Big successes last summer in Chichester's Minerva Theatre

As we count down to the announcement of the 2025 Chichester Festival Theatre summer season, Justin reflects on what worked last year.

“I think House Party was maybe my favourite show – because I can't choose my own shows (that he directed)! But yes, I think it is my favourite because the three central performances were fantastic and I also think that the explosion and energy that the Frantic Assembly chorus gave us was incredibly alive.

“But maybe we had the show in the wrong slot. If I was doing it again, I would put it in the last slot in the Minerva because that's when the university students and the A Level students would be able to come. We put it on at a hard time for them to come along and see it because they were doing exams. But the show did fine. It did good numbers, but I think if it had been the last show in the season it would have done incredible business and would have got a younger audience.”

The Caretaker also did extremely well: “I had such an enjoyable time making that show that it felt almost felt criminal being paid to do it when I was having such a brilliant time.”

A number of people came up to Justin and said “I didn't think I liked Pinter but I loved that!”: “And I had a lovely woman in Redlands who came up to me in the interval and said that years ago she saw a Pinter in Oxford and it changed her life and gave her a lifelong love of the theatre. And she told me that my Pinter was now her favourite Pinter.

“And I think that's where I am so lucky with the Chichester audiences that I have inherited. You know people will come along and even if they don't like a particular show they will always come back and see the next one. People do understand that there is an element of risk and that you won't like everything, that something might not be your cup of tea but they keep coming back and I love that about Chichester.”

The Promise was the third play in the Minerva season: “We had a fantastic cast with that but I think it's fair to say that we had some technical difficulties with the design. And I think it's fair to say that we didn't get as far with it as we could have done. The preview period was spent fixing things to do with the set and not to do with the story. Many people came and really enjoyed it but in a way it was unsatisfying because, as I say, we didn't get as far as we could have done with it.”

Next up, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold sold out well in advance of the run starting: “It was so accomplished and it was a production that really used the space.”