Hundreds of ticket-holders are being given refunds after one of the highlights of Brighton Festival was cancelled at the 11th hour.

Tickets for DV8 Physical Theatre's production Just For Show sold out within a fortnight of going on sale.

Just For Show is the first new work from the dance company for five years and was to have its British premier at The Dome's 320-seat Corn Exchange on Saturday, the first day of the festival.

But the five-day Brighton run was cancelled when one of the dancers, Mikel Aristegui, developed cellulitis, a skin infection doctors warned could have proved fatal if he had performed.

Brighton Festival was one of Just For Show's commissioners and organisers were devastated at the news.

Lloyd Newson, who conceived and directed the show, said the company had spent five months rehearsing and were disappointed they could not perform in Brighton.

He said: "It was a very serious decision to call off the show.

"The company has been going for 18 years and we have only ever cancelled three performances."

Because the show features a mix of dance and three-dimensional imagery projected on to the set there was not enough time for another performer to learn the part.

Box office staff worked frantically to phone ticket-holders and tell them of the cancellation. The next leg of DV8's tour, in Geneva, could also be cancelled.