Our Generation digital programme | Chichester Festival Theatre | Festival 2022

OUR GENERATION A new play by Alecky Blythe

WELCOME

KATHY BOURNE AND DANIEL EVANS PHOTOGRAPH BY SEAMUS RYAN

FESTIVAL 2022

Welcome to the opening production of Festival 2022 in the Minerva Theatre: Alecky Blythe’s Our Generation.

It was at Chichester in 1962 that Laurence Olivier established the nucleus of the National Theatre company that opened at the Old Vic the following year; so it is a special pleasure to be coproducing Our Generation with the National Theatre as we celebrate our 60th anniversary year.

It is not unusual for plays to have fairly lengthy gestation periods, but the process that has birthed Our Generation is an extraordinary one. Alecky specialises in verbatim theatre, where all the words have been spoken by real people; her particular technique, known as ‘recorded delivery’, involves the actors replicating the exact way the original speaker delivered the lines through listening to recorded interviews.

Alecky and her team of collectors spent five years interviewing 12 children

from six schools all over the UK, amassing over 656 hours of recorded interviews. Day by day in rehearsals, our team has been bowled over by the reallife stories and words of the younger generation, their resilience, their hope, their aspiration. We’re sure there will be many characters whose experience you recognise.

The play is brought to life by a superb cast, who embody the enormous talent which promises a bright future for our industry. Among them are our three seasoned actors: Debbie Chazen, Hasan Dixon and Stephanie Street, who returns to the CFT stage having last appeared here in Quiz.

Looking forward, we have a wealth of compelling contemporary drama to discover this season, including Steven Moffat’s The Unfriend, Stephen Beresford’s The Southbury Child, Roy Williams’ Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads and Christopher Shinn’s The Narcissist.

Thank you for joining us for this performance – we hope you enjoy Our Generation.

Executive Director Kathy Bourne

cft.org.uk

Artistic Director Daniel Evans

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SING YER HEART OUT FOR THE LADS

By Roy Williams Nicole Charles’s much-praised production of Roy Williams’s ferocious, funny and disturbing play, originally staged in the Spiegeltent in 2019, returns for a run in the Minerva Theatre – part of which will be transformed into a pub setting to creative an immersive theatrical experience.

MINERVA THEATRE 22 July – 13 August #SingYerHeartOut

cft.org.uk

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THE NARCISSIST A new play by Christopher Shinn A gripping, inventive and witty take on personal and political communication in the internet age. This world premiere from celebrated American playwright Christopher Shinn is directed by Josh Seymour.

MINERVA THEATRE 26 August – 24 September #TheNarcissist

cft.org.uk

SOMETHING FO Chichester Festival Youth Theatre offers opportunities for young people throughout West Sussex As you sit watching today’s performance in the Festival or Minerva Theatre, across the county young people are also acting up a storm.

Chichester Festival Youth Theatre (CFYT) was first established in 1985. Such was its popularity that demand for membership outstripped the provision available at its Chichester base; and a growing awareness of areas in West Sussex where there was little or no high quality arts provision for children and young people led to the roll-out of a satellite programme across a geographical area of approximately 50 square miles.

Today, CFYT runs 38 weekly sessions in seven locations – Billingshurst, Bognor Regis, Burgess Hill, Horsham, Littlehampton, Midhurst and Worthing – and in Chichester itself. Each location hosts groups for Years 6 – 9

(ages 10 – 13) and for Years 10 – 13 and above (ages 14 – 25). There are currently opportunities to join all the older and most of the younger groups.

‘CFYT sessions will appeal to any young person needing a bit of escapism and to have some fun,’ says Hannah Hogg, CFT’s Youth & Outreach Manager. ‘It’s about gaining confidence, friendships, social and life skills.

A very small percentage of our young people want a theatre career; the skills they gain are just as applicable to being a lawyer or a nurse.’

The year is divided into three terms, starting by looking at skills such as improvisation, devising or mime. Next, participants work towards sharing an informal performance with their peers and family.

During the final term they’ll focus on a project such as Shakespeare or a mini-performance in the Minerva. All sessions are led by professional theatre practitioners.

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OR EVERYONE ‘It’s about gaining confidence, friendships, social and life skills.’

upwards; these are open to participants from across the county. So is the Technical Youth Theatre which, being a two-year course, differs from the Youth Theatre sessions (which you can join at any point); a new Tech group will be recruited in September.

Every member has the opportunity to ‘There is something for everyone. We’re audition for the major CFYT productions, not a stage school, we’re about developing including the famed Christmas show. And the person and having a good time’, Hannah while CFYT’s mission is far wider, it can be emphasises. ‘The experience is exactly the a springboard into the theatrical profession; same for CFYT members in our satellite there are Youth Theatre graduates throughout locations, as for those attending sessions the industry, including the actors Finn Elliot at CFT itself. It’s very different from school (recently seenAlecky in The Blythe’s Crown) and Felix new verbatim engrossing tells the club; stories of a generation. or an play after-school it benefits anyone’s Mosse (son of Kate), Fred Oftenand toopuppeteers extraordinary to be fiction, Daniel Evans this funny and wellbeing to havedirects a completely different Davis and Romina Hytten, who play won in a 2022 moving a co-production with theforNational experience an hourTheatre. and a half each week.’

Laurence Olivier Award as part of the team on The Life of Pi in the West End. MINERVAForTHEATRE more information about joining CFYT, Additional needs groups are held in 22 Aprilvisit cft.org.uk/cfyt – 14 May Horsham and in Chichester, where dance #OurGeneration groups are also on offer for younger children, and a musical theatre group for year 11

LEAP cft.org.uk

FOOD AND DRINK Enjoy delicious food and drink at our welcoming café and restaurant. Whether you’re having a meal before the show, simply relaxing with a coffee or powering up using our free Wi-Fi, we can’t wait to welcome you.

DINE BEFORE THE SHOW

GREAT COFFEE IN A GREAT LOCATION

Enjoy a light and relaxed menu of sharing platters and small plates featuring local and seasonal ingredients, a brilliant range of local gin and spirits as well as beers and wines in our award-winning restaurant the Minerva Bar & Grill – the closest restaurant to the Minerva Theatre.

A great spot for barista coffee, freshly made sandwiches, delicious cakes and a range of drinks. Our Café on the Park offers indoor and outdoor seating overlooking Oaklands Park and family friendly areas in our spacious foyer.

Open for matinees from 12pm and evening shows from 5pm. Also available for private hires and functions.

Open Monday to Friday from 10am and from 9am on Saturday so ParkRunners can stop by for much needed refreshment.

Visit cft.org.uk/eat, call 01243 782219 or email dining@cft.org.uk for opening times, reservations, menus and more.

OUR GENERATION A new play by Alecky Blythe

Our Generation has been many years in the making. Alecky Blythe and five collectors, Izzy Dougill, Leah Gaffey, Dan Murphy, Ruth Tebby and Olivia Wilkes, spent five years recording 656 hours’ worth of interviews with young people from across the UK. They reflected on that experience with creative producer, Pádraig Cusack.

Pádraig Cusack: How did you all come to be involved in the project?

Leah Gaffey I met Alecky after graduating from Goldsmiths in 2014. I was writing my dissertation and London Road was one of my case studies. Ruth, Olivia, Izzy and I were all writing a verbatim show about my hometown; Alecky came to see the show.

Alecky Blythe They didn’t realise I was on the snoop for assistants, so it was very good timing.

Dan was separate – another verbatim entrepreneur who got in touch.

Dan Murphy I was similarly working on my first verbatim play and didn’t have a clue how LAPTOP AND NOTEBOOK IMAGE COURTESY OF STARTUPSTOCK PHOTOS/PIXABAY

to do it, or honestly what verbatim was! I was working as an usher at the Almeida when Little Revolution was on. I got in touch with Alecky and she very kindly helped me with advice on collecting and turning these interviews I was doing into something people would come and see.

AB Funnily enough it was in Dan’s play where I first spotted Hasan Dixon, who is now one of the actors in our company.

Alecky, when you assembled this team, did you have to train them to do verbatim theatre your way?

AB There are lots of different approaches to verbatim and some practitioners may not work directly from edited audio interviews, which is my schtick. These guys were all working from the audio, as I do, so that was a good start.

I would send them some original audio uncut, leaving my questions in to show what sort of questions to ask, and how to ask them. I’d also send an edit of the interview to show them the material worthy of making the final cut. It was

a learning curve for me too because it was the first time I hadn’t been over all the material. The collectors would send me the best 90 minutes from each visit with the subjects which I would then boil down further.

antennae – keep a sentence or a phrase in your head and keep digging. That bit of advice stuck with me throughout the collection process. You have to remind yourself to keep that antennae on at all times.

12 children from six schools were interviewed for five years

LG You, Alecky, gave some good advice. If you are feeling a bit awkward, that’s usually because you are recording some good material – and by that, I mean they’re not holding back – and it’s about learning when to step back and be that fly on the wall and let the conversation happen.

Ruth Tebby Previously, we had done work that was about something that had happened or an event. This was about finding teenagers to talk about their lives and see where their lives went.

Izzy Dougill My first year of collecting was just absolute waffle. Looking back, I now realise that it just takes time to find your feet and to be in tune with your subjects. Your confidence and interviewing skills grow after each visit. I remember us meeting with Rufus Norris and he was saying that we had to sharpen those

I wanted a variety of personalities to try to reflect a broad spectrum of children around the country

ID It is so difficult to have that boundary with them initially because you want them to like you and to be fully on board with the project.

AB And it’s a fine line between not being too intrusive in their lives and being intrusive enough so I don’t have to ask the collector, ‘Why didn’t you push more on such and such a point?’

We were very keen to get a broad range of voices from right across the country and with a rich mix of different backgrounds, influences and interests to try and reflect as best we could the young Britain of today, so we placed you all in schools right across the country, from Belfast to Birmingham, from North Wales to Northampton. But how did you actually identify your subjects?

