It's the launch of Fugitive Ink, an exhibition of the work of 8 artists. The event is coordinated by Jake Spicer, and takes place in the flat of one of the artists. The flat is also an exhibit, part of Brighton's Artists Open Houses (AOH, www.aoh.org.uk). This year AOH celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Claire Blake joint-hosts the night and greets everyone with tiny gorgeous cakes. Her art is cake, perhaps the best art to be in, both from the making and the eating. These are little ginger wonders, sticky ginger cakes presented prettily brown, each in a white-waxed petit-four case, topped with a stream-form slip of hand-made butter-cream. Wonderful. Claire also has tattooed legs - no, it's her tights. But then, this is Brighton, where women can be rugged. Graceful Claire is anything but rugged, a dancer, specialising in tango when not at her oven. A cake promised for future visitors includes potato. Surprisingly it's a long-standing traditional ingredient: a modern gluten-free cake recipe including potato is here: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5870/glutenfree-lemon-drizzle-cake. Claire works easily between contemporary bakery and traditional - a staple in her library is an early leather-bound edition of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (www.mrsbeeton.com) presented by a male admirer. Baking brings many of these.

Clare Plumley can't be here tonight - she is horizontal with back pain - but her cards are. They include A Miniature Hoover For My Laptop in a series of cards with a 1950s feel. Her extensive scope of work is at www.interpl8.co.uk

Felicity Stafford aka Flic of Flic's Pics exhibits photographs including a tight bottom, property of a - says its title - Rent Boy. They're elegantly composed, atmospheric sunsets, buildings, moods. 'I have my camera with me all the time,' Flic says; it's a Nikon D50. Flic travelled the world creating photographs before having her family. Being also a mother has mainly located her work more recently in the UK, though its limitless scope is unconstrained by geography - see www.felicitystafford.co.uk

The exhibition is in the flat of artist Duncan Cromarty. Male etchers traditionally invite ladies to come up and see their etchings. Being in a basement, Duncan can invite them down to see his. 5 are on display tonight, mainly themed round circus life gone a bit dangerous. Circus I, II, III, IV, V are copper plate etchings with aquatint for the tones, powerful in black and white. The artist's background includes reading philosophy at Sheffield University, with a Masters at Brighton. He advocates users of the house's lavatory to give several quick jerks - in Brighton, nothing comes as a surprise - but it turns out to be how to flush.

Molly Perrin explains that her inspiration includes the fading grandeur of grand interiors, time-worn jewellery, furniture and lockets with hidden compartments, the unpolished white of natural silver. She describes what she does as small-scale silversmithing. She trained at Farnham University of the Creative Arts and starts in autumn 2011 at the Royal College of Art, London, doing a Masters in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork & Jewellery. Her work can be seen at www.mollyperrin.co.uk

People look different with their clothes on. Francesca Cluney, a graduate of Sussex University in History of Art, is on the walls tonight drawn by Jake Spicer in her capacity as a model for artists (www.modelmayhem.com/1803250). Present in the room she's in clothes as the artist of remarkable crochet jewellery - hair-clips, pendants, earrings, luscious cherries, snails, dolls. It's original work with a startling intensity. There's a concentrated level of detail and expert craft, but under the eye of an imaginative artist, resulting in fine individual works. The delight - and fun - of these pieces of art is that in addition to looking at them as themselves, they can be worn, allowing the wearer to create a further work of art.

Rebecca Jenkins does owls in solid form of various sizes (www.ravenwomanart.co.uk). They are in clay; some are in paper clay. Copper carbonate is the colouring agent. The artist sets them on fire and lets them 'burn for a couple of hours' to produce the finished results. 'I'm very interested in Celtic mythology, and pagan rituals' - says Rebecca, a graduate in Modern Ceramics of Brighton University, explaining that she's going on a shamanic medicine wheel for a year - 'and hares', she adds.

Jake Spicer is an artistic tour de force. His focus is women, in paint and drawing, naked, in costume. They relax, sprawl, pose on beds, sofas and chairs. The interiors they inhabit and the costumes they wear are often - but not always - ornate, decayed, some with a feel of the past. Each person ripples with explosive sexuality. Just as a cat is seldom unaware, always seeming ready to spring, so each subject - the word seems quite wrong, none of the women conveys being passive - seems relaxed but holding back: ready for something, quietly on fire, in possession of the full force of her woman-ness, on the cusp of slipping the hand-brake. http://jakespicer.tumblr.com/ & www.jakespicerart.co.uk/.

