Summer 2025 at Chichester Festival Theatre

SussexWorld

New season unveiled - Justin talks us through the productions.

Transcript

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

00:06is probably one of the most exciting moments in the year, isn't it? Justin Odie-Bair,

00:11Chichester Festival Theatre Artistic Director, unveiling your second season at Chichester.

00:16Last year was brilliant, so varied. This year, goodness, you have spread the net so widely,

00:21haven't you? It's a really inventive, really intriguing season. You must be pleased with

00:26what you've put together for us. Hi Phil, great to talk, as always. Thank you. Yes,

00:33I'm really proud of this season. I think it's incredibly eclectic and we are bringing stories

00:41from all around the world of the highest quality, with fantastic artists leading them to Chichester.

00:51I think you always benefit, last year went well. It was a good, I think a good start.

00:57And because of that, then word gets around and suddenly, you know, more ideas, more artists

01:05come towards you. And that's been really amazing. And it's also, Phil, partly because they know

01:13that they get appreciated by our audiences in Chichester. Like, people turn up and people

01:19are so supportive and care. Absolutely. And you were saying last year, to an extent,

01:23was you showing us what your taste is. And I asked you just now, is this year even more

01:27Justin than last year? And you said yes. What does that mean? Because you're going everywhere

01:31with this. Last year was an England focus. Absolutely international this year, isn't it?

01:36It's really international. And there's a focus on, in the Festival Theatre, my idea last year

01:44was about shows that have big scale, big spectacle, big theatricality within them.

01:48So we're really building on that. And I would say the three plays in the Festival Theatre in

01:54particular, you see the whole world on that Festival Theatre stage, or the whole slice of

01:59society on that Festival Theatre stage. And you see within that, you see the good, the bad, the

02:05ugly, the funny, the tragic in humanity. And that is what I really want to achieve. And what's so,

02:13where we're so lucky is then over in the Minerva, I can really, you know, actually

02:17four of the five shows in the Minerva next year will be new plays, either world premieres or

02:24European premieres. And that's not many theatres can support that kind of work. And we're so lucky

02:31that the Minerva has such a passion, the Chichester audience has such a passion in the Minerva for

02:37new work. Absolutely. And you're saying one of the lessons that you've learned is the number

02:41one slot is tricky. And your lesson was you want to give us a laugh. And you're absolutely going to

02:47do that with The Government Inspector, aren't you, to kick off the season on the main house?

02:51Yes. As you say, there are few plays that give you the belly laughs of The Government Inspector,

02:59because you watch a whole town of people fall over themselves to flatter, seduce,

03:06bribe this one man. And there is nothing more intriguing than watching them all do that,

03:12and the person take complete advantage of it and end up in a ludicrous situation.

03:16And bribing to cover their own corruption. Absolutely. Which will strike a chord perhaps,

03:21won't it, maybe? I would say a play about corruption probably always strikes a chord.

03:28But at the moment, I think people will enjoy laughing about it. Because, you know, we've

03:33lived through various forms of corruption. And seeing it in such a brilliantly set up,

03:39comedic way is just wonderful. And goodness, the ambition behind doing Anna Karenina on the stage.

03:48Yeah, so we open the season with a play by Ukrainian Nikolai Gogol. And then the second

03:53play obviously, is based on Tolstoy, an amazing Russian masterpiece. And Phil Breen has written

03:59and adapted, has adapted it, and is directing it. In the way that you see the world on stage

04:08from a comic point of view, in The Government Inspector, you see the world on stage in Anna

04:12Karenina as well. But the difference here is it's, it's that moment when life in the village meets

04:19the life in the city because of the invention of the train. And that enables or I don't know,

04:27that's what enables, you know, Anna's inner turmoil to, you know, it's because of the

04:35invention of the train that Anna is in this situation where she ends up torn between her

04:39head and her heart. And the kind of the absolute, you know, the passions to have the affair with

04:45Vronsky rather than stay in her relationship with Karenin.

04:47And a pretty cool bit of casting, just drop it in.

04:51Yeah, I mean, we are over the moon to be bringing Natalie Dormer to Chichester Festival Theatre.

04:56You will know her from The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones and countless other things.

05:01And she's that, it's such an, it's one of the, you know, lots of people say Anna Karenina is

05:08their favourite novel. And part of the reason for that is, I would argue, it's one of the

05:13greatest explorations of what it is to be human that exists in the canon. And Phil's adaptation

05:21is so amazing because it feels completely contemporary whilst being in the period.

05:29You feel like you're inside Anna's mind, you're with her as she is in this dilemma of,

05:36if I do this thing that my heart is telling me to do, I will destroy everything around me.

