The Vortex | CFT | Festival 2023

The Vortex

By Noël Coward

KATHY BOURNE AND DANIEL EVANS PHOTOGRAPH BY SEAMUS RYAN

Festival 2023 Welcome to the opening production of Festival 2023, Noël Coward’s The Vortex. This year marks the 50th anniversary of ‘The Master’s’ death in 1973. The Vortex was the young playwright’s first major hit; he starred in it himself and went on to repeat the triumph on Broadway.

Coward enjoyed a close friendship with Laurence Olivier, CFT’s first Artistic Director, and while there have been regular revivals of his plays here over the decades, this is the first time we’ve produced The Vortex. Do explore the fascinating free exhibition in our foyer celebrating Coward’s life and work, presented in collaboration with the Noël Coward Archive Trust.

We’re particularly delighted to welcome back Lia Williams and Joshua James as, respectively, Florence and Nicky Lancaster. Mother and son off-stage as well as on, they are working together for the first time.

Lia’s award-winning work includes TV’s The Crown and His Dark

Materials, and on stage Mary Stuart and John Gabriel Borkman. As a director, her scintillating production of Doubt was seen at Chichester last year. Joshua also returns to the Festival Theatre, where he appeared in the Young Chekhov trilogy as Nikolai in Platonov and Konstantin in The Seagull, both of which transferred to the National Theatre.

We’re also thrilled to welcome Daniel Raggett, making his CFT directorial debut, hot on the heels of his audacious production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist in Sheffield and London.

This season sees seven directors making their CFT debuts including Dominic Cooke, Polly Findlay, Diyan Zora and Adam Penford, and the casts of major actors gracing our stages include Eileen Atkins, Sebastian Croft, Rakie Ayola, Danny Mac, Susan Wokoma, Greg Wise and Gina Beck.

We hope to see you again soon, and that you enjoy this performance.

Executive Director Kathy Bourne

Artistic Director Daniel Evans

Assassins A surreal carnival. A group of people who have one thing in common.

And the ultimate prize: a place in the history books. This Tony Award-winning, biting musical comedy takes us on a daring, time-bending journey through American history.

Polly Findlay directs an all-star cast.

3 – 24 June Tickets from £10 Book at cft.org.uk

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by John Weidman

Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?

By Adrienne Kennedy and Adam P. Kennedy

16 June – 8 July Tickets from £10 Book at cft.org.uk

Adrienne Kennedy’s mesmerising account of adapting John Lennon’s book In His Own Write for the National Theatre.

Her encounters with Laurence Olivier and a host of Swinging 60s celebrities make for a story that seems like a dream come true. But slowly the stars align in a different way. Diyan Zora directs Rakie Ayola in this UK premiere.

Dementia Friendly Performances After the Crazy for You Dementia Friendly performance last summer, an audience member wrote: ‘It was lovely to share the experience of going to the theatre with my husband who has Alzheimer's. This was a time we could have a normal life for a few hours.’

Minor adjustments to the sound and lighting levels on a performance can make a big difference for people living with dementia, together with plenty of staff on hand to create a welcoming atmosphere.

This year, we are delighted that George Ide LLP, the West Sussex solicitors and a Principal Partner of CFT, have chosen to support our Dementia Friendly activities, including the Dementia Friendly performance of The Sound of Music on Thursday 10 August at 2.30pm (all tickets £16).

Louise Rigglesford, Senior Community and Outreach Manager, explains: ‘More and more people are living with dementia, and it’s incredibly important that they are able to live well with dementia. We want to enable them – and their families, friends and carers – to enjoy our spectacular summer musical in relaxed and unpressured conditions.

‘Audience members are welcome to come and go during the show; we'll reduce the volume and keep our houselights at a low level so you're never completely in the dark.

And we do a little recap after the interval to bring you up to speed before settling into the second act.’

Ursula Watt, Partner & Head of the Private Client department at George Ide, says: ‘George Ide LLP has deep roots in the local community and we’re committed to making a real difference to the lives of those who live and work around us.

Our extensive private client work, which includes Court of Protection, Deputyship and serious personal injury matters, has fuelled our particular interest in dementia and the individuals and families whose lives it affects.

‘That’s why we’re so pleased to sponsor Chichester Festival Theatre’s Dementia Friendly performances and other community outreach initiatives – supporting these projects is a perfect fit for us and we hope CFT’s important work in this area will bring real benefits to those coping with the multiple challenges of the condition.’

To find out more about our Dementia Friendly performances, and the work of our LEAP department, visit cft.org.uk/dementiafriendly.

‘A lovely experience’

Food and Drink From cracking cakes and brilliant barista coffee to delicious dining in The Brasserie, we have plenty of options to keep you, your family and friends feeling full and happy.

Our inviting restaurant, The Brasserie, is most certainly the closest to the theatres and prides itself on a locally sourced modern British menu as well as excellent service.

And we guarantee to have you in your seat in time for the show.

inside and out, and children of all ages enjoying our family friendly spaces. We’re officially a Warm Space, breastfeeding friendly and offer free Wi-Fi plus quiet spots around our spacious foyer to plug in and power up.

Our Café on the Park is a welcoming space all day long. Our regular visitors include Parkrunners on Saturday mornings, dog walkers (and their well-behaved fourlegged friends) making use of our seating

For the full menu of food and drink here at CFT, visit cft.org.uk/eat, email dining@cft.org.uk or call 01243 782219.

The Vortex

By Noël Coward

Noël Coward: highlights of a full life A free exhibition celebrating Noël Coward’s life and work, including CFT productions through the years, is on display in the foyer. A collaboration with the Noël Coward Archive Trust, it runs until 20 May.

Early life Noël Coward was born into ‘genteel poverty’ in suburban Teddington in 1899. The son of a piano salesman, he was encouraged by his ambitious mother to give his first professional performance aged 11 in Lila Field’s The Goldfish. He spent his teens touring, writing and composing and by his 20s was a professional lyricist and songwriter. His first solo play in the West End, I’ll Leave It to You, opened in 1920 at the New Theatre – renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in 2006. In 1923. ‘Parisian Pierrot’ became his first hit song, A year later, The Vortex was his first commercial and criticial success as a playwright.

Top: The photo of Coward, aged two, belonged to his mother, Violet, who kept everything from his early life in what he affectionately termed ‘mum’s suitcase’.

Left: Coward aged 13 in Teddington, where he grew up.

Right: As a teenager, Coward filled notebooks with ink and watercolour drawings, ranging from satirical caricatures to fanciful stage costumes and fashion plates.

Coward and Olivier It wasn’t until 1978, 16 years after opening, that Chichester Festival Theatre produced a Noël Coward play: perhaps surprising given his close friendship with Laurence Olivier, the Theatre’s first Artistic Director. From Look After Lulu in 1978 to The Vortex in 2023, 12 of his plays have been staged at the Theatre.

In 1930, when Coward cast Olivier as Victor in Private Lives, a professional partnership developed spanning four decades.

Out of the spotlight they were firm friends, known to holiday together.

Coward was especially close to Olivier’s second wife Vivien Leigh; they worked together a couple of times, including in Look After Lulu. The friendship between ‘Larry boy’ and ‘Noelie’ can be seen through the many letters they shared.

Top: Laurence Olivier and Coward on board the SS Normandie, 1938.

Right: A letter from ‘Noelie’ to ‘Larry boy’ advising that he can’t direct Hay Fever for the National Theatre due to illness. In the end, Coward directed the play in 1964, becoming the first living playwright to have a production staged at the NT.

The Vortex effect Having personally persuaded the Lord Chamberlain to grant a licence for the play under censorship regulations, The Vortex caused a sensation when it opened in London on 25 November 1924, with Coward as Nicky Lancaster and Lillian Braithwaite as Florence. Coward’s chosen understudy?

