This bonanza of a weekend is for many what the Festival is all about.

Performers from across the globe take over the streets in a free whirlwind of creative chaos, colour and surprise.

Bizarrely costumed characters mill around the crowds, sometimes abruptly stopping to perform strange mimes or interact with a passing child.

Comic, theatrical or just plain weird acts are scheduled for brief showings around various North Laine and seafront locations and everywhere you look, there seems to be some peculiar happening or person catching your eye.

Highlights this year include a walkabout kissing therapy booth with Dolly (named after her country and western idol); The Wind People, who are blown about the audience hanging on to lamp posts, park benches and even passers-by for fear of being blown away and Brighton's own Voodoo Vaudeville having a day out as St Trinians girls.

The fun keeps rolling in at night for the big people and the sky is used as a backdrop for all sorts of extravaganzas from fireworks to film screenings.

Last year the pyrotechnic display by Group F gobsmacked thousands at Preston Park but this year, out of concern for the safety of the crowd, there will be a selection of evening events in various locations instead.

The main five are Sister, Sister in City College car park on Thurs, May 8, The Constant Soldier at St Peter's Church on Thurs, May 8 and Fri, May 9, Tattoo, where nocturnal, petrol-driven insects pursue a mechanical egg factory on Fri, May 9, Dreams and Demons, set in Brighton University gardens and filled with bizarre characters, stalls and sideshows on Fri, May 9 and Runga Runga, a carnival procession of Indian and Asian dance which parades through Pavilion Gardens, North Laine to Madeira Drive on Sat, May 10.

Produced by ZAP Art and Brighton Festival. Sponsored by South Central and supported by The Arts Council England - South East.