It's overall a breezy, carefree and unconfined exhibition. The work is serious, but the atmosphere of the event, the display of the work of the artists, and the artists themselves, are not. Coordinator Jake Spicer describes Fugitive Ink - more details of the artists, and house opening days and hours are here www.sevendialsartists.co.uk/2011/Fugitive_Inks/Fugitive_Inks.html - as 'an opportunity to bring together a disparate group of creatives to produce something that is reasonably coherent as an exhibition. Being based in a house lowers the allowance for pretentiousness and presents the work in the context for which it is intended.'

There are around 50 people here including: Ed Silverton, owner of www.unwrong.com. Fashion designer Sam Horton. Artist's model Johanna Samuelson (http://johannasamuelson.wordpress.com/). Keith Mercer, art technician at Brighton University. Lucy Clougherty, on the MA course at Sussex University training to be a teacher. James Burt, short fiction writer; it's the fiction which is short, rather than James; www.orbific.com/weblog. Anna Gibson, photographer and student at Sussex University. Games designer James Green. Psychologist Rebecca Read. Art collector Rita Monti. Nicky Haydn, joint artistic director of Upstairs At The Three And Ten and producer of Otherplace Productions (www.otherplaceproductions.co.uk).

John Park – Friday 6 May 2011 – Basement Flat, 34 Buckingham Street, Brighton, BN1 4GH - (c) www.fringereport.com 2011

The Three And Ten, 10 Steine Street, Brighton, BN2 1TE

It's a cool evening in Brighton with a cloudless sky. The English Channel is the city's southern boundary, and often it's a wild, killing, ocean. Extreme Brightonians swim the sea in winter; more moderate ones sit on the beach (painful: it's shingle rather than sand). Tonight the sea's calm and turquoise, and people are out on the beach round Ohso's bar (www.ohsosocial.co.uk) under the boardwalk by Palace Pier (99s [a UK soft ice cream with a chocolate bar included] cost £2.00). Across the road, off Old Steine and a little way short of Grand Parade's The Brighton Sauna (Men Only), it's the launch of Upstairs At The Three and Ten (UATTAT, www.upstairsatthreeandten.co.uk)'s programme for this year's Brighton Fringe (www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk).

Brighton Fringe has recently lost its Director twice: first, long-term director Nick Stockman; and shortly afterwards his successor. As Lady Bracknell remarks in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895, by Oscar Wilde 1854-1900), 'To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness'. People here include pretty Kate Morrison (Brighton Fringe head of press), who mentions that Heather James, ex-chairman of the Brighton Fringe Board is now Acting Director, and that as at tonight, ticket sales are up 7% on last year. It's the 5th anniversary of Brighton Fringe becoming an independent company in its own right (Charity Number 1116367, Brighton Festival Fringe Limited Company number 5578256). This year Brighton Fringe runs 7-30 May 2011; there is a literature programme from the first time, which will be centred around an antique railway carriage (Fringe Venue 484, The Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities, Jubilee Square, BN1 1GE, www.hendrickshorselesscarriage.com). This year Brighton Fringe will have no tents - such as Spiegeltent, or Udderbelly (it's in London, see 2011 Udderbelly Launch Party) - apart from The Lady Boys of Bangkok (www.ladyboysofbangkok.co.uk).

People here include: Nicola Haydn, director of UATTAT and Otherplace Productions (www.otherplaceproductions.co.uk). Marisa Ferguson (UATTAT). Heather Rayment (lead actor, The Open Couple, Otherplace Productions, Brighton Marina Yacht Club, 9-29 May 11). Samuel Dutton (lead actor, The Open Couple). James Turnbull (producer, The Open Couple). Ros Barber (writer, poet). Jamie Martin (actor, Harold Pinter Shorts; 3-8 May 11; directed by Αine King; produced by Otherplace Productions). Tom Arr-Jones (UATTAT general manager). Amy Nostbakken (actor, one-woman play, The Big Smoke, UATTAT, 6-8 May at 17:00; 10-11 May at 20:30, Theatre Ad Infinitum, www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk). A reporter from The Argus (www.theargus.co.uk, Brighton's local paper). Nir Paldi (directed The Big Smoke on tour). Paul Levy (philosopher; publisher, Fringe Review, www.fringereview.co.uk); he is working on a new book on 'social media and holding your own in a mobile world'; provisionally titled How To Kiss A Spider; he writes at http://digitalinferno.wordpress.com/. Gar Rock. Deborah Pugh (Theatre Ad Infinitum). Bella Todd (writer; ex Latest 7 editor, now Time Out Arts Desk; Fringe Review). Glen Ferris (film journalist; ex Empire; now Red Bull, www.redbull.com). Rachel Young (Marketing, UATTAT). Francis Williams (Volunteer, UATTAT, box office). Mark Allen (comedian, www.commitnonuisance.com; manager UATTAT). UATTAT's Fringe programme also includes Sweet Heart (27-29 May, 15:00) by Helene Nelder (www.helennelder.com); The Boom Jennies 25-27 May 11 19:00.

