Chichester Festival Theatre announces Festival 2025 season

Chichester Festival Theatre’s Festival 2025 has today been announced by Artistic
Director, Justin Audibert and Executive Director, Kathy Bourne.
Festival 2025 includes five world and two UK premieres, two musicals, and masterpieces
from world drama. The company includes Mark Addy, Natalie Dormer, Beverley Knight,
Tom Rosenthal, Jenna Russell and Giles Terera; directors making their Chichester
debuts include Gregory Doran, Katy Rudd, Phillip Breen, Monique Touko, Kathleen
Marshall, Hannah Joss, Anthony Lau and Roy Alexander Weise.
Musicals:
• Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs a brand new production of Irving
Berlin’s classic tap extravaganza Top Hat
• A new musical, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, adapted by Rachel Joyce
from her bestselling novel, with music and lyrics by Passenger, directed by Katy
Rudd, starring Mark Addy and Jenna Russell
World premieres:
• Gogol’s sparkling satire The Government Inspector in a new adaptation by Phil
Porter, directed by Gregory Doran, starring actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal
• Choir, a new play by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti celebrating music and togetherness,
directed by Hannah Joss
• Safe Space, a new play by Jamie Bogyo, delving into volatile campus politics,
directed by Roy Alexander Weise
Classic and modern dramas:
• Natalie Dormer in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s romantic masterpiece in a new
adaptation written and directed by Phillip Breen
• Beverley Knight in Marie and Rosetta by George Brant, directed by Monique
Touko in a co-production with Rose Theatre and ETT
• Giles Terera plays the title role in Hamlet, directed by Justin Audibert in
Chichester’s first ever production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy
• William Golding’s compelling adventure Lord of the Flies, adapted by Nigel
Williams, directed by Anthony Lau
For family audiences:
• The first stage production of Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas, adapted by
Philip Wilson with music by Tom Brady, performed by Chichester Festival Youth
Theatre to mark their 40th anniversary and directed by Dale Rooks
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• Stiles and Drewe’s The Three Little Pigs, a co-production with the Unicorn
Theatre for young families at Christmas
• Looking ahead to Festival 2026, Roald Dahl’s The BFG, adapted by Tom Wells, in a co-
production with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Roald Dahl Story Company, will be
directed by Daniel Evans
• The Nest, a new studio space for work by emerging artists, creative development and
community projects, will open in summer 2025 after a successful fundraising campaign
• 12,000 £10 tickets across the season; 9,000 £5 Prologue tickets for 16 – 30 year olds
• Off-stage events, exhibitions, free live music, family activities, and CFT Lates
Justin Audibert and Kathy Bourne said:
‘We’re delighted to share our new season, which aims to include all the ingredients we know
our audiences love – including, of course, an unmissable summer musical. In fact, music of all
kinds features strongly in several productions, from stimulating new work to classic
masterpieces from the world stage.
‘A sense of lives and society in flux is central to many of the dramas this season, with vivid
characters facing momentous change – making for compelling storytelling.
‘We’re continuing our policy of maximum theatricality in the Festival Theatre, with large casts
and striking designs; while in the intimate Minerva, we have four premieres as well as
Chichester’s first ever production of Hamlet.
‘We will welcome two Resident Assistant Directors, Becca Chadder and Nathanael Campbell;
and this summer, we’ll launch our exciting new studio space, The Nest. December brings the
first stage adaptation of Matt Haig’s contemporary classic, A Boy Called Christmas, which will
mark our brilliant Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s 40th anniversary.
‘It’s a pleasure to be working in partnership with Rose Theatre, ETT, the Unicorn Theatre and –
looking ahead to 2026 – the RSC and Roald Dahl Story Company on our forthcoming co-
production of The BFG. Meanwhile, Oliver!, our collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh,
continues its triumphant run in the West End; and our co-production with Headlong, The House
Party is on tour in the UK – taking Chichester’s work to audiences across the country.’