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Chichester Festival Theatre
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Chichester Festival Theatre

Redeem Your Theatre Tokens:

In Person: Oaklands Park, CHICHESTER, West Sussex, PO19 6AP
Phone: 01243 781312
Online: www.cft.org.uk/whats-on [?]
Email: box.office@cft.org.uk

Please note that both the phone number and website provided will connect you to one of our trusted partners. While Theatre Tokens does not manage the booking service or phone lines, we understand that theatres can be busy, and we appreciate your patience with any delays. Thank you for your understanding.

What's On Highlights

The Koala Who Could
From:17-02-2026
To:22-02-2026
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Based on the bestselling picture book about taking a chance. An empowering and chuckle-out-loud story about embracing change — whether we like it or not. ‘In a wonderful place, at the breaking of dawn, where the breezes were soft and the sunshine was warm, a place where the creatures ran wild and played free... A Koala called Kevin clung to a tree.’

Join Kevin, King of the staying-still-kings, and his friends kangaroo and wombat in an Australian Outback adventure, as they learn that ‘life can be great when you try something new!’

Based on the award-winning book by Rachel Bright and Jim Field published by Hachette Children’s Group, this brand-new stage adaptation is directed by Emma Earle (Oi Frog & Friends!), with music and lyrics by Eamonn O’Dwyer (The Lion Inside and CFT’s Hey! Christmas Tree).

Approximately 1 Hour

The BFG
From:09-03-2026
To:11-04-2026
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Gather your chiddlers to see Roald Dahl’s unforgettable story come to life this spring. This magical new adaptation by Tom Wells (The Kitchen Sink, Jumpers For Goalposts) is directed by former CFT Artistic Director, current RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans, whose Chichester productions included Quiz, South Pacific and Our Generation.

Get in early and secure your tickets for our Festival 2026 opener.

One extraordinary night, a young orphan named Sophie is snatched by a giant and taken far away to Giant Country. There she learns that human-eating giants are guzzling ‘norphans’ the world over. But she soon discovers that her new friend, the BFG, is different – he’s a dream-catching, snozzcumber-munching gentle soul who refuses to eat humans.

While other giants terrorise the world, the BFG ignites Sophie’s imagination, and they devise a daring plan to save children everywhere. In the end, the smallest human bean and the gentlest giant prove that a dream can change the world.

John Leader plays the BFG; his previous theatre credits include Merry Wives of Windsor and The School for Scandal for the RSC, Wuthering Heights, Peter Pan and War Horse at the National Theatre, A Monster Calls at The Old Vic and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Bridge Theatre.

Approximately 1 Hour 50 mins

Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will)
From:11-03-2026
To:12-03-2026
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OperaUpClose returns to the Minerva with a brilliantly subversive and satirical take on Puccini’s enduringly popular family farce. A modern twist on a classic set to delight both opera lovers and curious newcomers alike.

Directed by award winning PJ Harris, rising stars Dan D’Souza and Ceferina Penny lead a stellar cast of opera singers and players in a new English version by Hannah Kumari, re-orchestrated by Vahan Salorian.

Puccini’s comic masterpiece comes roaring into the 21st century, in a modern day ‘whodunnit’ challenging a world where everyone is out for themselves.

Every performance will feature creative captioning as part of the production design.

Approximately 1 Hour 15 mins

Magic
From:24-04-2026
To:16-05-2026
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Harry Houdini is the greatest illusionist the world has ever known. Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of literature’s most brilliant detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Their mutual admiration blossoms into a profound friendship, even as they discover a shared obsession with spiritualism. Conan Doyle believes fervently in the psychic world and the promise of reunion with his dead son; Houdini is determined to demonstrate it’s a cruel fraud. Which of these sparring partners will be proved right: the genius writer of fiction or the infallible magician?

Based on extraordinary historical events, Magic asks what we’re prepared to believe, and why.

Eclipse
From:08-05-2026
To:06-06-2026
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In the kitchen of an old Devon rectory, the daughter who stayed and the son who moved away make conversation with their current and former partners, the milkman, the postman, the care workers. They talk about the weather, the roads, the toaster, the bins. About anything except the simmering tensions between them, as their father lies mortally ill in the next room.

