A look back at the 2024 Chichester Festival Theatre summer

SussexWorld

It’s been a year of monumental successes and a year of learning as Chichester Festival Theatre artistic director Justin Audibert looks back on his first summer season in charge.

Transcript

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

00:06huge pleasure to speak to Justin Noby, the Artistic Director at Chichester Festival Theatre.

00:10We're talking about the fact that you've just come to the end of your first season,

00:14the season where it was all yours, and you must be very proud of some massive,

00:18massive successes in this summer. What really stands out when you look back?

00:23Well, thank you very much, Phil. I am very proud of the season, and what's delightful for me is

00:33how much it feels that audiences in Chichester and West Sussex in general have responded to the work,

00:43and they've been coming back, and we've seen that with our footfall and, you know,

00:47in the kind of vibe and spirit of the building, which is great.

00:49I suppose, if I was picking out highlights, I'd have to start with Oliver, because it was,

00:56you know, our most successful musical ever, played to 92% capacity, you know, led by the

01:04brilliant Sir Matthew Bourne, and with Les Bronson designing it, you know, it was an absolute dream,

01:11and I'm sure...

01:12Well, you're saying that it's not brilliant material, but you still got to deliver it,

01:15You still got to deliver it, and, you know, they were a great cast. I mean, Simon Lipkin gave a

01:19fantastic Fagin, Sinead was brilliant as Nancy. I mean, I think it was a real...

01:24It was really moving.

01:26Yeah, it was really moving. So, obviously, very proud of that musical, because you have to deliver

01:31that here. It's the thing that Chichester's famous for, but I'm just as proud...

01:34Bit of real daring at the end, Redlands.

01:37Bit of real daring at the end.

01:38Well, so, I'm just, exactly, I'm just proud of what we did with the house party, and the excitement,

01:43and the thrill, and the vivacity that that production had. You know, I think when you

01:47were in that room, there was a real electricity, and everyone was on the edge of their seats,

01:51and the tension rising in their stomach. And, of course, you know, landing Redlands,

01:56this very local story, a brand new play, on the Festival Theatre, and, you know,

02:03landing Redlands, this very local story, a brand new play, on the Festival Theatre, and seeing the

02:09kind of numbers of audience that we had for that. And everybody, at the end of that, being up on

02:13their feet, having a good boogie in the aisles to just fantastic music. That was, you know,

02:20I won't forget that. I, you know, being on the last night of Redlands will be one of those that

02:25I will never forget, because that's what it built to. You know, we could have actually run that show

02:30for more weeks, because we, you know, it just, the momentum kept growing, and growing, and growing

02:35with the audiences. And you look back, an astonishing variety across the season, particularly

02:40in the Minerva. Yes, I mean... Really brilliant changes, didn't you? Yeah, so we, you know, from

02:46The Spy Came In From The Cold, and the kind of brilliant political thriller that that was,

02:51and the first ever Le Carre adapted for the stage, to, you know, the kind of laugh, laugh a minute,

02:56slapstick of The Cat and The Canary, to, you know, looking at The Caretaker, and, you know,

03:02trying to look at this absolute modern classic in a slightly different way. There was, yeah,

03:07I mean, my aim was to provide something for everyone. And I think, on the whole, we did that,

03:15you know, with all of these things, you take learnings into the next season, and think about

03:20how you might balance things. But we were, yeah, we were really happy as a team. So this experience

03:26is really shaping what you'll be announcing for next February. And it's almost there in your mind,

03:31isn't it? Almost? It's almost there. As I was saying to you before, I've got eight of my nine.

03:38And the last one I'm in talks about, but I'm, you know, I'm not quite committing yet. But

03:44what's great is because we're in this position, actually, there'll be a quite a raft of exciting

03:49casting when we announce alongside, because we're a bit ahead, really. So easier a second

03:55time than is it with the experience under your belt? It's, you know, I don't know if it's

04:01easy, because I feel just as much pressure. And I want to do the thing of, you know, I don't want

04:08to lose the audiences that we had last year. But I also, you know, I'm thinking about how can we add

04:12to them? How can we grow them? What are the things we're not doing? So within that, you know, there

04:17are a big set of challenges. And of course, next year, we will have The Nest as well, our new 120

04:24seat studio theatre, which is much more aimed at experimental work and new audiences. And that's

04:34going to add another kind of dynamic in the organisation, but a dynamic that I have to say,

04:40our team are really excited about, like, they want to deliver this slightly, you know, more hunk

04:50theatre that you can do in a space like The Nest, which, you know, frankly,

04:53our audiences expect a certain calibre of production values in the Minerva and Festival

04:58Theatre, quite rightly. But you know, what's lovely is The Nest gives us a chance to go,

05:02what are the basics of storytelling, you know, performer, minimal lighting and sound,

05:08telling a story. It will be a fabulous edition.

05:12Justin, congratulations on a brilliant first season. Thank you. Thank you.

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