John Gielgud. Having moved to several West End theatres, it transferred to Washington

Left: Noël Coward at his writing desk, 1935.

DC and then Broadway in 1925.

After The Vortex launched Coward to international stardom as a playwright, his offstage persona became inextricably linked with his onstage portrayal of Nicky, the role he wrote for himself: the iconic image of the young man in silk dressing gown with cigarette holder. By 1930 he was the highest paid writer in the world.

Above: Coward and Gladys Calthrop, c1924. Calthrop began her theatre career as designer for The Vortex, one of only a few female designers at the time.

Photo by Maurice Beck & Helen MacGregor.

Bottom: The Sketch, 29 April 1924, at the time of the original run of The Vortex. Coward is ‘busy at breakfast’ in a silk dressing gown.

Image courtesy of Mander & Mitchenson Collection.

Later life Despite his high-profile and lavish lifestyle, Coward was fundamentally a man who loved all artistic forms and possessed a work ethic like no other. He was called ‘The Master’ by close friends. Lord Mountbatten paid tribute to Coward’s versatility on his 70th birthday: ‘There are probably greater painters than Noël, greater novelists than Noël, greater librettists, greater composers of music, greater singers, greater dancers, greater comedians, greater tragedians, greater stage producers, greater film directors, greater cabaret stars, greater TV stars.

If there are, they are 14 different people.

Only one man combined all 14 labels – The Master.’

Noël Coward was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in his beloved Jamaica in 1973.

Top: Noël Coward at ‘Look Out’, Jamaica, 1950s.

Left: Coward with his mother Violet, on the opening night of Present Laughter in Paris, 1948. Coward was always encouraged by his mother, who introduced him to the performing arts at an early age.

Right: Coward, Joyce Carey and Graham Payn (Coward’s life partner) at Blue Harbour, Jamaica. Carey appeared in a number of his plays and films, including Brief Encounter.

All images courtesy of the Noël Coward Archive Trust unless otherwise noted.

Oh, Mother.

Spoiler alert: you may prefer to read this article after seeing the play.

A vortex is damnably hard to resist. It pulls you in, it spins you around, and – if it’s in the form of a tornado – it sucks you up then hurls you down, shattered. In Noël Coward’s witty but sensationally darkening play, which became his first West End hit in 1924, the titular vortex isn’t meteorological but, rather,

metaphorical. Even whilst saying that he doesn’t want to be cruel, the febrile male protagonist, Nicky, condemns his socialite mother, Florence, for her extramarital affairs and age-concealing make-up, concluding, “We’re all utterly rotten... We swirl around in a vortex of beastliness.”

The Seagull (Joshua James and Anna Chancellor), Chichester Festival Theatre 2015.

Photo by Johan Persson

Almost a mini genre unto themselves, there’s a clutch of dramas which seem curiously akin, being closely related in that they all feature raw confrontations between sons and mothers.

A more direct line – at least by comparison with the spiralling current of a twister – can be traced between The Vortex and a string of classic plays through the centuries of literary history. Almost a mini genre unto themselves, there’s a clutch of dramas which seem curiously akin, being closely related in that they all feature raw confrontations between sons and mothers, confrontations which are tied in with the breaking of sexual taboos, with offspring

being unsatisfied by the quantity or nature of mother love they’re offered, and with suppressed truths being laid bare. In that respect, a case could be made for Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts (1881), certainly Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1895), The Vortex, Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (1944), and Charlotte Jones’ Humble Boy (2001) to be catalogued as examples of descendants of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Shakespeare’s dysfunctional Prince of Denmark, of course, most famously accosts Queen Gertrude in what is known as ‘the closet scene’, set in his mother’s private quarters. Obsessed with what he feverishly dubs her ‘incestuous’ marriage to his late father’s brother, young Hamlet determines to ‘speak daggers’ to her – a metaphor that suggestively evokes a physical stabbing.

While saying he’s being cruel only to be kind, he reviles her for bestially wallowing with his uncle, Claudius, in ‘the rank sweat of an

Left: Hamlet and his Mother, ‘The Closet Scene’ by Richard Dadd, 1846. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

Right: Detail of Edvard Munch’s set design for Ibsen’s Ghosts, 1906.

enseamed bed’ where – as he envisages it in his mind’s eye – she lies, ‘Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love/Over the nasty sty.’ Telling her to repent, he fulminates: ‘Have you eyes?/You cannot call it love; for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame… Oh shame, where is thy blush?’.

The dynasty of Hamletlike plays is, in fact, made up of complex variations and deviations, evolving from the fusion between key dramatic components and each new playwright’s thinking.

For a prince whose mission is supposedly to put his father’s murderer to the sword, Hamlet appears peculiarly more prone to stew over the sex life of his mother, who was not even an accomplice.

Sounding disturbingly like a screwed-up gynophobic puritan, Hamlet also ditches his sweetheart Ophelia with wild and whirling words, accusing all women of seductive wiles, not least face-falsifying cosmetics (‘your paintings’). Given the textual echoes, Coward surely knew his Shakespearean onions.

Of course, the dynasty of Hamlet-like plays is, in fact, made up of complex variations and deviations, evolving from the fusion between key dramatic components and each new playwright’s thinking – their multiple influences, their agendas, autobiographical experiences, their views, the era and more. Humble Boy even wove in the reversed gender hierarchy of femaledominated bee colonies and superstring theory, Jones’ 21st-century Hamlet-figure being a scholarly astrophysicist.

As for Chekhov, his personal notebooks and letters reveal a preoccupation with Shakespeare and a never-fulfilled plan to write a Hamlet skit. The Seagull is more like a poignant homage. That said, the playwright

always insisted he wrote comedies – the weary doctor-turned-dramatist perhaps declining to aggrandise our lives and deaths as either heroic or tragic. In any case, his reworking of Hamlet subtly rings the changes and, perhaps wryly, explores alternative dynamics. Konstantin is a would-be avant-garde writer who is, happily, less misogynistic than Hamlet though, like the latter, he is unhappily back home from university and putting on a play-within-aplay. His sweetheart, Nina, corresponds to Ophelia, only Chekhov has her jilt him and become a professional actress (a travelling player) who, although bordering on mental breakdown, ultimately lives on rather than being the one who commits ‘self-slaughter’.

As for Trigorin, the lover of Konstantin’s diva mother, he’s a celebrity author who multiplies the love triangles by additionally stealing Nina’s heart – the equivalent of Claudius running off with Ophelia.

Like Nicky and Hamlet, Konstantin craves that more attention be paid to him by his otherwise-engaged mother. He does finally get his ‘closet’ moment with Arkadina in ‘the bandaging scene’, where she fleetingly tends to his gunshot wound and he expresses a rekindled child-like love for her with great tenderness. Nevertheless,

Orestes killing Clytemnestra, 1804.

The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Print and Photographs.

he can’t stop himself slating Trigorin and his work as ‘nauseating’, possessively asking, ‘Why, why has that man come between us?’ with a hint of infantine arrested development.

Sharp-eyed dramatists of the Renaissance and beyond surely didn’t need Sigmund Freud to tell them about forbidden, clandestine and unspoken desires.

Arkadina writes that off as jealousy, and it’s crucially the ambiguity as to whether that is professional envy or maternally fixated sexual jealousy which leads the thread of literary history right back, past Hamlet, to Oedipus Rex (circa 429 BCE).

Granted, it wasn’t until 1899 that Sigmund Freud flagged up the analytical notion that Hamlet and the unwitting incestuous patricidal Oedipus represent sons with subconscious urges to oust their fatherfigures as love rivals and to sleep with their mothers. Indeed, few English-speaking playwrights would have read Freud’s

The Interpretation of Dreams in translation until nearer the mid-20th century. However, sharp-eyed dramatists of the Renaissance and beyond surely didn’t need Sigmund to tell them about forbidden, clandestine and unspoken desires or indeed folkloric legends involving incestuousness. Oedipus Rex, in Seneca’s Latin version, could have been read by Shakespeare, courtesy of his grammar school education. Some believe he knew the Oresteia or other ancient Orestes plays too, pointing out that Clytemnestra’s son – avenging his father’s murder by furiously slaying his adulterous mother and her lover – is more akin to Hamlet than is Oedipus.

