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Tale of infamous Rolling Stones drugs bust hits the Chichester Festival Theatre stage
SussexWorld
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13/09/2024
Redlands, the tale of the infamous Rolling Stones drugs bust just near Chichester back in 1967, brings the Chichester Festival Theatre main-house summer season to a conclusion.
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00:00
Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt,
00:05
Griep Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.
00:07
Lovely, as always, to speak to Justin Odie-Bair,
00:10
Artistic Director at Chichester Festival Theatre
00:12
and the Director of Redlands.
00:14
And I can't remember the last time I looked forward
00:17
to a Chichester Festival Theatre show quite so much.
00:19
It's the story of the infamous Rolling Stones
00:22
drugs bust in 1967, just near Chichester
00:25
and its implications.
00:27
And goodness, it sounds such an interesting play
00:30
and impactful too.
00:31
It's a really important moment in our history, isn't it?
00:36
Yes, it is.
00:37
I mean, that's really why I wanted to programme it
00:39
because it's the most Chichester story imaginable.
00:43
So many people in Chichester remember the event
00:45
or have heard legend of it.
00:46
And obviously, you know, the place,
00:50
Redlands Lane still exists, et cetera, et cetera.
00:52
Yes, but it's also a story of national significance
00:58
because it did lead to a change in how rock and roll
01:03
and the counterculture was considered nationally.
01:05
So it's a brilliant thing.
01:06
It does two things.
01:07
It enters the story locally, but it has huge resonance.
01:12
And I just have to say, the play is wonderful fun.
01:17
You see the whole story through the eyes and perspective
01:20
of a 17-year-old Nigel Havers,
01:23
whose father it was, Michael Havers,
01:24
who later becomes the Attorney General,
01:26
who was the lawyer who defended,
01:28
who took the case on and defended the Rolling Stones.
01:32
And it just, it's joy and it's fun.
01:37
It's got a real, it's about society, society then,
01:41
but I think society now and about questions
01:44
of kind of press and morality and, you know,
01:47
what we consider acceptable as a society, but it is joyful.
01:54
But the really interesting thing is
01:56
that the Establishment Order terribly misunderestimated
02:01
the degree of support that there would be for the Stones.
02:04
Yeah.
02:05
That's what sent the shockwave, wasn't it?
02:08
Yeah, absolutely.
02:09
I mean, when they was, I'm spoiling the story,
02:12
I'm not really, but when they were convicted,
02:16
when they were convicted,
02:18
there were huge protests and vigils
02:20
and suddenly this enormous wave of public support.
02:25
And the famous moment after the kind of popular uprising
02:31
is the editorial in the Times the next day,
02:33
where it talks about crushing Mick Jagger
02:35
like a butterfly on the wheel,
02:37
the quote from Alexander Pope.
02:38
And from the Times, no less.
02:41
And from the Times, no less.
02:42
And suddenly everyone starts to see rock and roll
02:46
and the Rolling Stones, personally, in a different light.
02:50
And it's amazing.
02:51
Yeah, it's just an amazing moment in our culture.
02:54
Absolutely.
02:55
And the lovely thing your playwright, Charlotte,
02:56
was telling me is you have personally managed
02:59
to secure permission to use four
03:01
Rolling Stones originals in the piece.
03:03
That is something, isn't it?
03:05
Yes, we're really over the moon to be able
03:10
to bring some of Mick and Keith's original compositions
03:15
to life for our audiences here in Chichester.
03:20
And that's about the feeling of what we want to create
03:24
is the feeling that you're back in 1967.
03:27
And everything we do in the show is about that.
03:30
The fashion, the clothes, the costumes, the design.
03:35
And actually, I think it's worth saying
03:37
that Chichester in the 1960s,
03:42
our theatre was built in 1962.
03:45
And it was a very revolutionary theatre design at the time.
03:49
And we are really leaning into all the amazing things
03:52
that were happening in Chichester in the 1960s.
03:54
Isn't that funny that the theatre is exactly as old
03:56
as the Rolling Stones are as a band?
03:58
Yeah.
03:59
Yeah, it feels like a great bit of synergy.
04:02
Brilliant.
04:03
Well, really lovely to speak to you.
04:04
Congratulations on the play.
04:06
Looking forward to it.
04:08
Can't wait for you to see it, Phil.
04:09
Thanks.
Recommended
3:20
|
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