The Isle of Arts Festival reaches its third day and the sun is still shining in Ventnor.
Ukulele extravaganza
If you like music and you like making things then your first stop of the day should be to 
check out the Utterly Butterly Ukulele Project. You’ll be shown how to make a Ukulele out of an Utterly Butterly tub, a piece of wood, and fishing line for strings. It’s fully functional and tunable and is played the same as any conventional ukulele. There are two chances to get involved, at midday and then again at 3pm. Both take place at The Boathouse.
If you do make your very own Ukulele then you’ll be invited to take part in a mass Ukulele performance at 6pm to help set a world record in the Isle of Arts Marquee.
This’ll be followed with the most excellent Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Tickets are now SOLD OUT for this event so bad luck if you didn’t get yours in time.
More live music
Settling into the Isle of Arts Marquee at 2.30pm will be the folks from The Old Thumper Jazz Band. The Old Thumper Jazz Band is a top rate Dixieland band playing exciting, foot tapping, danceable, happy jazz music reminiscent of the 1920s and ‘30s Chicago era. Listen to favourites like At The Jazz Band Ball, Basin Street Blues, Darktown Strutters and more!
Over at Ventnor Arts Club from 3pm something a little different with Claude Bourbon playing Medieval and Spanish blues guitar. This French-born guitarist grew up in Switzerland where he was classically trained, before further exploring the guitar without the limitations of written music and delving headlong into folk, blues, jazz and rock music.
Theatre and film
Would you like to “brush up your Shakespeare” but don’t have time to see all 37 plays or read all 154 sonnets? Then come and enjoy the highlights of the Bard’s work in Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits at 3.30pm at the Ventnor Baptist Church.
Ventnor Arts Club will be hosting a screening of The Artist & The Model at 5.30pm. In a secluded French border town during the Nazi occupation of WWII, an ageing artist, Marc Cros (Jean Rochefort), is once again inspired to pick up his tools after his wife Lea (Claudia Cardinale) brings home a refugee on the run from Franco’s Spain, the beautiful but naïve Merce (Aida Folch). Amidst his peaceful, hilltop idyll, an unlikely friendship develops between the young girl, just starting out in life, and the old man who senses his end is approaching.
There’s more live music from 6.30pm with Chris Watkins playing Slide Guitar at The Boathouse.
Remembering the First World War
As part of the centenary commemorations of the First World War, St Catherine’s Church will be host to The Pity of War at 7.30pm.
In this unique performance, violinist Matthew Trusler is joined by the internationally renowned pianist Martin Roscoe in performances of sonatas by Elgar, Janáček and Debussy, all written during the Great War.
Accompanying the music are readings, spoken by screen and stage legend Timothy West, which draw on Wilfred Owen’s letters and poems, mainly written between 1917 and 1918. They reveal Owen’s moral courage and humanity triumphing over the worst possible conditions. The readings are interspersed with original recordings of wartime music hall songs, familiar to every soldier on the Western Front.
Headline comedy from Rich Hall
Of course, the event that many of you will be heading to is the return of Rich Hall at 8.45pm in the Isle of Arts Marquee.
Rich Hall opened the very first Isle of Arts Festival back in 2011 and had the audience in stitches from beginning to end. As expected, he’s a popular choice, and tickets have SOLD OUT.
Blues Bash
Finishing off Sunday night’s entertainment will be the Blues Bash at The Boathouse. With the bank holiday the next day, there’s no excuse to not stay up late and enjoy a night of live music with friends.
Whatever your taste, there’s bound to be something to take your fancy. Find out more by visiting the Isle of Arts Festival Website. It’s no longer possible to book online, but tickets can be bought in person at Seasons Newsagents on Ventnor High Street, or at the Box Office, 34 Pier Street.
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