Olivia Wilkes I was put into a school in Birmingham. I sat in various classes to observe the children, watching how they spoke and interacted with each other. When a child would stand out to me, I’d dig deeper, asking them some questions and recording them. When I met Ali, he came up to me and said ‘Miss, do you like Kim Kardashian?’. He started talking about how he loves America but hates Trump and was basically flying off at all angles.

On another visit to the school, a younger girl came up to me and said ‘Miss, I’m the most interesting person in this school, you should DEBBIE CHAZEN CONOR GORMALLY

follow me!’. I spoke to her a few times and later found out she was the younger sister of Ali, which was perfectly serendipitous. Their relationship together and the way they bounced off each other was so electrifying and exciting.

Dan, your two subjects were so different to Olivia’s. Was that deliberate?

DM Callum was so chatty because he hated PE – he probably still hates it – so he would use me as an excuse not to play football. Through that he started to reveal things about himself, his little quirks: he’s obsessed with wrestling, he saved someone’s life once while swimming.

Annabella stood out because she considered herself the queen bee, the popular girl amongst her group of friends. She had a bit more to say, a bit more going on.

It’s important to have that range, to have the quieter children, the non-rebels.

AB Yes, that’s true. As collectors were going off and offering up various individuals as subjects, I suppose I was thinking of that bigger picture.

I wanted a variety of personalities to try to reflect a broad spectrum of children around the country.

LG I was initially given a list of young people from a teacher at the school. I ditched the list, and it was just when I was walking the

corridors that I came across my subjects. They saw I had a dictaphone and saw the opportunity to skip lessons or were able to just have a chat.

Taylor was quite new to his wheelchair, he’d only been in it a year or so when we met, and he was very open to talking to me about it. He was incredibly generous with his time from the start and I’m so grateful to him and his family for that.

Ruth, you were the only one who went to a public school. Was your experience different to everyone else’s?

RT So many of the children at the school were well-versed at communicating with adults that there were lots of children who were very polite and had interesting things to say. I remember the first visit – it was a boarding school, which was new for me because I went to a comprehensive – I walked in and was greeted by someone who I thought was a teacher. This very mature person shook my hand and said welcome. I later found out it was a student – a sixth former – Lucas’ eldest brother.

AB Was he head boy?

RT No, but he had been put up a year because he was so bright. I remember meeting Lucas in the first couple of months and being told that he had two brothers already at the school, who were known for being intelligent and successful, so when I met him, you could feel he was aware there was a reputation in the school. Lucas seemed to have a wise openness beyond his years and he was open to talking to me. From an early point, we agreed that he was a good one to follow.

It takes a while to find your voice but what’s amazing about this process is that the subjects can see their progress

What were your experiences of observing a classroom and choosing the moment to speak to possible subjects?

ID Scotland has a very different system and set up of safeguarding policies. I was never allowed to go into classrooms or to follow children around the schools, which is fair enough. I had this mortifying experience of performing an extract from one of Alecky’s plays to about 150 students in a lecture hall to try and lure them into this process. It was almost like an audition.

In terms of trying to find someone to follow, it felt quite sterile and clinical initially. A teacher was present at all times, which was really jarring, not only for me but every time a child opened up, they would look over their shoulder to see if ‘Sir’ was looking, which completely flattened everything. I was one of the last people to find my subjects.

RT My experience of being in the classroom was that the class sizes were so small, so there were not many people in the room and because I was there as a guest, all the kids were on absolute best behaviour, so no one would be talking to me. Going into the boarding houses was great because they are ‘off duty’ and there are more children milling around – that is how we found Emily. She wasn’t a boarder but she and her friends were in a boarding house having a conversation.

AB With Ruth’s being the only public school, I wanted to make sure that those children were also sympathetic characters, despite their obvious privilege. I was keen to find characters that the audience would be able to empathise with, like all the youngsters in the show, as we were going to be capturing their lives over five years.

How did you approach working with people who were under-18?

ID We all had specific training on safeguarding and how to approach young people. It is important to encourage a conversation that is safe and comfortable for both parties – and that has always been a priority for us as collectors, to ensure the material is rich enough but isn’t

going to impede on anyone’s safety in any way.

My subjects turned 18 during the collection process, so as soon as that milestone was hit, I had a lot more freedom with them and they were able to dictate where they wanted to meet, I could tag along with them and their friends in a pub. It was interesting to notice the shift in material from them as they began to have that freedom and be who they wanted to be without the pressure of an adult being there.

It takes a while to find your voice but what’s amazing about this process is that the subjects can see their progress.

How did you resolve with the subjects that they were comfortable telling their story from five years ago?

ID I was speaking to Robyn about this when we had a check in to go through the script. There are moments that are a bit cringeworthy, things that they’ve said. But they were just like: My voice is what I own, and this is who I am, I don’t feel ashamed of having said those things.

AB Although they haven’t seen all of the show – we presented an hour and 15 minutes in 2019 – since then all the material has been gone through with them, line by line. Not all the moments have been easy to hear back, I’m sure, but everyone has been incredibly generous and understands the endeavour is to present their characters in full.

Total number of hours of recorded interviews: 656 hours and 19 minutes

was also a line I was bridging between parent and child. I think a lot of the things that they look back on they are fine with and completely accept. Annabella has said she sees them as just part of growing up, that everyone has their own stories. The thing that Annabella brings up is that she is embarrassed she used to have streaks on Snapchat.

Ruth, what about Lucas’ dad? I remember his reaction at the 2019 workshop performance being unexpected.

RT It was incredibly touching and moving how, after watching a version of the material so far, he was able to bring all the parents together and recognise the experience that they’ve all had. It also solidified the responsibility that we have as theatre-makers have towards them and their families. I don’t think he expected to be quite so moved by seeing his son’s words spoken alongside lots of other children’s lives, who all have their own difficulties and triumphs.

What was the experience of interviewing during Covid like?

AB When we first started the project, we interviewed once a month, then for a few years once every two months. As soon as we were heading into the pandemic, we needed to be talking to them almost once a week. Things were happening at such a speed, we wanted to capture those reactions immediately. It was obviously a very worrying time, but it was an opportunity for us to work in a different way.

How difficult was it to manage parents’ expectations?

ID For me, having that interaction on the phone, and having that barrier put up, enabled freer talking. I got some amazing audio because they were able to be on their own without the pressure of me being there This is the only time in the collecting process where the barrier has been useful.

DM That goes back to what Leah said, if you are feeling uncomfortable, it means you are getting potentially strong and unfiltered material – and there were definitely times that I felt uncomfortable. There is that line you have with them as collectors and individuals but there

OW It was quite a different situation for my two because they are two of seven children, with a new-born baby and nine people living under one roof. Trying to have a phone conversation with two people on the phone at the same time, who tend to end up screaming and arguing with

each other, and then one having to disappear off to look after their baby sister or popping out to get their mum some milk, it was absolute chaos but it was a perfect depiction of their reality throughout that time.

AB You captured a brilliant truth there. It’s been a hard time in the rehearsal room picking through that and trying to understand what on earth they are saying, but there’s a wonderful authenticity and energy to them. I guess you only get that when there are nine of you and you’re fighting for air space.

LG Lockdown for Mia was incredibly tough.

She moved around a lot to live with different people, friends or family members. For quite a long time, she was based at an address without Wi-Fi – this made it difficult to connect with her consistently. However, by recording remotely, I feel we got a unique insight into the subjects’ lives and luckily by then we had built such a strong rapport with our subjects that the physical distance didn’t impact on their ability to share.

Our Generation comprises 212 scenes

RACHELLE DIEDERICKS AND COMPANY

You’ve been like confidants to your subjects for the last five, nearly six years. Now it’s all coming to an end, how has that been?

RT I feel a sadness in a sense that I really got to know these two and would happily call them friends. It feels strange to suddenly cut that contact. The overruling feeling though is pride at who they have become and who they have grown up to be.

ID There was a moment when Robyn’s mum came up to me – one of the last times I was with them – and she was like, I can’t wait for you to come round without a microphone.

I would love nothing more than to do that.

AB We are in rehearsals and the actors are asking questions about what’s going on in their lives now. Some of you have got back in touch with them and it’s been great to hear the updates. It would be lovely to think there could be some kind of legacy, to touch base with them annually. I would love to know what they are all up to in another five years’ time.

It’s been wonderful to hear from you about the whole process and your experiences of creating this unique project. It’s also a moment to thank all the families, friends and schools involved and how they engaged with you all in such a full-spirited way, because without them, we wouldn’t have this play.

WHAT BECOM

Tanya Byron on teenagers, th We’ve all been teenagers. We all know teenagers. We often judge teenagers, in fact we always have.

In the 8th century BC, the Greek poet Hesiod commented, ‘I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint.’

Four centuries later, the esteemed philosopher Plato is alleged to have joined the chorus of criticism by exclaiming, ‘What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?’

Life can feel and be experienced at a deeply complex and emotional level Plato and Hesiod could be forgiven for their judgments as there was no real understanding of the teenage years and the associated brain changes that can result in the behaviours they describe. Today we have a huge body of science that helps us fully understand adolescence, yet, as countless studies have highlighted, the overwhelmingly negative press teenagers get reinforces negative societal stereotypes which leads to continued judgment and a lack of adequate nurture.

MES OF THEM

heir brains and mental health In 2008, the UK had the dubious honour of being the only developed nation publicly censured by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for having the most hostile and negative press towards our children and young people. The Convention recommended that the UK government take ‘urgent measures’ to address a ‘general climate of intolerance and negative public attitudes towards children, especially adolescents’.

Children and young people who present their difficulties in ways that are socially unacceptable are labelled as responsible for the breakdown of the fabric of our society.

These children and young people are blamed and discarded by a judgmental, uncompassionate society.

So what does the science tell us about the adolescent brain?

Until the late 1990s it was believed that the brain did not develop after childhood; however, we now know that changes in grey matter in the frontal cortex can occur into the mid-20s. Parts of the brain involved in social cognition – the way in which we understand ourselves and others – and executive function, which involve memory and self-control, undergo protracted change during adolescence.

