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!