05:41It sounds a fantastic prospect. And you talk about people's favourite novels. Well,

05:45I've heard plenty of people say The Lord of the Flies is theirs.

05:49And you're serving that to really strengthen your connections with university, college,

05:53school audiences. It's an amazing book, isn't it? It's a rather grim one.

05:59Yes, it's an absolutely amazing book. And people come back to it time and time again. And there's

06:02also a BBC TV app station that's going to come out as well this year. It's come back. It is

06:09because it is one of the great stories about man's inhumanity to man. And yet, it's funny and

06:17vibrant and energetic and loads of other things. And bit by bit, you fall into this descent,

06:24these boys. And I do think in the festival theatre, this will pack an incredible punch.

06:30Like you should feel like you're trapped on the island marooned. And around you is chaos and

06:35carnage. And how are you going to get out? You're saying it beautifully just now,

06:39you go in the main house season from the belly laughs to the punch in the gut.

06:44That's the journey I want. The belly gut, the heart rend. And then we obviously haven't spoken

06:51yet about the musical. Yeah, everybody, our reputation here at Chichester for this musical

06:57and what it has to deliver, and the quality could not be higher. It's a pressure.

07:03But I'm delighted to say that this year it will be top hat. And, you know, the Irving Berlin's

07:11amazing film, but the stage adaptation of it. And it's directed by Kathleen Marshall,

07:17who is an American director, choreographer, world class director, choreographer,

07:22who, you know, brightened everybody's lockdown times with her blistering production of Anything

07:28Goes at the Barbican that was then screened nationwide. And the joy that you feel from

07:35seeing 30 people on stage tap dancing, you know, that should be absolute ecstasy for our audiences.

07:43And I know that she will direct that with such precision and care and flair.

07:50And it sounds fabulous. And you look through the season, you think, what are the headlines?

07:53And it's all of its headlines. But one of the big headlines inevitably is the Festival Theatre's

07:59very own first Hamlet. Never happened before. Never done your own Hamlet before.

08:05So no, we, in the history, in the 63 years of Chichester Festival Theatre, we've never produced

08:10Hamlet in the season. And so I am... That's staggering, isn't it? There's no reason, but...

08:17No, we've done three Antony and Cleopatra's, but we've never done Hamlet, which seems bizarre to me.

08:23And that was not why I'm doing it, though. And actually, this is one that I'm directing myself,

08:30it's on my bucket list of plays, just like The Caretaker was last year.

08:36But it's a play for this moment because we're in a moment of flux and turmoil and being able to be

08:42in the Minerva and you should feel like you are facing all these dilemmas that Hamlet is facing.

08:50When do I act? What do I do? Do I seek revenge? Do I seek peace? You know, it will be incredible

08:58in that room, as will the electrifying moment of a sword fight in the Minerva, like that sword

09:04fight at the end in the Minerva. That sounds brilliant. And you were suggesting you don't

09:07do Hamlet because you want to do Hamlet, you do Hamlet because you have got your Hamlet

09:12and you have got... I've got Giles Torreira, who is one of the most brilliant actors working in,

09:20theatre actors working in the United Kingdom today. Obviously won Olivier for his portrayal

09:24of Aaron Burr in Hamilton, won the Critics Circle Award for his portrayal of Othello at

09:30the National Theatre. And it feels like the moment for him to take this role. And everything about

09:36Hamlet should feel like a thriller, a thriller. You should, in the audience, be on the edge of

09:41your seat going, what's he going to do next? You know, and I hope that counts for people that have

09:45seen the show 10 times to someone who's seeing it for the very first time. You should have that

09:50absolute electricity. Well, we'll talk about all the other plays in due course, but how does it

09:56feel to have announced this, to be on the point of announcing? Is it relief? Is it excitement?

10:02It's a little bit of both. Going back to your first question, I do feel like, at the moment,

10:13all of these shows I cannot wait to see actualised. And this, interestingly, I think

10:18because I'm only directing one, that there's a, for me, on a personal level, that's great,

10:23because actually I will see them a bit more fully in some ways. You know, doing The Caretaker

10:29meant that, doing two shows, doing Caretaker and Redlands, meant that there were bits where I was,

10:34you know, I'm trying to be in two places at once a lot. Actually, I don't have to do that at all

10:37this year. So that's, there's something really pleasing about that. You know, yeah.

10:43Fantastic. Well, congratulations. Sincere congratulations. It all looks mouth-watering

10:47and it looks so, I'd say, finely balanced. It looks very, very appealing. Congratulations.

10:53And as always, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you.

10:56Thanks, Phil. Lovely to speak to you too. Speak soon.

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