Latest news with #ChichesterFestivalTheatre
Time Out
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
A hit stage adaptation of John Le Carré's classic ‘The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' is heading to London's West End
John Le Carré's 1963 book The Spy Who Came In from the Cold is quite probably the greatest spy novel of all time and certainly one of the greatest works of English literature to come out of the Cold War. A critically acclaimed but film adaptation starring Richard Burton came out in 1965, and a new TV miniseries has allegedly been in the works for years, but it's never really had a truly iconic adaptation a la Le Carré's borderline ubiquitous Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Maybe its first adaptation as a play could be the one. Written by veteran playwright David Eldridge and directed by heavyweight former Headlong boss Jeremy Herrin, this inaugural stage version of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold scored great notices at the prestigious Chichester Festival Theatre last year and now it's heading our way. It stars Irish actor Rory Keenan as hardbitten Cold War spy Alec Leamas – on the cusp of returning from the field after the elimination of his East German network of agents, he's pushed by spymaster George Smilie into just one more job. But as he stages a defection to the other side, matter become hugely complicated when he falls for idealistic librarian Liz Gold. Agnes O'Casey and John Ramm return as Liz and Smilie. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is at @sohoplace, Nov 17-Feb 21 2026.
Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The Government Inspector review — a Gogol revival with slapstick
It's almost as if panto season has arrived early at Chichester Festival Theatre. Gregory Doran's revival of Gogol's comedy of mistaken identity and everyday graft in Tsarist Russia is brash, hectic and awash with old school slapstick. Phil Porter's fruity adaptation isn't afraid to toss in slivers of Carry On humour as well, nor can you help noticing that Sylvestra Le Touzel's lubricious mayor's wife speaks in the same suggestive tones as Mollie Sugden's department store harridan in the vintage sitcom Are You Being Served? The comedians Rik Mayall and Julian Barratt have been drafted in to spice up the central role in past productions. This time the honour falls to the stand-up comedian Tom Rosenthal, star of the TV shows Plebs and Friday Night
Telegraph
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Why must we tarnish Agatha Christie's legacy by introducing trigger warnings?
' Murder on the Orient Express contains: Themes of death, grief and guilt.' 'Reference to, and depictions of, murder and manslaughter.' 'Reference to, and depictions of, weapons.' I could end the column there – on the trigger warning the theatrical producers saw fit to slap on arguably Agatha Christie's most famous work – but where's the fun in that? This is manna from sneer heaven, mockery nirvana. Had they set up a pillory and invited people to pelt them with mud and offal, they couldn't have achieved a better result. I did, for a second, wonder if the trigger warning featured on the new play's website was tongue in cheek. Whoever signed off on it should certainly use that as an excuse this week, amid the (virtual) offal bombardment. 'It was a send-up, of course!' Only it wasn't. The Ken Ludwig adaptation – which is directed by Lucy Bailey and currently touring the UK – sets out its killingly funny warning right after the age recommendation (12+ parental guidance). 'We don't want to spoil anyone's experience of coming to see Murder on the Orient Express; however, if you would benefit from knowing more about specific content and themes in the play, please click below.' While we're on content and themes, could anyone help me out with American Psycho? I'm assuming it's suitable for a five-year-old. Oh, and would Johnny Got His Gun be a nice, gentle, date-night watch? As an animal-lover and a vegan, is there anything in Pet Cemetery that I might find upsetting? Ridiculing an area that's already patently ridiculous is hard, as it turns out. After all, the latest theatrical trigger warnings all sound like spoofs. The Chichester Festival Theatre warned theatregoers that a new production of Three Little Pigs 'has a passing reference to Father Pig being gobbled by the Big Bad Wolf'. The English National Opera recently cautioned audiences attending Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance, at the London Coliseum, that 'alcohol misuse and mild violence' would feature. And at the end of last year, audience members at London's Bromley Little Theatre were warned that the adaptation of the author's 1839 novel, Nicholas Nickleby, contained 'Dickensian slurs'. Like the waiters who are now forced to ask every diner whether they have any allergies, all this is driven not by concern, of course, but fear. And it's not just the infantilising that infuriates, but the sense that personal responsibility is no longer a thing. Shouldn't it be down to the person with the allergy or sensitivity to do their due diligence? If you don't want dead bodies, can I suggest you avoid works by the Queen of Crime? A woman who, according to one count, amassed 128 corpses in her lifetime? As laughable as slapping a 'hazard label' on a play, book or work of art should be, in theory, trigger warnings have tangibly damaging effects – so much so that they might themselves need trigger warnings. Designed to guard against trauma, they have in fact been shown to galvanise outrage and multiply claims of trauma by Gen Zers, ever eager to be suffering from one psychological disorder or another. They're obviously deeply, offensively reductive into the bargain. Because while we're focussing on how 'toxic' or not a work is, we're not thinking about anything else: the rave reviews Bailey's Murder on the Orient Express has been getting from audiences and critics alike. The excellent cast includes The Young Victoria's Michael Maloney as the celebrated Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. You may remember that Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was issued a caution for 'mentioning 'murder', mentioning 'rape', use of the 'N-word' and racism' – but I'd like to think the iconic novel amounts to a little more than that. The Great Gatsby 'contains themes of suicide, domestic abuse and graphic violence'. It's also a life-changingly brilliant book, by the way, but let's get back to the reasons why you shouldn't read it, the reasons you should avoid that play or historical documentary featuring awful realities no one should have to confront. The reasons you should opt out of anything remotely challenging in life. Warning: might make you think. While an increasing number of actors are now speaking up about the dangers of these censorious little stamps masquerading as sensitivity, nobody has put it better than actor Simon Callow, who said they betrayed 'a fundamental failure to grasp what the theatre is: not a model for behaviour but a crucible in which we look at what it is to be human'. Sorry folks, but sometimes that can get a little uncomfortable.
