We’re absolutely delighted to announce that Justin Audibert has been appointed as our new Artistic Director. Head to our website to read the full story
Thrilling and emotional to have the company and band of
#FlowersForMrsHarris
filling our stage again, thanks to composer Richard Taylor who’s making this cast album happen. A joy and privilege to host.
We’re thrilled to announce that on Thursday 9 April you can watch the⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘heartwarming’ (
@Guardianstage
) and ‘Enchanting’ (Sunday Express)
#FlowersForMrsHarris
from our Festival 2018 season on the CFT website
An incredibly special member of today's audience. Betta St John played Liat in the original 1949 Broadway & 1951 West End productions! Here she is meeting our Liat, Sera Maehara
Casting update! We’re delighted that following the happy news that
@Gina_Beck
is pregnant, she’ll open as Nellie Forbush in
#SouthPacific
as planned from 5 July, then
@alexdeboo
will share the role from 5 August & take over full-time from 23 August
ANNOUNCEMENT: We are sad to announce that due to the unpredictable ongoing nature of Covid-19, we have made the very difficult decision to cancel all scheduled Festival 2020 productions. Please read the full statement here:
We open with Sarah Kane’s
#Crave
, directed by
@TinuCraig
, staged in a socially distanced Festival Theatre for 10 performances & live streamed to global digital audiences. The cast includes Erin Doherty & Alfred Enoch making their Chichester debuts
#Autumn2020
📸
@seamusphoto
.
@DanielGwynEvans
and
@KathyBourne6
have announced
#Festival2020
: five world premieres, two musicals & major revivals of great modern dramas. We have a 50:50 gender playwright balance; 60:40 female directors; and tickets frozen at 2019 prices.
Today's the day! We could not be more excited to be reopening our doors tonight for
#Crave
- our first performance in 252 days. There's still time to join us in person, or you can catch live streamed performances from Saturday!
Tonight we
#LighItInRed
as part of the
@LightItInRed
national campaign to shine a light at this critical time and to stand in solidarity with all of our colleagues in the arts & live events industries ❤
"We are all thrilled, & frankly relieved to say with a full heart & a professionally supported voice, that here in Chichester, theatre is back!" Thank you
@julianovenden
- just a snippet to capture what was a magical evening for the 1st preview of
#SouthPacific
#BackOnStage
🧡
Drum roll please 🥁 It’s time to announce Festival 2023! We have a fantastic range of plays and musicals, including a handful of world premieres and renowned plays which have never been performed at CFT before.
Before we head to lunch on the first day of rehearsals, we caught up with
@RealMattLucas
, Caroline Quentin and
@alexdeboo
about how the morning's gone so far...
#MeAndMyGirl
"Once you get down Lambeth way, ev'ry evening, ev'ry day, you'll find yourself doin' the Lambeth walk!" If seeing
@RealMattLucas
@alexdeboo
& the whole cast of
@DanielEvansCFT
's
#MeAndMyGirl
in action doesn't get you dancing, we don't know what will!
Our relaxed performance of our summer musical Me and My Girl is on 25 July at 2.30pm. Here's
@RealMattLucas
and Caroline Quentin telling you more about the performance
💻Watch
#FlowersForMrsHarris
for free online from today for 30 days. ‘You will laugh, you may cry, you may even gasp’ (
@thetimes
) Let us know if you’re watching and share your reviews with us from home 💐
1996 brought an all-star cast to the Festival Theatre in Priestley’s When We Are Married. Audiences queued to see Dawn French, Alison Steadman, Annette Badland, Paul Copley, Gary Waldhorn & Roger Lloyd Pack, and the show transferred to the West End. 📸 Robbie Jack
#LoveCFT
While we're still closed to visitors and have had to cancel our regular building tours, we thought we'd host a virtual one instead! On Friday 24 July at 1pm, join CFT tour guide Lottie on our Instagram for a live Q&A as she takes you behind the scenes of the Festival Theatre.
A beautiful morning for Her Majesty The Queen to visit CFT. Here’s the moment
@DanielEvansCFT
and
@Rachel_Tackley
welcomed our royal visitor to the building
OOOOOOKLAHOMA...rehearsal trailer is here! Take a look at our all-singing, all-dancing summer spectacular, the
#Rodgers
&Hammerstein classic Oklahoma! Make sure you turn the sound up to get a first listen to the title track from our wonderful company too! 🤠☀️
#OklahomaMusical
📢We're holding open auditions! If you live within a 25 mile radius of CFT, and have completed professional training and/or have professional theatre acting experience we want to hear from you. You can find all the details and the application here:
The company of
#ThisIsMyFamily
welcomed a special guest at tonight's performance: Tim Firth's collaborator on Calendar Girls and The Band,
@GaryBarlow
!
#TT30
The reviews are in for The Unfriend! And it’s ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from
@whatsonstage
for
@SWmoff
hilarious theatre debut, directed by
@Markgatiss
There are still a few tickets available for this new “killer comedy” so don’t miss your chance to see it 🎟️
We’re delighted to announce the full cast & creative team for our live & digital production of Sarah Kane’s
#Crave
. Wendy Kweh and Jonathan Slinger join Erin Doherty and Alfred Enoch in
@TinuCraig
’s production, running 29 Oct – 7 Nov. General booking opens tomorrow!
