Sam's new chapter after 29 happy years at Chichester Festival Theatre

SussexWorld

After a hugely enjoyable 29 years at Chichester Festival Theatre, technical director Sam Garner-Gibbons begins work as the new technical and production director at Glyndebourne.

Transcript

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

00:06lovely to speak to Sam Garner-Gibbons, but it's a sad and exciting time, both because

00:12you are leaving Chichester Festival Theatre after 29 years and taking up a similar role

00:17at some Glyndebourne.

00:20That's right, very much. Yes, it definitely feels like, I don't know, it's tinged with

00:27sadness, this move, because I've loved working in Chichester for all these years. I'll be

00:33sad to leave the theatre and to leave the town. But, you know, sometimes opportunities

00:39come knocking and it felt like I had one more building in me, so let's give it a go.

00:45And at the risk of asking a really stupid question, what made Glyndebourne so appealing?

00:51I think it's a mixture of it being a bit like Chichester, a slightly crazy thing, you know,

00:57world-class theatre in a little market city. And Glyndebourne is a world-class opera in

01:06the wilds of the countryside of Lewes, surrounded by sheep. So there's this sense of almost

01:13like a folly, something completely bonkers to do. So there's a great similarity there

01:17and a festival model of producing a summer festival of work. So that's familiar, but

01:22also something entirely different, a different part of the sector, opera, which has not been

01:27something I've done nine months of opera. So it's a very new art form for me. So that's

01:34sort of interesting and exciting as I probably get towards the end of my career to do something

01:39wildly different, but still with a little bit of familiarity.

01:42And you're saying one big difference with Glyndebourne would be a much more international

01:46perspective. Your first day at work will be in Barcelona, of all places.

01:51Yes, I suppose for opera, people often talk about opera operating at a larger scale than

01:58theatre. And it sort of is because it's part of a slightly bigger ecosystem of sort of

02:03European and international opera houses. So there's a slightly broader remit and probably

02:09some exciting travel along the way as well, which will be really interesting to go and

02:14see work around Europe and around the world.

02:16As you prepare to move on from the Festival Theatre, mention again some of the things

02:19that you've absolutely loved about being at the Festival Theatre for 29 years. What's

02:25made it so special?

02:26Well, I mean, it has been a wonderful place because it makes such incredible world-class

02:33work. And I've been very lucky whilst I've been here to have a number of really exciting

02:42opportunities, partly growing my own lighting design. So it's very supportive and given

02:49me the opportunity to do lighting design early on in my career and take shows into the West

02:53End to relight them there, which is great. So I got my name up in lights. And I've really

03:02enjoyed most recently working on developing apprenticeship programmes and helping the

03:07theatre on its journey to being more environmentally conscious. And those are two things I'm really

03:12proud of to leave as a legacy, I suppose. But, you know, along the way, we've had Theatre

03:18on the Fly, Theatre in the Park, The Spiegel Tent, and now The Nest, which I sadly won't

03:24get to be part of completing, but I look forward to coming back and seeing. And I think Chichester

03:29often grabs these brilliant opportunities and goes, wouldn't it be mad if we did this?

03:34Let's do it. And I've really enjoyed the opportunism, I suppose, of Chichester always thinking slightly

03:41outside the box and doing something different and exciting.

03:44It would be fantastic to come back and enjoy productions in a slightly different way without

03:49being responsible for them.

03:51Totally, yeah. Yeah, I can sit back and actually relax and not be slightly white knuckle about,

03:57I hope everything's going to be okay tonight. Now I can literally just sit and watch. So

04:03that will be, yeah, that will be great as well. And I'm looking forward to seeing this

04:07festival, which obviously I played a part of pulling together, but now I won't have

04:12to do any, won't do any of the enacting. I can just come back and enjoy the sort of culmination

04:17of the shows and see how they've come together in the rehearsal room.

04:20Well, good luck with the move. Congratulations on those 29 years in Chichester. It's been

04:26lovely to get to know you, to speak to you, and I hope it goes brilliantly at Glyndebourne.

04:30Thank you very much indeed.

04:31Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Phil.

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