Marlborough Pub and Theatre
[3] During James Ireland's tenure, the Brighton Royal Catch & Glee Club, a popular subscription music society, met at the Golden Cross every Tuesday evening.
On the top floor were four bedrooms, furnished with Japanned (black lacquered) and mahogany bedsteads, dressing tables, wash stands and chests of drawers; white dimity, leather-covered armchairs; and Kidderminster or Brussels carpets.
In 1900, the Marlborough was the setting for a murder case, when Lucy Packham, wife of the landlord, was found dead and badly battered at the foot of the stairs.
At the trial, a policeman, PC Puttick, testified that, while in the street outside the pub on the day of the killing, he had heard Packham say to his wife, 'You're a lazy woman.
According to John Rackham, the first performance was disrupted by a woman customer, who was unaware that a play was in progress: On seeing the 'victim' crash to the floor after being 'hit' by a bottle, she burst into hysterical screams.
Surprised to see such a crush of people in the bar, he failed to notice the 'victim' still laid out on the floor, and promptly tumbled over her, to appreciative applause from those watching!
[7] In 2000, manager Sue Kerslake described witnessing lights going on and off, the switching off the gas on beer taps and the shattering of a row of bottles, swept off a shelf behind the bar.
[11] In 1979, Jude Winter, Tasha Fairbanks, Jane Boston and Deb Trethewy — previously members of Brighton-based bands The Devil's Dykes and The Bright Girls — formed the radical lesbian feminist theatre collective, Siren.
Stretching Frontiers was an 'entertainment devised around travel and risk by John Roman Baker, with music by Michael Finnissy',[14] also staged at the Marlborough.
The Crying Celibate Tears trilogy was completed in 1991 with Freedom to Party, staged yet again at the Marlborough as part of the main Brighton Festival.
Kath Lawson was manager in October 2006, when the Marlborough won the 'Best Bar None' award for best LGBT Venue, sponsored by Pink News and 3Sixty magazine.
Lesbian and gay venues that entered were assessed on a variety of aspects of the business, including public safety, the prevention of crime and disorder and protecting children from harm.
It was then managed by Nicola Haydn and Eden Rivers (Otherplace Productions), who moved on, in 2009, to programme theatre in other Brighton venues.
Performing at the Marlborough always feels like coming home, it's got such a cosiness, intimacy and friendliness...It has a real old world charm – the plush curtains, the raised stage – things that so many small venues don't have.
[1]From 2008, the theatre was run by Marlborough Productions, a not-for-profit community interest company led by David Sheppeard, Tarik Elmoutawakil and Abby Butcher.
International and established artists who appeared at the theatre included Justin Vivian Bond, Big Freedia, Mykki Blanco, Bette Bourne, David Hoyle, Le Gateau Chocolat, Scottee, KUCHENGA, Lorraine Bowen, Ridiculusmus, Liz Aggiss and Kate Bornstein.
His gender-bending Brighton festival cabaret The Girl I Left Behind Me is preceded by his appearance at Pink fringe alongside Bette Bourne.
'[18] In 2016, the pub hosted the first ever Museum of Transology, showcasing artefacts collected by E-J Scott, 'as a form of curatorial direct action designed to halt the erasure of transcestry.
'[20] In 2018, the company launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £10,000 to replace 'decrepit equipment including a broken air conditioning system, vintage sound and lighting and “viciously uncomfortable” seats.
[22] In July 2020, Marlborough Productions announced that they had ceased management of the pub and theatre, but would continue to present performances, parties and community gatherings at other spaces across Brighton and Hove.
