Martin Bruce played four quite different roles in the Rye Arts Festival this year: as an interviewer (Emily Maitlis and Sir Tony Robinson), as shanty singer, organist and videographer.
Which of these gave you the most pleasure?
This is a difficult question to answer because each rôle has its own challenges and rewards; perhaps the interviewing because I can do the others at any time in the year whereas it is the festival that brings celebrated interviewees to Rye.
Emily Maitlis is a very successful, high-profile journalist and interviewer: did that make you nervous before the event?
I am always nervous before any public performance. The upside of that is that nerves often raise your game. I prepared carefully, as I always do, by reading and researching, and that helps a lot.
Was she what you expected, now that you have met her?
I do build up a picture in my mind in advance, based on what I have read and watched, and it is always interesting to see whether or not my preconceptions are confirmed. In Emily’s case, I found her to be gracious, eloquent and impressive. She has a wealth of extraordinary experiences on which to draw and clearly held her audience spellbound.
Your shanty group Rye Harbour Herrings shared an evening of sea songs with the Pett Slip Buoys at a packed Community Centre. What makes one shanty group different from another?
This is part of the joy of folk singing: the variety brought about by different collections of voices, different choices of song, different versions of songs and the influence of the local area. We had planned our programme to avoid too much overlapping but when we did, each group brought its own interpretation to the shanties. The audience certainly seemed to enjoy it.
The organ at St. Mary’s is quite a demanding beast: how did you manage to tame it?
The town is very fortunate to have at its heart such a good instrument. It is excellent as a supporter of sung worship in the church and its many and varied stops make it an interesting recital organ. Its only downside is the lack of the programmable pistons which are a feature of all more modern instruments: that is to say, a row of buttons beneath each keyboard enabling the player to select any number of the available stops at will. The only way round this is practice.
What sort of audience were you expecting?
When I saw one of the vergers putting out three rows of chairs on the morning of the recital I joked that he was being rather optimistic. I was amazed that so many people came to listen to what might be thought of as a niche interest – but I’m very glad that they did.
You are part of Harbour Videography and the YouTube channel Showcasing Rye! How did that happen?
Rye is a wonderful town that punches above its weight in terms of the sheer amount of its activity. I remember watching online some of the films from days gone by of Rye special events and it seemed a good idea to be making a record of what is happening now, both for the pleasure of those who are taking part and for future generations.
Why is there an exclamation mark after Rye in your channel name?
Unfortunately and inadvertently my wife deleted our original channel (she is dyslexic!) and our new name had to differ from the first, which had no exclamation mark.
Please subscribe here if you haven’t as I lost all our followers when I deleted the channel.
Towards the close of the festival you interviewed Sir Tony Robinson, a very different prospect from Emily Maitlis. What challenges did he present?
As might have been expected, not many. Sir Tony has had a remarkable career and his many rôles have endeared him to a huge number of people. He has a great sense of humour and is a raconteur – so what could go wrong? I was pleased to be able to highlight the recent publication of his first book for adults, a historical novel set in the Saxon period called The House of Wolf, and was delighted when he read aloud the prologue to it.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Kt bruce , Jeff Grice .