The House Party Digital Programme | CFT Festival 2024

The House Party

By Laura Lomas An adaptation of Miss Julie

by August Strindberg

Welcome

Welcome

Come on in! The music’s playing, the drinks are on ice, we’re all glammed up – let the party begin…

A big welcome to the opening production of our Minerva season: the world premiere of The House Party, Laura Lomas’s fizzing new adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.

The Minerva has often been the birthplace of groundbreaking new writing, and we’re particularly delighted to continue our long association with Headlong – who are celebrating their 50th birthday this year. Among our past co-productions are Six Characters in Search of an Author, Enron, Hedda Tesman and A View from the Bridge, and it’s a great pleasure to welcome director Holly Race Roughan and her creative associates back to Chichester.

It’s equally a joy to be working with Scott Graham and his pioneering company Frantic Assembly. The ensemble of young actors in today’s performance are drawn from Frantic’s remarkable Ignition programme and our own Chichester Festival Youth Theatre. With the three principal cast members, Rachelle Diedericks, Josh Finan and Nadia Parkes, they embody the talent and promise of the new generation.

Following The House Party into the Minerva is Justin’s own first production as Artistic Director, Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, with another outstanding trio of actors; read more about it overleaf, as well as our much-anticipated summer musical Oliver!

Enjoy the party! And we hope to see you again soon.

Justin Audibert Artistic Director

Kathy Bourne Executive Director

Kathy Bourne and Justin Audibert Photograph by Peter Flude

What if he took him?

What if he saved your baby and took him to Coram Hospital?

Coram Boy Festival Theatre 24 May – 15 June Following The Other Boleyn Girl into the Festival Theatre is Coram Boy

by Helen Edmundson, based on the novel by Jamila Gavin.

It tells a captivating and haunting tale of the dark side of 18th century society, but with a happy ending. Anyone who’s visited The Foundling Hospital in London, with its moving history of providing sanctuary for babies whose mothers were unable to care for them, will recognise Coram Boy’s message of hope and salvation, encapsulated in its use of wonderful music throughout, particularly Handel.

Director Anna Ledwich, formerly Co-Artistic Director of Theatre on the Fly, as well as our previous Writer in Residence (The Butterfly Lion, Pinocchio), says: ‘I think it’s such a great choice for the Festival Theatre stage. It spans eight years from 1742 to 1750, a really exciting period of time. You have lost children, young love, betrayal, villains, angels, coincidences, reconciliations. We’re going to have a wonderfully large company of actors; music plays a huge role too.

‘It’s epic and rich and theatrical.’

I’m afraid you’re a born fibber, en’t you?

You’re speaking to the owner. This is my room. You’re standing in my house.

The Caretaker Minerva Theatre 8 June – 13 July Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker established the arrival of one of the 20th century’s most distinctive and seminal voices, and still feels incredibly fresh and alive today.

Offering a feast of acting skills and three memorable characters, we’re delighted that the great Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars, Six Characters in Search of an Author CFT, Faith Healer Almeida and Broadway) is returning to Chichester after 15 years, alongside Adam Gillen (Amadeus National Theatre, ITV’s Benidorm) and Jack Riddiford (Romeo and Juliet Almeida Theatre, Jerusalem West End).

Justin Audibert, CFT’s Artistic Director, is at the helm. ‘This is a play as taut and electrifying and claustrophobic as it was when it premiered in 1960. It’s a play about people on the edge of society. Davies, Aston and Mick are all characters who are struggling to find their place in the world, and in this room they battle it out for supremacy against each other.

‘It’s exciting, challenging, funny and intense.’

Opening doors Chichester Festival Theatre has welcomed four early career individuals and one company to its pilot Artists Development Programme: a part-time, 10-month programme intended to develop their skills, make vital connections with other industry professionals, and enable them to deliver a creative project that will add to their emerging portfolio of work.

Led by CFT’s Artistic Director Justin Audibert and Creative Associate Sophie Hobson, the programme includes a series of workshops and a focused period of research and development.

‘A lot of development programmes come at a cost, so this is unbelievably good on so many levels,’ says Shani Kantor, a Brighton-based dance and movement artist who’s exploring the intersection of queerness and working class experience through jazz. ‘I feel extremely lucky to have the support not only of a big institution and their resources, but also of a network of artists who are in a similar position, and an element of financial support.’

Ben Grant, a multidisciplinary artist who’s developing his first full-length solo show, a semi-autobiographical exploration of Mixed-Race identity through a Pop Culture lens, observes: ‘I came into this wanting to refine my skills as a writer and performer; and mentorship for me is really valuable – learning from people who have such different disciplines, such as marketing and fundraising.’

Former Youth Theatre member Alice O’Hanlon, a queer actress, writer and director who’s creating a piece of theatre inspired by her Dad’s journey with early onset Alzheimer’s disease,

adds: ‘I’ve got such a special connection to Chichester; so this opportunity, plus the fact that CFT has such a good relationship with their dementia community, seemed to me the perfect place to develop what I wanted to do.’

Maddie Bell and Hollie Jameson-Clarke are members of the feminist comedy group OnTheNose (along with Esther Dracott and Emily Benucci), working on a new parody musical. ‘We all graduated from Chichester University in October so it’s been really nice to have the city remain our creative home,’ says Maddie, while Hollie points to the lasting connections the programme is designed to engender: ‘You’ll always have a network of people to come back to,

Artists Development Programme participants with Sophie Hobson and Justin Audibert

which really appealed. I think we’re all going to be so much more developed and full of understanding of what we want our projects to be, but also who we are as performers, creators, writers and directors.’

The participants receive a grant to enable them to devote adequate time to the programme: an important factor since, Alice says, ‘We are all juggling other jobs because we have to pay our rent and eat. This is buying us the time to be creative which is a really rare opportunity.’

Phoebe Hyder, who’s employing visual storytelling, puppetry and multidisciplinary theatre magic to create her solo piece about flyfishing, trees and grief, points out: ‘I’ve been a freelance practitioner of the Festival

Theatre for about three years, and felt a real need of investment as a creative; so [the main advantage] is not even financial investment, it’s helping careers grow; investing in people who are local, who are building new connections with Chichester Festival Theatre which is invaluable and what people in our position need. One of CFT’s funders described what they do as opening doors; and that kind of summarises this. It’s empowering.’

The Artists Development Programme is kindly supported by the Dora Green Educational Trust and Garrick Charitable Trust.

Provenance Community Sustainability Creating exceptional food to enhance your Festival experience

Our ethos Delicious dishes are only as good as their component parts and community is a key factor for Caper & Berry and CFT. We believe that working with fantastic local producers has huge benefits to local communities and creates better environments.

In our larder Fresh ingredients have been at the centre of Caper & Berry’s ethos since 2004: Ultra Sustainable Suppliers

Chef’s Farms

- Block & Cleaver Butchers - SØDT Danish Bakery - Tempus Cured Meats - Charlie’s Smokehouse - Cadd Oxshott Pizza - Hallgate Farm Eggs

- Nutbourne Tomatoes - Isle of Wight Garlic - Slade Farm Asparagus - Eastfield Farm Sussex Beetroot - Secretts Farm Leaves - Surrey Watercress

Discover more

We understand that ‘going green’ is an ongoing process, which will never be finished.

An independent sustainability consultant will continuously assess and improve our practices to reduce our impact on the environment.