To what extent Hamlet, Konstantin or Nicky should be interpreted as implicitly having a mother-obsessed Oedipus complex, or if that’s even a valid notion, is still very debatable. Moreover, Nicky and Florence’s shattering confrontation in The Vortex is intriguingly open to multiple interpretations. Nicky is adamant about compelling his mother to cast off her delusions, to face and speak uncomfortable truths about her habitually unorthodox sexual conduct which, he says, has destroyed his now shy and retiring father’s spirit. Yet, when it comes to Nicky’s own confession, that remains indirect or coded on, quite possibly, more than one level.

Neither mother nor son bring themselves to verbally state that it’s cocaine that is stashed in his small gold box which she suddenly sees and then tries to hurl away out of sight.

More subtextually still, some see the potent drug to which he has become irresistibly drawn as an analogy. We have come full circle back to metaphors, with Nicky’s cocaine habit potentially symbolising that he is ‘coming out of the closet’ to his mother about being a homosexual. The love that dared not speak its name remained illegal – with mention of it on stage also censored – for much of Coward’s life.

Kate Bassett is a journalist and Literary Associate at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Spinning into the future Think of a Noël Coward play, and the design elements that spring to mind might be silk dressing gowns, cigarette holders and chaise longues.

But for set designer Joanna Scotcher – who’s previously created the worlds of Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads and Doubt at Chichester – it’s ‘the psychological and emotional journey that happens through The Vortex’ that provided her starting point, rather than the conventional aesthetics of a Coward play.

‘Director Daniel Raggett and I came at the design through the dynamism of the language. There is so much going on in terms of the relationships within the play, particularly the chasm between Florence and Nicky.’

The symbolism of the family home, and the impact of it being broken or destabilised, was key. ‘Like the record player that continues to turn throughout the piece, we’ve set the play on a large revolve which pretty much spans the whole of the Chichester stage. To the sides are tiered sets of circular steps which look like they’ve been knocked slightly off-kilter and partly sunk into the ground.’

While the costumes evoke the 1920s, the set incorporates mid-20th century elements. ‘We imagine that Florence has collected things around her which lead us into a slightly disjointed, anarchic sense of place.

‘The characters are camouflaging themselves; the play is as much about people not connecting as connecting. But we’re also using moving footage to establish the idea of Nicky’s memories of his relationship with his mother as it once was.’

If digital is playing a role on stage, it’s playing an increasingly major role off it, too.

Joanna herself works digitally rather than with a conventional model, and says, ‘The brilliant team at Chichester are at the cutting edge of trying to make theatre in a more green and responsive way, pulling the production process into the 21st century.’

This revolutionary process is being spearheaded by CFT’s Creative Digital Producer Julia Walter and Production Manager Apprentice Lucy Guyver, who explains: ‘In a traditional process, a designer would create a detailed model box, a small-scale reproduction of the set, which will be taken to the first day of rehearsals for the cast to see before travelling round the country to other members of the creative team and to workshops for them to build the actual set. The models are beautiful but cumbersome, on a scale of 1:25, and delicate, so it costs a lot in transportation fees as well as the environmental impact.’

‘That historic process is ingrained in the

industry,’ says Julia Walter. ‘It’s the focal point that brings everybody together so that they can envision the show. So we wanted to ask how can you put a more sustainable and modern spin on it, without trying to totally replace but to enhance the process and give us more tools.’

‘It’s a digital twin of the set.’

So, they’ve come up with a digital version of a model box, using the 3D, immersive creation software Unreal Engine. ‘A designer will draw a ground plan with side elevations; from those measurements it’s possible to come up with a 3D digital model that’s to scale and placed within the virtual theatre auditorium’, says Lucy. ‘You can show scene changes, move the revolve, place furniture within it. Anyone can view it at any time from wherever they are; we came up with a way for them to scan a QR code which takes them straight “onto” the stage. We’re hoping to get it to a point when we can pre-test the automation, video and lighting so that we can properly start pre-visualising the production.’

Julia points out that the digital model offers ‘additional advantages,

for example from an audience viewpoint you can sit in any seat and check the sightlines; you can pre-empt issues which might come up in the build. It’s a digital twin of the set, which is also useful for archive purposes.’

A future ambition is to create an experience for audiences that allows them to digitally immerse themselves in the set, watch scene changes and listen to audio cues, offering a new insight into how theatre is created.

CFT is fortunate that Lucy has the skills to teach herself the software in order to support designers; ‘as an industry it’s about having in-house training to have this as an option,’ says Julia. ‘I think as a new generation of production managers and designers emerge who are much more au fait with this software, it will definitely become more commonplace.

‘We know that the RSC, the NT and the Royal Opera House are all exploring this way of working and it will just be a matter of time before we all confer. We are keen to share our learnings. It’s exciting to be on the cusp of it and seeing it develop, and Lucy could be integral to it moving forward.’

The Vortex

By Noël Coward

Cast (in order of speaking) Preston Helen Saville Pauncefort Quentin Clara Hibbert Florence Lancaster Tom Veryan Nicky Lancaster David Lancaster Bunty Mainwaring Bruce Fairlight

Esme Scarborough Priyanga Burford Richard Cant Jessica Alade Lia Williams Sean Delaney Joshua James Hugh Ross Isabella Laughland Evan Milton

The action of the play takes place in Florence Lancaster’s London flat and, four days later, at her country house.

There is no interval.

First performance of this production of The Vortex at Chichester Festival Theatre, 28 April 2023.

The Vortex © NC Aventales AG, 1924 First presented at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead, London on 25 November 1924 Transferred to the Royalty Theatre, London on 16 December 1924, then to the Comedy Theatre, London on 9 March 1925 and to the Little Theatre, London on 4 May 1925.

Director Set Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Music and Sound Movement Director Casting Director

Daniel Raggett Joanna Scotcher Evie Gurney Zoe Spurr Giles Thomas Michela Meazza Lotte Hines CDG

‘Rhapsody in Blue’ Arranger Voice Coach Assistant Director

Thomas Bartlett Charmian Hoare George Jibson

Production Manager Costume Supervisor Props Supervisor Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Supervisor

John Page Fiona Parker Jamie Owens Rob Wilson

Company Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager

Nikki Colclough Anna Sheard Sarah Follon Zoë Lyndon-Smith

Production credits: Set construction and painting Theatre Royal Plymouth; Production Carpenter Kieran Patrick; Millinery Dean Burke; Costume making and alterations Jacqui Hamer; Costume alterations Colette Tully; Costume hire National Theatre Costume Hire; Lighting hires Encore; Video filming and editing Pardon Our French; Music Transcription Caitlin Morgan; Additional Piano Arrangements and Piano Teacher Seb Carrington; Piano servicing and tuning Gerry Salway; Rehearsal Room London Welsh Centre.

With thanks to The Noël Coward Archive Trust; Hunter Dunbar; Laura Wadey, Chaperone; Oliver Soden; Neil Tennant; Michael Grandage; Michael Biglad Shaw; Declan Togher; Noluthando Boqwana; all at Rutters UK.

Rehearsal and production photographs Helen Murray Programme Associate Fiona Richards Programme design Davina Chung Cover image Bob King Creative, photograph Seamus Ryan Supported by The Vortex Supporters Circle: His Honour Michael Baker and Edna Baker, Patrick and Maggie Burgess, Ian and Jan Carroll, John and Joanna Dunstan, Sheila and Steve Evans, Mrs Sophie Gooley, Lindy Riesco, David and Sophie Shalit, Sayers/Strange Family, Howard M Thompson, Bryan Warnett, Ian and Alison Warren, and all those who wish to remain anonymous.

