The 52nd annual Rye Arts Festival launches on Friday, September 15 and offers a packed programme of around 52 events in a busy fortnight and it all starts with a bang on the opening weekend.
Literally, on Sunday, when there will be a number of fun events for the family, with the massed drummers of Rye’s very own Ryebellion, beating a festive rhythm outside the town hall. Meanwhile, starting at 10am to noon on Sunday, there will be a Pugwash workshop in the St Mary’s Centre in Lion St, where Isabel Ryan, the daughter of John Ryan, the creator of Rye’s most famous pirate, will be helping children and adults make their own puppets. And at the same venue, between 11am to 1pm, Graham Ellis will be holding a juggling workshop. Rye’s retired circus director will help young and old, get started on a fun skill.
From 12 noon through the afternoon there will be street theatre in the Citadel. Devious Dolphins features two giant dolphins who will whistle and squirt water playfully, as well as delivering a message about how humans are messing up the environment. Kids are guaranteed to love them, adults too!
The Princess and the Peacock will be a sumptuous performance based on Indian and Persian miniature paintings. Part puppetry, part dance – a visual delight. This will all follow a gig on Friday evening, when the English guitarist and living legend Martin Simpson is playing at Rye Community Centre. Tickets are available but are selling fast.
On Saturday morning from 10am to noon, there will be a show of ‘Creative Homes for Creatures’ at Rye Community Garden. These are homes for bees, bats, birds, butterflies and ‘other’ which have been made from reclaimed and discarded material, following a workshop on August 12. Art Attack’s Neil Buchanan will be judging.
In the afternoon, fresh from flying in from New York, Melanie Gall will be performing her wonderful one-woman-show about starlet friends and friendly rivals Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin, and how their careers diverged. Surprisingly, at the start of their Hollywood careers, Deanna was the bigger star! And Cordelia Williams will be giving a wonderful piano recital in the evening at St Mary’s Church in Rye.
For more information on these and the many other events at the 2023 Rye Arts Festival and to book your tickets go to www.ryeartsfestival.org.uk
Image Credits: Rye Arts Festival .