Tale of infamous Rolling Stones drugs bust hits the Chichester Festival Theatre stage

SussexWorld

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.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt,

00:05Griep Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.

00:07Lovely, as always, to speak to Justin Odie-Bair,

00:10Artistic Director at Chichester Festival Theatre

00:12and the Director of Redlands.

00:14And I can't remember the last time I looked forward

00:17to a Chichester Festival Theatre show quite so much.

00:19It's the story of the infamous Rolling Stones

00:22drugs bust in 1967, just near Chichester

00:25and its implications.

00:27And goodness, it sounds such an interesting play

00:30and impactful too.

00:31It's a really important moment in our history, isn't it?

00:36Yes, it is.

00:37I mean, that's really why I wanted to programme it

00:39because it's the most Chichester story imaginable.

00:43So many people in Chichester remember the event

00:45or have heard legend of it.

00:46And obviously, you know, the place,

00:50Redlands Lane still exists, et cetera, et cetera.

00:52Yes, but it's also a story of national significance

00:58because it did lead to a change in how rock and roll

01:03and the counterculture was considered nationally.

01:05So it's a brilliant thing.

01:06It does two things.

01:07It enters the story locally, but it has huge resonance.

01:12And I just have to say, the play is wonderful fun.

01:17You see the whole story through the eyes and perspective

01:20of a 17-year-old Nigel Havers,

01:23whose father it was, Michael Havers,

01:24who later becomes the Attorney General,

01:26who was the lawyer who defended,

01:28who took the case on and defended the Rolling Stones.

01:32And it just, it's joy and it's fun.

01:37It's got a real, it's about society, society then,

01:41but I think society now and about questions

01:44of kind of press and morality and, you know,

01:47what we consider acceptable as a society, but it is joyful.

01:54But the really interesting thing is

01:56that the Establishment Order terribly misunderestimated

02:01the degree of support that there would be for the Stones.

02:04Yeah.

02:05That's what sent the shockwave, wasn't it?

02:08Yeah, absolutely.

02:09I mean, when they was, I'm spoiling the story,

02:12I'm not really, but when they were convicted,

02:16when they were convicted,

02:18there were huge protests and vigils

02:20and suddenly this enormous wave of public support.

02:25And the famous moment after the kind of popular uprising

02:31is the editorial in the Times the next day,

02:33where it talks about crushing Mick Jagger

02:35like a butterfly on the wheel,

02:37the quote from Alexander Pope.

02:38And from the Times, no less.

02:41And from the Times, no less.

02:42And suddenly everyone starts to see rock and roll

02:46and the Rolling Stones, personally, in a different light.

02:50And it's amazing.

02:51Yeah, it's just an amazing moment in our culture.

02:54Absolutely.

02:55And the lovely thing your playwright, Charlotte,

02:56was telling me is you have personally managed

02:59to secure permission to use four

03:01Rolling Stones originals in the piece.

03:03That is something, isn't it?

03:05Yes, we're really over the moon to be able

03:10to bring some of Mick and Keith's original compositions

03:15to life for our audiences here in Chichester.

03:20And that's about the feeling of what we want to create

03:24is the feeling that you're back in 1967.

03:27And everything we do in the show is about that.

03:30The fashion, the clothes, the costumes, the design.

03:35And actually, I think it's worth saying

03:37that Chichester in the 1960s,

03:42our theatre was built in 1962.

03:45And it was a very revolutionary theatre design at the time.

03:49And we are really leaning into all the amazing things

03:52that were happening in Chichester in the 1960s.

03:54Isn't that funny that the theatre is exactly as old

03:56as the Rolling Stones are as a band?

03:58Yeah.

03:59Yeah, it feels like a great bit of synergy.

04:02Brilliant.

04:03Well, really lovely to speak to you.

04:04Congratulations on the play.

04:06Looking forward to it.

04:08Can't wait for you to see it, Phil.

04:09Thanks.

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