The House Party

By Laura Lomas An adaptation of Miss Julie

by August Strindberg

Headlo is fi

Apparently, at fifty, we know ourselves. In a way, we do: we’re still driven by the same kind of big, challenging questions that fired us up back in 1974. But what’s truly shaped us are the things we don’t know – and could never have foreseen. Like:

Amazing things happen when people take chances.

Take our audiences. We’ve played to 100 people one night in a venue and 1,000 the next. And that people keep coming, right across England, is something we’ll never take for granted.

And our actors. Denise Gough had planned to quit acting when she blew our minds in People, Places & Things. Tamsin Greig delivered a spectacular Labour of Love performance after just one week of rehearsals. And Lennie James collaborated with us from his bedroom in Texas, to deliver Unprecedented. That talented people will take a risk to work with us is an honour, always.

We take chances on people too: new voices, writing, ideas. Kimber Lee’s untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play challenged people’s passive acceptance of the West End classic. Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica used the famous Tiananmen Square ‘tank man’ image to question the East/West cultural crossover.

Talented partners help us make sense of massive things. Together, we create the classics of the future.

Jonathan Slinger and Kirsty Bushell in A View from the Bridge 2023 Photo The Other Richard

long fifty

The biggest risks drive the most thrilling outcomes.

We’ve powered an entire show with bikes. Taken the Enron story to the stage as it was still playing out in the press. Added phone and television to the list of places we performed, during Covid.

And worked the British Citizenship test into Henry V. We question.

We stand up. And we tell big stories.

Connection informs and transforms everything.

One big thing drives us: creating a brilliant night out. Playfulness is at our heart. We invite collaborators from all walks of life because they bring fresh ideas and perspectives. And because good theatre begins a dialogue, we take our work to the world. We love the train, know the best theatre ice cream in England and have served time in Premier Inn beds. Our audiences are our litmus paper – a brilliant night out isn’t the same everywhere.

Long may we learn. These past fifty years have been wonderful training for the next. See you there.

Above left: Haydn Gwynne in Hedda Tesman 2018 Opposite: Enron 2009 Samantha Spiro in The House They Grew Up In 2017 Six Characters in Search of an Author 2008 Phil Daniels in This House 2016 Photos Manuel Harlan, Johan Persson

Party time During rehearsals, we sat down with Laura Lomas to ask how she approached her new adaptation of August Strindberg’s 1888 play Miss Julie.

xxx Laura Lomas

When and how did you first become interested in theatre?

My first experience of theatre would have been going to see plays at Derby Playhouse.

I did a lot of acting at school and was in the Playhouse’s Youth Theatre when I was a teenager; I was very enthusiastic but not very talented! I wrote my first play when I was about nine years old, but it wasn’t until I did my work placement when I was 17 that I seriously considered the idea of being a playwright. I wrote to loads of London theatres and the Royal Court invited me to do a placement on their young writers’ programme. Simon Stephens was the writer in residence and I spent two weeks reading plays by writers like Sarah Kane, Conor McPherson and Edward Bond. It completely transformed my understanding of what was possible on stage. I became obsessed with theatre after that.

I started writing seriously when I was at university and had a short play put on at a young writing festival. Then, straight out of uni, I did a Masters in Playwriting at Birmingham on an AHRC grant, then I got an attachment to Paines Plough which was my route to getting an agent.

It sounds like a fairly seamless progression.

Well, I always had other jobs, working in bars and front of house at the Barbican and the National Theatre, until I was able to write full time. But I guess I have been really lucky.

I write for TV and film as well, which helps financially. I really love writing for screen but theatre is my first love. Being in a rehearsal room is the best thing ever.

What inspired your idea for The House Party?

It came out of a conversation with Holly [Race Roughan, director] about how you would do a truly contemporary version Above: Josh Finan Nadia Parkes Right: Josh Finan Rachelle Diedericks

of Miss Julie. The original play’s all about the magnitude of the class transgression of sleeping with your father’s chauffeur; how could you get those dramatic stakes in the present day, when class isn’t something that is quite as rigid?

Re-reading Miss Julie, one thing that struck us both was how sharp the corners were, and how extreme the emotions. It escalates from “I love you” to “I hate you” and “I’m going to kill myself” in a really quick succession. It’s very teenage, that intensity of feeling. And so it felt like a teenage house party would be a really exciting and interesting context to explore the melodrama of the original play. Also, the kind of misogyny and slut-shaming Julie experiences is so heightened as a teenager – as is the sense of shame Jon feels about where he’s from and his desire to be something different. Sleeping with your best friend’s boyfriend, or in Jon’s case, your girlfriend’s best friend, is probably the biggest transgression you can imagine at that age, so that felt quite helpful in terms of earning the dramatic

stakes of the original play.

The other big intervention was giving Christine more of a role and making it a proper three-hander. It’s not really her play in the original, but I feel like she’s the character that sits right at that intersection of class and gender, and in some ways has the hardest time.

The original play is quite brutal in a way;

Jean [the original of Jon] is very mercenary and ruthless, and Julie is a bit of a femme fatale – there’s definitely a lot of misogyny in her portrayal and Strindberg was known to be very misogynistic. So I was interested in how you could redress that misogyny, whilst keeping the original structure of the play intact; if I could offer a more compassionate lens through which we can understand the

characters’ motivations and behaviours, what social and political forces are bearing down on them, and leading them to such devastating actions.

Strindberg’s play has been adapted innumerable times, from film and TV versions to ballet and at least five operas.

In the theatre, versions have been set in South Africa, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, plantation-era Mississippi, contemporary Russia and colonial Kenya, to name a few. How conscious were you of those other adaptations?

I’d seen and read other versions before, but I didn’t re-read them until I’d found ‘my’ Miss Julie. I had to find my own vision of those characters and their world. The play has such contemporary themes – class and gender – and it lends itself to the exploration of other intersections of power and oppression, which is one reason it’s been adapted so many times. It’s also an amazing piece of drama. One thing I really noticed was that there’s not huge amounts of reported action in the play, everything is very live on stage, so it’s really exhilarating for an audience.

The sexual politics feel just as contemporary.

It’s very real. Understanding Julie in terms of the violent misogyny she experiences felt really important; how hard it is for her to construct a sense of self-worth and for her to try and navigate the way she’s seen and the things she’s internalised about herself.

That’s what fuels her need for validation on the night we meet her, in the mess and chaos of her own emotional landscape. It’s complicated for all the characters but I really want an audience to feel how hard it is to be inside that kind of misogyny, and the sexual politics to be very present.

You effectively retain the structure of Miss Julie in The House Party but with two new scenes – which are tricky to talk about without spoilers.

One intervention is a new scene at the beginning with the two girls, Julie and Christine, so that we can really understand their relationship. The other – which we can’t go into here! – was because we wanted to unpick the events of the night and how it had affected the characters. I didn’t want

Above: Josh Finan Nadia Parkes Rachelle Diedericks Holly Race Roughan Right: Rachelle Diedericks Nadia Parkes

the play to be making a judgement about what kind of life is a life worth living.

As a teenager, everything feels like technicolour. In the original play, Jean has a dream of ascending, Julie has a dream of falling. Christine doesn’t have a dream, and I really wanted the play to end on a dream of equilibrium. There is hope there, even if just in the imagination.

Is it important for the writer to be present throughout rehearsals and if so, does it involve a lot of rewriting?

I just love being in rehearsals. Every time, I can’t believe how lucky I am. This play was commissioned before the pandemic and we had two workshops but I’ve discovered so many new things in rehearsal because the actors and Holly have brought so much.