Until the unspoken emotions and conflicts of years boil over.

Eclipse is a painfully funny, acute and delicate play about our struggle to communicate, in the face of life and of death. And our infinite capacity for drinking tea.

Atonement
From:29-05-2026
To:20-06-2026
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On an English country estate during the blazing summer of 1935, 13 year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a passionate scene between her elder sister Cecilia and the son of their housekeeper, Robbie. In a disastrous desire for drama but only a dim understanding of its impact, Briony makes an accusation which will fatally alter Cecilia and Robbie’s lives and many others too – for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

Stretching from the 1930s through the Second World War to the present day, Ian McEwan’s dazzling masterpiece was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and voted by Time Magazine and the Guardian as one of the 100 greatest novels of the past century.

45 Years
From:12-06-2026
To:11-07-2026
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Buried for decades, the body of a young woman is found in the melting ice. A thousand miles and 45 years away... a crack forms in the crystal of a marriage.

It’s the week leading up to Kate and Geoff’s wedding anniversary and preparations for the party are in full swing. As they choose the music for their first dance, a letter from Switzerland quietly shatters their world.

Is the past another country? Or are the secrets in the attic of our memory destined to return?

Adapted from Andrew Haigh’s critically acclaimed 2015 film, 45 Years is an achingly tense, intimate and moving dance to the music of time.

My Fair Lady
From:06-07-2026
To:05-09-2026
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Cockney Eliza Doolittle scrapes a living selling flowers on the streets of London. Her dream of being a lady in a florist’s shop is out of reach unless she can speak ‘proper English’. So when she encounters Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, she seizes the chance to transform her life. Higgins blithely takes on a bet to turn the woman he dismisses as a “squashed cabbage leaf” into a high society paragon. But his impulsive wager becomes a journey of discovery for both him and Eliza.

Lerner & Loewe’s glorious, evergreen musical My Fair Lady – with an overflowing bouquet of ravishing songs including The Rain in Spain, I Could Have Danced All Night, With a Little Bit of Luck and Wouldn’t It be Loverly – has never before been produced at Chichester. With its sparkling dialogue, brilliant lyrics, witty story and gorgeous costumes, this 20th century masterpiece has been described as the perfect musical.

Atlantis
From:18-07-2026
To:15-08-2026
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In a small coastal village in Wales, Bryn and Gwen learn they will be forced to abandon their cherished home in the face of rising seawater. Their crisis rekindles Gwen’s crusading spirit, cradled at the Greenham Common protests in the 1980s – a commitment inherited by her granddaughter Rhiannon. But as the years pass, their passionate activism threatens to divide mother from daughter, sister from brother, husband from wife.

Emily White’s lyrical, deeply touching and thought-provoking play, winner of the George Devine Award, follows four generations as they discover the cost of saving their home – and the planet.

a small and quiet light
From:21-08-2026
To:12-09-2026
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October 1943. In a small office on the Avenue Foch in Paris, a Gestapo interrogator is questioning a young woman who has been known by many different names: Babuli, Jeanne-Marie, Nora, Madeleine.

As one of the secret agents of Britain’s Special Operations Executive – and the first female radio operator to be sent undercover into France – she has evaded capture far longer than most. But now she has been betrayed.

As she faces the fate she has dreaded so long, memories crowd in – a beloved father, a thwarted lover, a gruelling journey to war, and an endless longing for her childhood piano. What has led her here?

a small and quiet light is based on the life of Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan (1914-1944), an extraordinarily courageous woman who paid the ultimate price for her heroic fight against fascism.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
From:18-09-2026
To:17-10-2026
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Kicking back against the rules imposed by their stuffy elders, four spirited young lovers take off to a forest thronged with mischievous creatures who march to a different beat.

But the king and queen of the fairies are at loggerheads, and psychedelic potions create startling transformations. For a bunch of budding actors, staging a play proves more of a headache than they bargained for. As traditional values go head to head with hedonism and freedom, amidst a whirl of conflicting desires, how will this madcap night of revels end?

Comedian and satirist Munya Chawawa makes his theatrical debut as Bottom.

