#ChichesterFT

[sebastiancroftupdates]

Sebastian Croft as Leo in 4000 Miles

📸 Manuel Harlan @ChichesterFT

[sunlightbash]

TikTok: @chichesterft

[gavinkaufman]

My interpretation of the fabulous Chichester Festival Theatre 😀🎨🎭 @chichesterft #inkdrawing #inkart #pencil #art #drawing #sketch #artist #pencildrawing #draw #mentalhealth #artwork #sketchbook #illustration #pencilart #instaart #artoftheday #painting #portrait #artistsoninstagram #sketching #pencilsketch #pen #creative #artsy #fanart #paper #doodle #sketches #arts #instaartist (at Chichester Festival Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpR3L0To4yv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[theatrenews]

ICYMI: First look photos of Redlands at Chichester Festival Theatre - #chichesterfestivaltheatre @chichesterft http://dlvr.it/TCsg7R

[entertainmehub]

Theatre-News.com First look photos of Redlands at Chichester Festival Theatre - #chichesterfestivaltheatre @chichesterft http://dlvr.it/TCpFm2

[cftprologue]

Sweet Bird of Youth Stars Q+A

Time for a Q+A session with the stars from CFT’s upcoming production of Sweet Bird of Youth. Have a read as Brian J. Smith, Marcia Gay Harden and Director Jonathan Kent talk characters, adventure and what makes CFT so special...

Brian J. Smith -  Chance

Can you summarise in one sentence for us who your character is in Sweet Bird of Youth?

Chance is a small town southern boy who’s wanted to be special, and wanted validation and just looked for it in the wrong places. He has lost himself and has one last ditch, desperate effort to get himself clean again and find redemption.

You’ve just come out of a Tennessee Williams play in the West End (The Glass Menagerie which transferred from Broadway) – is this part of a trend? Should we expect to see you in Streetcar next?

I don’t know! Probably not. It has been such a happy accident that it ended up this way and it’s really great – to get to spend from 10.30 in the morning to 10 at night immersed in Tennessee Williams is a very special thing but I don’t expect it to continue. I guess actors always think we’re never going to work again! So you have to enjoy it while you’re in it and whatever happens next, happens.

As an American making the transition across the pond, what has been the most exciting thing about working here so far?

The audiences are amazing. Tickets are so affordable and accessible here in a way that they’re not in the States – it’s really become a luxury to go to the theatre in New York. Here it feels like everyone can afford to go to the theatre and everyone wants to. It really does feel like a people’s theatre in a way we haven’t quite figured out in the States

Marcia Gay Harden - Princess

Can you tell us why you wanted to do this play and who your character is in Sweet Bird of Youth?

Tennessee Williams is such a lyrical, poetic playwright and I’ve never done any of his plays; so just to do a play of his alone is fantastic. The character of Princess in Sweet Bird of Youth is a force of nature; her relationship with Chance is such a tragic journey. The character is an aging actress, dealing with many of the same things I would be dealing with. So ‘the play’s the thing’ – that’s the main reason. But the second thing is life; the play is rehearsing in London and then going to Chichester and it seems like such an adventure. I’ve never done anything like that before. I have children and I’ve left them back in the States with their dad; just to come here and be in this environment is a dream come true.

This is your UK stage debut; what are you most excited about?

It’s just an adventure. I admire so much the actors and the theatre world here, and the history and the beauty of the land. Sometimes it’s good to shake yourself up a bit and get out of the track that you’re on, take the road less travelled – and this to me seems the road less travelled.

Jonathan Kent - Director

You just can’t keep away from us it seems and we’re so pleased to be having you back this season! What is it about CFT that keeps you coming back?

It’s a great place to work – I think the Festival Theatre is a wonderful space. I love that auditorium, the way it embraces the stage – there’s something very intimate at the same time as it being an epic space;  all the energy of the audience pours down onto the stage. It’s a really strong arena for actors, particularly since the renovations. It was created by a great actor, Laurence Olivier, and it remains a forum for fantastic actors.

You’ve been wanting to direct Sweet Bird of Youth for a while, why is now the perfect time for it?

Given the current political situation in America, this play has really come into relief. It deals with a society dominated by a bigoted, racist demagogue and I think what 6 or 7 years ago might have seemed far-fetched, now just seems like news reporting, frankly.