I’ll have a sense of how something should be, and then they’ll make a different choice which is really electric. Something that’s been totally yours becomes a collaboration; the script is just the blueprint for everyone else’s brilliance and talent.

How much obligation do you feel to Strindberg?

There are definitely little ‘Easter eggs’ that audiences familiar with Miss Julie will spot: the dog is still called Diana; the original is set on midsummer’s night and ours is set on midwinter’s night. It’s nice being in conversation with the Strindberg in that way. It’s an amazing play structurally; the meat of it, the intellectual argument, is completely electric. So it feels like a gift.

But also, it’s interesting because I re-read the original recently and thought how different it was from my version. There was a process of stripping back and being more free in the writing. For example, there’s a whole section in Miss Julie where Julie and Jean talk about running away because they’ve been discovered together, which we didn’t think rang true in 2024. In an early draft I had quite weighty monologues, as Strindberg does; then I realised you could take out Jon’s long speech about his dream and simply say ‘I have dreams about this house all the time’.

What would you like the audience to take away at the end of the evening?

To have compassion for each of the characters, I think: to understand the way the world is bearing down on them and the internal pressures bleeding through them.

And maybe to have conversations around what class is, what gender is and how these things are real forces that work on us.

But talking about class and gender politics makes it sound really heavy; it’s also very funny! The cast are amazing, and we have the most incredible creative team, from the sound design to the lighting and set, our brilliant director and the phenomenal Frantic Assembly who bring this unmatchable energy and life force to the show. We want it to be a really visceral, heightened, energised experience. It should feel like a party!

Ignition... and Lift I formed Frantic Assembly with a couple of friends 30 years ago. We had no right to be embarking on such a journey. We were three working class English Literature and Geography students who had discovered new depths to a hobby. We were untrained but hungry to learn. Suddenly after watching a particular show, we were inspired to make theatre and we set about it. It was like having the audacity to pick up instruments and just make some noise. Crucially, we were encouraged to do so by people who we looked up to and inspired us. Pretty soon, we were making work in a way that felt different but in a way that felt our own.

We were making plenty of noise.

The generosity of people in those early days had a huge impact on me. One of the

first things we did when we learnt something was work out how we could share it and make it relevant to others struggling to make work. The education work of the company has always focused on the empowering sharing of skills and creative processes and now interacts with over 16,000 people each year across the world.

All our education work aims to inspire creativity and encourage the participant that they CAN be creative. It reflects how we were encouraged as fresh-faced wannabes and how the company came to be formed.

Somewhere in that journey I recognised that there were very few people following our path into the industry. Where were the people from our backgrounds? We knew that our work was having a profound

Off!

Scott Graham introduces Frantic Assembly’s groundbreaking programme

connection but the leap for them to consider the Arts as a vocation was becoming a chasm. I knew the talent was there, but the cultural, social and economic barriers were proving insurmountable. And that might be for people who knew they wanted to work in theatre. What about those, like me, who had never considered a career in the Arts until they fell into it but might have the potential to thrive within it? I realised that those people will not simply come to you.

If you want them, you must go to them and show them the way in.

In 2008 I created Ignition to scour the sports and martial arts clubs of the UK for the raw talent that could find its voice and representation within the Arts. I wanted to give them an intense experience and show

them that the values and connection they find in sport and other areas can be found in the Arts. I wanted them to have the experience and thrill of working harder than they could imagine, and making something special that did not exist before and could not have existed without them. I wanted to switch that same bright light on in their heads. The ambition was more than that.

I wanted to be able to come looking to employ them further down the line, knowing that we had helped bring this new blood into the industry. The success of Ignition over that time has completely outstripped that limited ambition!

Ignition has engaged with thousands of hugely diverse young people across the country, lighting that fire, ambition and

aspiration. A third of our practitioners are Ignition graduates, employed to teach the Frantic Method all around the world. Our last two productions employed eleven Ignition graduates. More than this, Ignition graduates, like Paapa Essiedu and Joe Layton have gone on to hugely successful careers in the Arts, many on stage and film but also as writers, directors, choreographers, composers. We could not be prouder of the impact and success

Ignition has had in bringing diverse young talent into the industry from the areas where others might not be looking.

That is not to say Ignition will continue.

Its success does not mean it is safe. In fact, Ignition is in a precarious position as it has existed without funding for the past few years and can only continue with significant financial support. To lose it would be a disaster. Nothing else works in the way Ignition does.

Thanks to the generosity of CFT and Headlong, you will be able to see some of the fruits of Ignition’s work in this performance.

Those young people are the greatest advocates for the importance of Ignition.

If you get the chance, talk to them. Ask them about what Ignition has done for them and you will understand why Ignition absolutely must be saved.

Scott Graham is Artistic Director and co-Founder of Frantic Assembly franticassembly.co.uk

“Everything that I found initially alienating and unreachable about drama schools and the ‘business’, I found accepting, warm hearted and generous through Frantic.

“They allowed me to be myself and explore my instincts as a performer in a safe environment. Without doubt, this gave me the confidence I needed to go on and have a go of it in the industry. Forever grateful.”

Paapa Essiedu – BAFTA and Emmy-nominated actor and 2008 Ignition graduate

The House Party

By Laura Lomas An adaptation of Miss Julie

by August Strindberg

Cast Christine Jon Julie

Rachelle Diedericks Josh Finan Nadia Parkes

Ensemble

Amaia Naima Aguinaga, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Lyla Garner-Gibbons, Jaheem Pinder, Jamie Randall, Charlotte Stubbs, Priya Uddin, Grace Watkins

Child

Nicole Arthur / Layla Owens

There will be one interval of 20 minutes.

A co-production with

in association with

The House Party was commissioned by Headlong.

World premiere performance of The House Party at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 3 May 2024.

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

Holly Race Roughan Loren Elstein Maybelle Laye Joshua Pharo Giles Thomas Scott Graham Haruka Kuroda Matilda James CDG

Associate Director Voice and Dialect Coach

Julia Head Aundrea Fudge

Production Manager Costume Supervisor Props Supervisor

Kat Ellis Maybelle Laye Fahmida Bakht

Company Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager

Kt Milne Emma Cook Alex Jaouen

Head Chaperone Chaperone

Janette McAlpine Lesley McGovern

Production credits: Set construction by Centreline Fabrications; Production Carpenter Lez Moore; additional Lighting equipment supplied by White Light; additional Sound equipment supplied by Autograph Sound; Transport by Paul Mathew Transport; Rehearsal Rooms Toynbee Studios, English Touring Theatre, Brixton House.

With thanks to: Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre Studio, Cas Donald, Lloyd Thomas, Carys Graham, Keira McGuinness, Priya Uddin.

Rehearsal photographs Ellie Kurttz, Adi Detemo, Scott Graham Production photographs Ellie Kurttz Programme design Davina Chung Cover image Bob King Creative, photograph Seamus Ryan

Minerva Season Principal Charles Holloway Supported by The House Party Patrons and Supporters Circle: Mrs Veronica J Dukes, Jennie Halsall, Themy Hamilton, Sayers/Strange Family, Howard M Thompson, Susie Wells, and all those who wish to remain anonymous.

Sponsored by

ChichesterFestivalTheatre

ChichesterFT

ChichesterTheatre

ChichesterFT

ChichesterFT

Cast Biographies Rachelle Diedericks Christine Previously at Chichester, Catherine in A View from the Bridge (Headlong/CFT/ Octagon Theatre/Rose Theatre co-production, Festival Theatre); Ierum in Our Generation (Minerva Theatre & National Theatre).

