Chichester Festival Theatre
Encyclopedia
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester
, England
, was designed by Philip Powell
and Hidalgo Moya
, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin
in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre
was built nearby in 1989.
The inaugural Artistic Director
was Sir Laurence Olivier
, and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed. Chichester's productions would transfer to the NT
's base at the Old Vic
in London
.
The Festival Season
runs from April to September and includes productions from classics to contemporary writing and musicals.
During this time the theatre also puts on outdoor promenade performances and organises other festival events including cabaret
and comedy nights. A range of events is designed to add to the experience of visiting the theatre, including Platform Events, Family Days and Talks.
The Theatre is currently run as a registered charity is chaired by Lord Young of Graffham.
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was designed by Philip Powell
Philip Powell (architect)
Sir Arnold Joseph Philip Powell , usually known as Philip Powell, was a ground-breaking English post-war architect.He was educated at Epsom College and then the Architectural Association....
and Hidalgo Moya
Hidalgo Moya
John Hidalgo Moya , sometimes known as Jacko Moya, was a famous American-born architect who worked largely in England. Moya was a native of California where he was born to an English mother and Mexican father but lived in England since he was an infant. He formed the architectural practice Powell &...
, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin
Leslie Evershed-Martin
Leslie Evershed-Martin, OBE was a British theatre impresario, city councillor and optician.He was born in Clapham, London in 1903. He was twice Mayor of Chichesterand founded the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1962. He was married with...
in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre
Minerva Theatre, Chichester
The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
was built nearby in 1989.
The inaugural Artistic Director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
was Sir Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed. Chichester's productions would transfer to the NT
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
's base at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The Festival Season
Chichester Festival production history
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, is one of the United Kingdom's flagship theatres with an international reputation for quality and innovation...
runs from April to September and includes productions from classics to contemporary writing and musicals.
During this time the theatre also puts on outdoor promenade performances and organises other festival events including cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
and comedy nights. A range of events is designed to add to the experience of visiting the theatre, including Platform Events, Family Days and Talks.
The Theatre is currently run as a registered charity is chaired by Lord Young of Graffham.
Artistic directors
- Sir Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
(1962–1965) - Sir John ClementsJohn ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
(1966–1973) - Keith MichellKeith MichellKeith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...
(1974–1977) - Peter DewsPeter Dews (director)Peter Dews was an English stage director.Born and educated in Wakefield, Yorkshire he then took an M.A. at University College, Oxford...
(1978–1980) - Patrick GarlandPatrick Garlandthumb|right|200pxPatrick Garland is a British actor, writer, and director.Garland started Poetry International in 1963 with Ted Hughes and Charles Osborne. He was a director and producer for the BBC's Music and Arts Department , and worked on its Monitor series...
(1981–1984) - John GaleJohn Gale (UK director)John Gale is an English stage director.He succeeded Patrick Garland as the sixth artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1985. He directed five Festival seasons until 1989....
(1985–1989) - Michael RudmanMichael RudmanMichael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
(1990) - Patrick GarlandPatrick Garlandthumb|right|200pxPatrick Garland is a British actor, writer, and director.Garland started Poetry International in 1963 with Ted Hughes and Charles Osborne. He was a director and producer for the BBC's Music and Arts Department , and worked on its Monitor series...
(1991–1994) - Sir Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
and Duncan C. Weldon (1995–1997) - Andrew Welch (1998–2002)
- Martin Duncan, Ruth Mackenzie and Steven PimlottSteven PimlottSteven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
(2003–2005) - Jonathan ChurchJonathan ChurchJonathan Church is a British stage director.He is the son of the actor Tony Church and the actress Marielaine Douglas.Church was the artistic director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and since 2006 he has been the artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre.-References:...
(2006 to date)
Festival 2011
Festival 2011 runs from 9 May - 5 November- Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...
- directed by Trevor NunnTrevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera... - Singin' in the RainSingin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
- by Betty ComdenBetty ComdenBetty Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century...
, Adolph GreenAdolph GreenAdolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during the genre's heyday...
, Nacio Herb BrownNacio Herb BrownNacio Herb Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores, and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s.-Biography:...
and Arthur FreedArthur FreedArthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
, directed by Jonathan ChurchJonathan ChurchJonathan Church is a British stage director.He is the son of the actor Tony Church and the actress Marielaine Douglas.Church was the artistic director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and since 2006 he has been the artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre.-References:...
, with Adam CooperAdam Cooper (dancer)Adam Cooper is an English dancer, choreographer and theatre director who has worked in many fields of dance. He is most noted as a dancer of classical ballet and is a former Principal of the Royal Ballet, a major international ballet company based in London...