What convinced you that Marcia and Brian were right for the parts of Alexandra del Lago and Chance Wayne?

There’s no point in doing the play without a brilliant cast that you really believe in. Marcia Gay Harden is US acting royalty: she’s perfect for the role, and Brian J. Smith is a superb young actor who also hails from southern Texas so he knows the world in which it’s set.

£5 Prologue tickets for Sweet Bird of Youth are now on sale! If you’re aged 16-25, become a member today for free to book yours

[pers-books]

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

They’re bringing The Corn is Green to National Theatre at Home!

Be still my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙

[notaperfectworld]

Drink to me only with thine eyes

And I will pledge with mine.

Or leave a kiss within the cup

And I'll not ask for wine.

[hadleyfraser101]

The Deep Blue Sea

Hadley Fraser played the semi-alcoholic former Royal Air Force pilot Freddie Page in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Terrence Rattigan's play, The Deep Blue Sea.

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

Ran from June 21 to July 27, 2019 at the Minerva Theatre Directed by: Paul Foster Official show website: https://www.cft.org.uk/archive/the-deep-blue-sea

REVIEWS

Better even than Carroll is Hadley Fraser, who gives the most moving reading I’ve yet seen of Hester’s lover, Freddie Page. Fraser makes him a fallen angel of a rosy-cheeked man-boy, the hero out of the pages of a Boys’ Own adventure run aground in a dowdy post-war reality. A former spitfire pilot with nerves shot by alcohol, he’s the worst possible person for Hester to love.

- Fiona Mountford, The Evening Standard

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Broadway World UK (Cindy Marcolina)WhatsOnStage.com (Sarah Compton)Miro Magazine (Camille Lapaix)British Theatre Guide (Shiela Connor)The Real ChrisparklePeterViney.com

BEHIND THE SCENES

INTERVIEW: Five Minutes with Hadley Fraser

Hadley's Instagram takeover of @whatsonstage on behalf of Chichester Festival Theatre (Thank you @whatsonstage for this gem!)

First day of rehearsals!

Photo credits to @ChichesterFT

Serious Hadley during rehearsals

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

Smiley Hadley during rehearsals

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

More from rehearsals with Nancy Carroll (really envying Nancy Carroll here lol)

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

Hadley with Gerald Kyd and Nancy Carroll

Photos credits to Hadley Fraser Fanpage

The cast before press night

Photo credits to @HadleyFraser

STILLS FROM THE SHOW

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

With Gerald Kyd (Sir William Collyer) and Nancy Carroll (Hester Collyer)

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

With Nancy Carroll (Hester Collyer)

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

With Nancy Carroll (Hester Collyer)

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

With Nancy Carroll (Hester Collyer) Please excuse us as we fan ourselves profusely

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

With Laurence Ubong Williams (Jackie Jackson)

Photo credits to Manuel Harlan

[sebastiancroftupdates]

Sebastian Croft as Leo in 4000 Miles

📸 Manuel Harlan @ChichesterFT

[theatrenews]

First look photos of Redlands at Chichester Festival Theatre - #chichesterfestivaltheatre @chichesterft http://dlvr.it/TCpFLY

[entertainmehub]

Theatre-News.com Chichester Festival Theatre announces Festival 2024 - #chichesterfestivaltheatre @chichesterft http://dlvr.it/T2pc0n

[centrestagereviews]

Review: Crazy for You - Chichester Festival Theatre

Review: Crazy for You - @ChichesterFT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “The production is full of life and both the staging and choreography fills every inch and every corner of the stage, which makes it hard to find a bad seat in the house.”

[johnmcannon]

#crave @chichesterft https://www.instagram.com/p/CHLj-PBn2LM/?igshid=1cffe9b13edcv

[frontmezzjunkies]

#PrivateLivesWestEnd #frontmezzjunkies #streams into #NoelCoward's #PrivateLives #GielgudTheatre 2015 d: #JonathanKent w/ #AnnaChancellor #TobyStephens #AnthonyCalf #AnnaLouisePlowman @chichesterft @oldvictheatre @cinemaliveinfo @digitaltheatre http://frontmezzjunkies.com/2020/04/21/streaming-into-noel-cowards-private-lives/ (at Gielgud Theatre London) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_TFpHDBPx1/?igshid=b2pk8n30k50a