The limbic system, the area in charge of emotions, matures early, while the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that regulates mood, attention, impulse control, planning, decision making and seeing the consequences of one’s actions, is the last brain area to mature in the mid to late 20s. While the prefrontal cortex is developing, teenagers and young people will instead process information with the amygdala, which is in the limbic system. Life, therefore, can feel and be experienced at a deeply complex emotional level that cannot be fully rationally managed and controlled. The fact

that the amygdala matures sooner than the prefrontal cortex suggests a maturity mismatch leading to the emotionality and impulsivity of adolescence: less thinking, more feeling.

Due to these structural changes in the brain, along with other physical, emotional and social changes, teens are vulnerable to mental health problems. Fifty per cent of mental health difficulties first appear in adolescence, with 75 per cent presenting by the mid-20s when brain maturity is nearing completion. Also, because the teen brain is still developing, teens may respond to stress differently than adults, which could lead to stress-related mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Science also explains the adolescent who stays up late and then won’t get out of bed in the morning. Teenagers need more sleep than children and adults because melatonin (the ‘sleep hormone’) levels in their blood are higher later at night, dropping later in the morning. So while teenagers need nine to ten hours of sleep a night, most don’t get enough. A lack of sleep reduces attention, increases impulsivity, increases irritability and risks the development of depression.

Despite overwhelming evidence that early intervention will significantly reduce the costs to society that come from chronic and longterm mental health difficulties in adulthood, child and adolescent mental health services are underfunded. Although 50 per cent of mental health difficulties present in early adolescence and 75 per cent (excluding dementia) by the mid 20s, only seven per cent of the NHS mental health budget is invested in services for children and young people (who account for 21 per cent of the population).

As a clinical psychologist, my work involves treating a range of acute and chronic mental health difficulties and related behaviours including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, self-harm, substance misuse, conduct disorders, anger management difficulties, school refusal, suicidal thoughts and behaviours. I have spoken with some of the most vulnerable children and teenagers in our society. Looking into the eyes of a child who wishes to end their life is an emotionally challenging experience that remains deeply harrowing, even after 30 years in the job.

IMAGE COURTESY OF OLGA UBIRAILO

Many children and young people in distress face long waits to be seen and 70 per cent of children and young people who experience a mental health problem have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.

No child is born naughty or bad. A child or young person who shows emotional and behavioural difficulties that are challenging to those around them could be a child communicating distress. Mental health problems affect about one in six children and young people, around five in every classroom.

In any given year, 20 per cent of adolescents may experience a mental health problem.

Almost ten per cent of young people aged 12–15 deliberately self-harm and in the last ten years the number admitted to hospital due to their self-harming behaviour has increased by about 70 per cent.

Nearly 300,000 young people in Britain have an anxiety disorder, while around 80,000 are thought to suffer from severe depression – an increase of 75 per cent in the last 25 years.

When we look at our most vulnerable children and young people, 72 per cent of children in care have behavioural or emotional problems, while 95 per cent of imprisoned young offenders have a mental health disorder, sometimes more than one disorder.

I am often asked why we are seeing escalating rates of mental health difficulties in young people. Are they less resilient? Do they ‘over diagnose’ themselves now that the conversations about mental health are more open? Is it the effects of social media and the online world? There is no one answer but there are a number of contributing factors, including modern life.

Many children in the developed world are raised in a culture which is driven by adult paranoia about harms to our kids. Twentyfour-hour multi-platform news media fuel adult anxieties about a world where it is perceived that extreme and life-threatening risk exceeds opportunity. Children may be denied valuable learning and life experiences where challenge and risk enable them to build emotional resilience.

While the brain’s development plays a role in the way teenagers respond to the world around them, the crisis in our young goes deeper Education systems are built around narrowly defined targets and testing where children learn from very young to internalise a sense of not being ‘clever’ enough. Making a mistake can be felt as failure, leading to disengagement from learning and lowered selfesteem. Increased educational pressure on children who are ‘hothoused’ bring a group of more privileged teenagers into mental health services. Additionally, because education is designed for neurotypical learners, children and young people who are neurodiverse (eg Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Condition) or have learning difficulties and other disabilities, have major obstacles placed in front of their learning.

Technology providing access to the online world has democratised information but children and young people have full access from very young ages with little or no support to develop their digital literacy and become competent and safe digital citizens.

Opportunities also come with risks in the form of cyber bullying, online grooming, exploitation and abuse. Additionally, information about mental health difficulties is often unmoderated and so can confuse, exploit and enable the ongoing difficulties of the most vulnerable.

In this past year, this has all been compounded by the pandemic, which has curtailed freedoms and disrupted the essential developmental behaviours of teenagers.

By restricting their opportunities for experiences that are imperative for their ongoing healthy psychological, social and emotional development (including social connection, education, risk-taking freedoms), more vulnerable young people are presenting with worsened or new mental health difficulties.

While the brain’s development plays a role in the way teenagers respond to the world around them – and in turn the way we react to those behaviours – the crisis in our young goes deeper. It symbolises a dysfunction in our culture and practices that exist within care, nurture, education and understanding. As young people exhibit greater rates of mental health difficulties, across all groups, we must urgently consider why we are so spectacularly letting them, and ourselves, down.

We can start to be better for them by actively listening to them tell us their own stories in their own words. Understanding breeds tolerance. Knowledge is power. © Tanya Byron, February 2022 Tanya Byron is a Professor in the Public Understanding of Science and a Consultant clinical psychologist with a career spanning over 30 years working in mental health. She is a bestselling author, broadcasts for TV and radio, presents a mental health podcast with Claudia Winkleman (How did we get here? ) and has had a weekly column in The Times since 2005. Byron is an independent national government adviser on children and young people and is a trustee of the NSPCC.

OUR GENERATION A new play by Alecky Blythe CAST

(in alphabetical order)

Teenagers Zac Lucas Robyn Ayesha Ali Ierum Luan Mia Callum Annabella Taylor Emily

Dee Ahluwalia Joe Bolland Anna Burnett Anushka Chakravarti Gavi Singh Chera Rachelle Diedericks Hélder Fernandes Sarita Gabony Conor Gormally Alex Jarrett Callum Mardy Poppy Shepherd

Adults Alberta Agron Luljeta Understudies

Debbie Chazen Hasan Dixon Stephanie Street Luke Grant, Kat Kumar, Ed Larkin

All other parts are played by members of the company.

There will be two intervals of 15 minutes.

Our Generation is made possible by the extraordinary contributions of the real-life young people (and their families) who were interviewed during this process.

The National Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre have been committed to ensuring the young people’s welfare. The safeguarding of their identities, data and wellbeing has been and remains at the centre of this project. Their safety at all times has been paramount.

A co-production with

World premiere performance of Our Generation at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre, 14 February 2022.

First performance at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 22 April 2022.

Director Daniel Evans Set Designer Vicki Mortimer Costume Designer Kinnetia Isidore Lighting Designer Zoe Spurr Music Composition, Production and Direction D.J. Walde Sound Designer Paul Arditti Video Designer Akhila Krishnan Movement Director Carrie-Anne Ingrouille Dramaturg Sebastian Born Creative Producer Pádraig Cusack Casting Director Charlotte Sutton CDG Collectors Alecky Blythe, Izzy Dougill, Leah Gaffey, Dan Murphy, Ruth Tebby, Olivia Wilkes Charmian Hoare Shereen Ibrahim Jeannette Nelson Stephen Bailey

Dialect Coach Dialect Coach Company Voice Work Assistant Director Production Manager (NT) Production Manager (CFT) Digital Art Costume Supervisor Props Supervisor Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Supervisor Verbatim Audio Support

Heather Doole James ‘Luka’ Goodsall Daniel Radley-Bennett Catherine Kodicek Eleanor Smith Daisy Beer Dylan DeBuitlear, Gurjit Dhinsa, Ben Steinitz Pippa Meyer Andrew Reed Meg Charlton

Company Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager

With thanks to all those who created and contributed to the production at the National Theatre: Tom Atkinson, Julie Burns McKenzie, Jack Champion, Alice Collie, David Cotton, Jessica Dixon, Rowena Edwards, Will Frost, Anie Hussain, Chris Lake, Kate McDowell, biff nesbitt, Rachel Quinney, Arthur Skinner, Helen Stone, Jane Suffling, Ian Syme, Richie Tarr, Dave Tuff, Jess Walsh, Sarah Weitman, Mat Williams & the National Theatre workshops.

Rehearsal and production photographs by Johan Persson Programme research and compilation Sarah Corke and Hannah Churchill for National Theatre Publishing Programme design by Davina Chung Our Generation was commissioned and developed with the National Theatre’s New Work department, over the course of five years.

Supported by the Our Generation Commissioning and Patrons Circles: Veronica J Dukes, Steve and Sheila Evans, Peter and Nita Mitchell-Heggs, Sayers/Strange Family, Howard M Thompson.

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#OurGeneration ChichesterFestivalTheatre

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BIOGRAPHIES

DEE AHLUWALIA Zac Dee Ahluwalia trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; Our Generation is his professional theatre debut.

Television includes How to Be a Person, Casualty, Close to Me, EastEnders, Miracle Workers, Sex Education.

Short films include Kitchen Tales, Pals, Cosplay, Mapped.

JOE BOLLAND Lucas Theatre includes How He Lied to Her Husband (Orange Tree); Paper Cut (Theatre503).

Television includes Sherwood, The Trial of Christine Keeler.

Films include Curs>r, Martyr’s Lane and the short A Bullet Wasted.

Radio includes United Kingdom, Patient Light.

Trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

ANNA BURNETT Robyn Theatre includes Men Should Weep, Burnt by the Sun (National Theatre).

Television includes Endeavour, Industry, Outlander, The Witcher, Manhunt, Ripper Street, Doc Martin, Jonathan Creek.

Films include Darkest Hour, The Falling and the short Escape Attempt.

Audiobooks include The Beautiful Cassandra.

XXX THE COMPANY

ANUSHKA CHAKRAVARTI Ayesha Anushka Chakravarti trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where productions included The Censor and Love and Information. Our Generation is her professional theatre debut.

Television includes Jerk.

