After a hugely enjoyable 29 years at Chichester Festival Theatre, technical director Sam Garner-Gibbons begins work as the new technical and production director at Glyndebourne.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always really
00:06lovely to speak to Sam Garner-Gibbons, but it's a sad and exciting time, both because
00:12you are leaving Chichester Festival Theatre after 29 years and taking up a similar role
00:17at some Glyndebourne.
00:20That's right, very much. Yes, it definitely feels like, I don't know, it's tinged with
00:27sadness, this move, because I've loved working in Chichester for all these years. I'll be
00:33sad to leave the theatre and to leave the town. But, you know, sometimes opportunities
00:39come knocking and it felt like I had one more building in me, so let's give it a go.
00:45And at the risk of asking a really stupid question, what made Glyndebourne so appealing?
00:51I think it's a mixture of it being a bit like Chichester, a slightly crazy thing, you know,
00:57world-class theatre in a little market city. And Glyndebourne is a world-class opera in
01:06the wilds of the countryside of Lewes, surrounded by sheep. So there's this sense of almost
01:13like a folly, something completely bonkers to do. So there's a great similarity there
01:17and a festival model of producing a summer festival of work. So that's familiar, but
01:22also something entirely different, a different part of the sector, opera, which has not been
01:27something I've done nine months of opera. So it's a very new art form for me. So that's
01:34sort of interesting and exciting as I probably get towards the end of my career to do something
01:39wildly different, but still with a little bit of familiarity.
01:42And you're saying one big difference with Glyndebourne would be a much more international
01:46perspective. Your first day at work will be in Barcelona, of all places.
01:51Yes, I suppose for opera, people often talk about opera operating at a larger scale than
01:58theatre. And it sort of is because it's part of a slightly bigger ecosystem of sort of
02:03European and international opera houses. So there's a slightly broader remit and probably
02:09some exciting travel along the way as well, which will be really interesting to go and
02:14see work around Europe and around the world.
02:16As you prepare to move on from the Festival Theatre, mention again some of the things
02:19that you've absolutely loved about being at the Festival Theatre for 29 years. What's
02:25made it so special?
02:26Well, I mean, it has been a wonderful place because it makes such incredible world-class
02:33work. And I've been very lucky whilst I've been here to have a number of really exciting
02:42opportunities, partly growing my own lighting design. So it's very supportive and given
02:49me the opportunity to do lighting design early on in my career and take shows into the West
02:53End to relight them there, which is great. So I got my name up in lights. And I've really
03:02enjoyed most recently working on developing apprenticeship programmes and helping the
03:07theatre on its journey to being more environmentally conscious. And those are two things I'm really
03:12proud of to leave as a legacy, I suppose. But, you know, along the way, we've had Theatre
03:18on the Fly, Theatre in the Park, The Spiegel Tent, and now The Nest, which I sadly won't
03:24get to be part of completing, but I look forward to coming back and seeing. And I think Chichester
03:29often grabs these brilliant opportunities and goes, wouldn't it be mad if we did this?
03:34Let's do it. And I've really enjoyed the opportunism, I suppose, of Chichester always thinking slightly
03:41outside the box and doing something different and exciting.
03:44It would be fantastic to come back and enjoy productions in a slightly different way without
03:49being responsible for them.
03:51Totally, yeah. Yeah, I can sit back and actually relax and not be slightly white knuckle about,
03:57I hope everything's going to be okay tonight. Now I can literally just sit and watch. So
04:03that will be, yeah, that will be great as well. And I'm looking forward to seeing this
04:07festival, which obviously I played a part of pulling together, but now I won't have
04:12to do any, won't do any of the enacting. I can just come back and enjoy the sort of culmination
04:17of the shows and see how they've come together in the rehearsal room.
04:20Well, good luck with the move. Congratulations on those 29 years in Chichester. It's been
04:26lovely to get to know you, to speak to you, and I hope it goes brilliantly at Glyndebourne.
04:30Thank you very much indeed.
04:31Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Phil.