Theatre includes Hayley in The Walworth Farce (Southwark Playhouse Elephant); Mary Warren in The Crucible (National Theatre); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre); Debbie in The Band (Theatre Royal Haymarket, UK tour).

Television includes Andor, Speechless.

Rachelle Diedericks

Films include This Time Next Year, The Silence and the Noise, How to Be a Person.

Trained at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

Josh Finan Jon Previously at Chichester, Lee Southbury in The Southbury Child (Festival Theatre, also Bridge Theatre).

Theatre includes Simon in Peggy for You (Hampstead Theatre); Cain in Shook (Papatango/Southwark Playhouse & tour); Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Nym in The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC);

Matty in Takeover: Pancake Day (Play Theatre Company at The Bunker Theatre); Paul in The Barricade (Theatre503); The Nutcracker (Theatr Clwyd); Danny in Champ (Tobacco Factory).

Television includes Say Nothing, The Responder (BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor), The Gentlemen, Baby Reindeer, Guerrilla.

Films include Shook, Surge, Hellboy, The Current War. Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and National Youth Theatre.

Josh Finan

Nadia Parkes Julie Theatre includes Emcee in Cabaret, The Taming of the Shrew and The Children’s Hour (LAMDA).

Television includes Kidnapped, Half Bad: The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself, Tokyo Vice, Domina, Starstruck, The Spanish Princess, Doctor Who. Films include This is Christmas.

Trained at LAMDA. Amaia Naima Aguinaga Ensemble Theatre includes Dear Octopus (National Theatre), Ikaria (Tightrope Theatre), Athena (NT/Yard Theatre), What Was Left (Andrew

Lloyd Webber Foundation).

Television and film includes Touch (Frantic Assembly), Us, Sulphur and White, and the short Tower XYZ. Amaia trained at The Brit School and on Frantic Assembly’s Ignition programme.

Oliver Baines Ensemble Theatre includes Frantic Assembly’s Othello (UK tour 2022/23); Lost & Found (Factory International); SoftLad (WonderIf Theatre); The Soldiers Tale (iPAN).

Oliver trained on Frantic Assembly’s Ignition Programme 2019.

Nadia Parkes

Cal Connor Ensemble Theatre includes Reckless and Terriers (Liverpool Royal Court); Touch (Flood Theatre); Tap Tap and Save the Night (Liverpool Young Everyman and Playhouse Theatre Company); The Taming of the Shrew (Imaginarium Theatre); Grass (Perception Theatre); Richard the Third (Willy Russell Studio at LIPA Sixth Form College).

Television includes The Gathering, Lazarus.

Cal trained at Liverpool’s LIPA Sixth Form College 2020-2022 and is a Frantic Assembly Ignition graduate (2023). He is also a professional Freerunning athlete and coach at Airborn Academy in Liverpool.

Micah Corbin-Powell Ensemble Theatre includes Billy Flynn in Chicago, Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (Praxis Theatre Company).

Micah graduated from Plymouth University with a BA Hons in Acting (2023) and trained on Frantic Assembly’s Ignition programme; this is his professional debut.

Lyla will be joining Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in September.

This is her professional debut.

Lyla Garner-Gibbons Ensemble Lyla is a member of the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, where credits include ensemble/principal characters in Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Crossing Lines, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, The Wind in the Willows and The Jungle Book.

Jamie Randall Ensemble Theatre includes Girls (The Pappy Show at New Diorama), Care (The Pappy Show at HOME Manchester).

Jamie trained at East15 Acting School on the Acting and Physical Theatre course and Frantic Assembly’s Ignition programme.

Oliver Baines Amaia Naima Aguinaga

Jaheem Pinder Ensemble Jaheem trained at East 15 Acting School and the Frantic Ignition programme 2019.

He is a member of BreakDaKode (BDK).

Charlotte Stubbs Ensemble Theatre roles included Mao in The Jungle Book (CFYT, Festival Theatre); The Dormouse, Cheshire Cat and Ace of Spades in Alice’s Adventures (Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 /Riverside Theatre); Hester More in Star Chamber (Riverside Theatre).

Charlotte trained at Chichester College.

The ensemble

Priya Uddin Ensemble Priya is a member of Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, where credits include Tabaqui/Puppeteer in The Jungle Book; Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Washerwoman/Rabbit in The Wind in the Willows; Sad Rabbit in Pinocchio (2021); Teacher/Edith in Pinocchio (2020).

Screen work includes Confessions of the Unrequited, The Marxist in Heaven (NT Connections), Psychic Sketch, Get Out. Priya trains with CFYT and Mayflower Elevates Ensemble. This is her professional debut.

Grace Watkins Ensemble Grace was a member of Chichester Festival Youth Theatre for 10 years where credits include Bagheera in The Jungle Book, Judy in Pinocchio (2021), Pinocchio (2020), Crossing Lines, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol, The Hundred and One Dalmatians. The House Party

is Grace’s professional debut.

Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Nicole Arthur Child Nicole attends Stagecoach Horsham. This is her professional stage debut, but she has been involved in many productions through Stagecoach. Last year she performed a rendition of the High School Musical at His Majesty’s Theatre.

Cal Connor Lyla Garner-Gibbons Scott Graham

Layla Owens Child Layla is in Year 8, is a member of Chichester Festival Youth Theatre and attends Sandra Wilson School of Performing Arts. In 2023, she took part in the CFYT productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Jungle Book.

Above: Micah Corbin-Powell Charlotte Stubbs Oliver Baines Jamie Randall Below: Grace Watkins Priya Uddin Jaheem Pinder Amaia Naima Aguinaga

Creative Team Loren Elstein Set Designer Loren Elstein designs internationally for theatre, opera, film and dance. Recent work includes Once Upon a One More Time (Broadway); Migrations, The Magic Flute (WNO); Hamlet and The Cherry Orchard with Ian McKellen (also film), Fireraisers (Theatre Royal Windsor/Moon Walking Bear Productions). Other design credits include Primetime (Royal Court Theatre); Wondrous Strange (RSC); The Man Who Almost Killed Himself (BBC iPlayer). Costume design credits include untitled f**k m*ss s**gon play (Royal Exchange Manchester & Young Vic); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Old Vic/NT Online); RENT (20th Anniversary Nadia Parkes Josh Finan Holly Race Roughan

tour, Michael Grandage Company); The Lie (Menier Chocolate Factory); Terror (Lyric Hammersmith). lorenelstein.co.uk Aundrea Fudge Voice & Dialect Coach Previously at Chichester, Voice & Dialect Coach A View from the Bridge (Festival Theatre/Headlong/UK tour).

Aundrea Fudge is an accent/dialect and speech coach from New York. She has degrees in Linguistics and English Literature, a certificate in TESOL, and singing training in Opera and Musical Theatre. She completed her MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School

Scott Graham Movement Director Scott is Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly, co-founding the company in 1994. He has received nominations for his work on Beautiful Burnout (Drama Desk Award, New York), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Olivier, Tony and Fred Astaire Awards). With Steven Hoggett he won the TMA Award (now UK Theatre Award) for Best Direction for Othello. He has created productions and/or provided movement direction for productions at the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, National Theatre Wales, The Royal Court, The Donmar Warehouse and Singapore Rep. He has developed and written extensively about The Frantic Method. His recent directing credits with Frantic Assembly include Metamorphosis, Othello, TOUCH, I Think We Are Alone, Sometimes Thinking, Fatherland, and Things I Know To Be True.