DEBBIE CHAZEN Alberta Theatre includes A Prayer for Owen Meany, Mother Clap’s Molly House (also West End) at the National Theatre; The Child in the Snow (Wilton’s Music Hall); Beyond the Tracks (RSC); Gin Craze (Royal & Derngate); Am Dram The Musical (Leicester Curve); Rags (Park Theatre); Funny Girls (ENO); Romeo and Juliet

(Shakespeare’s Globe); Sitting (Hong King International Theatre); Love and Information, The Cherry Orchard (Sheffield Crucible); A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (The Coronet); A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath); Mint, The President has Come to See You, In Basildon (Royal Court); Calendar Girls (West End/national tour); Crooked (Bush); The Girlfriend Experience (Young Vic/Royal Court/

GAVI SINGH CHERA ANUSHKA CHAKRAVARTI

Plymouth Drum); Cinderella (Old Vic); Dick Whittington (Barbican); Aladdin (Bristol Old Vic); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Salisbury Playhouse); The Frogs (Nottingham Playhouse); Calendar Girls The Musical (Olivier nomination, Best Actress in a Musical), The Duck House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (West End).

Television includes Dodger, Urban Myths, Avenue 5, Sticks and Stones, The Last Kingdom, Holby City, Dead Pixels, Agatha Raisin, Asylum, You, Me and the Apocalypse, The Job Lot, Ambassadors, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Psychoville, The Spa, This Is Jinsy, White Van Man, Trollied, Tittybangbang, Nicholas Nickleby, The Smoking Room, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Doc Martin, Doctors (Soap Awards nomination, Best Villain), Coronation Street.

Films include Red Joan, The Duel, Tooth, Suzie Gold, Topsy Turvy.

Audiobooks include All Aliens Eat Burgers, Doctor Who: Shining Darkness and Wishing Well, Anita and Me, Russian Children’s Stories, Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks, Wonderwings.

Trained at LAMDA.

GAVI SINGH CHERA Ali Theatre includes Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre); Pygmalion (Headlong); Dr Blighty (Nutkhut).

Television includes The Undeclared War, Extinction, Vera, Doctors.

Films includes Kavita, Teresa and the short Temple (British Short Film Awards nomination for Best Actor).

Radio includes The King Must Die, Half Widow, Comment Is Free, Gudrun’s Saga, Stardust, Watership Down, Cooking in a Bedsitter, Zola.

He has received a Warner Brothers’ Creative Talent Award and a Norman Beaton Fellowship.

Trained at RADA and with the National Youth Theatre.

RACHELLE DIEDERICKS Ierum Theatre includes Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End); The Band (tour and West End).

Television includes Speechless, How to Lose Your Virginity.

Trained at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

RACHELLE DIEDERICKS ANUSHKA CHAKRAVARTI STEPHANIE STREET ANNA BURNETT

HASAN DIXON Agron Theatre includes War Horse (West End/National Theatre); The Comedy of Errors (RSC); Out of Love, Black Mountain, How to Be a Kid (Paines Plough); The Listening Heart (Turner Sims Concert Hall); Carry on Jaywick (HighTide); Re:Home (The Yard); Eventide, The Spanish Tragedy (Arcola); The Alchemist (Liverpool Playhouse); Fear of Music (Out of Joint); The Glass Menagerie (Everyman); You: The Player (Look Left Look Right); Yerma (Gate, Notting Hill/Hull Truck); Ghosts (Hull Truck).

Television includes Half Bad, Responsible Child, Call the Midwife, Silent Witness, A Touch of Frost and Doctors.

Film includes Red Joan, 90 Minutes, This Is Not Happening, John Carter, Coincidence.

SARITA GABONY DEBBIE CHAZEN XXX

Hasan Dixon is a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. Radio includes Keeping the Wolf Out, The Elder Son, Scenes from a Zombie Apocalypse, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Faith, Hope and Glory, Devils.

Trained at Central School of Speech and Drama.

HÉLDER FERNANDES Luan Hélder Fernandes trained at ALRA, where productions included Spring Awakening, Blank and A Christmas Carol. Our Generation is his professional theatre debut.

Television includes Carthago.

Films include Bull.

SARITA GABONY Mia Theatre includes Old Vic 200, The Divide (Old Vic); The Treatment, Lovely Ugly City, Little Revolution (Almeida); Deciphering (New Diorama); The Sound of Music (West End).

Films include Mothering Sunday.

Trained at Mountview where her productions included Romeo and Juliet and Measure for Measure.

CONOR GORMALLY Callum Theatre includes Angela’s Ashes the Musical, A Day in May (also tour) for Pat Moylan Productions; The Ferryman (West End); The Poetry We Make (Flugelman Productions); Affection (Outbox Theatre); World Mad (Soho).

Short films include Lúbtha, The Good Delusion.

Trained at Oxford School of Drama.

DEE AHLUWALIA CONOR GORMALLY HASAN DIXON HÉLDER FERNANDES JOE BOLLAND AND COMPANY CALLUM MARDY HÉLDER FERNANDES DEE AHLUWALIA

CALLUM MARDY JOE BOLLAND ANNA BURNETT

LUKE GRANT Understudy Theatre includes Who Cares (Lung Theatre); Skellig, Wreck (Nottingham Playhouse); In Praise of Folly (Foppish Theatre); Henry V (Ustinov Studio/Tobacco Factory/UK tour); Away from Home (Gritty Theatre); La Dispute, The History Boys (Crescent Theatre Company).

Television includes Doctors.

Radio includes Who Cares.

Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

ALEX JARRETT Annabella Theatre includes Maryland, Boyz and Gyals (Stratford East); We Anchor in Hope (Bunker); and title role in Aisha (Old Red Lion, King’s Head and Tristan Bates).

Television includes Sitting, The Witchfinder, Doctors, Adult Material, Les Misérables, The Rebel, The Jonah Man, Tracey Breaks the News, Tracey Ullman Special, Eve. Short films include Different Day, Sasha and Jo Are Getting Married.

ALEX JARRETT POPPY SHEPHERD ANNA BURNETT

Radio includes Nicked, Moll Flanders.

Video games include As Dusk Falls.

KAT KUMAR Understudy Theatre includes Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, Macbeth, The Rose Tattoo, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (ALRA); Fémage à Trois (Loquitur Theatre).

Films include Nurses, Amber, Right to Choose, Mistaken.

Trained at ALRA. ED LARKIN Understudy Theatre includes Colossal (Royal Central School of Speech & Drama); Love and Information (online performance); Bully Boy, We Are Electra, Jack (The Actors Wheel/Desmond Tutu Theatre, Plymouth); All At Sea (Far Flung Dance Theatre/ National Marine Aquarium Plymouth); Trip the Light (Kaos kollective/Royal William Yard Plymouth); Brutus in Julius Caesar (The Actors Wheel/South West regional tour); U Dance 2015

(The Lowry, Manchester); U Dance 2016 (Theatre Royal Plymouth).

Television and film includes Doctors, Ibelin, Howay!, Square.

Trained at Plymouth Marjon University (BA Hons in Acting).

CALLUM MARDY Taylor Theatre includes What We’re Made Of (Transform Festival); Romeo and Juliet (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Broken Crab (Raving Mask).

Television includes Big Boys.

Trained at Leeds City College and The Mill School of Performance.

POPPY SHEPHERD Emily Poppy Shepherd trained at ArtsEd. Our Generation is her professional theatre debut.

Television includes Becoming Elizabeth, The Larkins.

Films include The Flash.

STEPHANIE STREET Luljeta Previously at Chichester, Quiz (Minerva Theatre and West End).

Theatre includes Behind the Beautiful Forevers, King James Bible: The Gospel According to John, Nightwatchman (WhatsOnStage nomination, Best Solo

BACK ROW: DEBBIE CHAZEN STEPHANIE STREET HASAN DIXON XXX MIDDLE ROW: POPPY SHEPHERD ANUSHKA CHAKRAVARTI CONOR GORMALLY CALLUM MARDY ALEX JARRETT GAVI SINGH CHERA FRONT ROW: HÉLDER FERNANDES SARITA GABONY ANNA BURNETT RACHELLE DIEDERICKS JOE BOLLAND DEE AHLUWALIA

Performance) at the National Theatre; Deciphering (New Diorama); Good Trouble, Quiet (Tara Arts); Living Newspaper 3, The Djinns of Eidgah, Rough Cuts, Behind the Image, Shades (Royal Court); Constellations (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Sisters (Sheffield Crucible); The Big Fellah, Mixed Up North (Out of Joint); On the Beach, Resilience (Bush); Sweet Cider (Arcola); The Scarecrow and his Servant (Southwark Playhouse); Indenture (Talawa); Not the End of the World (Bristol Old Vic); Iraq Innit (Paines Plough); Too Close to Home (Rasa); The Laramie Project (Kit Productions); The Vagina Monologues (Mark Goucher); Dark Meaning Mouse (Sticking Place); Arabian Nights (Actors Touring Company); Rosalind in As You Like It

(Natural Perspectives).

Television includes Master of None, Vera, Doctors, Hank Zipzer, Holby City, DCI Banks, Silk, Bringing Down the House, Hens, Lewis, Apparitions, Monday Monday, EastEnders, Never Better, Commander, Primeval, Heavenly Father, Soundproof, NyLon, 20 Things to Do Before You’re 30, Red Cap and The Last Detective.

Radio includes 846, Whose Sari Now, Legacy, Westway.

Trained at LAMDA.

C R E AT I V E T E A M

PAUL ARDITTI Sound Designer Previously at Chichester, Caroline, or Change (also on Broadway, Hampstead and West End), This is My Family (Minerva Theatre).

Recent theatre includes La Belle Sauvage, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Young Marx (Bridge Theatre); The Inheritance (Tony nomination 2020/21, Drama Desk Award 2020 and Olivier nomination 2019: Broadway/ Young Vic/West End); After Nora (ITA Amsterdam); The Jungle (Young Vic/West End/ New York/San Francisco); Dick Whittington, Rutherford and Son, Pericles, Beginning, Macbeth, Absolute Hell, Amadeus (Olivier nomination 2017) (all National Theatre).

