Chichester Festival Theatre

The Venue

Chichester Festival Theatre owes its existence to Leslie Evershed-Martin, a Chichester optician who watched a television programme about Tyrone Guthrie's thrust-stage theatre in Stratford, Ontario, on a January evening in 1959. Inspired by the idea of a theatre where the audience surrounds the stage on three sides, he spent the next three years raising funds from local businesses and individuals — effectively crowdfunding the project decades before the term existed.

Architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, already celebrated for the Festival of Britain Skylon, designed a striking hexagonal building that opened in July 1962. Sir Laurence Olivier agreed to serve as founding artistic director, and the company he assembled at Chichester — including Joan Plowright, Michael Redgrave and Maggie Smith — became the core of the newly established National Theatre. In 2014, the building underwent a £22 million refurbishment by Haworth Tompkins, the first closure in its history, which modernised facilities whilst preserving the distinctive thrust-stage design.

What to Expect

The Festival Theatre season runs from April to November, with a programme that mixes ambitious musicals, new commissions and classic revivals. The thrust stage creates an unusually intimate relationship between performers and audience — no seat is far from the action, and the wraparound layout means sightlines are direct from every angle.

Alongside the main house, the 310-seat Minerva Theatre stages more intimate productions and new writing, while The Nest, opened in 2025, is a 120-seat studio for emerging artists, comedy and fringe work. Productions from Chichester regularly transfer to London — recent West End transfers include Oliver!, Crazy for You, The Unfriend and Caroline, Or Change, the last of which also crossed to Broadway.

Booking and Nearby

Tickets are available through the official website at cft.org.uk and range from £10 for restricted view seats to over £45 for premium positions. The Prologue scheme offers £5 tickets to anyone aged 16–30 with valid photo ID. Group bookings of ten or more receive discounted rates. Book early for summer musicals, which regularly sell out.

Chichester itself is a compact cathedral city with excellent restaurants and independent shops along the four main streets radiating from the medieval Market Cross. Chichester Cathedral, with its free entry and Chagall stained-glass window, is a ten-minute walk south. The harbour at Bosham and the beaches at West Wittering are both within a short drive, making a theatre visit easy to combine with a day on the coast.