BBC News
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sussex: Chichester Festival Theatre unveils 2025 programme
Top Hat, Lord of the Flies and a musical version of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry are among the offerings this year at a theatre in West Chichester Festival Theatre's 2025 season also consists of the venue's first ever production of Hamlet, while its new studio space, The Nest, will be unveiled in Addy, Natalie Dormer, and Beverley Knight are among the performers who will be involved this director Justin Audibert told BBC Radio Sussex that the summer musical Top Hat would be "wonderful" and that director Kathleen Marshall was "magic". "[She] can do that thing where you have 30 people doing a tap dancing number and filling up your soul with pure joy," he promises to be a big month, with The Three Little Pigs and a first stage adaptation of Matt Haig's contemporary classic, A Boy Called Christmas, among the productions slated for the festive season. Meanwhile, guest director Anoushka Shankar, the Grammy-nominated musician, has announced the line-up for Brighton Festival 2025 which will run from May year there will be seven world premieres - including Wembley, which was written in the aftermath of the 2024 will be 120 events and exhibitions during the festival period, 45 of which will be free.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Royal Shakespeare Company excited to stage Roald Dahl's ‘inspirational' BFG
Royal Shakespeare Company's co-artistic director has shared his excitement at staging Roald Dahl's 'really inspirational' children's novel The BFG as part of their upcoming programme. Daniel Evans is directing the production about the Big Friendly Giant who captures an orphan named Sophie and brings her back to his home in Giant Country. The new stage adaptation by playwright Tom Wells will delight families over the festive period, kicking off a 10-week run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from November 25 to January 31 before moving to the Chichester Festival Theatre next Spring. Reflecting on the challenges of retelling Dahl's beloved story, Evans told the PA news agency: 'First of all, you have to put giants on stage, and second, you have to put dreams on stage. 'They have to float through the air and go into jars and trumpets and be blown into people's ears, they're enough of a challenge.' He added: 'I'm just very, very excited because it's a really inspirational story about an orphan girl who teams up with a giant and a Queen to beat the baddies, and hopefully there'll be magic.' The story from the 1982 children's novel by British author Dahl follows the kind-hearted and big-eared BFG, who kidnaps young Sophie from an orphanage. While the BFG is a gentle soul, his home in Giant Country is full of much bigger giants including Fleshlumpeater and Meatdripper, who pick on the BFG and feast on humans. Sophie and the BFG team up on an unlikely adventure which takes them to Dream Country and Buckingham Palace, where they meet the Queen and try to enlist her help to save children everywhere. Evans and and his RSC co-artistic director Tamara Harvey said it was a 'dream come true' for them to collaborate with The Roald Dahl Story Company and Chichester Festival Theatre on the adaptation. The book has previously been adapted for the 2016 fantasy adventure film which was directed and co-produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg and starred Sir Mark Rylance as the BFG and Ruby Barnhill as Sophie. An earlier animated version from Cosgrove Hall productions in 1989 featured the voice of Sir David Jason as the BFG. Other popular Dahl books have also been adapted for the stage, with The Witches previously showing at the National Theatre, while a production of The Enormous Crocodile was staged at Leeds Playhouse. Roald Dahl Story Company artistic director Jenny Worton said The BFG 'opens a magical new chapter' for the company following the success of the previous shows. 'Our dream is to bring mischievous joy to audiences of all ages through our growing family of live shows,' she added. 'After years of delicious inventing with Tom Wells, Daniel Evans, and the wider creative team, we are excited to share our passion for this iconic story with the rest of the world. 'Alongside Chichester Festival Theatre, we've created something full of imagination and heart, just as you'd expect from the world of Roald Dahl.' Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey share their summer 2025 season and big friendly festive show 🎉 We can't wait for you to join us — The RSC (@TheRSC) January 29, 2025 Royal Shakespeare Company's 2025/26 programme also features three adaptations of the classic tragedy Hamlet and a host of other Shakespearean productions. It was previously announced Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is reworking the band's album Hail To The Thief for a new stage production of Hamlet. Also among the line-up is nationwide tours of Rupert Goold's adaption of Hamlet and First Encounters: King Lear. There will be a 80-minute staging of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona as well as Tim Crouch's I, Peaseblossom – his hit adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The programme also includes interactive theatre workshops, free drop-in activities, family theatre trails, and the return of the RSC's acting-based Summer schools for ages eight to 14 and 18-25. Discussing their programme, Harvey told PA: 'One of our core responsibilities as a National Theatre is to ensure that as many people as possible can see our work, and that's from the very old to the very young.' Priority booking for the BFG production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre opens from 10am on Friday January 31, with public booking opening at 10am on February 12. Tickets for the Chichester Festival Theatre will open in September.
