Chichester Festival theatre announces first Hamlet, starring Giles Terera

The Guardian

13-02-2025

Since opening in 1962 under its first artistic director, Laurence Olivier, Chichester Festival theatre has hosted some of the world's greatest Shakespearean actors. But surprisingly it has never produced its own version of Hamlet. 'It's unbelievable, isn't it?' says Justin Audibert, who in 2023 succeeded Daniel Evans as the theatre's artistic director. 'We've done three Antony and Cleopatras!'
Audibert is now preparing to direct Hamlet himself, with the tragic prince played by Giles Terera, who won an Olivier award when he starred as Aaron Burr in the London premiere of Hamilton. The play will open in September in Chichester's smaller Minerva theatre. 'We are imagining that Old Hamlet [the prince's father] has let the kingdom decline,' says Audibert, whose production will explore the 'leadership vacuum' that comes from an older generation 'clinging on to power for a really long time'. Hamlet's father 'has definitely got some Biden vibes' says Audibert, and the director has also been reflecting on the succession of Syria's Bashar al-Assad from his father, Hafez. Terera, who starred as Othello at the National Theatre in 2022, will play a Hamlet who is similar in age to his stepfather, Claudius.
The Minerva, which seats around 300 people, could bring you closer to Hamlet's inner turmoil, Audibert suggests, recalling his experience of watching Rupert Goold's 2007 Macbeth with Patrick Stewart. 'I'm fascinated by how fast Shakespeare's characters think,' he says. One question he asks when staging the plays is: 'How do you propel it forward – all the time?'
Audibert arrived at Chichester after running London's Unicorn theatre for children, so he has swapped one of the country's youngest audiences for what is probably one of the oldest. A huge number of visitors to the Unicorn are naturally completely new to the venue, while Chichester is used to welcoming back theatregoers who have built 'a real commitment and passion for the institution'. He relishes how both groups 'tell you exactly what they think', and adds, 'Chichester is a very civic-minded place. The theatre was founded through a movement within the community who fundraised for it.'
Audibert's first season at Chichester included a wildly successful version of Oliver! that has transferred to the West End. His second season, announced on Thursday, will include another big musical, Top Hat, which will be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. A musical adaptation of Rachel Joyce's novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, with music and lyrics by singer-songwriter Passenger, will star Mark Addy and Jenna Russell. Game of Thrones's Natalie Dormer will play Anna Karenina; Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's new play Choir will 'celebrate music and togetherness'; and a new version of Gogol's The Government Inspector (with 'big belly laughs') will star Tom Rosenthal, directed by Gregory Doran.
There are also adaptations of William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Matt Haig's A Boy Called Christmas, the latter performed by the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre to mark its 40th anniversary. 'We'll have 70 children on stage and 30 children backstage running that show,' Audibert says.
A new play by Jamie Bogyo called Safe Space will be directed in the Minerva by Roy Alexander Weise. The drama is billed as a bracing account of campus politics at a US university whose students are 'confronting the injustices of the past … starting with the fact that the college is named after a notorious defender of slavery'. Audibert says: 'On the one hand it's about these big culture-wars ideas like legacy, restitution and justice … and on another level, it's about loads of 20-year-olds who as well as dealing with important social political issues are also working out who they are, what they stand for and who they want to sleep with.'
As previously announced, Beverley Knight will play rock'n'roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the Minerva during the summer. At Christmas, a musical version of The Three Little Pigs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe will be co-produced with the Unicorn.
Audibert has stressed the affordability of the season, with tickets available from £10 for every show. Theatregoers aged 16 to 30 can buy £5 tickets if they sign up to the free Prologue scheme.