He is currently writing the third edition of The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (Routledge) and recently developed The Frantic Assembly Studio, an online educational resource. Scott created Frantic Assembly’s hugely successful Ignition programme.

of Speech and Drama in 2018 and is currently working and residing in London.

Her most recent theatre work includes Clyde’s (Donmar Warehouse); Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Meetings, Yellowman (Orange Tree); Start Swimming! (Young Vic); Once on this Island (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Blackout Songs (Hampstead); Bootycandy (Gate Theatre); Refilwe (Bernie Grant Arts Centre); Cinderella (Brixton House); On the Ropes (Park Theatre); Driving Miss Daisy (Barn Theatre); Bring it On The Musical (Southbank Centre).

TV includes Andor (Season 2).

Film includes Bernard & The Genie, Locked In-Film and Wheel of Time.

Julia Head Associate Director Julia is a director of theatre, film and audio from Bristol. Select theatre works include Flies by Charlie Josephine (Shoreditch Town Hall, 2023), Everywoman (The New Diorama, 2023), Lysistrata (Bristol Old Vic, 2022), Wild Swimming (Bristol Old Vic, 2019).

Jules founded and runs FullRogue, is the Company Director of YoungSixSix, and is an Associate Artist of Bristol Old Vic. They are a trustee of Headlong and MAYK. Jules was a Headlong Origins Director for 2021, was part of Buzz Artists Lab in Bremen in 2022, and was selected for the National Theatre Studio Directors programme in 2023. juliahead.com

Matilda James CDG Casting Director Upcoming projects include Testmatch, A Suite in Three Keys, Red Speedo, Here in America (Orange Tree); A Child of Science, Reverberation (Bristol Old Vic); The History Boys (Bath Theatre Royal & tour); The Cat and the Canary (CFT/Told By An Idiot).

Recent Theatre includes Uncle Vanya, Northanger Abbey (Orange Tree); Quiz (CFT/ UK tour); 2.22: A Ghost Story (West End & tour); Vanya (understudy casting, Duke of York’s); Family Tree (ATC/Belgrade Theatre Coventry); Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate/ China Plate/English Touring Theatre).

Matilda was Head of Casting for Shakespeare’s Globe (2012-2017) casting over 50 shows for the Globe and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Films include Portraits of Dangerous Women, Benjamin, Pond Life, Wasteland, The Complete Walk.

She is Casting Associate for the Orange Tree Theatre, Casting Consultant for Bristol Old Vic and is a member of BAFTA Connect.

Emma Cook Laura Lomas

Haruka Kuroda Intimacy Director Haruka Kuroda is a British Academy of Dramatic Combat certified instructor and has fight directed and taught in various theatres, drama schools and workshops in the UK and Europe. In 2021, Haruka completed the Intimacy Coordination Mentoring Scheme for under-represented groups organised by SAG-AFTRA certified training company Moving Body Arts.

Recent work as Intimacy Director and Fight Director for theatre includes Romeo and Juliet (New Wolsey Theatre); Ghosts, Titus Andronicus (The Globe); La Traviata (ENO); To Wong Foo the Musical (Hope Mill Theatre); untitled f**k m*ss s**gon play (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Crucible, Miss Saigon (Sheffield Crucible). Other credits include Starcrossed (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Woods (Southwark Playhouse); All My Sons (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); The Lessons (Southwark Playhouse).

Intimacy Co-ordinating for television and film includes Protection, Rivals, Such Brave Girls, Life After Life, Superhoe, Sherwood, Strike: Troubled Blood, Silent Witness, Culprits, Real Friends, History of a Pleasure Seeker.

Fight Directing credits include Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, Jekyll & Hyde (National Theatre); The Red Lion (New Wolsey Theatre); The Comedy of Errors (Mercury Theatre); Love Letters The Musical, Neville’s Island (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson (Park Theatre); Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Pink Sari Revolution (Curve Theatre); Kayne the First (High Tide Festival); Beyond the Fence A New Musical (Arts Theatre); Harajuku Girls (Finborough Theatre); Yeh Shen, Last Days of the Limehouse (Yellow Earth Theatre); Incognito (Gate Theatre); Sound of a Voice (Arcola Tent); Robin Hood (North Devon Theatre); TOAD (Southwark Playhouse); Running the Silk Road (Barbican/Yellow Earth Theatre); The Ladies Cage (Finborough Theatre); King Arthur (Orange Tree). harukakuroda.com

Members of the ensemble

Maybelle Laye Costume Designer and Costume Supervisor Maybelle Laye is a Costume Designer and Supervisor, working in theatre and television.

Theatre credits as Designer include Richard III (Liverpool Playhouse/Rose Theatre), Cinderella (Brixton House), Up Next Gala (National Theatre), Intimate Apparel (RADA); as Associate Costume Designer, A Strange Loop (Barbican Theatre), The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre); as Costume Supervisor, Family Tree (Belgrade Theatre/Brixton House), Tarantino Live (Riverside Studios), The Lord of the Rings (Watermill Theatre), Till the Stars Come Down, Middle (National Theatre), Skeleton Crew (Donmar Warehouse), The Cutting Edge (Arcola Theatre), Anansi (also Maker) and Christmas in the Sunshine (Unicorn Theatre); as Assistant Costume Supervisor, Rutherford and Sons (National Theatre).

Film and Television work includes The Great, Silo, Bad Sisters.

Trained at RADA, gaining a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction in Theatre Costume, and at Morley College (Access to Fashion course). maybellelaye.com Laura Lomas Writer Laura is playwright and screenwriter based in London. Previously she was writer in residence at Shakespeare’s Globe, and The ensemble

the Channel 4 Playwright in Residence at Clean Break. She is a MacDowell Colony and Yaddo Fellow.

Recent work includes The Blue Woman (libretto, The Royal Opera House); Metamorphoses (Shakespeare’s Globe/ Seattle Rep); Chaos (National Theatre Connections); These Walls and Joanne (Clean Break); Bird (UK tour); Blister (Paines Plough).

Radio plays include Fragments (BBC

Radio 4); My Boy (BBC Radio 4, winner of Best Drama, Sony Radio Academy Awards); and Lucy Island (BBC Radio 3).

Screen credits include The Crow Girl (Paramount +, upcoming); The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky); Hanna (Amazon); Glue (E4); and Rough Skin (Channel 4, nominated for Best Short at the BIFAs). She is currently writing a feature film for Film 4 and adapting a TV series for the BBC.

Joshua Pharo Lighting Designer Previously at Chichester, Crave (Festival Theatre), random/generations (Minerva Theatre).