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Cast Biographies Jessica Alade Clara Hibbert Theatre includes Virginia Woolf/Drunken Tory in Orlando (Michael Grandage Company); Ophelia in Hamlet (National Theatre); Mrs Cratchit/Belle/Mrs Fezziwig/ Topper in A Christmas Carol, Miranda/ Antonia in The Tempest, Mistress Page/ Host of the Garter in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Open Bar Theatre); Bushra in Outright Terror... Bold And Brilliant (Random Order Theatre Company); Starveling/Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing (Split Second Productions).

Television includes Showtrial, Buffering, I Hate Suzie.

Films include the shorts Every Dark Wave, The Three Musketeers, Queen Bee. Trained at Guildford School of Acting.

Priyanga Burford Helen Saville Theatre includes Rapture (Royal Court Theatre); Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Katherine in Eyam (Shakespeare’s Globe); Ruth in Consent (National Theatre); The Effect (Sheffield Crucible); Behud (Belgrade Coventry); On Religion (Soho); The White Devil (In Service Productions/Brighton Pavilion); A Passage to India (Shared Experience); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company); Twelfth Night (Liverpool Playhouse); Arabian Nights (Young Vic, New Victory NYC); The John Wayne Principle (Nuffield, Southampton).

Television includes Steel Town Murders, Innocent 2, Industry, Avenue 5, This Time With Alan Partridge, Press, W1A, King Charles III, Fearless, Marcella, 100 Days of UKIP, London Spy, No Offence, Veep, The Thick of It, Silent Witness, The Shadowline, Extras, Murphy’s Law, A Rather English Marriage.

Films include No Time to Die, Criminal, The Long Way Down, The Other Man, Magicians.

As Writer-Director: Monster Heart (Short); as Writer: Oak Tree Close (Radio); as Writer: Graham and Alice (Short).

Lia Williams Joshua James

Richard Cant Pauncefort Quentin Theatre includes Orlando (Garrick); Handbagged, Wife (Kiln); Henry VI: Rebellion, Wars of the Roses, Maydays, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing (RSC); The Normal Heart, Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear, War Horse (National Theatre); Talent, Original Sin, The Country Wife (Sheffield Crucible); After Edward, Edward II (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); My Night With Reg, St Joan (Donmar Warehouse); Medea (Almeida); The Trial (Young Vic); Stella (LIFT); Salome (Headlong); Cymbeline, Troilus and Cressida, As You Like It (Cheek

By Jowl); Other People (Royal Court); Angels in America (Library); Waterland (Eastern Angles).

Television includes It’s A Sin, The Crown, Taboo, Silent Witness, Outlander, Mapp and Lucia, Vexed, Above Suspicion, Gunpowder Treason and Plot, Doctor Who, Bleak House, Shackleton, Midsomer Murders, The Way We Live Now, Doctors, The Bill, Gimme Gimme Gimme, This Life.

Jessica Alade Joshua James

Films include My Policeman, Mary Queen of Scots, Stan and Ollie, Take Care, Sparkle, The Lawless Heart.

Other work includes Road To Heaven, Medieval Hitchhiker (Radio), Assassin’s Creed III/IV, 007 Legends (Video Games), Spirit Rangers (Animation).

Sean Delaney Tom Veryan Theatre includes Michael Carney in The Ferryman (Gielgud Theatre, West End and Jacobs Theatre, NY); Sean in Brilliant Jerks (Southwark Theatre); John in Labyrinth (longlisted for the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award) and Jason in Rabbit Hole (Hampstead Theatre).

Television includes Life After Life, Killing Eve, Midsomer Murders.

Films include Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

Trained at RADA.

Joshua James Nicky Lancaster Previously at Chichester, Nikolai in Platonov and Konstantin in The Seagull as part of the Young Chekhov Trilogy (Festival Theatre), also at the National Theatre, for which he was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award.

Theatre includes The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse); Anna X (Vaults); Wife (Kiln Theatre); Lady Windermere’s Fan (Vaudeville Theatre); King Lear, Gabriel, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Life of Galileo (Young Vic); Here We Go, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Treasure Island (National Theatre); Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse); Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies (RSC); The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, No Quarter, Love and Information (Royal Court Theatre).

Television includes The New Look, Andor, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, The Ipcress File, Industry, I Hate Suzie, Life,

Priyanga Burford Richard Cant

Absentia, Raised By Wolves, Black Mirror, McMafia, Utopia, Whites, Identity.

Films include Cyrano, Darkest Hour, Criminal, Summer in February.

Trained at RADA. Isabella Laughland Bunty Mainwaring Previously at Chichester W in Cock, Cordelia in King Lear (Minerva Theatre).

Theatre includes Rose in Love, Love, Love (Lyric Hammersmith); Either, Lydia in A Further Education (Hampstead Theatre); Izzy in BU21 (Trafalgar Studios/Kuleshov); Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible); Isabella Reynolds in That Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse); Viv in Hard Feelings (Finborough Theatre); Summer in The Last of the Haussmans, Lisa in Greenland (National Theatre); Michelle in Wanderlust (Royal Court).

Television includes Foundation, Four

Lives, Anne Boleyn, Trigonometry, Ghosts, Criminal, Chimerica, Coming Up: Henry, Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits, The Hollow Crown: Richard II, Without You, The Inbetweeners.

Films include Good Luck to You Leo Grande, Slaughterhouse Rulez, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Chubby Funny, Urban Hymn, Now Is Good, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Evan Milton Bruce Fairlight Theatre includes Schlesinger in Network (National Theatre); Reverend Peters in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre tour); Dr John Seward in Dracula (Touring Consortium Theatre); Jamie in Secret Life of Humans (English Theatre Frankfurt); 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic); Ian Meade in Every Bit of My Love (Old Vic Tunnels); Daniel ‘Radge’ Summers in A Marked Man (Invertigo at HighTide Festival).

Television includes The Power, The Little Drummer Girl, Father Brown, EastEnders, Joshua James Isabella Laughland

Casualty, Royal Mob, Rise of the Tudors, The Lost Pirate Kingdom, Doctors, D-Day: Do Or Die, Tell Me Who I Am, Engineering That Built America.

Films include Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and the shorts Trickle and Every Bit of My Love.

Hugh Ross David Lancaster Previously at Chichester, 5/11 (Festival Theatre).

Theatre includes Twilight Song (Park Theatre); Twelfth Night, Hamlet (Sheffield Crucible); Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios); A Life (Finborough); A Plague Over England (Duchess); Waste (Almeida); Bent (Trafalgar Studios); Pyrenees (Tron/Menier/Watford Playhouse); Love Me Tonight (Hampstead); The Woman in Black (Fortune); David Hare Trilogy (Birmingham Rep); A Prayer for Owen Meany, Battle Royal, Lady in the Dark (National Theatre); Fifty Revolutions (Whitehall Theatre); The Invention of Love (Haymarket); Passion (Donmar Warehouse:

Sean Delaney Evan Milton Esme Scarborough Hugh Ross

Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor); Tartuffe (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Democracy (Bush Theatre); Dr Faustus, Mary Stuart (Greenwich Theatre); King Lear (Royal Court); Death and the Maiden (Duke of York’s Theatre); Hedda Gabler (Playhouse Theatre); As You Like It, All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC); Bussy d’Ambois (Old Vic); Twelfth Night (Time Out Performer Award), The Cid (Cheek by Jowl).

