My Fair Lady At Chichester Festival Theatre. Credit: Seamus Ryan/ Bob King Creative
Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its Festival 2026 season, running from March to October, with Artistic Director Justin Audibert and Executive Director Kathy Bourne unveiling a programme led by no fewer than eight world premieres.
The question is not simply about scale, but intent. As six previous Chichester productions continue to play in London and around the country — reaching more than 472,000 people in 2025 — Festival 2026 positions the theatre not just as a regional powerhouse, but as a national launchpad for new work.
At the heart of the season is a substantial commitment to premieres across both the Festival Theatre and the Minerva. In the larger auditorium, David Haig returns with Magic, a new play exploring the rivalry between Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, with Haig playing Doyle opposite Hadley Fraser. Ian McEwan’s Atonement receives its first stage adaptation by Christopher Hampton, directed by Adam Penford. Later in the summer, Emily White’s climate-focused Atlantis, co-produced with Theatr Clwyd, examines generational activism and environmental crisis.
The Minerva Theatre continues the emphasis on new writing with Eclipse, John Morton’s first stage play starring Sarah Parish and Rupert Penry-Jones; 45 Years, adapted from Andrew Haigh’s film and marking Geraldine James’s Chichester debut; Stephanie Street’s a small and quiet light, based on the life of SOE agent Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan; and Nina Segal’s Antigone Exits, a contemporary reimagining of Sophocles’ tragedy.
Alongside these premieres sits a season of scale and reinvention. Chichester stages its first ever production of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, bringing the classic musical to the Festival Theatre for the summer. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream closes the main house season in a new production co-directed by Justin Audibert and Hannah Joss, relocating the comedy to the Sussex rave scene of the 1990s, with Munya Chawawa making his theatrical debut as Bottom and Jemima Rooper as Titania.
Family audiences are central to the festival’s opening, as Roald Dahl’s The BFG arrives direct from Stratford-upon-Avon in a major co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, directed by Daniel Evans. The festive programme later in the year includes the return of Hey! Christmas Tree for younger audiences and Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s production of Peter Pan – a musical adventure.
Beyond the main stages, The Nest — the theatre’s studio space launched in 2025 — continues to present emerging artists, fringe drama, comedy and live music, reinforcing the organisation’s commitment to nurturing new voices alongside established names. A programme of talks, backstage tours, family activities and community events complements the onstage work, while 21,000 tickets at £10 and £15, alongside 10,000 £5 Prologue tickets for 16–30 year olds, underline an ongoing focus on accessibility.
Festival 2026 therefore arrives not as a single headline production, but as a statement of direction. With eight world premieres across drama, adaptation and contemporary reinterpretation — supported by classic musical theatre and Shakespeare — Chichester presents a season that balances spectacle with risk, heritage with new voices.
If previous years have proved that Chichester productions travel well beyond West Sussex, this new season suggests a theatre confident in shaping the next wave before it begins its journey.
BOOKING INFORMATION
Priority booking for Friends & Champions of Chichester Festival Theatre opens:
Saturday 21 February (online and booking forms only)
Tuesday 24 February (phone and in person)
Booking for Groups and Schools opens:
Thursday 26 February
General booking opens:
Saturday 28 February (online only)
Tuesday 3 March (phone and in person)
Tickets from £10
cft.org.uk
Box Office 01243 781312
Prologue: £5 tickets for 16 – 30s
10,000 £5 tickets are available for 16 to 30 year-olds across all Festival 2026 productions; sign
up for free at cft.org.uk/prologue
So can eight world premieres shape a season? At Chichester in 2026, the answer appears to be yes — not simply through volume, but through ambition. By placing new writing at the centre of its March–October programme, alongside major musical theatre and Shakespeare, the theatre signals that innovation is not an add-on but a driving force. If even a handful of these premieres follow previous Chichester productions onto national and international stages, Festival 2026 will not just reflect the season — it will define its legacy.
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