As the Chichester Festival Theatre winter season goes on sale, CFT artistic Justin Audibert says we can expect it to offer echoes of the shows we have enjoyed this summer.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always a
00:06real pleasure to speak to Justin O'Debare, Festival Theatre Artistic Director, and talking
00:10today about the fact that the winter season has been released. Now, you've started to
00:16put a greater emphasis on the winter season, haven't you? And it's such a lovely contrast
00:20to everything I produce for the summer. And then for the winter, you spread your tentacles,
00:25you look out, and you bring the very best of what's out there to Chichester. Exciting
00:30time, isn't it, to move from the summer into the winter?
00:33Yeah, you put that brilliantly actually, Phil. That's the aim, is that we go, what's complementary
00:40in the winter to what we've already shown you in the summer? And that really ranges,
00:46you know, it ranges from kind of big comedies that we might want to have, you know, in those
00:52dark winter months, to kind of thrillers or literary adaptations, or, you know, musicals
00:59that maybe we wouldn't sit in our summer season, but which we know are brilliant quality and
01:05we know our audience is like. And then the other little added gem that you can do is
01:11to put in one-nighters, you know, and that ranges from the BBC Orchestra, to stand-up
01:16comedians, to, you know, like national treasure actors doing their shows about their lives,
01:22you know, and it's the kind of breadth that is so exciting. And then we come back to our
01:30festive programme, which includes our brilliant CFYT Christmas show, which is Cinderella this
01:37year, directed by Jon Pashley, who did Midsummer Night's Dream, The Promenade performance last
01:44year, and adapted by Philip Wilson. So very excited about that. And our very own Dale
01:50Rooks is doing Hey Christmas Tree, which is a brand new piece, written by Vicki Berwick,
01:57in collaboration with Michael Morpurgo.
01:58And last year, you really upped the emphasis on Christmas. And you're doing it again this
02:04year, aren't you?
02:05Yeah, because, you know, it feels so important to be able to really be a venue that can bring
02:12people together in that time. And seeing the building full of families and children,
02:18grandparents, great-grandparents, mums, dads, everybody, it's just a lovely experience. We
02:24have, as you know, Phil, got The Real Father Christmas coming back again this year to
02:29elect children. That's a coup. Yeah, he's come back this year. So you can come and experience
02:36our bespoke grotto where The Real Father Christmas and his elves are. And yes, it just,
02:43it kind of brings joy and wonder and a little bit of magic.
02:46And it's such a lovely contrast, isn't it? When you think of the summer, you're watching
02:49these big shows grow over a number of weeks. But winter, it comes thick and fast, doesn't
02:53it?
02:54Yeah, it does. And it is, you know, it is remarkable how our audiences, you know, just
03:04come back and back and back week in, week out. And it's like kind of just such a staple.
03:08And we are really grateful of how supportive our audiences are. And the brilliant thing
03:13that that does is means that every show wants to come to Chichester for the winter season.
03:18So we get the pick of the kind of most exciting things.
03:20Fantastic. Well, it's a great season, Justin. Congratulations. Looking forward to seeing
03:25almost all of it. Thank you.
03:27Thanks, Phil.