Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new season for 2014, with some big-hitting shows and stars set to appear, and a number of shows with West End transfer potential.
Stars lined up for the new season include Rupert Everett, Imelda Staunton, Sophie Thompson, Peter Polycarpou, David Haig, Penelope Wilton, Rosalie Craig, Zoë Wanamaker, Patricia Routledge and Dervla Kirwan.
Chichester Festival Theatre’s artistic director Jonathan Church has announced his plans for the 2014 season.
The Festival Theatre will reopen in July after a £22 million refurb with a revival of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus starring Rupert Everett as Salieri and directed by Jonathan Church.
Peter Shaffer’s work is set to dominate this season, with a revival of his 1965 farce Black Comedy planned, and a number of special events and rehearsed readings.
Long associated with big musicals, Chichester will present two major Broadway hitters this year. Jonathan Kent will work with Imelda Staunton again following their collaboration on Sweeney Todd, to present a new revival of Gypsy, featuring choreography by Stephen Mear and starring Staunton as Mama Rose, Lara Pulver as Louise and Kevin Whately as Herbie.
The theatre will also revive Guys and Dolls, directed by Gordon Greenberg and with choreography by award-winning dancer Carlos Acosta. The cast features Clare Foster as Sarah Brown, Jamie Parker as Sky Masterson, Peter Polycarpou as Nathan Detroit and Sophie Thompson as Miss Adelaide.
Also running in the 2014 season will be three brand new dramas: Pitcairn by Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guv’nors), Pressure by David Haig and Taken At Midnight by Mark Hayhurst.
Richard Bean’s new play Pitcairn explores the fallout from the mutiny on the Bounty with salty humour and growing horror, and will be directed by Max Stafford-Clark.
Pressure by David Haig, who will also star in the play alongside Malcolm Sinclair, tells the little known true story of a Scottish meteorologist’s crucial role in determining the outcome of the 1944 June D-Day landings.
Taken At Midnight by Mark Hayhurst uncovers the harrowing true story of Hans Litten, a celebrated lawyer in 1930s Germany, who famously put Hitler on the witness stand, with devastating consequences. The cast includes Penelope Wilton and will be directed by Jonathan Church.
The theatre will also present two new adaptations of classic plays: Miss Julie adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and The Hundred and One Dalmatians adapted by Bryony Lavery.
The new version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz will star Rosalie Craig (The Light Princess), and will be paired with Black Comedy as a double-bill.
Bryony Lavery’s new adaptation of The Hundred and One Dalmatians will be staged by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre directed by Dale Rooks.
Other productions include Zoë Wanamaker playing the title role in Stevie, Hugh Whitemore’s play about poet Stevie Smith, alongside Lynda Baron and Chris Larkin; Dervla Kirwan will star in bittersweet romance Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune by Terrence McNally; and Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband starring Patricia Routledge, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.
BOOK
Book tickets to Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre starring Imelda Staunton
CHICHESTER FESTIVAL 2014 – LISTINGS
STEVIE by Hugh Whitemore
Director: Christopher Morahan
24 April – 24 May, Minerva Theatre
PRESSURE by David Haig
Director: John Dove
31 May – 28 June, Minerva Theatre
A co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
MISS JULIE by August Strindberg in a new version by Rebecca Lenkiewicz
BLACK COMEDY by Peter Shaffer
Director: Jamie Glover
4 July – 9 August, Minerva Theatre
AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer
Director: Jonathan Church
12 July – 2 August, Festival Theatre
GUYS AND DOLLS
A musical fable of Broadway based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon
Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
Director: Gordon Greenberg
11 August – 21 September, Festival Theatre
PITCAIRN by Richard Bean
Director: Max Stafford-Clark
22 August – 20 September, Minerva Theatre
A co-production with Out of Joint and Shakespeare’s Globe
TAKEN AT MIDNIGHT by Mark Hayhurst
Director: Jonathan Church
26 September – 25 October, Minerva Theatre
GYPSY
A MUSICAL FABLE
Book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Director: Jonathan Kent
6 October – 8 November, Festival Theatre
FRANKIE & JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE by Terrence McNally
6 November – 6 December, Minerva Theatre
AN IDEAL HUSBAND by Oscar Wilde
Director: Rachel Kavanaugh
21 November – 13 December, Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Youth Theatre
THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS by Dodie Smith
in a new adaptation by Bryony Lavery
Director: Dale Rooks
20 December – 3 January, Festival Theatre
BOOK
Book tickets to Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre starring Imelda Staunton
LINKS
Chichester Festival Theatre website
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