You'll never catch us putting a covers band on,” Helen Medland asserts cheerfully. “We’re just not that sort of place. You can quote me on that.”

Founded several years ago in the subterranean rooms beneath the former offices of this newspaper, The Basement is a dark, cosy, exposed-brick-and-piping sort of place. The sort of place where artists-in-residence develop and rehearse work (“Oh, they’ve got clothes on today!” says venue manager David Sheppeard, as he peers in at female double-act The Two Wrongies in action. “They must have been told you were coming.”) The sort of place where you can hear a debate between the great and the good of contemporary art and experimental performance, or hand over a fiver and await your fate at a secret “supper club”, the details of which are not revealed until it starts.

Helen, the artistic director and a stalwart of the Brighton arts scene, took the space over in 2003 and pays a peppercorn rent as part of a planning agreement with the developers of the flats above it. Since then, it has been furnished with toilets, running water and electricity and knocked into a network of three rooms.

The Space – where comedian/storyteller Daniel Kitson chose to perform his C90 show at last year’s Brighton Fringe – is the largest performance area, used most recently to stage Home Sweet Home, an art installation put on as part of the White Night festival last month.

The Pit is a 60-seater amphitheatre-style room with a sprung dance floor, while The Foyer is a candlelit cafe that offers a fully-licensed bar and a tapas menu.

Originally known as the Fringe Basement, the venue has hosted several exhibitions and events over the years, most during the Brighton Fringe in May. It has also taken over event management for the nearby Jubilee Square, Brighton’s newest outdoor venue.

But its slightly tucked-away location and sporadic programming has lent it a certain mystique – underground in both senses of the word.

Helen is in no rush to change that. “A friend of mine overheard someone who’d been here telling their friend they’d ‘discovered’ this ‘secret’ theatre and I thought that was quite good.” However, the publication of their first programme means the secret is inevitably going to become less well-kept. Last month saw a characteristically eclectic mix of events. Brighton raconteur and Cheeky Guide author Dr David Bramwell hosted a night of parlour games, hypnotism lessons and piano sing-songs in monthly knees-up The Twilight Club. He was joined by Rachel Blackman, of local improv troupe The Maydays, and Sawchestra, a trio who mix saws and theramins with musical surgical instruments to create weird and wonderful soundscapes. Theatre company Lone Twin performed Daniel Hit By A Train, a piece inspired by a collection of real-life Victorian stories about people who lost their lives trying to save others. One of several companies the venue has a working partnership with, Lone Twin developed it in The Basement before touring nationally, to favourable reviews.

This month sees the arrival of performance artist Marcia Farquhar, with Acts Of Clothing and avant-garde theatre/comedy act Noble & Silver, who will be performing their show Oh, Christ. “They are hilarious and edgy and frighten the life out of you,” Helen says of the pair. “Damn near indescribable,” offered The Observer. “A radical and sublime achievement... if traditional comedy bores you, go and see this.”

The venue’s shtick is its commitment to the new and experimental,which Helen feels Brighton has lately lacked a platform for. It is to this end The Basement is keen to work with students and young performers and is, presumably, why each of the three-strong management team struggles to pin down exactly what the venue is.

“It’s about making a home for work that crosses boundaries and doesn’t fit anywhere else,” says arts manager Harriet Clark, “It’s not solely music, it’s not quite theatre, it’s not quite straight dance or art.”

The Basement’s usage may be flexible, but Helen’s objective is rigid – the work on show should wrench people out of their comfort zones for one reason or another. “None of the stuff I want to bring here is what I’d consider in the slightest bit mainstream,” she says. “It’s stuff that I’ve gone out and sourced, rather than stuff that’s on the circuit. Stuff that’s grabbed me but also that I hope is – and I hate this word, but – accessible to an audience that might not be sure that live art or experimental practice is for them. I hope it will act as a way in to that sort of thing.”

The Basement recognises (and supports) the work of other city fringe venues, like Kemp Town’s Upstairs At Three And Ten, which is building a reputation for its comedy bookings, and The Nightingale Theatre, which is also committed to promoting new work, especially in dance. David says: “Though they do excellent work in a similar vein, we feel we can fully complete the picture.” “We just haven’t got anything like this in Brighton now,” Helen adds, “Ten years ago, it was quite a cutting edge place. I’m sure there is a need for it, but that will only really be proved to me in about two years’ time I suppose.”

Helen’s main plan for 2009 is to programme something every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the week, the space will continue to be used for devising and rehearsing new work.

She also hopes to team up with local music promoters Melting Vinyl, and Americana specialists The Gilded Palace of Sin, to add acoustic music nights.

Covers bands, of course, will not be welcome.

  • 01273 699733. www.thebasement.uk.com