Other awards and nominations include an Olivier Award for Saint Joan (National Theatre); Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for Billy Elliot the Musical (Broadway/West End); Evening Standard Design Award for Festen (Young Vic); and Tony nominations for Mary Stuart and One Man, Two Guvnors on Broadway.

ALECKY BLYTHE

STEPHEN BAILEY Assistant Director Work as a director includes Yoga for the Feet (Ellandar Productions); How to Make a Cup of Tea (Graeae); Little Echoes (Hope Theatre); Dead Prick (Arcola); The Invisible Condition (Camden Etcetera); The Dark Things (LAMDA).

Work as an assistant director includes Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall); Narratives of Empathy, Resilience (Half Moon Young People’s Theatre); Andrea Chénier (Royal Opera House); The Crucible (Weöres Sándor Szinház); Cost of Living (Hampstead); One Under (Graeae). He was resident assistant director for Chichester Festival Theatre in 2020 and a script reader for the Royal Court. He is currently developing work for the Barbican and London Liberty Festival.

Stephen Bailey runs ASYLUM, an arts organisation advancing disabled and neurodivergent work.

ALECKY BLYTHE Writer In 2003, Alecky Blythe founded the verbatim theatre company, Recorded Delivery – the term ‘recorded delivery’ has now become synonymous with the particular verbatim technique she employs. Her first play Come Out Eli at the Arcola won the Time Out Award for the Best Production on the Fringe and transferred to the BAC for the Critic’s Choice Season. She went on to write Strawberry Fields for Pentabus and Cruising for the Bush.

London Road, which she co-authored with composer Adam Cork, won Best Musical at the Critics’ Circle Awards and played at the National Theatre in 2011 (Cottesloe) and 2012 (Olivier).

Other work for theatre includes Little Revolution at the Almeida; Friday Night Sex at the Royal Court; Where Have I Been All My Life? at the New Vic; Decade for Headlong and National Theatre; Do We Look Like Refugees?! at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh (Fringe First Award); The Girlfriend Experience at the Royal Court and Drum, Plymouth and Young Vic; I Only DANIEL EVANS

Came Here for Six Months for KVS and Halles de Schaerbeeck, Brussels; and All the Right People Come Here at the New Wimbledon.

Television includes The Riots: In Their Own Words (writer and co-director) and A Man in a Box. Films include London Road (adaptation) and Waiting for God (short film, writer and director).

SEBASTIAN BORN Dramaturg Sebastian Born took a degree in maths and philosophy at Cambridge. He worked as a stage manager at the Open Space Theatre and the Bush Theatre from 1975 to 1977, before joining the Theatre Royal Stratford East as Assistant Director from 1977 to 1979. He was the first Literary Manager of the Bush Theatre from 1981 to 1985. In 1986 he joined James Sharkey Associates as an agent for writers and directors, moving on to Curtis Brown in 1990 as Head of the Media Rights Dept. He was a Founding Partner and Director of The Agency (London) Ltd from 1995 to 2004. After spending two years in

Australia, he was Associate Director (Literary) of the National Theatre in London from 2007 to 2016. Since leaving the National he has worked as a freelance dramaturg and consultant.

PÁDRAIG CUSACK Creative Producer Theatre work includes My Country: a work in progress, The James Plays, People, One Man Two Guvnors, Juno and the Paycock, Grief, Phèdre, The Pitmen Painters, The Year of Magical Thinking, Waves, Happy Days, Primo, The History Boys, Play Without Words, The PowerBook (National Theatre); The Boy with Two Hearts, The Mirror Crack’d, Lovecraft (Not the Sex Shop in Cardiff); Man to Man, Tiger Bay the Musical (with Cape Town Opera) and La Voix Humaine (with WNO) for Wales Millennium Centre; Long Day’s Journey into Night, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, Not I/Footfalls/ Rockaby, riverrun, John Gabriel Borkman, The Pitmen Painters, Waves, Happy Days, The History Boys and Not About Nightingales (New York); Sea Wall, Constellations, The Mirror Crack’d (NCPA, Mumbai); Psychodrama (Never For Ever); Bennelong (Bangarra, Sydney); The Plough VICKI MORTIMER PAUL ARDITTI

and the Stars (Abbey, Dublin); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Dublin Theatre Festival); Lessness (TheEmergencyRoom, Galway International Arts Festival and the Barbican); My Eyes Went Dark (Traverse); The Servant of Two Masters (Leeds Playhouse). He also produced we’re here because we’re here, a UK-wide event for Jeremy Deller, 14-18 Now and the National Theatre.

Pádraig Cusack is Executive Producer for Wales Millennium Centre, Creative Producer for NCPA Mumbai, Consultant Associate Producer for the National Theatre and Director of Cusack Projects Limited.

He studied at Trinity College Dublin (Taylor Music Scholar), Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and University College Cork.

DANIEL EVANS Director Daniel Evans is Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre, where he has directed South Pacific, This Is My Family, Flowers for Mrs Harris, Me and My Girl, Quiz, Fiddler on the Roof and Forty Years On. This season, he will also direct Local Hero; his 2021 production of South

Pacific will be seen at Sadler’s Wells and on a UK and Ireland tour.

Previously, he was Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres (2009–16) where his productions included An Enemy of the People, Racing Demon, Othello, My Fair Lady, Macbeth, The Full Monty, Anything Goes, The Sheffield Mysteries, Oliver!, The Effect and Show Boat.

As an actor, he appeared there in Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest.

In the West End, he has directed Quiz, Show Boat, The Full Monty and American Buffalo. In 2019, he directed The Light in the Piazza at London’s Royal Festival Hall and as part of LA Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera’s 2019 Autumn seasons.

Other directing credits include Esther for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and Lovely Evening/ In The Blue for the Young Vic at Theatre503.

As an actor, Daniel Evans’s theatre work includes Henry V, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline (RSC); Cardiff East, Peter Pan,

CARRIE-ANNE INGROUILLE D.J. WALDE

Troilus and Cressida, Candide, The Merchant of Venice (National Theatre); Merrily We Roll Along (Olivier Award), Grand Hotel (Donmar Warehouse); Ghosts (English Touring Theatre); Sunday in the Park with George (Olivier Award), Total Eclipse (Menier Chocolate Factory); Other People, Cleansed, Where Do We Live, 4:48 Psychosis (Royal Court).

Television includes The Passion, Doctor Who, The Virgin Queen, Spooks, Love in a Cold Climate, Great Expectations, Daniel Deronda, To the Ends of the Earth.

Films include Les Misérables.

CHARMIAN HOARE Dialect Coach Previously at Chichester The Taxidermist’s Daughter, South Pacific, Macbeth, Me and My Girl, Fiddler on the Roof, Quiz, Plenty, This is My Family, Present Laughter, The Country Wife.

Recent theatre includes Antipodes, The Deep Blue Sea, Angels in America, Consent (National Theatre); War Horse, The Curious

Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Lehman Trilogy, Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre Productions); Fatal Attraction (UK tour); Bonnie & Clyde, Walden, Company, The Comeback (West End); Singin’ in the Rain (Sadler’s Wells); The Canterville Ghost (Unicorn); Road (Royal Court); Kiss Me Kate, Frost/Nixon (Sheffield Crucible); The Rubinstein Kiss (Southwark Playhouse); Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Young Vic); Sweat, Welcome Home, Captain Fox, One Night in Miami (Donmar); Uncle Vanya, Blue Door, Abigail’s Party (Theatre Royal, Bath); The Pope (Royal & Derngate, Northampton); The Light in the Piazza (Royal Festival Hall).

Trained at Central School of Speech and Drama.

SHEREEN IBRAHIM Dialect Coach Shereen Ibrahim currently teaches at various acting schools across London. Our Generation is her professional theatre debut as a dialect coach.

Trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

PÁDRAIG CUSACK STEPHEN BAILEY

CARRIE-ANNE INGROUILLE Movement Director Previously at Chichester, This is My Family (Minerva Theatre).

Current work in the West End and on Broadway includes Six (Vaudeville, London and Brooks Atkinson, New York: Olivier Award nomination for Best Theatre Choreographer, WhatsOnStage, OFFIE and The Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award nominations for Best Choreography).

Other selected choreography and movement direction work includes Wonderful Town (Opera Holland Park); The Catherine Tate Show Live (UK tour); Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense (Duke of York’s); The Suicide (National Theatre); The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (Royal Opera House and Roundhouse).

Forthcoming projects include choreography on Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Antigone (Regent’s Park); the UK premiere of Something Rotten at Birmingham Rep; and a new show in development for Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Carrie-Anne Ingrouille is currently the UK Associate Choreographer for the London production of Hamilton.

KINNETIA ISIDORE Costume Designer Recent work as a costume designer includes Aladdin (Lyric, Hammersmith); Adult Children (Donmar Warehouse); Enter Achilles (Rambert, Sadler’s Wells and Onassis STEGI); and Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Young Vic).

Work as an associate costume designer includes The Wife of Willesden (Kiln Theatre); Constellations (Vaudeville and Donmar Warehouse); and Ragtime (Arts Educational Schools).

Trained in costume design at Wimbledon College of Art. AKHILA KRISHNAN Video Designer Akhila Krishnan is an award-winning projection designer and creative director for moving image and immersive technology. Recent work includes The Valkyrie (English National Opera); What’s New Pussycat (Birmingham Rep); Sound of Colour (Arts House Jersey); The Two Character Play (Hampstead); The Knife of Dawn, Echoes at the Gate (Royal Opera House); Oliver Twist (Leeds Playhouse/Ramps on the Moon); While You Are Here (The Place/Dance East); Mamma Mia: The Party (O2 Arena); Maggot Moon (Unicorn); Up Next (National Theatre Fundraising Gala).

Forthcoming work includes The Handmaid’s Tale (English National Opera); Syllable (Trinity Laban); The Wreckers (Glyndebourne); Oedipus Rex/Antigone (Dutch National Opera).

Trained at the Royal College of Art and the National Institute of Design, India.

VICKI MORTIMER Set Designer Previously at Chichester, The Meeting (Minerva Theatre).

