Chichester Festival Theatre announces 60th anniversary season
Image credit: Bob King Creative
Chichester Festival Theatre’s Festival 2022, along with a roster of special events to mark its 60th anniversary season, has been announced today.
Three musicals will be performed at the theatre. Susan Stroman will make her Chichester debut directing and choreographing the previously reported revival of musical comedy Crazy For You, with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Ken Ludwig, with Charlie Stemp returning to Chichester to lead the cast. Based on the Bill Forsyth film, Local Hero features a book by David Greig and music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler, and will be directed by Daniel Evans. Finally, the previously announced The Famous Five: A New Musical, based on books by Enid Blyton, with music and lyrics by Theo Jamieson and book by Elinor Cook, is directed by Tamara Harvey in a co-production with Theatr Clwyd.
There will also be five new plays, including three delayed from 2020. As previously announced, new plays by Kate Mosse and Alecky Blythe open the season: The Taxidermist’s Daughter, directed by Róisín McBrinn, and Our Generation, a co-production with the National Theatre, directed by Daniel Evans. Mark Gatiss will direct Steven Moffat’s The Unfriend, starring Amanda Abbington, Frances Barber and Reece Shearsmith. Christopher Shinn’s The Narcissist will be directed by Josh Seymour, and finally, Stephen Beresford’s The Southbury Child, with Alex Jennings, will be directed by Nicholas Hytner in a co-production with The Bridge Theatre.
Henry Goodman will play Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, adapted by Ken Ludwig and directed by Jonathan Church, one of several modern dramas performed at Chichester this year. Nicole Charles recreates her acclaimed Chichester production of Roy Williams’ Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads in the Minerva Theatre, and Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind will be directed by Justin Martin.
Chichester Festival Youth Theatre present Alan Bennett’s adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, with music and additional lyrics by Jeremy Sams, for Christmas.
Digital Stages will feature six dynamic digital events to celebrate Chichester Festival Theatre across the decades. Using new technology to put the history of CFT centre stage, these special events will be released over CFT’s birthday week in July for audiences across the globe. These events include virtual reality tours of the theatre, a digital diorama and a huge online performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For more information and to book tickets, please click here.