Television includes Outlander (series 5, 6, 7), Married to a Paedophile, The Team, Waterloo Road, Rab C Nesbitt, Marple, Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, The Palace, Mine All Mine, Snoddy, Rebus, Men Only, Mists of Avalon, Invasion Earth, Sharpe’s Gold/ Battle/Sword, Dr Finlay, Between the Lines, Absolutely Fabulous, An Ungentlemanly Act, Poirot, The Advocates, Misterioso.

Films include Sunset Song, First Night, The Iron Lady, Dorian Gray, Bronson, Charlotte Gray, The Four Feathers, Trainspotting, Patriot Games, Nightbreed.

As a director: Stevie (Mercury, Colchester); The Roundabout (Park Theatre, 59E59th Street, NYC: NY Times Critics’ Pick); The Mousetrap (West End).

Audio: Over 100 broadcasts, BBC, Big Finish, many audio books.

Esme Scarborough Preston Theatre includes Natalie in The Prince of Homburg (The Space); The Coral (Finborough Theatre); Beatrix Potter in The Peter Rabbit Garden Adventure (Blenheim Palace). Theatre while training includes Mary in Merrily We Roll Along, Helen in Blood Wedding, Claire in Bare: A Pop Opera, Marina in Pericles: Prince of Tyre, Lizaveta in Three Days in the Country, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice, Natasha in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Irina in Three Sisters, Mistress Squeamish in The Country Wife, Livia in Women Beware Women, Joan in After The Dance (LAMDA).

Television includes The Chelsea Detective.

Radio includes Mansfield Park, Madam Opposte: Lia Williams

Will You Talk?, Company.

Films include the short East.

Trained at LAMDA. Lia Williams Florence Lancaster Previously at Chichester, Lia directed Doubt: A Parable (Festival Theatre).

A multi award-winning actor, her recent theatre roles include John Gabriel Borkman (The Bridge Theatre); The Night of the Iguana (Noël Coward Theatre); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Donmar Warehouse: Evening Standard Best Actress Award nomination); The Oresteia (Olivier Best Actress Award nomination) and Mary Stuart (Almeida & West End); The Father (Theatre Royal Bath); A Streetcar Named Desire (Gate Theatre, Dublin: Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actress); Old Times (Harold Pinter Theatre); Arcadia (Ethel Barrymore Theater, New York); Earthquakes in London, The Hothouse (National Theatre); Skylight (National Theatre, West End & Broadway: Olivier and Tony Award Best Actress nominations, TheatreWorld Outstanding Broadway Debut Award); Oleanna (Royal Court & Duke of York’s Theatre).

Her extensive screen work includes Benediction, Living, Dr Cooper in His Dark Materials, Wallis Simpson in The Crown, The Capture, Kiri, The Silkworm, The Missing, Doc Martin and May 33rd (nominated for Best Actress at BAFTA and RTS Awards).

Lia Williams was BAFTA-nominated for her short film The Stronger, which won Best Short Film at Raindance; other short films include Feathers (highly commended at The London Film Festival), Dog Alone for Sky Arts TV and Samovar, currently on the festival circuit. She also made a feature documentary, Nanobozhung, for which she spent the best part of a year working with the indigenous Batchewana tribe near Lake Superior, Canada. Other directing credits include The Matchbox by Frank McGuinness (Liverpool Playhouse/Tricycle Theatre), which won Best Play at Off West End Awards, and Ashes to Ashes as part of the Harold Pinter Season in the West End with Paapa Essiedu and Kate O’Flynn.

Creative Team Noël Coward Writer Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 11, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was The Vortex (1924) which made his name as both actor and playwright in the West End and on Broadway. During the 1920s and 1930s, Coward wrote a string of successful plays, musicals and intimate revues including Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Easy Virtue (1926), This Year of Grace (1928) and Bitter Sweet (1929).

His professional partnership with childhood friend, Gertrude Lawrence started with the The Company

musical revue, London Calling and was followed by Private Lives (1931) and Tonight at 8.30 (1936).

During World War II, he remained a successful playwright, screenwriter and director, as well as entertaining the troops and even acting as a spy for the Foreign Office. His plays during these years included Blithe Spirit (1941), which ran for 1997 performances, outlasting the War (a West End record until The Mousetrap overtook it), This Happy Breed and Present Laughter (both 1942). His two wartime screenplays, In Which We Serve, which he co-directed with the young David Lean as well as starring in, and Brief Encounter quickly became classics of British cinema.

However, the post-war years were more difficult. Austerity Britain – the London critics determined – was out of tune with the brittle Coward wit. In response, Coward re-invented himself as a cabaret and TV star, particularly in America, and in 1955 he played a sell-out season in Las Vegas featuring many of his most famous songs, including ‘Mad About the Boy’, ‘I’ll See You Again’ and ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’.

This was followed by three live television specials on CBS including Together With Music with Mary Martin. In the mid-1950s he settled in Jamaica and Switzerland, and enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1960s becoming the first living playwright to be performed by the National Theatre, when he directed Hay Fever there. Late in his career he was lauded for his roles in a number of films including Our Man in

Havana (1959) and his role as the iconic Mr. Bridger alongside Michael Caine in The Italian Job 1968).

Writer, actor, director, film producer, painter, songwriter, cabaret artist as well as an author of verse, essays, autobiographies and a novel, he was called by close friends ‘The Master’. His final West End appearance was Song At Twilight in 1966, which he wrote and starred in. He was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in 1973 in his beloved Jamaica.

For further information on Noël Coward’s life and work, visit noelcoward.com.

Copyright agent: Alan Brodie Representation Ltd alanbrodie.com

Evie Gurney Costume Designer Theatre includes Women, Beware the Devil and The Hunt (Almeida Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre Company/Washington DC); Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre); The 47th (The Old Vic); The Seagull (Dramaten/Stockholm).

Awards include The Stage Debut Award for Best Designer (2019).

Trained Royal College of Art (MA in Curating Contemporary Art) and Central Saint Martins (BA in Fashion). www.eviegurney.com Lotte Hines CDG Casting Director Lotte worked at the Royal Court Theatre as Casting Associate 2008-2012 and then as Deputy Casting Director 2012-2014.

Theatre as Casting Director includes Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Lyric Hammersmith/Sheffield Crucible/Playful Productions); Let The Right One In, Nora: Hugh Ross Daniel Raggett

A Doll’s House, The Mountaintop, Glee & Me (Royal Exchange Manchester); Closer, Jack and The Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre/Sonia Friedman Productions); The Forest (Hampstead Theatre); Ivan and the Dogs, Things of Dry Hours, La Musica, Dirty Butterfly, The Island (Young Vic); The Dark (Oval House & UK tour); Hole (Royal Court); The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Meek, Junkyard, Boys Will Be Boys, The Glass Menagerie, The Absence of War, Medea (Headlong); As You Like It, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Barbershop Chronicles (NT/Fuel/WYP US tour); Elephant (Birmingham Rep); People, Places and Things (National Theatre/Headlong); Speech and Debate (Trafalgar Studios); The Iliad, The Weir (Lyceum Edinburgh); Brenda (HighTide/The Yard); Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible); Another Place (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Pests (Clean Break/Royal Court); We Are Proud to Present (Bush Theatre); The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic);

Pieces of Vincent (Arcola). As Casting Associate The Seagull (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Tipping the Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith/Royal Lyceum Edinburgh); Bull (Sheffield Crucible); as Casting Assistant Hamlet (Barbican); A View from the Bridge (Young Vic).

Television and film includes Casting Director for the shorts Influencer, CLA’AM, Above, digital dramas Data, Unprecedented and Casting Associate for Lockwood & Co, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

George Jibson Assistant Director Theatre includes, as Assistant/Associate Director: Noises Off (West End & UK tour); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath); Mrs Warren’s Profession (Theatre Royal Bath & UK tour).

