Drama: true life tales

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Award-winning actresses are set to entertain the Rye audience at this year’s Rye Arts Festival in September.

The festival’s organisers are delighted that Canadian actress and singer Melanie Gall has agreed to fly into Rye to deliver two of her award-winning shows. On Saturday, September 16 at Rye Community Centre Melanie will perform her captivating ‘Ingenue: Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin’.

Judy Garland is an icon, loved the world over as Dorothy in the ‘Wizard of Oz’. But Deanna Durbin was even more famous at the time, when she was surprisingly and perhaps erroneously passed over for the role, which went to her friend and fellow child star at MGM. But time hasn’t treated her kindly and Deanna’s star has waned, while Garland’s shines brightly.

‘Ingenue’ tells the true story of these girls, and their lifelong friendship as well as rivalry. And there will be 12 musical hits from the thirties and forties, including ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ for you to enjoy as the drama unfolds. Having performed to sell-out audiences at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melanie has been tempted back to the UK to revive this fabulous play for Rye.

And the next day, Sunday, September 17, Melanie is back at Rye Community Centre to perform ‘Noel Coward, A Talent to Amuse’.

There was almost nothing Noel Coward couldn’t do in the theatre – playwright, composer, singer and actor. His talent was boundless and he led an amazing life, from a child star in London, through a side hustle as a British spy in the second world war, through to becoming the toast of Broadway. In this play Melanie tells the amazing story of Coward’s life and features a dozen iconic songs, including ‘Mad About the Boy’, ‘Mrs Worthington’ and ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’.

Melanie has won multiple awards around the world for her shows, including Winnipeg, Orlando and Melbourne, and London Fringe festivals, so is not to be missed.

And a week later, also at Rye Community Centre, the award-winning actress Heather Alexander will grace the stage with ‘Room: A Room of One’s Own’, the play on Sunday, September 24. Last month Heather won the best female actor at the 2023 Buxton Festival Fringe awards for her role in ‘Room’, picked from a shortlist of about eight actresses.

‘Room’ is set in 1929, and Virginia Woolf haunts the shadows of Oxford. She is scorned and, amazingly, refused entry to the library. We then meet her again in London, once again prowling the street. Her mind races as she is faced by blatant injustice and inequality, but she slices through notions of gender disparity. This is a one-woman show that isn’t to be missed.

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: Melanie Gill .

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