Chichester Festival Theatre to reopen in July

The theatre's first show back will by South Pacific

Author: Adam GoacherPublished 1st Apr 2021

Chichester Festival Theatre is set to make a grand return this summer.

Bosses have confirmed that the venue will reopen on July 5th with a socially-distanced showing of South Pacific.

A series of open-air weekend concerns are also being planned for Oaklands Park in early June.

Kathy Bourne and Daniel Evans said: ‘Seldom can a summer have been as eagerly anticipated as this one. We are so proud and thankful to be able to say: we are re-opening, we will be producing work on our stages and digitally, and we will continue to serve our community of audiences and theatre-makers.

‘We know that Chichester’s summer musical is a highlight of the year for people locally, regionally and nationally. South Pacific should have been the centrepiece of Festival 2020; we couldn’t be more thrilled that it will finally open this July, with a superb cast and creative team who’ve waited a year to bring it to fruition.

‘We’re also delighted to offer a specially made film of our Autumn highlight, Sarah Kane’s Crave – giving audiences around the globe a second chance to see Tinuke Craig’s revelatory production.

‘While South Pacific will initially be booking with a reduced capacity auditorium and a dedicated socially distanced performance every week, our hope is that, later in 2021, we will see the return of non-socially distanced audiences with a renewed confidence and appetite for live performance. We’ll announce further productions for Festival 2021 later this spring.’

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