30 March, 2012 - 27 October, 2012
Festival Theatre, Chichester, West Sussex

Theatre-lovers make an annual pilgrimage to this picturesque West Sussex town to enjoy a selection of prestigious productions, featuring an impressive roll call of West End stars.

The main Festival Theatre was built in 1962; the smaller, more intimate Minerva Theatre was added nearby in 1989. The inaugural artistic director of the Chichester Festival was Sir Laurence Olivier, and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed, prior to its transfer to the Old Vic in London.

Under the directorship of Jonathan Church, the annual attendance has soared to over 175,000.

In 2012 Chichester Theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary, launching with Uncle Vanya, starring Roger Allam, Dervla Kirwan and Timothy West. Subsequent productions include  William Congreve's The Way of the World, starring Penelope Keith, and world premieres of Hugh Whitemore's Suez crisis play A Marvellous Year for Plums and Michael Wynne's camping comedy Canvas.

There is a production of Cole Porter's perennially popular musical Kiss me Kate, Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bernard Shaw's Heart Break House starring Derek Jacobi, and an Alan Ayckbourn double bill - Suprises and Absurd Person Singular. The Festival also showcases William Shakespeare, with Antony and Cleopatra, featuring Kim Cattrall and Michael Pennington. A season of outstanding drama is rounded off with a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives.

 

http://www.cft.org.uk

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