Performers tonight include: Compere Nicky Mitchell (singer /songwriter, www.nickymitchell.com). She discusses the teacup hygiene concerns of Brighton's doggers; and sings an elegantly-chorded version of Blue Moon (1934, by Rodgers & Hart); concluding with 'Now that I've sucked all the energy out of the room with jazz - the jazz vortex - I'll introduce the next act'. But she hasn't really. Mark Simmons (stand up comedian, MC Red Brick Comedy Club, Fridays & Saturdays at UATTAT during Brighton Fringe 22:00) is a tall good looking chap in a violently check shirt, with light brown hair brushed forward (he has a joke about this), blue jeans with turn-ups - and brown mountaineering boots. He's very charming, relaxed, and his act features a disarmingly amateurish manner. This is subtly undermined by cleverly-written material, including well-built funny jokes about topics including a girlfriend, parents, grandmother; and a good silly gag about an optician. Late Night Gimp Fight (sketch quintet; quartet tonight; www.latenightgimpfight.com, UATTAT, 6 & 7 May 11 at 20:30) delivers an act with marketing awareness: there are idents: sketches are separated by bursts from songs - Come On Eileen, Stand By Me, Everything I Do I Do For You, Nothing Compares, Every Move You Make, Power Of Love - cut briefly to link to Late Night Gimp Fight's spoken title: no-one's going to leave without remembering their name. There's a brilliant sketch about Craig, whose girlfriend has left him: the punchline is half-expected from the outset, which actually makes it more funny in anticipation; and it's very funny indeed. Other topics include a doctor bringing bad news, charity muggers (magnificent); a wide-ranging sketch embracing sport, frottage, incest, training, homosexuality, paedophilia; Sleeping Beauty; nerds versus an athlete; cremation. It's a sublime set - absolutely filthy and gloriously funny. Personnel are: Matthew Ralph, Richard Campbell, David Moon, Paul Richard Biggin. Lee Griffiths is normally with them on stage; tonight he's doing lights and sound. Precise cues for these play a key part in a superbly-timed and acted performance.

There's an interval, followed by performances [after Fringe Report left, so not reported] including: Abi Roberts (singer, comedian, www.abiroberts.com; Abi Takes You Up The Aisle, UATTAT, 17-19 May 19:00). The Real MacGuffins (sketch trio - Dan March, Jim Millard, Matt Sheahan - www.therealmacguffins.com, UATTAT, 18 & 19 May 11 at 22:00). It's night-time now, and over the gorgeous Arabesque domes of Brighton Pavilion (www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/RoyalPavilion/), there's an appropriately sickle moon.

John Park – Thursday 5 May 2011 – Upstairs At The Three And Ten, 10 Steine Street, Brighton, BN2 1TE – (c) www.fringereport.com 2011

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Udderbelly Southbank Press Launch – Thursday 21 April 2011 – 18:30 (23:00)

Tonight Udderbelly launches its 2011 season on London's Southbank. It is located in Jubilee Gardens between Hungerford Bridge and the London Eye. Nearest tube Embankment, and take the pedestrian bridge across the Thames.

If you haven't been to London, it's bisected horizontally by the River Thames. The two halves are distinct, and a rough summary (by a North Londoner) is: North London - everything happens, everyone lives there; South London, who knows? To counteract this, town planners built the Royal Festival Hall and the National Theatre. They called the result Southbank, because both were on the south bank of the Thames, and pushing words together - sometimes with a capital letter in the middle - SouthBank - can appear sophisticated. The south bank also houses the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service - so secret that it has a website - and the penthouse of British author Jeffrey Archer. Jeffrey Archer contributed to the cost of the restoration of the green taxi-drivers' canteen - The Cabmen's Shelter - across the river next to the Playhouse Theatre (currently showing Dreamboats And Petticoats): a man with one foot on each bank, rather in the way that Hercules once straddled the Straits of Gibraltar.