Theatre includes The Normal Heart, The Visit, or the old lady comes to call, ANNA, When We have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, Follies (Critics’ Circle Award for Design, Olivier Award for Best Costume Design 2018), The Plough and the Stars, The Threepenny Opera, Here We Go, The Silver Tassie, Othello, Hamlet, Waves, Cat in the Hat, Three Sisters, The Seagull, Closer, Paul, The Last of the Haussmans (National Theatre); Wise Children (Emma Rice/Wise Children);

The Little Match Girl (Shakespeare’s Globe/UK tour); Oil (Almeida).

Previous designs also include work for the RSC, Kneehigh, Young Vic, Donmar, Almeida, Royal Court, in Japan and Sweden and on Broadway.

Opera includes New Dark Age, Lessons in Love and Violence, Lucia di Lammermoor (Royal Opera House/international tour); Ariodante (Vienna Staatsoper); Written on Skin (Aix Festival/tour); Al Gran Sole (Salzburg Festival/ Staatsoper Berlin); Neither / Footfalls (Staatsoper Berli)n; Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg, St Matthew Passion, Così fan tutte (Glyndebourne); The Winter’s Tale, After Dido, The Way Back Home (also Young Vic) for English National Opera; Wozzeck (International Opera Award for Design 2016: Lyric Opera, Chicago).

Dance includes Afterite (American Ballet Theatre); Raven Girl (Royal Ballet); Yantra (Stuttgart Ballet); Genus (Paris Opera Garnier); Skindex (Nederlands Dans Theater); Millenarium, Sulphur 16, Aeon (Random Dance Company).

ZOE SPURR Lighting Designer Previously at Chichester, Hedda Tesman (Minerva Theatre).

Zoe Spurr’s work has been seen on the West End, throughout the UK and internationally.

Recent designs include Bonnie and Clyde the Musical concert production (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World (Kenny Wax Family Entertainment/MAST at the Mayflower/national tour); Beauty and the Beast (Nottingham Playhouse); Road (Northern Stage); Hamlet (Theatre Royal Windsor); Current, Rising (ROH Linbury); Wuthering Heights (Royal Exchange); Run Sister Run (Sheffield Crucible/Paines Plough); An Edinburgh Christmas Carol (Royal Lyceum); A Friendly Society (Kiln); How Not to Drown (Traverse); Eugene Onegin and the world premiere of Georgiana (Buxton International Festival); The Phlebotomist (Hampstead); Nigel Slater’s Toast (The Other Palace/UK tour); Emilia (Vaudeville); The Maids (Manchester HOME); Silence (Mercury Colchester); The Unreturning (Frantic Assembly: 2019 Theatre and Technology

Award for Lighting Design); Meek (Headlong); Loose Lips, Phoenix Rising (Offie nomination: Big House); Elephant (Birmingham Rep); Not Talking (Arcola); Tiny Dynamite (Old Red Lion: Lightmongers’ ALD Award for New Talent in Entertainment Lighting and OFFIE award for Lighting Design).

In 2022, Zoe Spurr will be lighting productions for Welsh National Opera, Soho Theatre and the Unicorn Theatre, among others. www.zoespurrlighting.co.uk CHARLOTTE SUTTON CDG Casting Director Previously at Chichester The Taxidermist’s Daughter, Doubt, The Long Song, South Pacific (CDG Casting Awards nomination), Crave, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (CDG Casting Awards nomination), Oklahoma!, Plenty, Shadowlands, Flowers for Mrs Harris, Me and My Girl, The Chalk Garden, Present Laughter, The Norman Conquests, Fiddler on the Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Forty Years On, Mack and Mabel (Festival THE COMPANY

Theatre); Home, The Butterfly Lion, 8 Hotels, The Deep Blue Sea, This Is My Family, The Watsons, Cock, Copenhagen, The Meeting, random/generations, Quiz, The Stepmother, The House They Grew Up In, Caroline, Or Change (also Hampstead/West End; CDG Casting Award nomination), Strife (Minerva Theatre).

Other theatre includes Best of Enemies, Fairview, Death of a Salesman, The Convert, Wild East, Winter, trade and Dutchman (Young Vic); Bubble (Nottingham Playhouse); Company (Gielgud); Long Day’s Journey into Night (Wyndham’s, Brooklyn Academy of Music/LA); Nell Gwynn (English Touring Theatre/ Shakespeare’s Globe on tour); My Brilliant Friend (Rose, Kingston/National Theatre); The Pitchfork Disney, Killer (Shoreditch Town Hall); Annie Get Your Gun, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Waiting for Godot, Queen Coal (Sheffield Theatres); Henry V, Twelfth Night Re-Imagined (Regent’s Park); wonder.land (MIF/National Theatre); The Light Princess, Emil and the Detectives, The Elephantom (National Theatre).

D.J. WALDE Music Composition, Production and Direction Work as composer includes Dick Whittington (also arranger and music production) and The Suicide (National Theatre); SYLVIA (also arranger, Old Vic); Pericles (also arranger, RSC); The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (also MD and performer, Royal Ballet Studio programme); ZooNation (The Kate Prince Company and the Roundhouse); Some Like It Hip Hop (also MD and performer: Olivier nomination for Best New Dance Production, Black British Theatre Award nomination for Best Dance Production at Sadler’s Wells/UK tour); Living Newspaper #5 (also MD, Royal Court); POP Circus (Circus Fest 2016/Roundhouse); Big Dance 2006, 2010 (also arranger, Big Dance); The Little Mermaid (co-composer/co-MD, Bristol Old Vic); Nora; She Persisted (soundscape, Sadler’s Wells).

Other work includes, as arranger and remixer, Into the Hoods (Novello) and Into the Hoods Remixed (Sadler’s Wells/UK tour);

as arranger, You & I Know (also soundtrack editor, Greenwich Festivals) and Against Time (also MD, UK tour); as music associate and additional arrangements, Message in a Bottle (Sadler’s Wells/Universal Music UK); as music supervisor and editor, Blaze: The Streetdance Sensation (world tour); stadium DJ for London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony; and as MD, HYMN (Almeida) and The Happiness Project (Roundhouse). As the leader of the Roundhouse Experimental Choir he has collaborated with the London Contemporary Orchestra, The OAE, The Tate Collective, and with contemporary artists such as Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Ghostpoet.

Films include The Holloway Laundrette: Fall into You (co-composer) and Big Commonwealth Dance 2014.

He is a founding member of the band Royal Treatment Plant (RTP) whose albums include Hope Is Not Enough and Halfway to the Sun.

IZZY DOUGILL Collector Izzy Dougill works as a freelance writer, dramaturg, teacher and facilitator. She has been resident dramaturg for the Script Accelerator scheme 2019 at Park Theatre and a visiting tutor on the MA/MFA Collaborative Theatre Making course 2020 at Rose Bruford College.

She is a founding member of Snippet Theatre Company, which specialises in verbatim theatre and whose work includes Known (Theatr Clywd) and Mood Kill (Camden Fringe).

Studied Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths College, University of London and MA Text and Performance at RADA.

DAN MURPHY Collector Writing for theatre includes Legacy (Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch); Carry on Jaywick (House and HighTide); Gidea Park (Mountview at Jackson’s Lane); A Local Boy (West End and UK tour); Always be Yourself, If You Can’t be Yourself, be Beyonce (GRIT at the Royal Court); and The Teenagers, winner of Script Space at the Tobacco Factory.

Work in development for television includes Martha and Marnie Love Murder, Nick Loves Dick, Teenage Hell, Bumps, Troll, Snaggletooth and Sodom.

Films in development include Synchro.

LEAH GAFFEY Collector As a performer, theatre work includes Llyfr Glas Nebo (Fran Wen); title role in Little Red Riding Hood (Sherman); Jekyll & Hyde, Mrs Dalloway, Othello, The Fall (Ambassador’s Theatre with National Youth Theatre Rep Company); Mood Kill, Known (Snippet); Mrs Reynolds a’r Cena Bach (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru).

Television includes BBC Bitesize, Stwnsh Sadwrn, Potsh.

Films include Ffilm Mabinogi-ogi: Gwenhwyfar.

Audio includes The End of The Line.

Leah Gaffey also works as a freelance TV researcher, theatre facilitator and verbatim practitioner.

Studied Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths College, University of London and trained with The NYT Rep Company.

RUTH TEBBY Collector Ruth Tebby has a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London and a Diploma in Food and Wine from Leiths School of Food and Wine. Our Generation is her first professional production.

THE COMPANY

OLIVIA WILKES Collector Olivia Wilkes has worked in television, film and radio and is now a Development Producer for True Vision Productions, creating documentaries for broadcast. Her contribution to Our Generation was born out of her history as co-founder of Snippet Theatre Company.

Studied Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

EVENTS

OUR GENERATION PRE-SHOW TALK

Wednesday 27 April, 5.00pm Director Daniel Evans in conversation with creative producer Pádraig Cusack.

FREE but booking is essential.

POST-SHOW TALK

Thursday 5 May Stay after the performance to ask questions, meet company members and discover more about the play. Hosted by CFT Literary Associate Kate Bassett.

FREE

VERBATIM WORKSHOP

are constructed from the precise words spoken by interviewees. No experience is necessary, and everyone is welcome.

Tickets £5

SCHOOLS THEATRE DAY: OUR GENERATION

Thursday 12 May, 10.30am Schools can learn about the story, staging and characters in a semipractical 90-minute workshop before seeing the show.

Tickets £13.50 (includes matinee ticket)

Saturday 14 May, 10.30am The Lodge at Graylingwell Join celebrated playwright and screenwriter Alecky Blythe for a practical workshop exploring verbatim theatre – a form of theatre in which plays

cft.org.uk/events

OUR GENERATION PRODUCTION CREDITS

The process of gathering recordings, facilitating the work of the collectors and workshopping would not have been possible without the work of biff nesbitt, Nick Flintoff, Emily McLaughlin and Rachel Twigg.

Thanks to Rebecca Thompson; Christine Murray; Bernie Whittle; Kati Donlon; Tanya Byron; Eleanor Manners.

