Brighton’s longest-running show celebrates ten years of satirical songs and sketches tomorrow with a one-off “best of” special at the Theatre Royal.
The Treason Show 10 Year “Best of” Anniversary Edition features the original cast as well as some of the familiar faces from more recent shows.
And almost all of the material for the one-off show has been performed before and has made the director’s cut because it went down so well.
Although Treason founder and director Mark Brailsford insists that all the songs and sketches will have to work on their own merits as the show plays its biggest venue yet.
As usual Brailsford will be leading from the front, taking a starring role as well as directing the show.
He writes some of the material for each show too, although he shares the credit, pointing out that there have been 260 other contributors since the show began.
That’s not all. Although the cast typically consists of four performers – ideally two men and two women – there have been 57 performers over the past decade.
And the Treason family has given birth to 12 babies – including Brailsford’s own two daughters aged 4 and 1 – and celebrated five weddings.
These days the show is settled at the Pavilion Theatre in New Road – across the road from tomorrow evening’s venue.
But for its first nine years it was based at Komedia in Gardner Street until a falling out last year.
“I can’t believe we’re still going,” said Brailsford. “When we left Komedia I thought that was it.”
Irreverent
He described the parting as a very low period. But the show’s fan base put a smile back on Brailsford’s face.
“Someone in Waitrose said you’ve got to keep it going then someone on the bus said the same thing and then someone in Churchill Square.”
It reached the point where he knew that plenty of people still wanted his irreverent take on local, national and international news.
And for the “best of” show the format has been extended from two acts to three.
“We’ll be bringing back blasts from the past,” he said.
