Harold Fry heralds sparkling Minerva summer at Chichester Festival Theatre

Mark Addy and Jenna Russell combine in the show, directed by Katy Rudd, which will run from May 5-June 14.

And as Chichester Festival Theatre artistic director Justin Audibert says, the piece de resistance to the whole thing will be the music – irresistible modern folk songs by the chart-topping indie musician, Passenger (Let Her Go).

In the show, recently a film, Harold Fry – grey, tired and lonely – receives a letter from an old friend and heads out to post his reply. And keeps walking. From South Devon to Berwick upon Tweed leaving his bewildered wife Maureen behind. Because Harold is trying to make up for lost time, confront the ghosts in his past, and – perhaps – keep someone alive.

As word spreads of his unlikely pilgrimage, a whole company of lost souls joins him on his quest. And the horizons for both Harold and Maureen open wider than they could ever have imagined.

“We have been involved in this as long as I've been here which is nearly two years,” Justin says. “Somebody else came up with the idea but we saw the workshop and we thought we absolutely have to have it.”

It comes to Chichester as a world premiere: “I don't think there is another theatre as good as this at bringing first life to musicals, and I think putting it in the Minerva gives it a really brilliant chance of success.”

Next up in the Minerva, as previously announced, will be Beverley Knight in Marie And Rosetta by George Brant, directed by Monique Touko in a co-production with Rose Theatre and ETT, running from June 25-July 26.

Again, Justin is promising something quite remarkable: “Having stood five foot away from Beverley I know that her singing is going to blow the bloody doors off! It's going to be one of those ‘I was there!’ moments. In the Minerva it is just going to be wow.”

It tells of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the roof-raising ‘godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’, who influenced countless musicians from Elvis to Johnny Cash. The show offers an intimate portrait of Rosetta and her singing partner, Marie Knight, restoring two forgotten musical heroines to the spotlight as one of the most remarkable and revolutionary duos in music history.

“Rosetta Tharpe was the woman that took gospel music out of the church and played it secularly. She took God's music and made it the devil's music. She is often called the original soul sister, and this show tells the story of the day she meets Marie Knight and is trying to get Marie to join her when Marie is still at the point where she doesn't know whether it is still the devil's music

“Obviously there is a legacy of exploitation that runs through the music, and I had a proper tear in my eye at the end. It tells such a powerful story and Beverley will be incredible.”

Choir by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, directed by Hannah Joss, running from August 2-30, continues the Minerva season. Heartwarming, funny and packed with glorious arrangements of contemporary songs, it promises a thoroughly entertaining night out, Justin says.

Morgan runs a community choir who meet weekly in a room above the local pub to sing great pop songs, chat and drink. There’s Paul, a former West End performer who now does local radio voiceovers; Esther and Joy, best friends who can’t stand each other; Anna, whose seemingly perfect life hides a secret; Ken, good egg and perennial loser; and Sheila, dark horse and pathological liar.

The choir are busy rehearsing a concert to raise money for young Freddie to go to music

college. But when a TV producer invites them to perform on national television, Morgan

seizes her opportunity to hit the big time.

“It goes to Morgan's head a little bit. The thing that she has held together so beautifully starts to fracture and it is hilarious watching them as they realise the true reason that they came together and what it provides. It's about the power of community, and I think it is just going to be great.”

Giles Terera in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Justin himself, runs from September 6-October 4 in the Minerva, with the Minerva season concluding with Safe Space by Jamie Bogyo, directed by Roy Alexander Weise, running from October 11-November 8.

The winds of change are blowing through the elite ivy-league halls of one of America’s most prestigious universities. For students Isaiah, Connor, Annabelle, Omar and Stacy, on the precipice of starting their adult lives, life is no longer about getting through a political science lecture with a hangover and auditioning for the school acapella group. Confronting the injustices of the past is top of the agenda – starting with the fact that the college is named after a notorious defender of slavery. And in this pressure cooker environment, everyone has to pick a side.

“This is a world premiere by Jamie Bogyo who was himself at Yale and has dramatised a real incident. There is unease and we are parachuted into this moment with all these students that turn up and think they know everything. It's hilariously funny. People at school looking forward to university will get a little insight into what it's going to be like; people that are at university will recognise things; and people that have been to university will laugh as they remember. I think it's such a timely play but also very, very funny. It be a great night out. It's what I describe as an ooh-ah-no play. You will go ‘Ooh!’ and you go ‘Ah’ and you will go ‘No!’ It will be very entertaining.”

Meanwhile in the main house will be:

• Tom Rosenthal in The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, a new adaptation by Phil Porter, directed by Gregory Doran, April 25-May 24, Festival Theatre

• Natalie Dormer in Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, a new adaptation by Phillip Breen, directed by Phillip Breen, June 7-28, Festival Theatre.

• Top Hat, music & lyrics by Irving Berlin, based on RKO's Motion Picture, adapted for the stage by Matthew White & Howard Jacques, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, July 14-September 6, Festival Theatre.

• William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams, directed by Anthony Lau, September 19-October 11, Festival Theatre.

Tickets from £10: cft.org.uk or 01243 781312. Prologue: 9,000 £5 tickets are available for 16-30 year-olds across all Festival 2025 productions.