Chichester Festival Theatre promising the “pick” of what’s out there this winter

SussexWorld

As the Chichester Festival Theatre winter season goes on sale, CFT artistic Justin Audibert says we can expect it to offer echoes of the shows we have enjoyed this summer.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always a

00:06real pleasure to speak to Justin O'Debare, Festival Theatre Artistic Director, and talking

00:10today about the fact that the winter season has been released. Now, you've started to

00:16put a greater emphasis on the winter season, haven't you? And it's such a lovely contrast

00:20to everything I produce for the summer. And then for the winter, you spread your tentacles,

00:25you look out, and you bring the very best of what's out there to Chichester. Exciting

00:30time, isn't it, to move from the summer into the winter?

00:33Yeah, you put that brilliantly actually, Phil. That's the aim, is that we go, what's complementary

00:40in the winter to what we've already shown you in the summer? And that really ranges,

00:46you know, it ranges from kind of big comedies that we might want to have, you know, in those

00:52dark winter months, to kind of thrillers or literary adaptations, or, you know, musicals

00:59that maybe we wouldn't sit in our summer season, but which we know are brilliant quality and

01:05we know our audience is like. And then the other little added gem that you can do is

01:11to put in one-nighters, you know, and that ranges from the BBC Orchestra, to stand-up

01:16comedians, to, you know, like national treasure actors doing their shows about their lives,

01:22you know, and it's the kind of breadth that is so exciting. And then we come back to our

01:30festive programme, which includes our brilliant CFYT Christmas show, which is Cinderella this

01:37year, directed by Jon Pashley, who did Midsummer Night's Dream, The Promenade performance last

01:44year, and adapted by Philip Wilson. So very excited about that. And our very own Dale

01:50Rooks is doing Hey Christmas Tree, which is a brand new piece, written by Vicki Berwick,

01:57in collaboration with Michael Morpurgo.

01:58And last year, you really upped the emphasis on Christmas. And you're doing it again this

02:04year, aren't you?

02:05Yeah, because, you know, it feels so important to be able to really be a venue that can bring

02:12people together in that time. And seeing the building full of families and children,

02:18grandparents, great-grandparents, mums, dads, everybody, it's just a lovely experience. We

02:24have, as you know, Phil, got The Real Father Christmas coming back again this year to

02:29elect children. That's a coup. Yeah, he's come back this year. So you can come and experience

02:36our bespoke grotto where The Real Father Christmas and his elves are. And yes, it just,

02:43it kind of brings joy and wonder and a little bit of magic.

02:46And it's such a lovely contrast, isn't it? When you think of the summer, you're watching

02:49these big shows grow over a number of weeks. But winter, it comes thick and fast, doesn't

02:53it?

02:54Yeah, it does. And it is, you know, it is remarkable how our audiences, you know, just

03:04come back and back and back week in, week out. And it's like kind of just such a staple.

03:08And we are really grateful of how supportive our audiences are. And the brilliant thing

03:13that that does is means that every show wants to come to Chichester for the winter season.

03:18So we get the pick of the kind of most exciting things.

03:20Fantastic. Well, it's a great season, Justin. Congratulations. Looking forward to seeing

03:25almost all of it. Thank you.

03:27Thanks, Phil.

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