Recent theatre includes The Human Body, Love and Other Actors of Violence (Donmar); A Little Princess (Theatre by the Lake); The Odyssey Episode 5, Jekyll & Hyde (National Theatre); untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play (Royal Exchange Theatre/MIF/

Headlong/Young Vic); Galatea (Marlborough/Wildworks); In the Realms of Sorrow (London Handel Festival); Let the Right One In (Royal Exchange Theatre); Corrina Corrina (Headlong); Kerbs (Graeae/ Belgrade Theatre/Coventry City of Culture); Wolf Witch Giant Fairy (Royal Opera House); Extinct, The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Litten Trees (Fuel Theatre); Women of Troy (LAMDA); The Astro Science Challenge – Live! (Unlimited Theatre); The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); The Bee in Me (Unicorn Theatre); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Conspiracy (Underbelly/New Diorama Theatre/Barrel Organ); Flux (Imogen Knight/Southbank Symphonia); The Claim (Edinburgh); Going Through (Bush Theatre); Noughts & Crosses (Pilot Theatre/UK tour); Vassa (Almeida); Nuclear Future (Gameshow/UK tour); The Color Purple (Leicester Curve/Birmingham Hippodrome); The Ridiculous Darkness, Grace Watkins Amaia Naima Aguinaga Jamie Randall

Trust (Gate Theatre); Counting Sheep (Belarus Free Theatre/Vault Theatre); Midnight Movie (Royal Court); Othello, Macbeth (Lyric Hammersmith/HOME Manchester); 100: Unearth (Wildworks/ Heligan Gardens); Double Vision (Wales Millennium Centre); Future Bodies (HOME Manchester/Unlimited/Rash Dash Theatre).

Films include the short Where I Go (Where I Can’t Be Who I Am).

Awards include Innovation in Theatre Technology Awards for Lighting Design (The Claim) and Video & Project Design (The Shape of Pain). joshuapharo.com Holly Race Roughan Director Holly is Artistic Director of Headlong for whom she directed A View from the Bridge (Octagon Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre & Rose Theatre Kingston); Henry V

(Shakespeare’s Globe); Corrina, Corrina (Liverpool Everyman); Hedda Tesman (Minerva Theatre); People, Places & Things (UK tour, with Jeremy Herrin).

Other directing work includes Metamorphoses (Shakespeare’s Globe, with Sean Holmes); Broken Dreams (Royal Court); Prurience (Southbank Centre & Guggenheim Museum); A First World Problem, Clickbait (Theatre 503); Best Served Cold (VAULT Festival); Eye of a Needle (Southwark Playhouse).

Television includes House Party and Penny, part of Unprecedented (BBC Four, Century Films & Headlong, also Executive Producer).

Audio includes Ghost Caller, part of Signal Fires, a nationwide festival which Holly co-created.

Holly was Director of the Lyric Ensemble at Lyric Hammersmith between 2018 and 2019, and sits on the board The ensemble

of arts-in-prisons charity Kestrel Theatre Company, where she was Associate Director 2015 to 2019.

Giles Thomas Music and Sound Designer Previously at Chichester, Music and Sound for The Vortex, 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 The Boy at the Back of the Class (Rose Theatre/Children’s Touring Partnership); Machinal (Central School of Speech & Drama); Portia Coughlan (Almeida); Farewell Mister Haffmann (Ustinov Studios); untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play (Royal Exchange Theatre/ Manchester International Festival/ Headlong/Young Vic); Private Lives (Donmar); Sons of the Prophets, The Dumb

Waiter (Hampstead Theatre); The Contingency Plan (Sheffield Theatres); Leftovers (LAMDA); An Octoroon (Abbey 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 Julia Head

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 House Party Live Music Minerva Sessions

The House Party Silent Disco

Thursday, Friday & Saturday eves, 3 May – 1 June, 6.15pm Relax in our renovated Minerva Bar pre-show or share a post-work drink with friends as we showcase local musical talent.

Free

17 & 18 May, 9.30pm – midnight Ages 16+ Don your headphones and choose your channel – whether it’s pop or hip-hop – for a post-show party like no other. £18 / £5 Prologue members

Pre-Show Talk Thursday 9 May, 5.30pm Join director Holly Race Roughan for a fascinating insight into how her production came together, with a chance to ask questions of your own. Holly is in conversation with best-selling author Kate Mosse.

Free but booking is essential.

Post-Show Talk Wednesday 29 May Stay after the performance to hear from company members about all the action behind the scenes and ask questions of your own.

Free Pre- and Post-Show Talks sponsored by Close Brothers Asset Management

We’re Headlong. We make theatre with the power to move.

Big, exhilarating productions that use the unexpected to connect everyone we reach, right across the nation. Whether a work is old or new, there are always different questions we can ask. So our productions are an invitation: to come and see something in a new way. Join us.

Our previous productions include A View from the Bridge, untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play, Jitney, Best of Enemies, People, Places & Things and Enron, and major digital theatre innovations Signal Fires and Unprecedented.

We are 50: help us celebrate Nurturing brilliant talent has never been more urgent. So in our big birthday year we’re commissioning five playwrights. We’d love a donation to our birthday campaign and by joining us you’ll be enabling some incredible new voices to be heard. Visit our website for more information: headlong.co.uk/donate Development Director Ruth Davey

Executive Director Lisa Maguire

Artistic Director Holly Race Roughan

Consultant Production Manager Kat Ellis

Producing and Executive Assistant Carla-Marie Metcalfe

Producer Zoë Anjuli Robinson

Development Consultant Lucy Howard Taylor

Development Consultant Kirstin Peltonen

Communities Associate Iskandar ‫إسكندر‬ R. Sharazuddin

Associate Producer Rebecca Jones

Literary Manager Frank Peschier

Writer in Residence Rhashan Stone

Finance Director Keerthi Kollimada

Marketing and Audience Development Manager Nathan Picart

General Manager Camille Wilhelm Bread and Butter PR

Headlong is grateful for the generous support of the following Trusts and Foundations: Backstage Trust, Buffini Chao Foundation, Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, Garrick Charitable Trust, Idlewild Trust, John Ellerman Foundation, Noël Coward Foundation, Old Possum’s Practical Trust We would like to thank the following individuals for their generous support: Neil and Sarah Brener, Cas Donald, Annabel Duncan-Smith and Victoria Leggett, Alyce Faye Eichelberger-Cleese, Nick Hern, Linda Keenan, Beth and Ian Mill KC, Rob O'Rahilly We are also grateful for the dedicated support of our Board members: Kathy Bourne (Chair), Anna Cornelius, Paddy Dillon, Sarah Ellis, Lucinda Harvey, Julia Head, Claire Heaney, Jacqueline Hurt, Prime Isaac, Lil Lambley, Toni Racklin, Lesley Wan headlong.co.uk

Formed in 1994 and led by joint Founder and Artistic Director Scott Graham and Executive Director Kerry Whelan, Frantic Assembly is an internationally respected theatre company with collaboration and accessibility firmly at its heart. We commission new writing and have toured extensively across the UK and worked in more than 40 countries worldwide, collaborating with some of today’s most inspiring artists.

We have a large, loyal and diverse audience based on the success of past productions including Metamorphosis, Othello, The Unreturning, Things I Know To Be True, Lovesong, Beautiful Burnout and Stockholm.

Through the Frantic Method, our collaborative and physical approach to devising theatre, we have inspired thousands of theatre makers, students and teachers over the last thirty years and helped transform the language of British theatre and the way it is taught within the classroom. The devising processes central to this creativity are now taught and studied on five British academic syllabuses and international baccalaureate.

The dissemination of our practice is at the core of what we do. We continually seek to remove barriers to access and to demystify the creative process. This connects people to our work and empowers others to embrace their own creativity and find their voice.

Frantic Assembly’s flagship initiative Ignition, a free nationwide talent development programme for young people aged 18-24, seeks out under-represented talent and provides opportunities for young people to discover what is possible. It has been unlocking creative potential in young people across the UK for over fourteen years, increasing involvement in and access to the arts in places of low cultural engagement.

