Chichester Festival Theatre Announce 2014 Schedule
Today is like our own second Christmas… when we get a bunch of gifts to enjoy throughout the year. Today Chichester Festival Theatre announced their 2014 season and it’s a wealth of treats to celebrate the re-opening of the main theatre! We’ll break the season down in full over the weekend but click below for our round up of the highlights.
The season opens at the end of April in the Minerva with a revival of Hugh Whitemore’s ‘Stevie’. A celebration of English pet/novelist Stevie Smith and her unconventional life. Starring Zoë Wanamaker in the title role and with a cast also featuring Lynda Baron & Chris Larkin.
The Minerva will also play host to a trio of world premieres, David Haig’s ‘Pressure’ and ‘Taken At Midnight’ by Mark Hayhurst both touch on aspects of the Second World War, while ‘Pitcairn’follows Fletcher Christian’s story after he and his crew mutiny and is written by Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors).
The theatre will be celebrating the work of Peter Shaffer, his one act farce ‘Black Comedy’ plays alongside Rebecca Lenciewicz’ new version of August Strindberg’s ‘Miss Julie’ in the Minerva while across the road Rupert Everett will don his finest powdered wig as Salieri in ‘Amadeus’.
As always the public will be treated to fresh takes on classsic musicals and this year the Festival Theatre is letting lose with the big guns. August sees ‘Guys and Dolls’ in the newly renovated theatre, with Chichester favourite Peter Polycarpou as Nathan Detroit. October brings with it a real treat as Imelda Staunton returns to the theatre to take on one of the great female musical roles in Gypsy. Lara Pulver and Kevin Whately will also feature in what promises to be a very special production.
Patricia Routledge will appear in Oscar Wilde’s ‘An Ideal Husband’, Dervla Kirwan features in ‘Frankie & Johnny In The Clair de Lune’ and, as always, the season closes with a family show from the Festival Youth Theatre who this year perform a brand new production of ‘101 Dalmations’.
We’ll delve into the entire season in more detail over the weekend, so be sure to check back! For now head over to http://www.cft.org.uk/ for more info.
