Launch line-up confirmed for Chichester's newest theatre

SussexWorld

The doors will open on Thursday, July 31 as Chichester Festival Theatre puts its brand-new venue The Nest through its paces.

Transcript

00:00Good morning. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always

00:06fabulous to speak to Justin Odie, Festival Theatre at CFT Artistic Director. And well,

00:11this is exciting, isn't it? You are gaining a new theatre, but a very, very different

00:16kind of theatre that will, well, tell me what it will do.

00:21Yes, it is really exciting. And everybody in the team is absolutely buzzing about this

00:27because we are opening The Nest, which is 122 seats. And it's a studio theatre in the

00:36true sense of the word. You know, it's not a space for big sets. It's a space for lighting,

00:43sound, performance, lighting, sound, video, performance. That's the nature of it. It's

00:47about, you know, really getting up close and personal and seeing the whites of the eyes of

00:51the performers. And that's really exciting. And the kinds of shows will be absolutely different,

00:55won't they? They will. So the, the, so the kind of different strands probably worth talking

01:00through. These are the strands that we will, we will look to program a mixture of exciting new

01:07theatre companies, small scale theatre companies, comedy, cabaret, where appropriate, live music,

01:14where appropriate. And we're kind of looking at the moment, we're looking at a kind of roots and soul,

01:18you know, acoustic-y type performers in there. And then, so that's one strand. It's our programmed

01:24work. Then another strand is supporting our artist development program. So the, the, we've got a

01:34cohort of artists, of artists that we are currently supporting, and they make their way in their careers,

01:39and it gives them a space where they can put their work on in early sharings and workshop stuff and

01:47demonstrate stuff and do works in progress, which is really, really exciting. We've also got

01:54I have not spoken to you about this, but it's also a brilliant place for our tech youth theatre. CFYT's

01:59brilliant tech youth theatre. They get to play in there as well, which is, we are really thrilled

02:03about. And actually, well, that was, you know, some of the kits specifically has been

02:10fundraised by a woman called Elizabeth Juniper to do that. She's really, you know, which is brilliant.

02:15That's a core strand of us at CFT. Then there's the programming early years work. So for families

02:22with children between zero and five, because again, it's an intimate space, 122. It's a really

02:28great space to make that kind of work. And we know there's a real demand. Whenever we do that stuff,

02:33we sell it out. You know, it's really people want things to do with their babies and young children.

02:37And then there's the community aspect. You know, we get approached a lot asking people to hire our

02:45spaces. And we never have that. We basically don't have the capacity or the financial ability

02:50often to hire out either the Minerva or the Festival Theatre. But actually, we can, you know,

02:55the Nest gives us that option so that groups can come and share their work in a, you know, in a theatre.

03:01It sounds terrifically exciting. In long term, presumably, the aim is we'll see shows on tour

03:06on the main stage or in West End that we will think, well, that started in the Nest.

03:13I suppose it's more about seeing the artists, that they start there and they progress. Probably

03:18the shows will, it's more about those shows going, you know, actually that in the theatre ecosystem,

03:24that kind of very small scale touring has struggled a bit in recent times. And we want to help,

03:29you know, so we, you know, working in partnership with like The Spring and Havens and, you know,

03:33like, you know, so it makes it more viable for those companies if they know, oh, I get a date

03:38in Jutsu and then I go here. You know, that's the thing that we really, we're really keen to try

03:42and give back or support, you know. And there's a lovely feeling, isn't there, of this coming full

03:47circle for the Festival Theatre. It is reminiscent of late 80s, the tent, isn't it? The precursor to the Minerva.

03:54Absolutely. Obviously, John Gale, you know, passed away recently and was at his memorial service. And,

04:04you know, thinking about that, you know, he was so inspirational. I mean, he, he, the tent,

04:09which became the Minerva. And then, of course, he was the person that set up Chichester Festival

04:13Youth Theatre as well. So, you know, what's great is in the Nest, you kind of get all of that. You get

04:18the idea of experimentation and new work and new audiences and you get, you know, supporting the

04:22technical youth theatre things, you know, which feels really kind of fitting.

04:25Oh, that sounds fantastic. So, there's the testing weekend coming up. When you put it

04:30through its paces, July 31st to Saturday, the 2nd of August, and then the week of the development.

04:41We'd love, you know, I'm saying to people that our artists that we've been developing,

04:45they've got these four fantastic, deeply different ideas they've been growing on with

04:50us over the last 18 months. And I think they're really exciting. There's kind of something there

04:54for everything. There's, you know, Manifest's spoof boy band. There's Alice O'Hanlon's beautiful

05:03play set in Northern Ireland. There's Shaney's incredible piece of dance theatre. There's Ben's

05:10solo show, Brown Power Ranger. And there's Phoebe Hyder's beautiful show, Moon River, which is using

05:16puppetry and live video and motion capture. And, you know, what's great is that work will show off

05:22the kind of range that The Nest can do in a really brilliant way. Brilliant. Well, it's all super

05:28exciting. Congratulations on having made it happen and really look forward to seeing plenty of things

05:32in there. Thank you as much, Justin. Thank you. Thank you. Really good to talk to you as always.

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