Thanks to those who took part in workshops: Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Nina Bowers, Tom Brady, Lu Corfield, Matthew Duckett, Leah Gaffey, Luke Grant, Tsion Habte, Frankie Hastings, Nick Holder, Sfiyya Ingar, Bhav Joshi, Michael Karim, Jon Laird, Georgia Landers, Nyla Levy, Douggie McMeekin, Jemima Mayala, Bryony Miller, Wendy Nottingham, Clare Perkins, Florian Rafuna, Timmika Ramsay, Eliot Salt, Maggie Service, Michael Shaeffer, Howard Ward and Rufus Wright.

With special thanks to those teachers and introducers who were so vital to making key connections for this project in particular Ben, Naomi, Alistair, Elaine, Catrin, Phil, Dewi and Mared.

‘Jeremy Kyle’ by Lucy Spraggan; ‘Pressure’ by Andre Quentin Christopher Gray, Thomas Wesley Pentz, William Frederick Kennard & Saul Gregory Milton (Published by Abood Music Ltd, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd & Universal Music Publishing Ltd); ‘I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’’ by George & Ira Gershwin, Dorothy & Edwin Dubose Heywood (Published by Warner Chappell North America Ltd, Ira Gershwin Music & Downtown Music UK Ltd); ‘Some Nights’ by Jeffrey Bhasker, Jack Antonoff, Nathaniel Joseph Ruess & Andrew Dost (Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Chappell North America Ltd & Warner Chappell Music Publishing Ltd); ‘Mmmbop’ by Zachary Walker Hanson, Issac Hanson & Taylor Hanson (Published

by Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd); ‘One Last Time’ by Georgio Hesdey Tuinfort, Savan Harish Kotecha, Carl Anthony Falk, Rami Yacoub & Pierre David Guetta (Published

by BMG Rights (UK) Management Ltd, Anthem UK & Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd); ‘Friendships’ by Pascal Eric Oliver Letoublon (Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd); ‘Smooth Operator’ by Sade Adu & Raymond Willian St John (Published by SM Publishing UK Ltd & Peermusic UK Ltd); ‘Shut Up’ by Obi Promise Egwuatu Obinna & Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Junior (Published by Bucks Music Group Ltd & Warner Chappell Music Ltd). All licensed by PRS/ PPL for Music. ‘Kulikitaka’ by Rey David Santana. Licensed by Juan & Nelson Publishing.

‘The Real Slim Shady’ by Andre Romell Young, Thomas Joseph Jr Coster, Mike Elizondo & Marshall Mathers (Published by Warner Chappell North America Ltd, BMG Rights (UK) Management Ltd & Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd); ‘F**k (Raw)’

by Lil Keish; ‘Trap Queen’ by Willie Ii Maxwell & Tony Fadd (Published by BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd & Sony/ ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd).

Music recorded at the National Theatre by Tom Brady (piano).

THE PUBLIC ACTS COMPANY OF PERICLES. PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES BELLORINI

The National Theatre’s mission is to make world-class theatre, for everyone.

We create and share unforgettable stories with audiences across the UK and around the world – whether on our stages on London’s South Bank, on tour, in schools, on cinema screens, or streaming at home. We aim to be as inclusive, diverse and sustainable as possible.

The National Theatre empowers artists and craftspeople to make world-leading work, investing in talent and developing new productions with a range of theatre companies at our New Work Department.

Our nation thrives on fresh talent and new ideas, so we work extensively with young people and teachers across the UK through performance, writing and technical learning programmes to ignite the creativity of the next generation.

In London, our programme of talks, events and workshops opens up theatre to people of all ages.

We create ambitious new works of participatory theatre through our Public Acts programme, building on sustained partnerships with theatres and community organisations across the UK who share our vision of theatre as a force for change.

We extend our reach through digital programmes including National Theatre Live, which broadcasts some of the best of British theatre to over 2,500 venues in 65 countries, the National Theatre Collection which makes recordings of shows available to UK schools and the global education sector, and now our streaming platform National Theatre at Home.

Whether you’ve been to the National many times or this is the first contact you’ve had with us, we hope you will be entertained, challenged and inspired.

It’s your National Theatre.

Chair of NT Board Sir Damon Buffini Director of the National Theatre Rufus Norris Executive Director Kate Varah National Theatre Box office and information +44 (0) 20 7452 3000 National Theatre, Upper Ground, London SE1 9PX nationaltheatre.org.uk Registered Charity No: 224223 Registered as a company limited by guarantee in England: 749504

LEAP

LEARNING, EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION Our Learning, Education and Participation department works with people of all ages and abilities, offering opportunities to get involved with CFT beyond the work you see on our stages. A wide range of practical workshops, talks, tours and performances aims to excite and inspire everyone who takes part.

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Enjoy developing artistic, personal and social skills through our workshops, projects, productions and award-winning Youth Theatre for young people of all abilities.

Chichester Festival Youth Theatre | Holiday Activities | Arts Award

EDUCATION

Our work with local schools, colleges and universities is designed to inspire and enrich students’ learning, while the next generation of arts professionals is nurtured through our training and apprenticeships programme.

In-school workshops and projects | Work Experience | School Theatre Days

Learn about life behind the scenes, discover more about productions, develop creative skills, socialise and share experiences with others through workshops and community projects for anyone aged 18+.

Get Into It! workshops | Talks and Discussions | Heritage projects | Dementia Friendly activities

FAMILIES

We’re always delighted to welcome our youngest visitors and their grown-ups to the Theatre. Families can explore and have fun with workshops, productions, events and activities.

Free Family Fun | Little Notes | Family shows and workshops

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S TA F F

TRUSTEES Alan Brodie Mark Foster Judy Fowler Victoria Illingworth Georgina Liley Rear Admiral John Lippiett CB CBE Harry Matovu QC Mike McCart Holly Mirams Nick Pasricha Philip Shepherd Stephanie Street Tina Webster Susan Wells ASSOCIATES Kate Bassett Charlotte Sutton CDG

Richard Knowles Louise Rigglesford Chair

Literary Associate Casting Associate

BUILDING & SITE SERVICES Chris Edwards Maintenance Engineer Lez Gardiner Duty Engineer Daren Rowland Facilities Manager Graeme Smith Duty Engineer DEVELOPMENT Jessey Butcher

Development Officer (Corporate & Trusts)

Julie Field Sophie Henstridge-Brown Karen Taylor

Development Officer (Individuals)

Joanna Walker Megan Wilson

Director of Development Events Officer

DIRECTORS OFFICE Kathy Bourne Daniel Evans Elspeth Barron Patricia Key Georgina Rae Julia Smith FINANCE Alison Baker Amanda Hart Krissie Harte Katie Palmer

Finance Director & Company Secretary

Amanda Trodd Protozoon Ltd

Management Accountant IT Consultants

HR Emily Oliver Jenefer Pullinger Gillian Watkins

Accommodation Co-ordinator HR Officer HR Officer

LEAP Anastasia Alexandru Helena Berry

Lauren Grant Jade Hall Hannah Hogg

Executive Director Artistic Director Projects Co-ordinator PA to the Directors Head of Planning & Projects Board Support

Payroll & Pensions Officer Accounting & Report Analyst Finance Officer Assistant Management Accountant

Simon Parsonage

Rob Bloomfield Zoe Ellis Isabelle Elston

Friends Administrator Senior Development Manager

Youth & Outreach Trainee Heritage & Archive Co-ordinator Heritage & Archive Assistant LEAP Co-ordinator Community & Outreach Trainee Deputy Director of LEAP (Maternity Leave)

Youth & Outreach Co-ordinator - Musical Theatre Youth & Outreach Manager

Education Projects Manager Senior Community & Outreach Manager

Dale Rooks Brodie Ross

Director of LEAP Deputy Director of LEAP (Maternity Cover)

Riley Stroud

Education Apprentice

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, DIGITAL & SALES Carole Alexandre Distribution Officer Josh Allan Box Office Assistant Caroline Aston Audience Insight Manager Becky Batten Head of Marketing Laura Bern Marketing Manager Jenny Bettger Box Office Supervisor Jessica Blake-Lobb Marketing Manager (Corporate) Helen Campbell Lydia Cassidy

Deputy Box Office Manager Director of Marketing & Communications

Lorna Holmes Helena Jacques-Morton

Box Office Supervisor Senior Marketing Officer

Graham Taylor Dominic Turner Emily Williamson

Head of Lighting Stage Crew Assistant Lighting Technician

THEATRE MANAGEMENT Janet Bakose Theatre Manager Gill Dixon Duty Manager Ben Geering House Manager Karen Hamilton Duty Manager Will McGovern Deputy House Manager Sharon Meier PA to Theatre Manager Gabriele Williams Deputy House Manager Caper & Berry Catering Proclean Cleaning Ltd Cleaning Contractor Vespasian Security Security WARDROBE & WIGS Brook Bowden Shirley Brody

Wardrobe Manager Assistant Wigs, Hair & Make-Up

Isabel Brook Shelley Gray Fran Horler Abbie Johns Rebecca Rungen

Dresser Deputy Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Wardrobe Manager Dresser Head of Wigs, Hair & Make-Up

Emily Souch Zena Sweetapple

Dresser Deputy Wigs, Hair & Make-Up

James Mitchell James Morgan Lucinda Morrison Rachael Pennell

Box Office Assistant (Casual) Box Office Manager Head of Press Marketing and Press Assistant

Kirsty Peterson Catherine Rankin Jenny Thompson

Box Office Assistant Box Office Assistant (Casual) Social Media & Digital Marketing Officer

Loz Tait Afshan Toulalan Colette Tulley Grace Upcraft

Emilie Trodd Julia Walter Claire Walters Joanna Wiege Jane Wolf

Box Office Assistant (Casual) Creative Digital Producer Box Office Assistant Box Office Administrator Box Office Assistant

Stage Door: Bob Bentley, Janet Bounds, Judith Bruce-Hay, Caroline Hanton, Keiko Iwamoto, Chris Monkton, Sue Welling

