Chichester Festival Theatre will be marking its 50th anniversary this year with a season “that echoes and acknowledges the past while also looking to the future.” The season includes work from influential Chichester directors, including Philip Franks, Trevor Nunn and Jonathan Kent, and features many much-loved regular actors, including Penelope Keith, Michael Pennington and Roger Allam.
The first production is Michael Frayn’s adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in the Minerva, which was an important landmark in the theatre’s first season in 1962. Jeremy Herrin directs and Roger Allam, Dervla Kirwin and Timothy West star.
Another Chichester landmark, William Congreve’s Restoration comedy The Way of the World, will be revived by Rachel Kavanaugh starring Penelope Keith as Lady Wishfort. Shakespeare is represented by Janet Suzman’s production of Antony and Cleopatra with Sex and the City‘s Kim Cattrall alongside Michael Pennington. This co-production with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse was first staged in 2010.
Further classics include Toby Stephens and Anna Chancellor as Elyot and Amanda in Noel Coward’s masterpiece Private Lives directed by Jonathan Kent. Richard Clifford directs George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House starring Derek Jacobi and Henry Goodman plays the title role in Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui directed by Chichester Festival Theatre artistic director Jonathan Church.
Chichester favourite Alan Ayckbourne presents a new play, Surprises, playing in rep alongside Absurd Person Singular. The only musical this season is a revival of Cole Porter’s Taming of the Shrew-influenced musical Kiss Me, Kate. Trevor Nunn directs and Stephen Mear choreographs. Chichester’s highly successful 2011 productions of Sweeney Todd and Singin’ in the Rain will shortly be transferring to the West End.
New writing in the Festival Theatre is represented by A Marvellous Year for Plums by Hugh Whitemore and directed by Philip Franks. This political thriller deals with the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the political and emotional crises of Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his cabinet. In the Minerva, Angus Jackson directs the premiere of Canvas by Michael Wynne, a comedy of modern life about a camping holiday.
Looking towards the future, eclectic new work by young directors will be staged at a temporary venue The Fly, in a nod to the Minerva’s predecessor The Tent. Three young directors will present a debut production in this temporary venue designed by Assemble, who specialise in temporary arts structures made from recycled materials.
For further information, dates and tickets, visit the Chichester Festival Theatre website.