TICKETS for the first batch of events announced for next year’s Fringe have gone on sale.

More than 360 events have been announced, including improvised Shakespeare plays, musical tributes to legends past and present, and an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, which transports the play to the Sixties.

This year almost 200 events included in the Brighton Fringe will be offering a ten per cent discount to Brighton and Hove residents during the First Release period, which runs until February 19. These tickets are limited to four tickets per person.

Brighton Fringe chief executive Julian Caddy has said that “this is the third year we have released tickets on sale early, and we’ve seen a massive increase in demand over that time, and this year it is also a great opportunity to grab a local resident discount too.

“As Brighton Fringe continues to grow in scale and scope, we have wanted to give audiences more time to browse and buy tickets.”

Events already announced for next year’s Fringe include Notorious Women of Hove, a walking tour that celebrates some of the most important past women residents, from “some of Britain’s first women doctors to Suffragettes to social campaigners to boundary shifting entertainers to early policewomen.

Another event announced is an evening of traditional flamenco guitar and dance with Daniel Martinez and Gabriela Pouso, and a modern-day stage adaptation of former Lewes resident Virginia Woolf’s landmark novel Orland.

The largest of its kind in England, Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival that “embraces every art form and every form of artistic expression”.

Each year, a number of Brighton Fringe events are funded by bursaries. There are still bursaries of up £5,500 available for those wanting to take part in next year’s Fringe festival. The 2019 Fringe attracted audiences of more than half a million people to 1,034 events across over 160 venues in Brighton and Hove. The full programme of events for Brighton Fringe 2020 will be announced on February 21, at which point tickets will go on sale to the Friends of Brighton Fringe. They will go on general sale a week later, at noon on February 28.