It's dusk on the night of The Last Supper (for meaning of / context of this, see review of The Passion of The Christ). Next to the River Thames there's a couple of pollarded trees and an amplified busker singing Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. Fortunately they're not; it's almost balmy. A pretty Golden Carousel with horses full of children lights up. Across the Thames, the classical architecture of the National Liberal Club and a line of fairy lights along The Embankment mark remind anyone worried about finding directions that the main part of London is only a short swim away.

Udderbelly is a temporary entertainment venue erected by Underbelly Productions from April till July 2011 next to the Royal Festival Hall (headed by the gloriously sexy Jude Kelly). At the Southbank site, Udderbelly is configured to seat 410 and features 70 or so acts - including fragrant Sarah-Louise Young (Fringe Report Awards 2003, Best Actress) who appears in four Udderbelly shows: Cabaret Whore, Alternative Royal Wedding, Alternative Eurovision, Showstopper. Ida Barr's Royal Flush Bingo Party; Frisky & Mannish; Barry Cryer; Spank!; Isy Suttie; Arthur Smith; Pete Firman; Rory Bremner; Scott Capurro (Fringe Report Awards 2011, Best Host); Christopher Green as Tina C; Lucy Porter (Fringe Report Awards 2005, Best Stand Up); 3Run (who perform at tonight's event in Free Run); Andy Zaltzman (Fringe Report Awards 2004, Best Stand Up); Susan Calman; Howard Marks; Paul Daniels.

Those among the 400 or so present include: doyenne of British comedy Hils Jago (Impresario; director Amused Moose Comedy). Louise Chantal (Producer, Louise Chantal Productions). Urbane and relaxed Charlie Wood (Impresario; director, Underbelly), quietly smoking a cigarette; elegant in light tan suit. The pretty much entirely irrepressible Brett Vincent (Talent manager, promoter, festival programmer; director Silent Disco; director Get Comedy); currently programming comedy for Altitude Festival at Mayerhofen, Austria, for April 2012; Rockness at Loch Ness, Scotland, June 2011; Camp Bestival (biggest tent 2,000 people), Lulworth Castle UK, July 2011; Bestival, Isle Of Wight UK, September 2011; there's no doubt about it, the man is a legend (he also does disco). Dave Mauchline (Dave Mauchline Theatre Programming). Lovely Victoria Thomas (Objective Talent Management), assistant to Andrew Newman, Andrew O'Connor). Technical director to the stars Nic Watson (Technical director, National Student Drama Festival; technical director, Cockpit Theatre, London) ('to be lit by Nic Watson is truly to have arrived'). Charming Fraser Smith (PR; director Hothouse Publicity; head of press, Edinburgh, Underbelly) looking svelte, says he: 'switched to porridge in January: It's bullshit out, porridge in'. Paul Fleckney (Director, London Is Funny). Veronica Lee (Theatre critic, theatre producer) (Fringe Report Awards 2005, Best Journalist). Glamorous and pretty Corrie McGuire (Agent, Objective Talent Management). Charming and relaxed James Seabright (Producer, Seabright Productions Limited). Babe magnet Ed Bartlam (Impresario; director, Underbelly): 'top totty', pants a breathless female admirer. Claire Greenway (Comedy actor), Royal Academy of Music trained, Sister Mary-Patrick in Sister Act, London Palladium. James Turner-Inman (Assistant site manager London Udderbelly, site manager Edinburgh Udderbelly, Underbelly); Underbelly's in-house team assembles Udderbelly, an inflatable and framed structure; 'it goes together amazingly well'. Charming (with a twinkle) Michael Vine (Talent management, representation; director Michael Vine Associates; director Objective Talent Management) - launcher of leading talent. Bellissima Madelaine Bennett (PR; director, Prospero Communications), svelte in black. Alexandra Smith (Producer & programmer, The Lounge, Leicester Square Theatre; producer, AlleyKat Productions). Roy Walker (Stand-up comedian; British TV star of gameshow Catchphrase). George Maddocks (Theatre director; dir Feelgood at Rosemary Branch Theatre [theatre artistic directors Cecilia Darker & Cleo Sylvestre]; dir NewsRevue June 2011 at Canal Cafι Theatre [producer Emma Taylor]). Alpha male Hugh de la Bιdoyθre (International tour booker and production coordinator for Stomp, Glynis Henderson Productions). Jake Orr (Director, A Younger Theatre). Pretty Sarah Harries (PR; head of press, London, Underbelly). Sarah Lark (Singer, actor), petite Welsh belter (a singing term, rather than flagellation) from Cardiff via premiere European music salon the Royal Academy of Music; Little Girl in Witches of Eastwick, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; Lucy in Snoopy, Jermyn Street Theatre and New Players Theatre, London. Gorgeous Lucy Jackson (Producer, general manager, PR), taking 4 shows to Edinburgh Fringe 2011. Stridently handsome Henry Filloux-Bennett (Artistic director, Old Red Lion Theatre & New Red Lion Theatre, London. Ollie Hester (Underbelly). Kat Hoult (Producer & programmer, The Lounge, Leicester Square Theatre; producer, AlleyKat Productions). Divine Scottist beauty Janey Godley (Comedian, writer, femme fatale).

