Stage: Chichester highlights
Winter brings a feast of entertainment to Chichester Festival Theatre. Here are just three of the highlights of this fabulous season.
THE MESSIAH
An hilarious Christmas comedy that promises to be the funniest and most magical Nativity you will ever see. A travelling theatre troupe of two actors and an opera singer arrive by camel in the ancient town of Chichester to masterfully enact the greatest story every told.
Directly prior to the West End, this new comedy of Biblical proportions, written by the Olivier Award-winning writer Patrick Barlow (The 39 Steps), sees Hugh Dennis, opera star Lesley Garrett and John Marquez play a cast of thousands in a comedy that conjures the sublime, the ridiculous and the angelic.
Festival Theatre, 12 – 17 November
A comedy of biblical proportions
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block and he’s in dire need of inspiration. Then he meets the beguiling Viola de Lesseps, who is prepared to do anything – including risking the frosty disapproval of Queen Elizabeth I – to fulfil her illicit dream of performing on the London stage.
This adaptation by Lee Hall of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s multi award-winning classic, with music by Paddy Cunneen, is exuberant, witty, funny, and a beautiful homage to love, art, and the theatre itself.
Festival Theatre, 20 – 24 November
THE NIGHTINGALES
One of the UK’s best-loved stars, Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey, The Street) makes a rare stage appearance in an intriguing new comedy by actor/playwright William Gaminara (Silent Witness, The Archers, An Enemy of the People), directed by Christopher Luscombe (Love’s Labour’s Lost & Much Ado About Nothing).
When the local acappella group gather in the village hall they have every reason to look forward to their weekly rehearsal. Whatever their differences, all are happily bound together in their shared love of music. The two hours of laughter and harmonies fly by. Until one day newcomer Maggie knocks on the door and everything changes…
Festival Theatre, 27 Nov – 1 Dec
01243 781312, cft.org.uk
