Chichester Festival Theatre announces 2026/27 winter season

Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its winter 2026/27 season.

A variety of tours feature in the season, including Paul Hendy’s The Last Laugh, which runs in the Festival Theatre from 3 to 7 November and Heathers the Musical, which visits the Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 November, while Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky’s political drama The Gang of Three plays the Minerva Theatre over the same dates.

A new staging of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon’s novel, runs in the Festival Theatre from 17 to 21 November. The same week sees Papatango Theatre Company and Pentabus present Tom Powell’s The Silence and the Noise in the Minerva Theatre. The play won the 2021 Papatango Prize and is directed by Papatango artistic director George Turvey. Tracy-Ann Oberman will lead a new production of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, running from 24 to 28 November.

The theatre’s Christmas programme includes its annual Christmas Concerts from 1 to 5 December, featuring the Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood and Chichester Cathedral Choir.

Hey! Christmas Tree, written by Vicki Berwick from a poem by Michael Morpurgo, returns to the Minerva Theatre from 5 to 27 December following its 2024 premiere. Dale Rooks directs, with Olivia Arnold, Callum Balmforth, Amanda Gordon and Nick Howard-Brown reprising their roles.

Chichester Festival Youth Theatre will present Peter Pan – a musical adventure from 14 to 30 December. Featuring music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drewe, the production is directed by Lucy Betts.

The festive programme continues into January with New English Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker, created by Valentino Zucchetti, running from 6 to 10 January.

Into the new year, Jane Asher, Samantha Womack, David Robb and Matthew Cottle will star in Daisy Goodwin’s By Royal Appointment, which runs from 19 to 23 January. The Minerva Theatre will host Katherine Senior’s Spitfire Girls during the same week.

Giovanna Fletcher will star in the world stage premiere of Before I Go to Sleep, based on the novel by SJ Watson, from 2 to 6 February. Also from 2 to 6 February, the Minerva Theatre will present The Reckoning, written by Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton and based on witness testimonies collected by The Reckoning Project.

A production of A Tale of Two Cities, adapted by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud from Charles Dickens’ novel, visits the Festival Theatre from 9 to 13 February. The Marlowe Theatre production is directed by Michael Fentiman. Across the same dates, Pentabus will present Laura Waldren’s Birdcatcher in the Minerva Theatre from 10 to 13 February, directed by Elle While.

Birmingham Rep’s production of A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma from Khaled Hosseini’s novel, follows at the Festival Theatre from 16 to 20 February.

The season’s final main Festival Theatre production is James Graham’s Punch, running from 23 to 27 February. Based on Jacob Dunne’s book Right from Wrong, the Olivier Award-winning play is directed by Adam Penford and follows Dunne’s journey after an act of violence leads to the death of another young man.

The Minerva Theatre programme also includes Lost Dog’s Juliet & Romeo from 5 to 7 November, Mitch Benn’s The Lehrer Effect on 23 November, Mark Thomas: 40 in Stand-Up Years on 24 November, and Burt Bacharach: His Life Story in Music and Theatre on 25 and 26 November.

January events include I Musicanti, Richard Marsh’s Yippee Ki Yay and Top Gunchained, and Protein’s dance theatre adaptation of The Magic Flute. Family productions The Lion Inside and Who Let the Gods Out? follow in February.

One-night and short-run events in the Festival Theatre include Judi Dench in conversation with Brendan O’Hea on 28 October, Liza Pulman and Joe Stilgoe’s Hooray for Hollywood on 29 October, a comedy evening featuring Sara Pascoe, Zoe Lyons and Stephen K Amos on 30 October, and The Archers: Live at 75 on 31 October.

Derek Jacobi will also appear in conversation with Richard Clifford on 16 January, while music events include Fascinating Aïda, Tarantara! A Gala Celebration of Gilbert & Sullivan, Friday Night Is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the BBC Big Band with Claire Martin.

The theatre will also continue its Prologue scheme, offering an allocation of £5 tickets to audiences aged 16 to 30 for selected productions throughout the season.