John Park – Maundy Thursday 21 April 2011 – E4 Udderbelly, Jubilee Gardens, London SE1 8XX – (c) www.fringereport.com 2011

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The Stage New Year Party – Friday 28 January 2011 – 12:00 (15:00)

The Stage New Year Party 2011 takes place in the Grand Saloon of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, hosted by The Stage's managing director Catherine Comerford and editor Brian Attwood. The event is organised by Cyrila Periera.

In his welcoming speech, Brian Attwood suggests an optimistic boost to start the year - in the last couple of years 'maintaining optimism has been difficult' - so he celebrates the achievements of the last year of newcomers and those at the top in 2010. The Stage Scholarships, which involved the newspaper working with 9 partner schools and organisations, totalled £100,000, with the winners' photographs featuring in the Christmas edition. Some of the winners are present and are invited up on stage. He announces an expansion of the scheme, which is organised by The Stage's Niki Lancaster; there are now 13 partner schools and organisations, and 23 scholarships worth a third of a million pounds. Brian Attwood points out that The Stage is a major backer of established talent, with the Edinburgh Fringe and other awards. Deputy editor Alastair Smith organises The Stage 100 Awards - they are new this year, and will become a regular annual event. Presentations are made to: London Theatre of the Year - Royal Court Theatre, collected by executive director Kate Horton; Regional Theatre of the Year - Northampton Royal & Derngate Theatre, collected by chief executive Martin Sutherland and artistic director Laurie Sansom; Fringe Theatre of the Year - Finborough Theatre, collected by artistic director Neil McPherson; Producer of the Year - English Touring Theatre, collected by director Rachel Tackley; Performing Arts School of the Year - Sylvia Young Theatre School, collected by Sylvia Young OBE. Brian Attwood concludes by introducing two singers. The Stage was co-organiser of The Stage/Pure Solo Musical Theatre Competition 2010. The prize was to record a track on album The 100 Greatest Musicals, alongside tracks by established artistes including Lesley Garrett and Dave Willetts. The winner, James Loynes sings today with Helena Blackman All I Ask Of You from Phantom of the Opera. Helena Blackman then sings What's The Use Of Wondering, from Carousel.

Those here include: Mary Breen. John Stalker. Helen Lederer. Penny Horner, Jermyn Street Theatre. Leslie Jordan, My Trip Down Memory Lane, The Apollo. Susan Elkin. Thom Dibdin, Scotland Correspondent, The Stage. John Plews, Upstairs At The Gatehouse. Alistair Brammer. Steven Drew. Susan Jamson, Chickenshed. Prunella Scales. Christopher Richardson, founder, The Pleasance. Timothy West. Sofie Mason, editor, OffWestEnd.com. Paul Sullivan, PR. Louise Chantal, producer. Catherine Comerford, managing director, The Stage. Susan Whiddington, director, Mousetrap Theatre Projects. Holli Dempsey, actor. Horace Trubridge. Nick Smurthwaite, journalist. Clare Brotherwood. Ian Herbert. Ned Chaillet. Paul Vale. James Seabright, producer. Anthony Alderson, director, The Pleasance. Mark Shenton, reviewer. Maggie Brown. Laurie Sansom. Talia Rodgers. Christopher Wallace, Watershed. Rev Rob Gillion, InterMission. Racky Plews, choreographer. Amy Belson. Lewis Carnie. Kevin Berry. Nicholas Elkin. Stephanie Harvey. Brenda Edwards. Pippa Ailion, casting director. Ricardo Alfonso. Alan Cutier. Sarah Mann. Louise de Winter. Madeleine Gibb. Alexandra Smith, producer. Hilary Strong. Kevin Wilson, PR. Nicholas Parsons. Stephanie Williams. Brian Attwood, editor, The Stage. Stephanie Methven, photographer. Lee Mead. Rupert Rhymes OBE. Nica Burns, theatre proprietor, Nimax Theatres. David Kaplan.

John Park - Friday 28 January 2011 - Grand Saloon, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London WC2B 5JF - (c) www.fringereport.com 2011