As reported last night, artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, Daniel Evans, will depart next year to head to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He will join Theatre Clywd artistic director Tamara Harvey as co-artistic directors of the RSC, starting in June 2023.
Chichester put out a statement today about the move, with Mark Foster, Chairman of Chichester Festival Theatre, saying: “Daniel has been an inspiring, creative and charismatic Artistic Director. The remarkable range of superb productions under his tenure has brought joy and stimulation to huge numbers of people – not only in person, but to many more who have discovered Chichester’s work digitally or in the community. He leaves behind a thriving institution producing the highest quality work and everyone at CFT will miss him, professionally and personally; his new role at the RSC is ample testament to his talent and ability. The Board will shortly begin the process of recruiting his successor, and the Theatre is in the very good hands of our Executive Director Kathy Bourne. She joins me and the Board in offering Daniel our thanks for his work at Chichester, and our warmest congratulations and good wishes for his new role.”
Evans will leave Chichester at the end of April 2023
Daniel Evans said: “I will leave CFT with immense gratitude and sadness. I have loved my time with the organisation – and owe a huge debt to the staff, artists and audiences who have come together over the years to create inspirational theatre experiences for our communities. I want to pay a particular tribute to Kathy Bourne, who has been the best partner any artistic director could ask for. She is kind, tenacious, funny and forward-thinking – and, together with the leadership team, led the company through the challenges of Covid-19 with grace and humour. I will miss her and the entire team enormously, and feel proud of all the work we’ve achieved together to continue the extraordinary legacy of CFT.”
Daniel Evans joined Chichester Festival Theatre in 2016, and whilst at the theatre he has delivered 17 world premieres including award-winning Caroline, Or Change which went to the West End and Broadway, Roy Williams’s Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, and a digital-live hybrid production of Sarah Kane’s Crave and Ian McKellen’s King Lear. He has also produced a slew of musicals, including record-breaking Fiddler on the Roof with Omid Djalili, South Pacific with Julian Ovenden and Gina Beck, and Susan Stroman’s five-star production of Crazy for You. Other successes include King Lear with Ian McKellen, James Graham’s Quiz; and Laura Wade’s The Watsons.
The RSC currently has Matilda The Musical playing in the West End, at the Cambridge Theatre; and major new show My Neighbour Totoro starts performances next month at the Barbican Theatre.
