CFT summer
SOUTH PACIFIC. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener. Directed by Daniel Evans. 5 July – 4 September 2021, live in the Festival Theatre. Streamed as live on 4, 9, 14, 18, 21, 26, 31 August & 3 September
Led by Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera) as Nellie, Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel, BBC Proms) as Emile, Joanna Ampil (Avenue Q, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon) as Bloody Mary, Keir Charles (Quiz, Back To Life) and Rob Houchen (Les Misérables, The Light in the Piazza) as Cable, the cast also includes Iroy Abesamis, Carl Au, Rosanna Bates, David Birrell, Leslie Garcia Bowman, Taylor Bradshaw, Bobbie Chambers, Danny Collins, Shailan Gohil, Adrian Grove, Zack Guest, Cameron Bernard Jones, Amanda Lindgren, Matthew Maddison, Sera Maehara (as Liat), Melissa Nettleford, Rachel Jayne Picar, Kat
Wonderful planned productions had to be cancelled or mothballed to next year. By halving the theatre’s seating capacity, a couple of concerts were able to go ahead and a live audience was joined by people at home watching live screenings. Luckily this solution is available for the Christmas offering from Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in an adaptation of Pinocchio by Anna Ledwich. Normally the show is presented with a cast of 60 plus. This year it has been reduced to two teams of 30 appearing in alternate performances. The familiar tale tells of a wooden puppet who becomes a boy and can’t stop getting into trouble when he sets out to discover the wonders of the world and make his fortune. But he discovers it isn’t easy hiding the truth – especially when your nose gets longer with every lie you tell.
Alex Webb
He is loving his time with Chichester Festival Youth Theatre – and looking forward to playing a Policeman and Mercury the Dog in their Christmas production this year, a socially-distanced run of Pinocchio on the main-house stage (until January 2).
“I am still not quite sure where I want to go, but I know that I just love being in the theatre. There is so much about it that is great, the atmosphere, the people, the kinds of opportunities you get. There is something about the buzz of it I love.
“I was in Sleeping Beauty and Crossing Lines (with Chichester Festival Youth Theatre). In Crossing Lines I was playing a German prisoner of war in the cloisters. It was such an amazing show and so different and so much fun to be part of.
4/5
There’s nothing to be sniffed at in this fairy-tale adaptation, least of all a tremendous central turn from 15-year-old Archie Elliot
23 December 2020 • 2:04pm
Archie Elliot and Annalise Bradbury in Chichester Festival Theatre s Pinocchio
Tis the season to accentuate the positives. Three cheers – thanks to two tiers – for Chichester. The theatre (run by Daniel Evans, a stalwart in the struggle this year) has got to Christmas Eve and managed to present attended, albeit reduced-capacity, performances, not only on its main stage but in the studio.
There’s something specially stirring about this West Sussex venue getting to the finishing line unbowed (advancing mutant surge notwithstanding). It was founded by Olivier, who formed the first National Theatre company here: it’s the theatrical Petri dish where good health is bred.
Alfie Ayling as Geppetto and Archie Elliot as Pinocchio. Photo by Manuel Harlan
But the wonderful interpretation of the story of the puppet that comes to life without the need of strings technically just about achieves that.
Of course, Director Dale Rooks isn’t merely a genius. She is a legend. She, more than anyone else, has taken Chichester’s youth theatre to the greatest heights – and consistently so. How many young lives has she transformed? How many children has she inspired to love the arts? How many fledgling careers has she launched?
This is not the biggest nor the most fancy gig under her tenure – but just like the transformation of a piece of wood into the living, breathing mischievous puppet whose nose always lengthens when he tells a lie, this is a miracle none the less.