Chichester Festival Theatre

Last updated

Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 1760414.jpg
The Festival Theatre in March 2010.
Open Street Map Chichester.svg
Red pog.svg
Chichester Festival Theatre
Location of the Festival Theatre within Chichester
Address Oaklands Park
Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6AP
England
Coordinates 50°50′35″N0°46′39″W / 50.843048°N 0.777390°W / 50.843048; -0.777390
Designation Grade II* listed
Capacity
  • Festival Theatre: 1206
  • Minerva Theatre: 283
Construction
Opened1962 (1962)
Architect Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya
Website
www.cft.org.uk

Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. [1] Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. The smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989.

Contents

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 National Theatre's base at the Old Vic in London. The opening productions [2] in 1962 were: The Chances by John Fletcher (first production 1638) which opened on 3 July; The Broken Heart (1633), by John Ford, opened 9 July; Uncle Vanya (1896), by Anton Chekov, opened 16 July. Among the actors [3] in the opening season were: Lewis Casson, Fay Compton, Joan Greenwood, Rosemary Harris, Kathleen Harrison, Keith Michell, André Morell, John Neville, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Michael Redgrave, Athene Seyler, Sybil Thorndike and Peter Woodthorpe.

The Festival Season usually runs from April to October and includes productions from classics to contemporary writing and musicals, reaching an audience of 230,000. Productions originated at Chichester frequently transfer to London or tour nationally and internationally.

A range of additional events is designed to add to the experience of visiting the theatre, including performances, cabarets, family days, tours and talks. Through the winter months, the Theatre presents touring productions and a Christmas show mounted by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre. The Theatre runs a large and active Learning, Education and Participation programme for all ages; its Youth Theatre is one of the largest in the country, with over 800 members.

The Theatre is a registered charity and is chaired by Mark Foster. Justin Audibert has been the artistic director since April 2023, sharing the leadership of the theatre with Executive Director Kathy Bourne. [4]

History

Leslie Evershed-Martin drew parallels between Chichester and the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario and concluded that Chichester could sustain a theatre similar to the Stratford Festival. [5] Evershed-Martin contacted Laurence Olivier via Tyrone Guthrie and offered him directorship of the new theatre. [5] Olivier directed the theatre until 1966, when John Clements took over. [6]

Artistic directors

Laurence Olivier, first director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, in 1961 Laurence Olivier - 1961 - Boston.jpg
Laurence Olivier, first director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, in 1961

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Tutin</span> British actress (1930–2001)

Dame Dorothy Tutin, was an English actress of stage, film and television. For her work in the theatre, she won two Olivier Awards and two Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress. She was made a CBE in 1967 and a Dame (DBE) in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Redgrave</span> English actor (1908-1985)

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE was an English actor and filmmaker. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), as well as two BAFTA nominations for Best British Actor for his performances in The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Time Without Pity (1957).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal National Theatre</span> Theatre in London, England

The Royal National Theatreof Great Britain, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT) within the UK and as the National Theatre of Great Britain internationally, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England. The theatre was founded by the actor Laurence Olivier in 1963, and many well-known actors have performed with it since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Shakespeare Company</span> British theatre company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Callow</span> British actor (born 1949)

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow is an English actor. He is the voice of Poetry Pete in the children's televisions series Sarah & Duck. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Pennington</span> British actor (born 1943)

Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has written ten books, directed in the UK, US, Romania and Japan, and is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is popularly known as Moff Jerjerrod in the original Star Wars trilogy film Return of the Jedi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Glen</span> Scottish actor

Iain Alan Sutherland Glen is a Scottish actor. He has appeared as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the Resident Evil film series (2004–2016) and as Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019). Other notable film and television roles include John Hanning Speke in Mountains of the Moon (1990), Larry Winters in Silent Scream (1990) for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival, Manfred Powell in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Brother John in Song for a Raggy Boy (2003), the title role in Jack Taylor (2010–2016), Sir Richard Carlisle in Downton Abbey (2011), James Willett in Eye in the Sky (2015), and Bruce Wayne in Titans (2019–2021).

Leslie Eric Evershed-Martin, CBE (1903–1991) was a British theatre manager, city councillor and optician, and founder of the Chichester Festival Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Garland</span> British director, writer, and actor (1935–2013)

Patrick Ewart Garland was a British director, writer and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Michell</span> Australian-British actor (1926–2015)

Keith Joseph Michell was an Australian actor who worked primarily in the United Kingdom, and was best known for his television and film portrayals of King Henry VIII. He appeared extensively in Shakespeare and other classics and musicals in Britain, and was also in several Broadway productions. He was an artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in the 1970s and later had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote as the charming thief Dennis Stanton. He was also known for illustrating a collection of Jeremy Lloyd's poems Captain Beaky, and singing the title song from the associated album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Hands</span> English theatre director (1941–2020)

Terence David Hands was a multi-award English theatre director. He founded the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirteen years during one of the company's most successful periods; he spent 25 years in all with the RSC. He also saved Clwyd Theatr Cymru from closure and turned it into the most successful theatre in Wales in his seventeen years as Artistic Director. He received several Olivier, Tony and Molière awards and nominations for directing and lighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Blakemore</span> Australian actor (1928–2023)

Michael Howell Blakemore AO OBE was an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for Best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Caird (director)</span> English theatre director and writer (born 1948)

John Newport Caird is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was for many years a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and is the principal guest director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten).

Lia Williams is an English actress and director, on stage, in film and television. She has had television roles in The Crown, in May 33rd (2004) for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, and in The Missing (2016), Kiri (2016), His Dark Materials (2019–2022) and The Capture (2019–2021).

Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, is one of the United Kingdom's flagship theatres with an international reputation for quality and innovation. The following is a chronological list of the Chichester Festival production history of productions that have been staged since its inception.

David Hugh Jones was an English stage, television and film director.

Michael Rudman was an American theatre director.

Sir Gregory Doran is an English director known for his Shakespearean work. The Sunday Times called him 'one of the great Shakespearians of his generation'.

Michael Elliott, OBE was an English theatre and television director. He was a founding director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurier Lister</span>

George Laurier Lister, OBE was an English theatre writer, actor, director and producer, best known for a series of revues presented in London in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was later associated with Laurence Olivier in the West End and at the Chichester Festival. From 1964 to 1975 he was director and administrator of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.

References

  1. Historic England. "Chichester Festival Theatre (1323693)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. Festival - The Stage is Set, 1962
  3. Festival - The Stage is Set, 1962
  4. Wiegand, Chris (19 January 2023). "Chichester Festival theatre appoints Justin Audibert as new artistic director". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  5. 1 2 Billington, Michael (29 May 2014). "Olivier, Laurence Kerr, Baron Olivier". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/38623. ISBN   978-0-19-861412-8.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. Taylor, John Russell (1970). The Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-14-051033-1.
  7. 1 2 "Patrick Garland to be remembered at Chichester Cathedral". Chichester Observer . 7 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  8. "Rudman, Michael Edward" . Who's Who . A & C Black. 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U33398.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. Brown, Mark (2 December 2015). "Daniel Evans chosen to succeed Jonathan Church as artistic director at Chichester". The Guardian . Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  10. "Justin Audibert appointed as our next Artistic Director". Chichester Festival Theatre. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.

Further reading