Oliver! will be big Chichester Festival Theatre musical this summer

Chichester Festival Theatre's Kathy Bourne (Executive Director) & Justin Audibert (Artistic Director). Photo Peter Flude

The season promises seven world premieres alongside modern masterpieces – plus a £1.5million fundraising appeal for a sustainable new space for emerging artists and creative development in 2025.

In the Festival Theatre, productions include The Other Boleyn Girl by Mike Poulton, based on Philippa Gregory’s novel of Tudor intrigue, directed by Lucy Bailey; Coram Boy, an enthralling 18th century adventure, adapted by Helen Edmundson, based on the novel by Jamila Gavin and directed by Anna Ledwich; Oliver!, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, in a new revision by Cameron Mackintosh; Redlands, a new play by Charlotte Jones, inspired by the Rolling Stones’ Chichester trial, directed by Justin Audibert; and a new retelling of Cinderella by Philip Wilson, with music by Jason Carr, directed by Jon Pashley.

In the Minerva the shows will be The House Party by Laura Lomas, a new adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, directed by Holly Race Roughan in a co-production with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly; Harold Pinter’s first major success, The Caretaker, directed by Justin Audibert; The Promise, a new play by Paul Unwin on the pioneering post-war Labour government, directed by Jonathan Kent; the first-ever John le Carré novel on stage, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, adapted by David Eldridge and directed by Jeremy Herrin; a co-production with Told by an Idiot of the “deliciously terrifying “The Cat and the Canary, adapted by Carl Grose from the play by John Willard, directed by Paul Hunter; and a festive family story created especially for CFT by Michael Morpurgo, Hey! Christmas Tree, written for the stage by Vicki Berwick and directed by Dale Rooks.

Priority booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens: Saturday, February 24 (online and booking forms only); Tuesday, February 27 (phone and in person). Booking for groups and schools opens: Thursday, February 29. General booking opens: Saturday, March 2 (online only); Tuesday, March 5 (phone and in person). Tickets from £10; cft.org.uk; box office 01243 781312.