Chichester Festival Theatre unveils its summer 2023 season, featuring The Sound of Music, Quiz starring Rory Bremner and Eileen Atkins in 4,000 Miles

It will be the last from the venue’s artistic director Daniel Evans who joins the RSC later this year. He is promising a season which sums up his years in charge: ‘It will be a big encapsulation of so many of the things that we have excelled at over the years in Chichester.

‘I'm really delighted with the season but I have to admit that as I was coming in today I did have a massive pang of sadness and sorrow that this is the last one. Sadness because it has all been absolutely amazing. I've had the time of my life here.’

Performers this summer will include Eileen Atkins, Gina Beck, Rory Bremner, Sebastian Croft, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Joshua James, Danny Mac, Alexandra Roach, Zizi Strallen, Lia Williams, Greg Wise and Susan Wokoma.

The season’s two other musicals will be Assassins and Rock Follies. There will also be three new plays: Never Have I Ever by Deborah Frances-White, The Inquiry by Harry Davies and a new adaptation of The Jungle Book by Sonali Bhattacharyya for Chichester Festival Youth Theatre

The rest of the season will comprise great modern and classic dramas including: Lia Williams and Joshua James in Noël Coward’s The Vortex, directed by Daniel Raggett; Eileen Atkins and Sebastian Croft in Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles, directed by Richard Eyre; Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles? by Adrienne Kennedy and Adam P Kennedy, directed by Diyan Zora, in a UK premiere; Rory Bremner in James Graham’s Quiz, directed by Daniel Evans and Seán Linnen, prior to a UK tour; and Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge, directed by Jaz Woodcock-Stewart in a co-production with Headlong, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Rose Theatre. Chichester Festival Youth Theatre will promenade Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream through West Dean Gardens, directed by Jon Pashley.

Priority booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens: February 25 (online and booking forms only); February 28 (phone and in person).

Booking for groups and schools opens: March 2. General booking opens: March 4 (online only); March 7 (phone and in person). Go to cft.org.uk or call 01243 781312; tickets from £10.