Chichester Festival Theatre reveals its summer season

‘I am amazed that it has never been done here before,’ Daniel says. ‘It is set on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and as you know, our stage really lends itself to that epic scale… and yet it has never been seen on this stage.

‘Rodgers and Hammerstein have done two things. They have created this wonderfully lavish score, but at the same time they are exploring something that still feels pertinent today.

‘There is a line “You have to be carefully taught to hate and fear” – and they are really tackling prejudice. You have got this island where there are many, many cultures all living together, and there is something about what happens when lots of different cultures occupy the same space. And Rodgers and Hammerstein do it so deftly.

‘You are swept away by this wonderful score, but you have got a story which has still got so much to say.’

Daniel will direct the show which brings together Gina Beck, Julian Ovenden and Rob Houchen and will run from July 6-August 29. Songs include Some Enchanted Evening, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair and Bali Ha’i.

Opening the summer season on the main house stage will be Henry Goodman in The Life Of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht. Running from April 24– May 16, it will be directed by Daniel’s predecessor as CFT artistic director, Jonathan Church.

Galileo Galilei is a teacher of mathematics at the University of Padua. The establishment orthodoxy – which he’s been teaching to private pupils for years – is that the sun revolves round the earth, which is the centre of the universe. The theory confirms the scriptures and pays the bills. Galileo challenges it.

‘Sometimes our audiences say to us: “Can we have more Brecht?” which isn’t something you would hear at a lot of theatres!’ Daniel says.

‘And it is great to have Henry back who had such a success here in (Brecht’s) Arturo Ui, such a success that it came back the following year.

‘And I think this one works again because we like to put on things that are pertinent and have a resonance with today. It is about a scientist who has really transformed history and our thinking, and today in certain quarters we can see that scientific fact is being questioned. This is a play about a guy who has something to say about the scientific facts that are not taken on by the church or the state.

‘And the lovely thing also is that it is really meaningful to be able to invite Jonathan Church back after three years. The time feels right and he still lives locally.

‘This was a play that Brecht revising throughout the ’40s and ’50s in response to what was happening in Germany, and it is a story that speaks for itself. And to play him we needed an actor with great presence and also great intellectual nous. Henry has absolutely got that.’

Priority booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens: Saturday, February 22 (online and booking forms only); Wednesday, February 26 (phone and in person)

Booking for groups and schools opens: Thursday, February 27

General booking opens: Saturday, February 29 (online only); Tuesday, March 3 (phone and in person)

cft.org.uk. Box office 01243 781312. Tickets from £10.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NEW SEASON

Richard Coyle and Lisa Dillon in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, directed by Simon Evans, May 7- June 6 Muriel Spark’s The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, adapted by Jay Presson Allan, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, May 29-June 20 The Village Bike by Penelope Skinner, directed by Nicole Charles Sarah Kane’s Crave, directed by Tinuke Craig, June 12-July 4 The Unfriend by Steven Moffat, with Amanda Abbington, Frances Barber and Reece Shearsmith, directed by Mark Gatiss, July 17-August 22 The Long Song, a new adaptation by Suhayla El-Bushra based on Andrea Levy’s novel, August 28-September 26 The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse, adapted from her novel, directed by Jonathan Munby, September 12-October 30 Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, directed by Polly Findlay, September 29-October 31 The Narcissist by Christopher Shinn, directed by Ola Ince, October 2-24 A new adaptation of Pinocchio by Anna Ledwich with The Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, December 12-31