Chichester Festival Theatre

CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE

A repertory theatre completed in 1961–2, designed by Powell and Moya for Leslie Evershed-Martin, founder of the Chichester Players and Chairman of the Chichester Festival Trust. The building was extended in 1966–7, with Charles Weiss and Partners as engineers. The theatre sits in Oaklands Park on the east side of Broyle Road.

The structure is built in reinforced concrete with principal elements finished in bush-hammered texture. The design takes a hexagonal form, derived from economic and acoustic considerations. The auditorium follows a stadium plan with seating for 1,374, raised above a single-storey foyer on cantilevers. These cantilevers, together with the concrete tiering of the auditorium, create a projecting canopy over the foyer roof and are articulated with trabeated patterning. The main roof is tent-inspired in character and is held by tension wires anchored to a rigid ring beam that rests on solid staircase wells positioned to the sides. These staircases are expressed externally through white-painted vertical slats and blue vertical strip glazing. The foyer is entirely glazed to take advantage of views across the surrounding parkland and retains original fittings; a box office and bar were added in similar style in 1966.

The chief architectural feature is the apron stage of Canadian maple. This was the first open stage completed in Britain, inspired by Tyrone Guthrie's similar stage at Stratford, Ontario. It combines elements of Roman and Greek amphitheatres with new research into Elizabethan staging techniques. The stage wall includes a Juliet balcony and minstrel gallery, with links to the auditorium seating at balcony level to provide maximum flexibility in use. A lighting and scene control box is positioned at first-floor level in the opposite angle. Scene dock and dressing rooms were added around 1967.

The theatre was completed piecemeal as funds were raised through voluntary subscriptions. Evershed-Martin, an amateur enthusiast, promoted the concept of an annual festival with its own dedicated venue and conceived the notion of a "tent in a park", which informed the design. An actual tent was ruled out by fire regulations. Sir Philip Powell is the son of a Canon of Chichester Cathedral and had already designed two houses in the city; Evershed-Martin is said to have been impressed also by the Skylon. Sir Laurence Olivier brought the nascent National Company to Chichester in 1962, establishing a familial relationship with the Olivier Theatre designed by Sir Denys Lasdun in 1967–9.

The theatre was widely influential as the first apron stage to be completed in Britain. It uniquely expresses both Elizabethan influence and modern staging ideas being explored contemporaneously, drawing on Leslie Hotson's research into "Shakespeare's Wooden O" as much as on contemporary "theatre in the round" concepts. Its amphitheatre plan also derives from ancient Greek theatre. The critic Simon Tidworth considered it "one of the few avant-garde theatres to attain architectural distinction in its own right anywhere in the world". The later office wing is not of special interest. The separate Minerva Theatre is not included in this listing.