.  Flowers arrive.  Then wine, then dresses.  A carriage to take Betsy to a private supper.  More wine, soft words, and then a hot wine-laden breath, urgent whisperings, fumblings at the same dress… Unless Betsy can resist her own deepest flaw, Betsy's fate... is sealed."

Something Underground, who previously won The International Fringe Encore Series Award for Betsy: Wisdom of a Brighton Whore, have created another visceral, shocking and tender play blending the brutality of streetlife with the deep instinctual tenderness of a woman and a mother on the edge. The Fringe Encore Series Award meant that Something Underground were invited to take "Betsy" to New York City's Soho Playhouse in Manhattan for a run of shows in 2022.  Whilst there, Betsy played alongside its own also-award-winning prequel, "Wisdom of a Brighton Whore (Part 1 - The Silent Stream)" and this very prequel is also playing, 27th July, at Fitzroy House the same evening.

And... There's ticket deals to see them both

Tickets are now on sale.