Frantic Assembly is: Artistic Director

Scott Graham

Executive Director

Kerry Whelan

Head of Learning and Participation

Dan Griffiths

General Manager

Myra Tam

Learning Coordinator

Riley Stroud

Administrator

Evelina Tamulionyte

Board of Trustees: Mark Hawes (Chair), Matthew Hunnybun, Amit Kataria, Dorcas Morgan, Joanna Read, Denzel Westley-Sanderson

franticassembly.co.uk.

Consider yourself part of the CFT family Get closer to CFT and become part of our community with our Learning, Education and Participation team (you can call them LEAP for short).

Whatever your age or ability, there’s something for you at CFT. From people who have been coming to CFT for years, to those who have never set foot in a theatre, we offer exciting opportunities for everyone from newborns to those in their 90s.

Weekly classes. One-off workshops. Long term projects to get your teeth into.

Our LEAP team does it all.

This is a space where experiences are created and shared, and where everyone can find their place. So come join us, and become part of our story.

‘Working at the theatre under many guises gave me a well-rounded knowledge of our industry and the support was always there and still is – I wouldn’t be where I am without it. Please never stop working tirelessly to grow us into the next generation.’

Former CFYT member

‘I’ve discovered abilities I never knew I had. The classes contribute greatly to my quality of life and to that of the wider community.’

Community participant

So many people think they know what we do here at CFT. But did you know that we offer: • Free Youth Theatre places for young carers and anyone from underprivileged backgrounds

• Groups for adults with disabilities

• A creative outlet for isolated individuals through our weekly Chatter Project

• Wellbeing support for participants, visiting cast and company members, and staff

• Weekly Festival Fridays for kids who find creative ways of learning more accessible

• Free Buddy support for anyone who feels unable to attend shows or classes on their own

• Work experience, training opportunities and apprenticeships

• Training opportunities in Technical Theatre And that’s really just scratching the surface of our LEAP team’s reach.

Visit cft.org.uk/get-closer or email leap@cft.org.uk to find out more and discover a way into CFT that’s right for you.

With thanks to all our amazing LEAP supporters who generously fund this work.

Help us hatch the next generation of talent We have an urgent need to build a third space for emerging artists, community groups and families.

Our solution is The Nest: a sustainably built performance venue nestled among the trees, providing a safe space to incubate exciting new projects.

It will be a home for community and families, late night and fringe-style events, and it will hatch the work of our Emerging Artists Development Programme.

Help us make our dream a reality The Nest will cost at least £1,500,000 and we need your support to make it happen.

Please donate today cft.org.uk/the-nest

‘The Nest offers an amazing opportunity on a local level and also, really importantly, stands CFT confidently as a national cultural leader and change maker.’

JUSTIN AUDIBERT, CFT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Registered Charity No. 1088552

Staff Trustees Mark Foster (Chairman) Neil Adleman Jessica Brown-Fuller Jean Vianney Cordeiro Paddy Dillon Tasha Gladman Vicki Illingworth Rear Admiral John Lippiett CB CBE Harry Matovu QC Caro Newling OBE Nick Pasricha Philip Shepherd Stephanie Street Directors Office Justin Audibert Kathy Bourne Keshira Aarabi

Artistic Director Executive Director Projects & Events Co-ordinator Angela Buckley Projects, Events & Green Book Co-ordinator Miranda Cromwell Associate Director Sophie Hobson Creative Associate Hannah Joss Associate Director (Literary) Patricia Key Executive PA Aimée Massey Diversity, Inclusion & Change Consultant Julia Smith Company Secretary & Board Support Building & Site Services Chris Edwards Maintenance Engineer Lez Gardiner Duty Engineer Daren Rowland Facilities Manager Graeme Smith Duty Engineer Costume Jessica Bolton Isabelle Brook Aly Fielden Helen Clark Helen Flower Helen Gardner Lysanne Goble Jobina Hardy

Dresser Wardrobe Assistant Wardrobe Manager Dresser Senior Costume Assistant Wardrobe Manager Wardrobe Assistant Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant Abigail Hart Wardrobe Assistant Lily Eugene-Kelly Dresser Kendal Love Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager Lulu Millen Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant Paul Paintin Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager Natasha Pawluk Deputy Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Loz Tait Head of Costume Colette Tulley Wardrobe Maintenance Eloise Wood Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant Development Nick Carmichael Development Officer Julie Field Friends Administrator Sophie Henstridge-Brown Head of Philanthropy Sarah Mansell Appeal Director Liz McCarthy-Nield Development Director Leo Powell Appeal Co-ordinator Charlotte Stroud Development Manager Karen Taylor Development Manager Megan Wilson Events and Development Officer Finance Alison Baker Payroll & Pensions Officer Rob Bloomfield IT and AV Technician Sally Cunningham Purchase Ledger Assistant Krissie Harte Finance Officer Katie Palmer Assistant Management Accountant Simon Parsonage Interim Finance & Commercial Director Amanda Trodd Management Accountant Protozoon Ltd IT Consultants LEAP Ellen de Vere Matthew Downer

Youth & Outreach Trainee Cultural Learning & Participation Apprentice Zoe Ellis LEAP Co-ordinator Sally Garner-Gibbons Apprenticeship Co-ordinator

Matthew Hawksworth Hannah Hogg Shari A. Jessie Kate Potter Louise Rigglesford Dale Rooks Angela Watkins

Head of Children & Young People’s Programme Senior Youth & Outreach Manager Creative Therapist Youth & Outreach Co-ordinator Senior Community & Outreach Manager Director of LEAP LEAP Projects Manager

Marketing, Communications & Sales Josh Allan Assistant Box Office Manager Caroline Aston Audience Insight Manager Becky Batten Head of Marketing (Maternity leave) Laura Bern Head of Marketing (Maternity cover) Jessica Blake-Lobb Marketing Manager (Corporate) Helen Campbell Box Office Systems Manager Jay Godwin Box Office Assistant Lorna Holmes Assistant Box Office Manager Mollie Kent Box Office Assistant Stephanie McKelvey-Aves Box Office Assistant James Mitchell Sales & Marketing Assistant James Morgan Head of Sales & Ticketing Lucinda Morrison Head of Press & Publications Brian Paterson Distribution Co-ordinator Kirsty Peterson Box Office Assistant Ben Phillips Marketing & Press Assistant Catherine Rankin Box Office Assistant Vic Shead Marketing Manager Luke Shires Director of Marketing & Communications Jenny Thompson Social Media & Digital Marketing Officer Grace Upcraft Box Office Assistant Josh Vine Box Office Assistant Isobel Walter Marketing Officer Claire Walters Box Office Assistant Joanna Wiege Box Office Manager Jane Wolf Box Office Assistant People Helena Berry Heritage & Archive Manager Paula Biggs Head of People Jenefer Francis HR Officer (maternity leave) Naziera Jahir People Manager Emily Oliver Accommodation Co-ordinator Gillian Watkins HR Officer Production Niamh Dilworth Producer Amelia Ferrand-Rook Senior Producer Robin Longley General Manager Claire Rundle Production Administrator George Waller Trainee Producer Nicky Wingfield Production Administrator Technical Sam Barnes Steph Bartle Victoria Baylis Josh Bowles

