The 53rd Rye Arts Festival starts on September 13 is set to serve up some top-notch drama for its audience.
Heather Alexander, who takes her one-woman plays to Edinburgh Fringe Festival with huge success, is returning to Rye with her production – ‘Havisham’. The play re-examines one of Dickens’ greatest creations – the manipulative, monstrous matron at the heart of ‘Great Expectations’, Miss Havisham. As her back-story unfolds in a powerful, tense and heart-breaking exposition we learn more about how and why she is as she is and start to understand her awfulness. Heather Alexander is an enormously talented actor who is seriously well worth seeing.
Anyone who saw last year’s touring pantomime and then the tour-de-force that was the Blithe Spirit production will be in no doubt that Rye Players have upped their performance by several gears in the last year or so! And so it is with great expectations that we can look forward to ‘Holmes Under The Hammer’ on Saturday early evening in St Mary’s Church on Saturday, September 28.
The play, starring one of the world’s most famous sleuths, has been written by Oliver Brooks. Boredom reigns in 221b Baker Street but a juicy case is served up for Holmes and Watson to follow and solve. The Tower of London, a severed hand and the very safety of the Crown Jewels create a heady mix of intrigue, danger and excitement! It won’t be elementary, but do come along and you’ll hugely entertained.
Johnny Fluffypunk is a stand-up poet and storyteller and describes himself as a lo-fi theatre maker. He is also a comedian, and so it is impossible to pigeonhole him. But on Thursday, September 19 he will be performing ‘If We Just Keep Going, We Will Get There in the End’. It will be fun, absurd and touching as he explores what it is to be human. Why not take a punt on Fluffypunk?
In addition to these events the Festival has around 50 more ticketed talks, walks, concerts and shows in a packed fortnight at the end of September. To find out more about these go to www.ryeartsfestival.org.uk.
Image Credits: Heather Alexander , Rye Players , Rye Arts Festival .