As Director: As You Like It (Bard Bits at The Golden Goose); Make It Rain and Wolves (The Golden Goose Theatre); The Masquerade (New Writing/New Normal Festival); Stories of Tamil Nadu (Satkaarya Isabella Laughland Sean Delaney Lia Williams

Trust, Chennai); Not the End of the World (Cockpit Theatre); SENSE (St Pancras Crypt); Artistic Director of ACT II (Arcola Theatre).

George also works as a film director, directing his own shorts including Alice Greene and Silver Spoon for Five Fifty Five Films, where he was a Creative Associate.

He has also worked as an assistant to film director, Lorna Tucker.

Michela Meazza Movement Director Previously at Chichester, Associate Choreographer for South Pacific (Festival Theatre, also Sadler’s Wells & UK tour).

Credits as Movement Director include The Comedy of Errors (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Mr Burns (Guildhall School), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff), The Starry Messenger (Wyndham’s Theatre), The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre), Murder Ballad (Arts Theatre), Cymbeline (Globe Theatre), Boa (Trafalgar Studios); as Associate Movement Director,

The Two Character Play (Hampstead), Julie (National Theatre), The El Train (Hoxton Hall), Orpheus and Eurydice (Old Vic Tunnels).

As a performer for Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, where she is also an Associate Dance Practitioner: The Midnight Bell, The Red Shoes, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Dorian Gray, Edward Scissorhands, Play Without Words, Nutcracker, The Car Man. Other stage work includes Dry Write (Latitude Festival); Electric Hotel (Fuel); Really Old, Like Forty Five (National Theatre); Pictures from an Exhibition (Young Vic).

Michela has choreographed for music videos and short films by emerging artists.

She received the Critics’ Circle Outstanding Female Modern Performance Award 2022 for her role in The Midnight Bell.

Daniel Raggett Director Daniel Raggett’s work as a director includes Anna X by Joseph Charlton, which he directed as part of Sonia Friedman’s 2021 Re:Emerge season in the West End and which was also broadcast on Sky Arts; The Company

a new version of Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist

by Tom Basden, for Sheffield Theatres and Lyric Hammersmith; and Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice for the Gate Theatre (Best Director nomination, Off West End Awards), which he also adapted. He was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Emerging Talent Award in 2022.

Daniel has also worked extensively as an associate director on productions at the National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway, including West Side Story (Broadway); Network (Broadway/National Theatre); Noises Off (Garrick Theatre); All About Eve (Noël Coward Theatre); Hamlet (Almeida/Harold Pinter Theatre); The Red Barn (National Theatre); and 1984 (Almeida/ UK & international tour/West End/ Broadway). danielraggett.com Joanna Scotcher Designer Previously at Chichester Doubt: A Parable (Festival Theatre), Sing Yer Heart Out for the

Lads (Minerva Theatre and Spiegeltent).

Theatre as designer includes Black Superhero (Royal Court); Macbeth (Almeida Theatre); Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World (Theatre Royal Stratford East/UK tour); Women Beware Women (Shakespeare’s Globe); Love, Love, Love (Lyric Hammersmith); Emilia (Shakespeare’s Globe/ West End); Mother Courage, Anna Karenina, The Rolling Stone (Royal Exchange/Headlong Theatre); The Village (Stratford East); Cuttin’ It (Young Vic/ Royal Court/Birmingham Rep/Sheffield Theatres); Winter, Two Endless Moments, A Harlem Dream (Young Vic); Pests (Clean Break/Royal Court/Royal Exchange); Katie Roche (Abbey Theatre Dublin); Boys Will Be Boys (Bush Theatre/Headlong); The Railway Children (King’s Cross Theatre/ Waterloo/Toronto).

Opera as designer includes She Described It To Death, Current Rising (Royal Opera House).

She was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Costume Design for her work on Emilia and a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Set

Designer for The Railway Children.

Joanna Scotcher trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Zoe Spurr Lighting Designer Previously at Chichester Our Generation (also National Theatre) and Hedda Tesman (Minerva Theatre).

Zoe Spurr’s work has been seen on the West End, throughout the UK and internationally. Recent designs include Beginning (Royal Exchange Manchester); Good (Harold Pinter Theatre); How Not To Drown (Traverse/Theatre Royal Stratford East/UK tour); Bonnie & Clyde The Musical (Arts Theatre/Garrick Theatre); The Wind in the Willows (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Importance of Being Earnest (Leeds Playhouse/ETT); Migrations (Welsh National Opera); Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World (Kenny Wax Family Entertainment/MAST at the Mayflower/ national tour); Beauty and The Beast (Nottingham Playhouse); Road (Northern Stage); Hamlet (Theatre Royal Windsor);

Current, Rising (ROH Linbury); Wuthering Heights (Royal Exchange); Run Sister Run (Sheffield Crucible/Paines Plough); An Edinburgh Christmas Carol (Royal Lyceum); A Friendly Society (Kiln); Eugene Onegin and the world premiere of Georgiana (Buxton International Festival); The Phlebotomist (Hampstead); Nigel Slater’s Toast (The Other Palace/UK tour); Emilia (Vaudeville); The Maids (Manchester HOME); Silence (Mercury Colchester); The Unreturning (Frantic Assembly: 2019 Theatre and Technology Award for Lighting Design); Meek (Headlong); Loose Lips, Phoenix Rising (Offie nomination: Big House); Elephant (Birmingham Rep); Not Talking (Arcola); Tiny Dynamite (Old Red Lion: Lightmongers’ ALD Award for New Talent in Entertainment Lighting and OFFIE award for Lighting Design). zoespurrlighting.co.uk Giles Thomas Music and Sound Previously at Chichester, Music and Sound for Plenty (Festival Theatre), Sound Designer for Cock (Minerva Theatre).

He has worked as a Composer and Sound Designer for over a decade and as a Music Producer and Mix Engineer.

Theatre includes Sons of the Prophets, The Dumb Waiter (Hampstead Theatre); The Contingency Plan (Sheffield Theatres); Leftovers (LAMDA); An Octoroon (Abbey Richard Cant Lia Williams

Theatre Dublin); Fair Play (Bush Theatre); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Curve Theatre Leicester/ETT/Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse UK tour); Romeo and Juliet (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Marvin’s Binoculars, The Twits (digital production), Grimm Tales (Unicorn Theatre); The Living Newspaper: Edition 2 (Royal Court Theatre); The Comeback (West End); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong/Lyric Hammersmith/Birmingham Rep); Dick Whittington (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Hedda Gabler (Sherman Cymru); Master Harold and the Boys (National Theatre); Equus (ETT/Theatre Royal Stratford East UK tour & West End); Tao of Glass (Manchester International Festival); Disco Pigs (Off Broadway); A Streetcar Named Desire (ETT/ Nuffield Theatre); The Almighty Sometimes (Royal Exchange Theatre); Macbeth (Unifaun Theatre Malta); Henry V (Tobacco Factory); Othello (ETT UK tour); Rails (Theatre by the Lake); Buggy Baby (The Yard); The Importance of Being Earnest (Original Theatre UK tour); Loose Lips (The Big House).

Television and film includes Aurelia, Ident, Cern Hadron Collider Exhibition, Street Spirit, Last of the Oaks.

Studied Sound Technology at Liverpool Academy for Performing Arts (BA Hons). giles-t.co.uk

Events

The Vortex Noël Coward Exhibition

Post-Show Talk

21 April – 20 May Delve deeper into the life of Noël Coward with this free exhibition celebrating his life and work, including CFT’s productions through the years.

Presented in collaboration with the Noël Coward Archive Trust.

Free

Wednesday 17 May Stay after the performance to ask questions, meet company members and discover more about the play.

Hosted by CFT Literary Associate Kate Bassett.

Free

Pre-Show Talk

The Lives of Noël Coward Friday 19 May, 5.30pm Oliver Soden, author of the acclaimed new biography Masquerade: The Lives of Noël Coward, joins us for a fascinating discussion about the playwright.