Sound Technician Deputy Head of Lighting Props Assistant Senior Sound Technician Hannah Bracegirdle Sound Technician Finley Bradley Technical Theatre Apprentice Rebecca Cran Stage Crew & Stage Technician Sarah Crispin Deputy Head of Props Workshop Connor Divers Senior Lighting Technician Elise Fairbairn Stage Technician Zoe Gadd Sound Technician Ross Gardner Stage Crew Lyla Garner-Gibbons Stores Assistant Sam Garner-Gibbons Technical Director Jack Goodland Stage Crew & Auto Technician Laura Hackett Technical Apprentice Katie Hennessy Props Store Co-ordinator Tom Hitchins Head of Stage & Technical Joe Jenner Production Manager Apprentice

Mike Keniger Bethany Knowles Andrew Leighton

Head of Sound Stage Crew Senior Lighting Technician Ethan Low Stage Crew Charlotte Neville Head of Props Workshop Stuart Partrick Transport & Logistics Assistant Neil Rose Deputy Head of Sound Ernesto Ruiz Prop Maker Anna Setchell (Setch) Deputy Head of Stage James Sharples Senior Stage Crew & Rigger Laura Sprake Senior Lighting Technician Molly Stammers Senior Lighting Technician Graham Taylor Head of Lighting Dominic Turner Lighting Technician Linda Mary Wise Sound Technician Simon Woods Stage Crew Theatre Management Janet Bakose Judith Bruce-Hay Charlie Gardiner Ben Geering

Theatre Manager Duty Manager Duty Manager Head of Customer Operations Dan Hill Assistant House Manager 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, 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, Lyla Garner-Gibbons, Anna Grindel, Caroline Hanton, Justine Hargraves, Joseph Harrington, Joanne Heather, Maisie Henderson, Marie Innes, Keiko Iwamoto, Joan Jenkins, Pippa Johnson, Julie Johnstone, Ryan Jones, Jan Jordan, Jon Joshua, Grace King, Sally Kingsbury, Alexandra Langrish, Judith Marsden, Janette McAlpine, Fiona Methven, Chris Monkton, Ella Morgans, Susan Mulkern, Chris Murray, Lucija O’Donnell, Isabel Owen, Martyn Pedersen, Susy Peel, Helen Pinn, Barbara Pope, Alice Rochford, Sian Rodd, Fleur Sarkissian, Derren Selvarajah, Peg Shaw, Janet Showell, Lorraine Stapley, Sophie Stirzaker, Angela Stodd, Christine Tippen, Charlotte Tregear, Andy Trust, Hannah Watts, Sue Welling, Gemma Wilcox, James Wisker, Dawn Wood, Donna Wood, Kim Wylam.

We acknowledge the work of all those who give so generously of their time for Chichester Festival Theatre, including our CFT Buddies, Heritage & Archive Volunteers, and our Volunteer Audio Description Team: Lily Barkes, Janet Beckett, Richard Chapman, Tony Clark, Robert Dunn, Geraldine Firmston, Suzanne France, Richard Frost, David Phizackerley, Christopher Todd, Joanna Wiege.

Youth Advisory Board: Issie Berg Rust, Theo Craig, Anayis Der Hopkian, Esther Dracott, Chloe Gibson, Aled Hanson, Ophelia Kabdenova, Alice Kilgallon, Francesca McBride, Ace Merriot, Katherine Munden, Jacob Simmonds, Susie Udall, Priya Uddin.

Our Supporters 2024/5 Minerva Season Principal Charles Holloway Major Donors Deborah Alun-Jones Robin and Joan Alvarez Elizabeth and the late David Benson Philip Berry George W. Cameron OBE and Madeleine Cameron Sir William and Lady Castell David and Claire Chitty David and Jane Cobb John and Susan Coldstream Clive and Frances Coward Yvonne and John Dean Jim Douglas Nick and Lalli Draper Mrs Veronica J Dukes Melanie Edge Sir Vernon Ellis Huw Evans Steve and Sheila Evans Val and Richard Evans Sandy and Mark Foster Simon and Luci Eyers Robert and Pirjo Gardiner 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 Elizabeth Miles Eileen Norris Jerome and Elizabeth O’Hea Mrs Denise Patterson DL Stuart and Carolyn Popham Dame Patricia Routledge DBE David Shalit MBE and Sophie Shalit Greg and Katherine Slay Christine and Dave Smithers Alan and Jackie Stannah Oliver Stocken CBE Howard Thompson Bryan Warnett Ernest Yelf

Trusts and Foundations The Arthur Williams Charitable Trust The Arts Society, Chichester The Bassil Shippam and Alsford Trust The Bernadette Charitable Trust Bruce Wake Charitable Trust The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Charity Dora Green Educational Trust The Dorus Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Elizabeth, Lady Cowdray’s Charity Trust Epigoni Trust Friarsgate Trust The Garrick Charitable Trust The G D Charitable Trust Hobhouse Charitable Trust John Coates Charitable Trust The Mackintosh Foundation The Maurice Marshal Preference Trust Noël Coward Foundation Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Theatre Artists Fund Wickens Family Foundation

Festival Players 1000+ John and Joan Adams Lindy Ambrose and Tom Reid Sarah and Tony Bolton Robert Brown Ian and Jan Carroll C Casburn and B Buckley Jean Campbell Sarah Chappatte David Churchill Denise Clatworthy Michael and Jill Cook Lin and Ken Craig Deborah Crockford Clive and Kate Dilloway Jim Douglas Peter and Ruth Doust Gary Fairhall Mr Nigel Fullbrook George Galazka Wendy and John Gehr Marion Gibbs CBE Stephen J Gill Mr & Mrs Paul Goswell Rachel and Richard Green Ros and Alan Haigh Rowland and Caroline Hardwick Chris and Carolyn Hughes John and Jenny Lippiett Anthony and Fiona Littlejohn Alan and Virginia Lovell Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Sarah Mansell and Tim Bouquet Patrick Martyn Rod Matthews James and Anne McMeehan Roberts Mrs Sheila Meadows 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 Joanna Walker Ian and Alison Warren Angela Wormald

Festival Players 500+ Judy Addison Smith Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard (The Barness Charity Trust) Martin Blackburn Janet Bounds Frances Brodsky and Peter Parham Sally Chittleburgh Mr and Mrs Jeremy Chubb Mr Charles Collingwood and Miss Judy Bennett Lady Finch Colin and Carole Fisher Beryl Fleming Karin and Jorge Florencio Roz Frampton Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Dr Stuart Hall Dennis and Joan Harrison Barbara Howden Richards Karen and Paul Johnston Frank and Freda Letch Anthony and Fiona Littlejohn Jim and Marilyn Lush Selina and David Marks Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Sue Marsh Adrian Marsh and Maggie Stoker Trevor and Lynne Matthews Tim McDonald Mrs Mary Newby Margaret and Martin Overington Jean Plowright Ben Reeder Robin Roads Graham and Maureen Russel David Seager John and Tita Shakeshaft Mr and Mrs Brian Smouha Elizabeth Stern Anne Subba-Row Harry and Shane Thuillier Miss Melanie Tipples Penny Tomlinson Tina Webster Chris and Dorothy Weller Nick and Tarnia Williams

...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

Our Supporters 2024/5 Principal Partners Platinum Level

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

Silver Level

Corporate Partners Carpenter Box Jones Avens FBG Investment J Leon Group

Montezuma’s Oldham Seals Group Phoenix Dining

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

Aged 16-30? Join for free today and get tickets for a fiver plus a whole lot more.

Enjoyed the show?

Let us know what you think over on social ChichesterFestivalTheatre ChichesterFT ChichesterTheatre ChichesterFT ChichesterFT