ON May 5, 2006, the new season at the Chichester Festival Theatre opens with a new play by Richard Everett, Entertaining Angels, with Penelope Keith and Benjamin Whitrow.

Chichester Festival Theatre is to the theatre what Glyndebourne is to the opera – a charming venue, which is set in an expanse of greensward that every year has a festival of plays; all of which may not be good but are always interesting and usually thought-provoking.

Chichester itself is a charming old town in West Sussex and well worth a visit in its own right; nearby is Goodwood Racecourse for the sporty, Selsey the Sussex Downs for the energetic.

The theatre was the vision of a local optician and councillor, Leslie Evershed Martin, who in the early 1960’s motivated community members to raise over £100,000 to build the theatre, relying entirely on local donations. (He describes the creation of the theatre in his excellent book, The Impossible Theatre).

The theatre is controlled by a board of Trustees and a social committee who appoint an artistic director to run the theatre and oversee the Festival.

It opened on July 3, 1962 under the direction of Sir Laurence Olivier with three classical plays, The Chances by John Fletcher, The Broken Heart by John Ford (in which a subsequent director of the theatre, Keith Michell appeared) and a much acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov’ in which Olivier starred in the company of Sir Michael Redgrave, Dame Sybil Thorndike, Fay Compton, Joan Greenwood and Joan Plowright (Lady Olivier).

So the scene was set for prestigious productions, lit up by the theatrical luminaries of the time, which has continued to the present day.

The early Festival Theatre ambience, although attractive, was somewhat makeshift, the administrative staff finding desks wherever they could and the restaurant housed in what could only be described as a “made over” greenhouse.

Over the years things have become more streamlined, the administration is properly housed and, in 1989, an ancillary theatre and restaurant block ,The Minerva, was opened opposite the main house allowing the production of more experimental plays and intimate musicals in its auditorium.

Starting with Uncle Vanya many Chichester productions have transferred to the West End, most particularly in the Eighties and Nineties when Duncan Weldon and Triumph productions became associated with the theatre, attracting international stars of the calibre of Rex Harrison to appear in the festival productions.

When after three years Olivier gave up his directorship to concentrate on The National Theatre, John Clements, a noted actor /manager of his day, took over and increased the number of plays produced annually, from three to four which number has been maintained up to and including the current season where the four productions in the main house are Entertaining Angels (May 5 to 27), Carousel (June 5 – September 1); The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (parts 1 and 2) (June 24 – September 2) and Pravda (September 8 –23) – three straight plays and a musical.

Entertaining Angels is a brand new comedy by Richard Everett in which a clergyman’s widow ( Penelope Keith) is forced to confront the truth about her marriage. A part which seems admirably suited for this talented actress.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is based on the book of Charles Dickens and is in two parts on separate nights, although on one or two occasions it’s possible to catch both parts on the same day. (There is a ticket price reduction for those booking for both performances). This has not been produced since the award-winning Royal Shakespeare Company’s production in 1980 and although no cast has yet been announced, it should be an interesting, if possibly daunting, theatrical experience.

Pravda is a collaboration between Howard Brenton and David Hare which was first produced at The National Theatre in 1985 to great success. It’s a satire on the press during the Thatcher era and may have relevance to today’s Fleet Street approach to the news and “alleged” scandals.

Carousel is, of course, the much-loved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about a mill girl’s disastrous love for a fairground barker and is considered by many (including the authors) as their best work.

The score includes If I Loved You, June Is Busting Out All Over, the Twin Soliloquies and the now over hackneyed You’ll Never Walk Alone.

The custom of including a musical in the season’s programme was initiated by Patrick Garland when he took over from Peter Dews as Artistic director in 1981, when he directed the Mitford Girls (Ned Sherrin, Caryl Brahams and Peter Greenwell) and Roger Redfern in Underneath The Arches, an affectionate and nostalgic look at the career of Flanagan and Allen.

Since then, most seasons programmes have included a musical revival, if not in the main house then in The Minerva. The most recent being Out Of This World (the first production of this Porter musical in the UK) and last year’s brilliant How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

To revert to this year, the Minerva’s programme includes Terrence Rattigan’s In Praise of Love (June 9 – July 8), Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30 (JUly 13 – September 2) and to close on a more sombre note, Strindberg’s The Father (September 7 – 30).

In Praise of Love was Terence Rattigan’s last play. Produced in 1973 with Donald Sinden and Joan Greenwood it consists of two one act plays, After Lydia and Before Dawn. These examine the questions of honesty and integrity in love and how right is it to withhold a truth from your partner on the basis that honesty may be too painful to bear.

Rattigan is supposed to got his inspiration for the plays from Rex Harrison’s determined and successful efforts to keep his wife, Kay Kendall, from finding out that she was dying of leukaemia until the last moment.

Tonight at 8.30 is performed in two separate parts, The Astonished Heart (part 1) and Shadow Play (part 2) (with a discount for booking both). Each part comprises three one act plays taken from the original Tonight at 8.30 in which Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence had one of their greatest success in 1935.

Coward wrote the one act plays (there were originally nine) to display their respective talents and to alleviate the boredom of playing the same part every night in a more conventional piece.

The three chosen for The Astonished Heart evening are The Astonished Heart (which subsequently was expanded into a screenplay filmed with Coward and Margaret Leighton) about the problems of a psychiatrist; Family Album, a cynical piece of Victorian nostalgia with songs and Red Peppers, (also with songs) about two has-been Music Hall artists.

Shadow Play (the second part) comprises the title play which is a sophisticated look at a couple’s reminiscences on their affaire; Hands Across the Sea (allegedly based on the Mountbattens) that deals with the confusion which arises when people one has met and casually asked to “pop in” actually do, and Fumed Oak where a down trodden husband rebels.

This selection of Cowardiana follows in the footsteps of the other successful Chichester productions of his works, not the least being the Coward /Porter revue Let’s Do It in 1994 which enticed Pat Kirkwood back to the stage, so one has great hopes for these two evenings.

Strindberg’s The Father concerns a family wrecked by the parents’ dissent over their daughters future and is a play which can be both amusing and at the same time horrifyingly tragic; where seemingly trivial disputes escalate out of control with disastrous consequences.

Once again, one is offered an interesting and varied festival and I, for one, await with interest the announcement of the casting, which has yet to come.

If last year was anything to go by, I don’t imagine I, or you, will be disappointed but watch this space for the reviews.

Chichester Festival Theatre box office: 01243 781312.

THE FATHER
September: 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 (2:15pm), 13 (7:45pm), 14, 15, 16 (2:15pm), 16 (7:45pm), 18, 19, 20, 21 (2:15pm), 21 (7:45pm), 22, 23 (2:15pm), 23 (7:45pm), 25, 26, 27 (2:15pm), 27 (7:45pm), 28, 29, 30 (2:15pm), 30 (7:45pm)

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