Chichester pays tribute to the late, great Dame Penelope Keith

Chichester Festival Theatre has paid tribute to one of the key figures in its rich history,

Dame Penelope Keith, who has died at the age of 86.

A statement released on Monday on behalf of her family said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully whilst living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years. The family is grateful for the care and support she received throughout her treatments.”

Dame Penelope was best known for her roles in two landmark classic British sitcoms, snobbish neighbour Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life and Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born.

But she was also a frequent performer in Chichester, a theatre she adored.

CFT artistic director Justin Audibert and CFT executive director Kathy Bourne said: “Everyone at CFT is greatly saddened to learn of the loss of Penelope Keith. Dame Penelope was already a hugely popular and cherished actress when she came to Chichester for the first time in 1977 in The Apple Cart, and her many leading roles over the subsequent four decades only enhanced her reputation. In particular, her choice to open Jonathan Church’s first season in 2006 in Entertaining Angels was widely credited with restoring CFT to good fortune after a lean period: it sold out, ran for two sell-out UK tours (including a return to CFT in 2009) and played to over 100,000 people.

“Rightly acclaimed as a consummate player of comedy, with immaculate timing and mastery of witty repartee, Dame Penelope could also summon great emotional depth. She will be hugely missed, and our thoughts and sympathies are with her family and friends.”

Dame Penelope Keith’s association with Chichester Festival Theatre stretched over 40 years, from classic comedies to new plays. She first appeared in Shaw’s The Apple Cart in 1977, when she was already well known as Margo in The Good Life. It was an auspicious start since she was also asked to appear in a royal Gala performance.

As Penelope later recalled: “The world and his wife were there. It was lovely and Princess Alexandra was the royal visitor. It was the height of the IRA bombing campaign and so there was a very heavy police presence. I came down the steps from my dressing room, bumped into this policeman and thought: “Oh, he looks dishy”, then went on stage and did Fanny Burney – ‘How to Behave at the Court of Queen Charlotte’. But I don’t remember much about it because I had just met my future husband [Rodney Timpson]. We got married the next year.”

Her other Chichester Festival season appearances included the title role in Miranda by Beverley Cross after Goldoni (1987), Mistress Ford in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor (1990), Eleanor in Monsieur Amilcar by Yves Jamiaque (1995), Grace in the world premiere of Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett (2006), Lady Wishfort in Congreve’sThe Way of the World (2012), Mrs Patrick Campbell in Mrs Pat by Anton Burge (2015), and finally Mrs St Maugham in Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden in 2018. She also appeared in several touring shows which visited Chichester, including The Importance of Being Earnest and The Rivals.

She loved the CFT. During rehearsals for William Congreve’s The Way of the World in 2012, she told me: “It’s just such a happy theatre. It’s terribly happy from the moment you step through the stage door and talk to the lovely ladies. It’s fun. You feel you are in the country. You are not in a smoky big city, and it is just such a marvellous atmosphere.”

Just as importantly, the audience are there because they want to be – something you can genuinely feel as a performer, Penelope said. “It’s just something indefinable. You know that they are not there because they have been dragged along by their wives or because of something corporate.”

She declined to name a favourite Chichester performance: “It’s like asking which is your favourite child. I have really enjoyed them all.” Dame Penelope admitted that at first she found Chichester’s an intimidating stage to play: “But I just love it now. I feel that it just gives you the most enormous freedom.”

As the CFT says, one of her most significant Chichester appearances was Entertaining Angels in 2006, right at the start of Jonathan Church’s time as artistic director. It depicted Penelope as a new widow struggling to come to terms with her future amid revelations from the past.

It was a piece which touched people in an extraordinary way, Dame Penelope recalled: “I loved playing it. It was such fun to do. And I had lots of letters from widows who had found it very touching and moving. I have met some people who have said it was the best play they have ever seen.”

For many the play was a turning point – a new start under new management. In hindsight, Entertaining Angels signalled the birth of a new era at the CFT, one which soon saw an impressive renaissance after a difficult era financially.

“It was a bit nerve-racking. It was a new play, and new plays are always more nerve-racking than a classic. But I enjoyed it so much. It was a cracking play. There was some wonderful writing, it was a lovely cast and it was very very funny at times.”

Dame Penelope also appeared at the Festival of Chichester – five years ago this summer.

Festival co-ordinator at the time Barry Smith recalls: “Dame Penelope performed for us in the Festival of Chichester on July 6 2021 in Chichester Cathedral. She gave a moving and evocative reading of two of John Keats Odes as part of the South Downs Poetry Festival's celebration of the bicentenary of Keats. She was a gracious guest and enjoyed bringing the Ode to a Nightingale and the Ode on Melancholy to vivid life for the audience in the Cathedral setting.

“Pianist Elena Toponogova played music from Bach and Chopin, while South Downs poets Stephanie Norgate, Hugh Dunkerley and myself read original poems on linked themes.

"It was a wonderful, memorable evening, particularly as we were just emerging from Covid restrictions and hearing the great poetry performed by a great actress gave us all hope for the future. It's a memory I will treasure.”

A spokesman for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford added: “Everyone at the Yvonne Arnaud is sadden by the passing of Dame Penelope Keith.

“Penny first performed at the Arnaud in Dear Charles in 1966. She helped us reopen the theatre in 2020, appearing in Theatrical Digs, our first production after Covid. Her last appearance here was at the theatre’s 60th Birthday Celebrations in September 2025, in front of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. She was a Trustee until 2006, when she became the theatre’s Patron.

“Penny has been the most incredible, energetic, supportive ambassador for the theatre over the years, generously giving her time and invaluable insight, championing our fundraising campaigns to ensure the theatre thrived. She was a regular face at the theatre, including Boxing Day trips to panto with the family, and was loved by audiences and by us alike.

“Her warmth, dry sense of humour and boundless energy will be greatly missed.”