Followed by a book signing.

Tickets £10, Prologue 16-30s £5

Wednesday 3 May, 5.45pm Director Daniel Raggett in conversation with best-selling author Kate Mosse.

Free but booking is essential.

“Born Noël Peirce Coward on 16 December 1899, there has not been a theatrical figure comparable to him before or since. ‘Coward 125’ is a two-year celebration of his extraordinary life and some of the most famous and beloved plays and songs ever written.”

The Noël Coward Foundation

Coward 125 is a two-year celebration of the enduring legacy of Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973). From humble beginnings, Coward would achieve international recognition for his work as a playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, as well as for his incomparable wit and effortless style. Coward continues to enthral and delight audiences.

50 years after his death, his

popularity endures with his work constantly staged around the world.

The Noël Coward Foundation, established as a charitable trust in 2000 to maintain Coward’s charitable work, supports educational and development projects across the Arts and continues the keen interest Coward himself took in charitable work during his lifetime.

Get Creative Whatever your interests or skill-set, there’s something for you in our programme of activities for adults. Everyone’s welcome, so join us and get creative.

Get Into It! Learn new skills and socialise in our termly sessions in Acting, Dancing or Singing each Monday. Can’t make it every week? Try our Drop-Ins and join us when suits you. No experience necessary - everyone is welcome to Get Into it!

Mind, Body, Sing Fun and relaxing, our group singing sessions are open to everyone aged 18+ and are dementia friendly. We believe everyone is musical and there are no wrong notes, so join us and experience the health-giving properties of group singing.

Scan to find out more cft.org.uk/get-creative

Wednesday Company and Friday Company For adults aged 25+ with learning disabilities to develop their artistic skills, meet new people and socialise in a fun and supportive environment.

Wednesday Company takes place at The Capitol in Horsham and Friday Company takes place at St Paul’s Church in Chichester.

Chichester People’s Theatre Our community company work together to devise an original piece of theatre inspired by the work on our stages. The piece is then shared at a public performance.

Join Chichester Festival Youth Theatre “For young people, knowing you can identify as whoever you really think you are is more and more relevant, and CFYT has always felt like a space where you can do that.”

CFYT MEMBER

Every week, CFYT members meet at locations across the county to discover new skills and explore new stories, make friends, build confidence and, most importantly, “laugh until your sides hurt”* (*direct quote from a member).

For ages 5 to 25 we have drama, dance, musical theatre and technical theatre sessions to choose from, as well as groups for young people with additional needs (CFYT Wednesday in Horsham and CFYT Friday in Chichester).

Our weekly sessions take place in locations across West Sussex for you to meet like-minded people and find a space where you can just be yourself!

Find your group across West Sussex and join us!

Scan to find out more

cft.org.uk/CFYT

Light a Spark What’s your first theatre memory?

Was it the buzz as you took your seat, being wowed by the show, the interval ice cream?

We want your first theatre memories to be part of an exhibition celebrating Chichester Festival Theatre and our new Light a Spark campaign.

Share your memories with us today cft.org.uk/LightASpark

Light a Spark is fundraising to support magical first theatre experiences for children, young people and families in our communities.

Chichester Festival Theatre is a registered charity. Charity no. 1088552.

Staff Trustees Mark Foster Judy Fowler Victoria Illingworth Rear Admiral John Lippiett CB CBE Harry Matovu KC Caro Newling OBE Nick Pasricha Philip Shepherd Stephanie Street Hugh Summers Jean Vianney Cordeiro Tina Webster Associates Kate Bassett Charlotte Sutton CDG

Chair

Literary Associate Casting Associate

Building & Site Services Chris Edwards Maintenance Engineer Lez Gardiner Duty Engineer Daren Rowland Facilities Manager Graeme Smith Duty Engineer Costume Isabelle Brook Helen Clark Aly Fielden Helen Flower Shelley Gray

Emily Souch

Dresser Dresser Wardrobe Manager Senior Costume Assistant Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager Dresser Wardrobe Manager Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager Assistant Wardrobe

Loz Tait Colette Tulley

Head of Costume Wardrobe Maintenance

Abbi Hart Amy Hills Dee Howland Kendal Love

Development Jessey Barnes Laura Blake

Development Officer Fundraising Consultant

Julie Field Friends Administrator Sophie Henstridge-Brown Senior Development Manager Charlotte Stroud Karen Taylor

Development Manager Development Manager (Maternity Leave)

Joanna Walker Megan Wilson

Director of Development Events and Development Officer

LEAP Anastasia Alexandru Helena Berry Rob Bloomfield

Heritage & Archive Assistant

Zoe Ellis Isabelle Elston

LEAP Co-ordinator Community & Outreach Trainee

Matthew Hawksworth Head of Children & Young People’s Programme Hannah Hogg Shari A. Jessie Louise Rigglesford

Artistic Director Designate

Kathy Bourne Patricia Key Keshira Aarabi

Executive Director PA to the Directors Projects & Events Co-ordinator

Angela Buckley

Projects & Events Co-ordinator

Georgina Rae

Director of Planning & Projects

Julia Smith

Creative Therapist Senior Community & Outreach Manager Director of LEAP Youth & Outreach Co-ordinator

Riley Stroud

Cultural Learning & Education Apprentice

Angela Watkins

LEAP Projects Manager

Marketing, Communications, Digital & Sales Josh Allan Box Office Supervisor Caroline Aston Audience Insight Manager Becky Batten Head of Marketing Laura Bern Marketing Manager Jessica Blake-Lobb Marketing Manager (Corporate) Helen Campbell

Deputy Box Office Manager

Lydia Cassidy

Director of Marketing & Communications

Jay Godwin Lorna Holmes Mollie Kent

Box Office Assistant Box Office Supervisor Box Office Assistant (Casual)

James Mitchell James Morgan Lucinda Morrison Brian Paterson

Box Office Assistant Box Office Manager Head of Press Distribution Co-ordinator

Rachael Pennell Kirsty Peterson Ben Phillips

Marketing Officer Box Office Assistant Marketing & Press Assistant

Catherine Rankin

Box Office Assistant (Casual)

Jenny Thompson

Social Media & Digital Marketing Officer

Julia Walter Claire Walters Joanna Wiege Jane Wolf People Emily Oliver Jenefer Francis Gillian Watkins

Box Office Assistant (Casual) Creative Digital Producer Box Office Assistant Box Office Administrator Box Office Assistant

Accommodation Co-ordinator HR Officer HR Officer

Board Support

Finance Alison Baker Payroll & Pensions Officer Sally Cunningham Purchase Ledger Assistant Amanda Hart

Finance & Operations Director

Krissie Harte Katie Palmer

Finance Officer Assistant Management Accountant

Simon Parsonage

Finance Director & Company Secretary

Amanda Trodd Protozoon Ltd

Senior Youth & Outreach Manager

Dale Rooks Abi Rutter

Joshua Vine Directors Office Justin Audibert

Youth & Outreach Trainee Heritage & Archive Co-ordinator

Management Accountant IT Consultants

Production Amelia Ferrand-Rook Producer Claire Rundle Production Administrator George Waller Trainee Producer Nicky Wingfield Production Administrator Jeremy Woodhouse Producer Technical Steph Bartle Deputy Head of Lighting Victoria Baylis Props Assistant Daisy Vahey Bourne Stage Crew Finley Bradley Technical Theatre Apprentice Leoni Commosioung Stage Technician Adrien Corcilius Video & AV Technician

Sarah Crispin Sam Garner-Gibbons Jack Goodland Fuzz Guthrie Lucy Guyver

Senior Prop Maker Technical Director Stage Crew & Automation

Senior Sound Technician Production Manager Apprentice

Katie Hennessy

Props Store Co-ordinator

Tom Hitchins Head of Stage & Technical Laura Howells Senior Lighting Technician Mike Keniger Head of Sound Andrew Leighton Senior Lighting Technician Finlay Macknay Tito Mateo Karl Meier Charlotte Neville

