The Argus: fringe_2011_logo_red_thumb As many residents of the city know, Brighton once had its very own Victorian inventor and engineer, the electricity-obsessed Magnus Volk, who built what is now the oldest operating electric railway in the world along the seafront from the Palace Pier to Black Rock.

He was also responsible for another, even more ambitious project, the Brighton And Rottingdean Electric Seashore Railway. This unique transport system used a raised motorised platform that Volk christened The Pioneer (but Brightonians called “Daddy Long Legs”), running on tracks he laid in the shallows of the sea.

In this 20-minute monologue, Robert Cohen brings Volk to life as he attempts to raise money for repairs to the Seashore Railway, which was damaged by a storm days after its opening in 1896. Fascinating details, such as the injuries he suffered to his hands in a failed experiment or the story of his journey to deliver his electric car to the Sultan of Turkey, emerge.

Cohen does a great job of animating Volk’s character, transmitting his vision of electricity as the force of the future, as well as his desire for engineering immortality like his contemporary Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Treat yourself to a complimentary gin and tonic and find out more about a true Brighton legend.