Antigone Exits
From:26-09-2026
To:17-10-2026
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Antigone’s brother has died in a bloody civil war. The king – her uncle – has forbidden anyone to bury the body.

Antigone is going to bury the body anyway. Twenty-five centuries after Antigone, seven performers gather to re-tell the tale of what is buried and what comes of it. Ancient Greece crashes into the contemporary, as Sophocles’ classic tragedy shines a scorching light onto our current world.

Nina Segal’s modern adaptation brings Antigone blazing into the present day. Her previous work includes Cow|Deer (Royal Court), We Are The Lucky Ones (Dutch National Opera) and Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre).

Hey! Christmas Tree
From:05-12-2026
To:27-12-2026
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Enchanting, funny and heart-warming, this festive story about the importance of finding friendship and somewhere to call home, created especially for Chichester Festival Theatre by Michael Morpurgo, returns to the Minerva following its hugely popular 2024 premiere.

Tree is rescued from the forest on Christmas Eve by Mavis, the motorbiking park ranger, who lives with her cheeky cat Winston and 9-year-old Yulia, who doesn’t want to talk and is a long way from home.

Tree has never had Christmas before and isn’t sure about all the decorations he has to wear. But he meets Father Christmas and the Snow Woman, and with Yulia to care for him, he starts to dance. The seasons come and go, Tree grows taller, and soon Christmas comes around once again. And alongside the gifts in their stockings is the best present of all.

Peter Pan
From:14-12-2026
To:30-12-2026
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One of the most beloved stories of all time, in a wonderful version with songs by Stiles & Drewe (Honk!, The Three Little Pigs, Half a Sixpence), Peter Pan is the perfect Christmas show for all the family.

Join Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in this magical and exciting tale about the three Darling children – Wendy, John and Michael – whose world changes when a boy who doesn’t want to grow up flies into their London bedroom, and teaches them how to take wing themselves.

And so begins an awfully big adventure more deliciously dangerous and thrilling than they could ever have imagined. Reaching the island of Never Land, they meet the cheeky fairy Tinker Bell, quarrelsome Lost Boys, mysterious mermaids, rapscallion pirates and, of course, the elegant and menacing Captain Hook…!

An unmissable, classic musical adaptation presented by our multi‑talented Youth Theatre, supported by a full professional creative team.

Transport

Chichester Station is a 20 minute walk from the theatre, with regular direct links to London Victoria, Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Gatwick Airport. Trains to London Waterloo connect at nearby Havant. Call 08457 484950 for timetables and other details or visit nationalrail.co.uk.

Parking

Northgate Car Park (PO19 6AA) is a 900-space pay and display car park next to the Theatre which charges from 8am until 8pm Monday - Saturday and 10am until 5pm on Sundays.

Matinee days are particularly busy so please allow plenty of time.

Cafe

The Café in the Festival Theatre is a great spot for a light lunch or a good coffee, and also serves freshly made sandwiches, salads, delicious cakes, and a range of hot and cold drinks.

Opening times: Monday to Saturday from 10am until the end of the interval of the evening performance. On non-performance days The Café closes at 5pm.

Restaurant

The Brasserie on the ground floor of the Minerva Theatre is open for pre-show dining in new stylish and elegant surroundings. The restaurant serves a contemporary British menu using local and seasonal ingredients as well as an excellent choice of wines.

Opening times: 12.30pm - 2.30pm on matinee days and from 5.30pm for evening performances.

Bar

The Minerva Bar upstairs provides a more relaxed atmosphere, and offers both main meals and lighter food options.

Opening times: Open 90 minutes before performances.

Access Info

For detailed access information please visit the theatre's access page: www.cft.org.uk/your-visit/access

Chichester Festival Theatre is one of the UK’s flagship theatres, renowned for the exceptionally high standard of its productions as well as its work with the community and young people. Situated in a cathedral city in West Sussex between the South Downs and the sea, the Festival Theatre’s bold thrust stage design makes it one of England’s most striking playhouses – equally suited to epic drama and musicals. Its studio theatre, the Minerva, is particularly noted for premieres of new work alongside intimate revivals.

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