Our brilliant lighting team helped turn
@ChiCathedral
blue tonight, in support of our front-line health workers and the NHS. (Although you may wish to see the Cathedral in person, please respect the social distancing guidance.) 👏👏👏
#ClapForOurCarers
#Chichester
Tonight we’ll join venues across the world for the
@LightItInRed
Global Day of Action, supporting freelancers, suppliers & all those who continue to be at risk in the wider theatre & events industry. Share your photos with hashtag
#LightItInRed
#WeMakeEvents
Exciting news! We've been busy making plans with our friends
@NewParkCinema
for a drive-in cinema event over the August bank holiday weekend. Subject to government guidelines, but all being well we hope to put tickets on sale from 30 July. Read more here:
Understandably we've been receiving messages regarding performances following the PM's announcement this evening. As we're still processing what this means for us, we ask all ticketholders to please bear with us. We'll update once we know more and have plans in place.
Today we say goodbye to the company of Rodgers & Hammerstein's
#SouthPacific
😭- We'd like to wish them a fantastic last show - it has been a joy to have this company with us and to be
#BackOnStage
this summer...
We welcomed HM The Queen. We won gold Beautiful South awards for Access & Inclusivity and Tourism Experience. Announced a West End transfer for
#Quiz
. And
#FiddlerOnTheRoof
was nominated for Best Musical Revival in the Whatsonstage Awards. All in all, quite a week!
Check out our awesome production pics for 4000 Miles! We’ve had some last minute returns for tomorrow’s press night at 7pm – a handful of tickets available from £10 (or if you’re aged 16-30 you can grab a Prologue ticket for just £5!)
📸 Manuel Harlan
🥳We're delighted to have the company of
#SouthPacific
down with us in
#Chichester
ahead of the first preview on 5 July!! We hope you have a brilliant time with us & we can't wait to see the show 😍 (BTW we couldn't tag the full company as there are so many people!)
Amy Herzog's award-winning drama 4,000 Miles opens the Minerva season. Eileen Atkins makes a long-awaited return to Chichester with Heartstopper’s
@SebastianCroft
playing her grandson. Richard Eyre directs.
Glorious. Glorious.
And ever shall be
Happy
So happy
Happy and free.
A massive congratulations to the entire company of Crave who finished their run this evening. We have loved having you with us for the past few weeks and have a show back on our stage! Thank you thank you ❤️
"A life without flowers ain't any sorta life."
Our production trailer for the 'Elegant and heart-felt'
@WhatsOnStage
, Flowers For Mrs Harris is here with Clare Burt,
@garywilmotactor
and Joanna Riding.
This new musical, directed by
@DanielEvansCFT
runs until 29 September.
2018’s Me and My Girl saw Matt Lucas, Caroline Quentin, Clive Rowe & Alex Young leading the company in a riotous rendition of The Lambeth Walk in this uproarious tale of a Cockney barrow boy who finds himself part of the aristocracy. 📸 Johan Persson
#LoveCFT
We look forward to welcoming you back with South Pacific and we’re considering how we can help our community in the meantime. Our very best wishes to all our supporters, audiences, artists & colleagues. Please keep in touch on social media, we’d love to hear from you. Stay well.
What a fantastic time we’ve had with our first musical of the season! We hope the entire company of Assassins have a wonderful final show – it's not too late for one last hotdog🌭
With a big thank you to Genesis Town Planning for their generous support of the show 👏
Spring is here, and so are our wonderful company for 4000 Miles 🌞The perfect sunny start to rehearsals! If you’re aged 16-30, and haven’t already booked your £5 Prologue ticket, this is a reminder to grab yours now 🎟
Today was the
#sitzprobe
for
#SouthPacific
and it was such a joy to hear the band strike up & those songs sung in the Theatre! We cannot wait to share this musical with you, first preview is this Monday, 5 July! Tickets from £10
#BackOnStage
Au revoir to the
#FlowersForMrsHarris
company, thank you for teaching us that "there's more to life than you ever dreamed."
Audiences have loved it, critics have too. There’s been a tear, there’s been a cry and we’ll miss you through and through!
Congratulations to the company of
#CrazyForYou
& everyone who made this show possible. We’ve loved having it on our stage, bringing five star, ‘Pure, unadulterated joy’. A big thank you to all who came to CFT this summer to share in the magic!
“Hold on for the big finish!”💕🏜️
Today’s the day we get to share with you what’s in store for Festival 2024, Justin’s first season as Artistic Director! Head to our website to discover all of the treats we have in store.
It's
#PressNight
for
#SouthPacific
and we'd just like to wish the entire cast, crew & everyone who has been a part of this production a wonderful evening as they open
#Festival2021
and celebrate being
#BackOnStage
. Have the most Enchanted of Evenings 💐🧡🏖️
We've had a lot of very kind messages over the last 24 hours and just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone for your support. It means a huge amount to all of us here at the Theatre.
Today may not be a 'bright golden day' ☔️ but we have Amara Okereke who plays Laurey in our big summer musical Oklahoma! to brighten it up. We chatted to Amara at the
#Festival2019
brochure shoot all about
#OklahomaMusical
and which of the songs she's most excited to sing! ☀️🤠🎶
Congratulations to the company of Flowers For Mrs Harris on their press night tonight! Not a dry eye in the room; enjoy the celebrations tonight.
And a huge happy birthday to the wonderful Clare Burt! Wishing you all the birthday love.
#FlowersForMrsHarris
The triumphant reopening of the Festival Theatre after redevelopment in 2014 was crowned by Imelda Staunton’s indelible performance in Gypsy. Jonathan Kent’s multi award-winning production also starred Kevin Whateley & Lara Pulver 📸 Johan Persson
#LoveCFT
We can't wait to welcome you back soon for
#Autumn2020
. Join Artistic & Executive Directors
@DanielGwynEvans
&
@KathyBourne6
to see what's changed since your last visit before tickets for our brand new season go on sale this week
This
#LoveTheatreDay
we're sending love and virtual hugs to all of our staff, freelancers and audiences wherever you may be! It's been a funny old year but thank you to everyone who's been with us along the way ❤️