, Scarlet Strallen and Daniel Crossley - The Deep Blue Sea - by Terence RattiganTerence RattiganSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
, directed by Philip FranksPhilip FranksPhilip Franks is an English actor and director best known for his roles as tax inspector Cedric "Charley" Charlton in the British sitcom The Darling Buds of May, and Sgt. Raymond Craddock on Heartbeat. He has also made guest appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, Pie in the Sky, Midsomer Murders and... - Rattigan's Nijinsky - by Nicholas WrightNicholas Wright (playwright)Nicholas Wright is a British dramatist. He opened and ran the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and is a former literary manager and associate director of the Royal National Theatre. Wright began acting as a child, and trained at The...
, directed by Philip FranksPhilip FranksPhilip Franks is an English actor and director best known for his roles as tax inspector Cedric "Charley" Charlton in the British sitcom The Darling Buds of May, and Sgt. Raymond Craddock on Heartbeat. He has also made guest appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, Pie in the Sky, Midsomer Murders and... - Sweeney ToddSweeney ToddSweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
- by Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
and Hugh WheelerHugh WheelerHugh Callingham Wheeler was an English-born playwright, screenwriter, librettist, poet, and translator. He resided in the United States from 1934 until his death and became a naturalized citizen in 1942. He had attended London University.Under the noms de plume Patrick Quentin, Q...
, directed by Jonathan KentJonathan Kent (director)Jonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002.-Early life:...
, with Michael BallMichael Ball (singer)Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
and Imelda StauntonImelda StauntonImelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake... - She Loves MeShe Loves MeShe Loves Me is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The musical is the fifth adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, following the 1940 James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan film The Shop around the Corner and the...
- by Joe MasteroffJoe Masteroff-Career:Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Masteroff graduated from Temple University and served with the United States Air Force during World War II...
, Jerry BockJerry BockJerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof with...
and Sheldon HarnickSheldon HarnickSheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
, directed & choregraphed by Stephen MearStephen MearStephen Mear is an English dancer and choreographer best known for his award-winning work in musical theatre. In 2005, Mear and co-choreographer Matthew Bourne won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography, for their work on the new West End musical Mary Poppins...
, with Joe McFadden and Dianne PilkingtonDianne PilkingtonDianne Lesley Pilkington is an English theatre actress and singer.- Life :Pilkington was born in Wigan. She trained at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating in 1997 with the Principal's Award.... - Top GirlsTop GirlsTop Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It is about a woman named Marlene, a career-driven woman who is employed at the 'Top Girls' employment agency. The play examines issues of gender discrimination present in the Thatcherite society that it is set in...
- by Caryl ChurchillCaryl ChurchillCaryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...
, directed by Max Stafford-ClarkMax Stafford-ClarkMaxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart Stafford-Clark is an English Theatre Director.-Life and career:He went to school at Felsted and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He has worked as a theatre director since he left Trinity College, Dublin.His directing career began as associate director of...
, with Stella GonetStella GonetStella Gonet is a Scottish theatre, film and TV actress.- Career :Gonet trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and is known for playing Beatrice Eliott, one of the two lead roles, in three series of the television drama, The House Of Eliott and Chief Executive Officer Jayne...
, Suranne JonesSuranne JonesSuranne Jones is an English actress. She first rose to prominence playing the role of Karen McDonald in ITV1's soap opera Coronation Street over a period of four years...
, Lucy BriersLucy BriersLucy Briers is an English actress. She has received critical praise for her many film, television, and stage roles, including the premiere of Best Friends & Butterflies.-Personal life:...
, Catherine McCormackCatherine McCormackCatherine McCormack is an English actress, known for her stage acting as well as her screen performances in films such as Braveheart, Spy Game and Dangerous Beauty.- Early life :... - The SyndicateThe SyndicateThe Syndicate, built in 1907, is a building that has stood as a historic landmark in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The detailed Terracotta ornamentation still stands out as a significant glimpse into the style of an earlier time. The building declined in the 1950s and 1960s and became vacant in...
by Eduardo de FilippoEduardo De FilippoEduardo De Filippo was an Italian actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria.-Biography:...
, in a new version by Mike PoultonMike PoultonMike Poulton is an English translator and adapter of classic plays for contemporary audiences.Poulton began his career in 1995 with Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Ivan Turgenev's Fortune's Fool, which were staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre, the former with Derek Jacobi, the latter with...
, dirtected by Sean MathiasSean MathiasSean Gerard Mathias is a British theatre director, film director, writer and actor.Mathias was born in Swansea, south Wales. He is known for directing the film, Bent, and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney...
, with Ian McKellenIan McKellenSir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
and Michael PenningtonMichael PenningtonMichael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company... - South DownsSouth DownsThe South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
by David HareDavid Hare (playwright)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
, directed by Jeremy HerrinJeremy HerrinJeremy Herrin is an English theatre director and currently the Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre in London. He trained as a theatre director at both the Royal Court and the National Theatre...
/The Browning Version by Terence RattiganTerence RattiganSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
, directed by Angus Jackson (double bill)