Stage: Chichester’s festival excitement
Rupert Everett plays Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s production of Amadeus
Photo: Karl Lagerfeld
A star-studded new season of top performances
Each year the announcement of Chichester Festival Theatre’s programme is greeted with much excitement but this year will be particularly special as it sees the re-opening of the main auditorium after a £22 million refurbishment.
The major improvements to the Grade II* listed building will greatly enhance the experience of audiences, actors and creative teams visiting the Festival Theatre. With a transformed auditorium, increased seating capacity of 1,300, more spacious foyer areas with new cafés, bars and outdoor terraces, as well as improved and expanded artist facilities, Chichester Festival Theatre’s high artistic reputation will now be matched by world-class spaces.
The first Festival Theatre production will be Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus directed by Jonathan Church with Rupert Everett as Salieri. Everett recently played Oscar Wilde in a production that saw the actor in a role that truly exploited his talent. Here was a Wilde debased and exhausted by his trials; not the usual quipping eccentric genius that so many actors have given us. Everett’s Wilde, like his Henry Higgins, showed that a role like the embittered Salieri is surely within his grasp.
Photo: Magnus Hastings
A celebration of Peter Shaffer’s work will be at the heart of the season, which also features Black Comedy and a host of special events.
Three world premieres will also reveal undiscovered histories through compelling dramas: Pitcairn by Richard Bean, Pressure by David Haig and Taken At Midnight by Mark Hayhurst.
And there are two new adaptations to round out the season: Miss Julie by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Bryony Lavery.
Photo: Catherine Ashmore
Of course we have all come to expect great Broadway musicals from the CFT season and this year, to mark Festival Theatre reopening, we will not be disappointed.
Guys And Dolls will be directed by Gordon Greenberg, choreographed by Carlos Acosta, who are both making their Chichester debuts. The incredible Imelda Stauntion returns after her breathtaking performance as Mrs Lovett in CFT’s Sweeney Todd in 2012. This year she takes on the demanding role of Mama Rose in Gypsy which will be directed by Jonathan Kent, choreographed by CFT regular, the talented Stephen Mearand joined on stage by Lara Pulver as Louise and Kevin Whately as Herbie.
Other leading actors taking part in Festival 2014 include Lynda Baron, Rosalie Craig, Clare Foster, David Haig, Dervla Kirwan, Chris Larkin, Jamie Parker, Peter Polycarpou, Patricia Routledge, Malcolm Sinclair, Sophie Thompson, Zoë Wanamaker and Penelope Wilton, making this celebratory season a truly star studded one.
