Each year for fifty-three years a feast of diverse talks, activities, music, drama, workshops and visual arts has graced the streets, auditoriums and churches of Rye and on Sunday July 28 this year’s festival had its launch at the community centre. It is known for attracting high-calibre performers and speakers, making it a significant item in the local cultural calendar and this year is no exception.
Andy and Niki Stuart have been involved for thirteen of those years (lucky for some as Andy’s birthday falls on the 13th of a month) and have some fascinating tales to tell.
Niki commented: “As the Rye Arts Festival is a charity it is really important to highlight all the free events we have scheduled for the larger community. We are acutely aware that there are large sections of Rye that do not engage with the festival so we are trying to redress this. We are using the Tilling Green Community Centre on the opening Saturday for family circus workshops – learn to swing through the air and juggle – and we are also using the centre to run a creative Pugwash workshop. On Saturday, September 14 the Citadel will be alive with music and comedy acts walking around the church and nearby streets. On Saturday, September 21 we have free singing and music workshops for children and their families at the community centre on Conduit Hill. It would be great to see new faces and encourage reluctant festival goers to test the water! I am sure they will enjoy it!”
David Angell, one of the team’s key organisers explained: “We have a great local focus in this year’s festival with Barry Yates, former manager of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve for forty years, giving a talk at the discovery centre and also a guided walk. These sell out really quickly and are fascinating. Simon Parsons, manager of the Heritage Centre, is introducing a brand new and exciting second world war light and audio presentation at the Rye town model. There are many, many, more events which we shall highlight over the coming weeks.”
Andy Stuart, Rye Arts Festival director, is really pleased with the film programme. “We have chosen an eclectic programme this year: a screening to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of Godzilla, introduced by the giant lizard’s number one fan, Oliver Brooks; Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson in his pomp, and centring on crooked water companies in LA; Withnail and I, the British cult classic; and Green Grow the Rushes, which features and was filmed in Romney Marsh starring the young and beautiful Honor Blackman and the young and beautiful Richard Burton!”
Phil Laverton, who organises the contemporary music with Geoff Boudreau, announced that both were very pleased with the choices in the contemporary and traditional music category. As ever, they have done their utmost to contact and ultimately book artists of the highest quality to inspire and engage audiences in the festival’s ever-widening demographic. Phil challenged: “I defy anybody to attend one of our gigs and leave disappointed.”
Oliver Brooks has written an exceedingly Oliver Brooks play, which is being directed by the amazing Pat Driver. She said: “It’s hard to pin down a precise comedy genre for Holmes Under the Hammer. So it’s a huge bonus to be able to work closely with the playwright, Oliver, and to absorb his influences. They include Airplane, several silent movie comedy greats and of course the classic film portrayals of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. This is absurd comedy presented as pure truth and we can’t wait to entertain our audiences at St Mary’s on Saturday, September 28.”
Oliver replied: “It is a great privilege to be involved, once again, with the Rye Arts Festival. Not only am I returning with a screening of another classic monster movie, this year celebrating the 70th anniversary of Godzilla, but also seeing the debut of my Sherlock Holmes parody, Holmes Under the Hammer, performed by the raucous Rye Players. I plan to see so many other events this year, as we have a rich and diverse festival ahead.”
Mike Boyd, who is performing at the festival in his own inimitable and unique style, told the audience at the launch: “Our classical music offerings this year include the renowned Piatti Quartet; the doyen of trumpeters – Crispian Steele-Perkins – accompanied by our very own Martin Bruce at the organ; and two names to watch out for in the future – pianists Teddy Otieno and Gabriele Sutkute. Gabriele makes a welcome return to Rye. Oh, and George Gershwin will be playing Rhapsody in Blue ‘live’ at the piano!”
Eleanor Hart gives some useful information. “The box office team man the phones from the day after the launch until the end of the Rye Arts Festival. We also provide face-to-face sessions at the Kino on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10:30am – noon so that customers, perhaps those who are not online or prefer to purchase in person, can buy tickets. As a sideline we also organise the Winchelsea cellar tours and the Romney Marsh churches tour.”
The brochures are to be found in many venues and shops around the town so do pick one up and start booking soon. Many talks and events will get booked really quickly.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .