Thursday 23 August 2018

There ain’t nothing like a Dame


Rye Arts Festival hunts around the world for the very best talent to come to Rye in the last two weeks of September. And this year, marking the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the UK, the organisers have booked a trio of Dames to entertain at what has been described as one of the UK’s best arts festivals – Jenni Murray, Joan Ruddock and Emma Kirkby. Dame Jenni Murray is the doyenne of radio presenters; Dame Joan Ruddock is a politician and campaigner of considerable note and Dame Emma Kirkby is a soprano with worldwide reputation.

Tuesday 14 August 2018

World War I Centenary

This year’s Festival has two underlying themes – the centenary of the end of World War I and the centenary of women’s suffrage – and there will be a number of events that tap into these areas, as well as others which have been put on because they are simply high-quality entertainment. 

There will be a special screening of the film ‘Oh! What A Lovely War’ on Friday 28th September – a musical directed by Richard Attenborough, much of which was shot on Brighton Pier. And on Monday 17th September the British baritone Roderick Williams will be singing songs alongside the poetry of World War I poet Ivor Gurney spoken by the actor Philip Franks.

Local artist, musician and film director Dave McKean will be performing songs and showing artworks inspired by World War I artist Paul Nash in a show called ‘Black Dog – the Dreams of Paul Nash’. The show has been performed around the UK, including in Tate Britain, as well in Europe.
On a lighter note, the Festival moves on to World War II for a performance of Dad’s Army Radio Hour on Sunday 16th September. A pair of actors perform the scripts of three classic Dad’s Army episodes doing all the voices of the TV cast members with uncanny accuracy, as well as getting their mannerisms down to a tee. This is guaranteed to be one of the funniest shows seen in Rye since, well, World War II!
These events are just for starters – there are many more and, of course, they are all there simply to entertain!