The wonderfully bizarre take on the big band that is the Flat Earth Society perform a live score to silent movie The Oyster Princess.

Formed in 1998 by composer, producer and saxophonist Peter Vermeersch, the Belgian ensemble has built its reputation on madly energetic performances that twist between theatrical bombast, movie chase music and a tender, jazz-inflected sound.

In a Brighton Festival exclusive, the 17-piece band will make a rare visit to these shores to add its live soundtrack to Ernst Lubitsch’s 1919 silent film.

Bold and inventive and with magpie tendencies, the band borrow from a wide range of sources and manage that rare feat of being forward-thinking yet accessible.

Vermeersch’s score for The Oyster Princess – originally commissioned by Film Festival Ghent – has been performed in tandem with screenings of the film across Europe.

The film follows Quaker, whose wealth is so vast he has a butler following him around to hold his cigar. His one unfulfilled ambition is that his daughter Ossi should marry into royalty, and it is this sharp satire of the American bourgeoisie – personified by the wealthy “oyster king” businessman – that saw Lubitsch leave his slapstick origins behind in favour of a more sophisticated, acerbic brand of humour.

Known largely for his work in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s, the German-born director’s comic literacy meant critics detected in his films a “Lubitsch touch”. Alfred Hitchcock called “a man of pure cinema”.

The evening starts with Les Hommes Du Train Vs Overlap (Noise of Art), who will remix a live soundtrack to Piccadilly Nite, a silent-era classic on roaring 1920s London.

Sponsored by Matthew Andrews Photographer.

  • Starts 8pm. Tickets £18.50, £12.50, £6.