Stage Crew Stage Technician Head of Stage Head of Props Workshop

Neil Rose James Sharples

Deputy Head of Sound Senior Stage Crew & Rigger

Molly Stammers Graham Taylor

Lighting Technician Head of Lighting

Theatre Management Janet Bakose Theatre Manager Judith Bruce-Hay Minerva Supervisor Charlie Gardiner Minerva Supervisor Ben Geering Head of Customer Operations Will McGovern Deputy House Manager Sharon Meier PA to Theatre Manager Gabriele Williams Deputy House Manager Caper & Berry Catering Proclean Cleaning Ltd Cleaning Contractor Goldcrest Guarding

Security

Stage Door: Bob Bentley, Janet Bounds, Judith Bruce-Hay, Caroline Hanton, Keiko Iwamoto, Chris Monkton, Sue Welling Ushers: Miranda Allemand, Judith Anderson, Maria Antoniou, Izzy Arnold, Jacob Atkins, Carolyn Atkinson, Brian Baker, Richard Berry, Emily Biro, Gloria Boakes, Alex Bolger, Dennis Brombley, Judith Bruce-Hay, Louisa Chandler, Jo Clark, Gaye Douglas, Stella Dubock, Amanda Duckworth, Clair Edgell, Lexi Finch, Suzanne Ford, Suzanne France, Jessica Frewin-Smith, Nigel Fullbrook, Barry Gamlin, Charlie Gardiner, Jay Godwin, Anna Grindel, Caroline Hanton, Justine Hargraves, Joseph Harrington, Joanne Heather, Daniel Hill, Marie Innes, Keiko Iwamoto, Flynn Jeffery, Joan Jenkins, Pippa Johnson, Julie Johnstone, Ryan Jones, Jan Jordan, Jon Joshua, Sally Kingsbury, Alexandra Langrish, Judith Marsden, Emily McAlpine, Janette McAlpine, Fiona Methven, Chris Monkton, Ella Morgans, Susan Mulkern, Isabel Owen, Martyn Pedersen, Susy Peel, Kirsty Peterson, Helen Pinn, Barbara Pope, Fleur Sarkissian, Nicola Shaw, Janet Showell, Lorraine Stapley, Sophie Stirzaker, Angela Stodd, Christine Tippen, Charlotte Tregear, Andy Trust, Sue Welling, James Wisker, Donna Wood, Kim Wylam, Jane Yeates We acknowledge the work of those who give so generously of their time as our Volunteer Audio Description Team: Tony Clark, Robert Dunn, Geraldine Firmston, Suzanne France, Richard Frost, David Phizackerley, Christopher Todd

Our Supporters 2023 Major Donors Deborah Alun-Jones Robin and Joan Alvarez David and Elizabeth Benson Philip Berry George W. Cameron OBE and Madeleine Cameron Sir William and Lady Castell David and Claire Chitty John and Pat Clayton David and Jane Cobb John and Susan Coldstream Clive and Frances Coward

Trusts and Foundations The Arthur Williams Charitable Trust The Arts Society, Chichester The Bernadette Charitable Trust The Dorus Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Elizabeth, Lady Cowdray’s Charity Trust Epigoni Trust The Foyle Foundation The G D Charitable Trust

Festival Players 1000+ John and Joan Adams Tom Reid and Lindy Ambrose The Earl and Countess of Balfour Sarah and Tony Bolton Ian and Jan Carroll C Casburn and B Buckley CS and M Chadha David Churchill Denise Clatworthy Michael and Jill Cook Lin and Ken Craig

Festival Players 500+ Judy Addison Smith Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard (The Barness Charity Trust) Martin Blackburn Janet Bounds Pat Bowman Jean Campbell Sally Chittleburgh Mr and Mrs Jeremy Chubb Mr Charles Collingwood and Miss Judy Bennett

Yvonne and John Dean Jim Douglas Mrs Veronica J Dukes Melanie Edge Huw Evans Steve and Sheila Evans Val and Richard Evans Sandy and Mark Foster Simon and Luci Eyers Angela and Uri Greenwood Themy Hamilton Lady Heller and the late Sir Michael Heller Liz Juniper Roger Keyworth Vaughan and Sally Lowe Jonathan and Clare Lubran Mrs Sheila Meadows Elizabeth Miles Eileen Norris Jerome and Elizabeth O’Hea Mrs Denise Patterson DL Stuart and Carolyn Popham Dame Patricia Routledge DBE The Shalit Family Simon and Melanie Shaw Greg and Katherine Slay Christine and Dave Smithers Alan and Jackie Stannah Oliver Stocken CBE Howard Thompson Peter and Wendy Usborne Bryan Warnett Ernest Yelf

Hobhouse Charitable Trust The Maurice Marshal Preference Trust Noël Coward Foundation Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Theatre Artists Fund The Vernon Ellis Foundation Wickens Family Foundation

Deborah Crockford Clive and Kate Dilloway Peter and Ruth Doust Gary Fairhall Mr Nigel Fullbrook George Galazka Robert and Pirjo Gardiner Wendy and John Gehr Marion Gibbs CBE Rachel and Richard Green Ros and Alan Haigh Chris and Carolyn Hughes Melanie J. Johnson John and Jenny Lippiett Sarah Mansell and Tim Bouquet James and Anne McMeehan Roberts Mrs Michael Melluish Celia Merrick Roger and Jackie Morris Jacquie Ogilvie Mr and Mrs Gordon Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Richard Parkinson and Hamilton McBrien Nick and Jo Pasricha John Pritchard Trust Philip Robinson Nigel and Viv Robson Ros and Ken Rokison David and Linda Skuse Peter and Lucy Snell Julie Sparshatt Richard Staughton and

The de Laszlo Foundation Lady Finch Colin and Carole Fisher Beryl Fleming Terry Frost Stephen J Gill Dr Stuart Hall Rowland and Caroline Hardwick Dennis and Joan Harrison Karen and Paul Johnston Frank and Freda Letch Anthony and Fiona Littlejohn Jim and Marilyn Lush Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Trevor & Lynne Matthews Tim McDonald Jill and Douglas McGregor Sue and Peter Morgan Mrs Mary Newby Margaret and Martin Overington Jean Plowright Robin Roads Dr David Seager John and Tita Shakeshaft Elizabeth Stern Anne Subba-Row Harry and Shane Thuillier Miss Melanie Tipples Chris and Dorothy Weller Nick and Tarnia Williams

Claire Heath Ian and Alison Warren Angela Wormald

...and to all those who wish to remain anonymous, thank you for your incredible support.

‘Chichester Festival Theatre enriches lives with its work both on and off stage. It is a privilege to be connected in a small way with this inspirational and generous-hearted institution, especially at such a challenging time for everyone in the Arts.’

John and Susan Coldstream, Major Donors and Festival Players

Our Supporters 2023 Principal Partners Platinum Level

Prof. E.F. Juniper and Mrs Jilly Styles Gold Level

Silver Level

Corporate Partners FBG Investment J Leon Group Jones Avens

Montezuma’s Oldham Seals Group Pallant House Gallery

Protozoon William Liley Financial Services Ltd

Why not join us and support the Theatre you love: cft.org.uk/support-us | development.team@cft.org.uk | 01243 812911

The Sound of Music 10 Jul – 3 Sep For a special experience, join us for the charity Summer Gala performance on 28 July Tickets from £10 Book at cft.org.uk

Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse Suggested by The Trapp Family Singers

by Maria Augusta Trapp

This summer, join us for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved musical, produced at Chichester for the first time. Gina Beck (South Pacific 2021) returns to play Maria, directed by Adam Penford.

The Sound of Music is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization concordtheatricals.co.uk