PRODUCTION Amelia Ferrand-Rook Claire Rundle Joshua Vine Nicky Wingfield Jeremy Woodhouse

Producer Production Administrator Trainee Producer Production Administrator Producer

TECHNICAL Jake Barinov Stage & Automation Technician Steph Bartle Deputy Head of Lighting Helen Clark Stage Crew Leoni Commosioung Stage Technician Adrien Corcilius Video & AV Technician Lewis Ellingford Stage Technician Sam Garner-Gibbons Technical Director Jack Goodland Stage Crew Fuzz Guthrie Senior Sound Technician Lucy Guyver Production Manager Apprentice Katie Hennessy Props Store Co-ordinator Mike Keniger Head of Sound Andrew Leighton Senior Lighting Technician Zoe Lyndon-Smith Technical Theatre Apprentice Finlay Macknay Stage Crew Karl Meier Head of Stage Charlotte Neville Head of Props Workshop Ryan Pantling Sound Technician Stuart Partrick Transport & Logistics Assistant Tom Robinson Senior Stage & Construction Technician Neil Rose Joe Samuels James Sharples Tom Smith Molly Stammers

Deputy Head of Sound Lighting Technician Senior Stage Crew & Rigger Senior Sound Technician Lighting Technician

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Head of Wardrobe Assistant Wardrobe Wardrobe Maintenance Dresser

Ushers: Miranda Allemand, Judith Anderson, Maria Antoniou, Izzy Arnold, Jacob Atkins, Carolyn Atkinson, Brian Baker, Richard Berry, Emily Biro, Gloria Boakes, Alex Bolger, Dennis Brombley, Judith Bruce-Hay, Louisa Chandler, Jo Clark, Gaye Douglas, Stella Dubock, Amanda Duckworth, Clair Edgell, Olivia Elgood, Lexi Finch, Suzanne Ford, Suzanne France, Jessica Frewin-Smith, Nigel Fullbrook, Barry Gamlin, Charlie Gardiner, Jay Godwin, Anna Grindel, Caroline Hanton, Justine Hargraves, Joseph Harrington, Joanne Heather, Daniel Hill, Marie Innes, Keiko Iwamoto, Flynn Jeffery, Joan Jenkins, Pippa Johnson, Julie Johnstone, Ryan Jones, Jan Jordan, Jon Joshua, Sally Kingsbury, Alexandra Langrish, Maille Lyster, Judith Marsden, Samantha Marshall, Emily McAlpine, Janette McAlpine, Fiona Methven, Chris Monkton, Ella Morgans, Susan Mulkern, Isabel Owen, Martyn Pedersen, Susy Peel, Kirsty Peterson, Helen Pinn, Barbara Pope, Fleur Sarkissian, Nicola Shaw, Janet Showell, Lorraine Stapley, Sophie Stirzaker, Angela Stodd, Christine Tippen, Charlotte Tregear, Andy Trust, Sue Welling, Rosemary Wheeler, James Wisker, Donna Wood, Kim Wylam, Jane Yeates We acknowledge the work of those who give so generously of their time as our Volunteer Audio Description Team: Tony Clark, Robert Dunn, Geraldine Firmston, Suzanne France, Richard Frost, David Phizackerley, Christopher Todd

ACCESS AND CAR PARKING

Wheelchair users Wheelchair spaces are available on two levels in the Festival Theatre, with accessible lifts either side of the auditorium. Two wheelchair spaces are available in the Minerva Theatre.

Hearing impaired Free Sennheiser listening units are available for all performances or switch your hearing aid to ‘T’ to use the induction loop in both theatres.

Signed performances are British Sign Language interpreted for people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing.

Stagetext Captioned performances display text on a screen for D/deaf or hearing impaired patrons.

Audio-described performances offer live narration over discreet headphones for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Touch Tours enable blind or visually impaired people to explore the set before audio described performances. Free but booking is essential.

Dementia-Friendly Theatre All Box Office and Front of House staff have attended a Dementia Friends Information Session, and can be identified by the blue pin on their uniform.

Assistance dogs are welcome; please let us know when booking as space is limited.

Parking for disabled patrons Blue Badge holders can park anywhere in Northgate Car Park free of charge.

There are 9 non-reservable spaces close to the Theatre entrance.

Car Parking Northgate Car Park is an 836-space pay and display car park (free after 8pm). On matinee days it can be very busy; please consider alternative car parks in Chichester. chichester.gov.uk/mipermit If you have access requirements or want to book tickets with an access discount, please join the Access List.

For more information and to register, visit cft.org.uk/access, call the Box Office on 01243 781312 or email access@cft.org.uk

Large-print version of this programme available on request from the House Manager or access@cft.org.uk Large-print and audio CD versions of the Festival 2022 brochure are available on request from access@cft.org.uk For more access information, call 01243 781312 or visit cft.org.uk/access

cft.org.uk/visitus

SUPPORT US

SUPPORT YOUR THEATRE

60TH BIRTHDAY APPEAL CFT is a theatre for everyone, where each of us can find something inspiring. Sharing stories together is more important than ever but for many it can be difficult to reconnect.

To celebrate our 60th Birthday, we are working even harder to help everyone join in – whether that’s through providing bursaries for our Youth Theatre, offering relaxed and dementia-friendly performances, or training our volunteer Buddies to assist isolated people with theatre visits. We continue to offer a full range of audio described, captioned and signed performances for blind, visually impaired or D/deaf audiences.

We need to raise £100,000 this year for this activity. Please help us reconnect with the most isolated and vulnerable in our community by giving a gift to our 60th Anniversary appeal.

To make your gift visit cft.org.uk/60for60 or call 01243 781312 Every gift makes a difference.

Th ank yo u

‘What I really like with Chichester is I feel valued here’ Kathy, Access Member

cft.org.uk/support-us

S U P P O R T E R S 2022

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT BENEFACTORS Deborah Alun-Jones Robin and Joan Alvarez David and Elizabeth Benson Philip Berry George W. Cameron OBE and Madeleine Cameron Sir William and Lady Castell John and Pat Clayton John and Susan Coldstream Clive and Frances Coward Yvonne and John Dean Jim Douglas George and Natasha Duffield Mrs Veronica J Dukes Melanie Edge Sir Vernon and Lady Ellis Val and Richard Evans Simon and Luci Eyers Angela and Uri Greenwood Sir Michael and Lady Heller Liz Juniper The family of Patricia Kemp Roger Keyworth Jonathan and Clare Lubran Selina and David Marks Mrs Sheila Meadows Jerome and Elizabeth O’Hea Philip and Gail Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Nick and Jo Pasricha Mrs Denise Patterson Stuart and Carolyn Popham Jans Ondaatje Rolls Dame Patricia Routledge DBE David and Sophie Shalit Simon and Melanie Shaw Greg and Katherine Slay Christine and Dave Smithers Alan and Jackie Stannah Oliver Stocken CBE Howard Thompson Peter and Wendy Usborne The Webster Family Community Fund TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation The Arthur Williams Charitable Trust Artswork The Arts Society, Chichester The Bateman Family Charitable Trust The Bondi Foundation The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Charity Chichester District Council Elizabeth, Lady Cowdray’s Charity Trust The G D Charitable Trust The Noël Coward Foundation Theatres Trust Wickens Family Foundation

FESTIVAL PLAYERS John and Joan Adams Dr Cheryl Adams CBE Judy Addison Smith Mr Brian Baker The Earl and Countess of Balfour Matthew Bannister Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard (The Barness Charity Trust) Mrs Margaret Baumber Franciska and Geoffrey Bayliss Lucy Berry Julian and Elizabeth Bishop Martin Blackburn Sarah and Tony Bolton Janet Bounds Pat Bowman Lucy and Simon Brett Adam and Sarah Broke Therese Brook Jean Campbell Julie Campbell Ian and Jan Carroll Sir Bryan and Lady Carsberg Sally Chittleburgh David and Claire Chitty Mr and Mrs Jeremy Chubb Denise Clatworthy David and Julie Coldwell Mr and Mrs Barry Colgate Mr Charles Collingwood and Miss Judy Bennett Michael and Jill Cook Freda Cooper Brian and Claire Cox Susan Cressey Deborah Crockford Jonathan and Sue Cunnison Rowena and Andrew Daniels Jennie Davies The de Laszlo Foundation Yvonne and John Dean Clive and Kate Dilloway Peter and Ruth Doust John and Joanna Dunstan Peter Edgeler and Angela Hirst Glyn Edmunds Anthony and Penny Elphick Caroline Elvy Sheila Evans Gary Fairhall Lady Finch Colin and Carole Fisher Beryl Fleming Karin and Jorge Florencio Jane Fogg Robert and Pip Foster Jenifer and John Fox Terry Frost Mr Nigel Fullbrook George Galazka Alan and Pat Galer Robert and Pirjo Gardiner

Wendy and John Gehr Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Marion Gibbs CBE Stephen J Gill Robin and Rosemary Gourlay R and R Green Reverend David Guest Ros and Alan Haigh Dr Stuart Hall Rowland and Caroline Hardwick Dennis and Joan Harrison Roger and Tina Harrison David Harrison Robert and Suzette Hayes Andrew Hine Hania and Paul Hinton Christopher Hoare Dame Denise and Mr David Holt Gill and Tim Howard Pauline and Ian Howat Barbara Howden Richards Richard and Kate Howlett John B Hulbert Mike Imms Mrs Raymonde Jay Melanie J Johnson Nina Kaye and Timothy Nathan Rodney Kempster Nigel Kennedy OBE Geoffrey King James and Clare Kirkman Frank and Freda Letch Mrs Jane Lewis John and Jenny Lippiett Amanda Lunt Jim and Marilyn Lush Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Nigel and Julia Maile Sarah Mansell and Tim Bouquet Sue Marsh Adrian Marsh and Maggie Stoker Charles and Elisabeth Martin Trevor and Lynne Matthews John and Sally-Ann McCormack Tim McDonald Jill and Douglas McGregor James and Anne McMeehan Roberts Mrs Michael Melluish Celia Merrick Diana Midmer Jenifer and John Mitchell David and Di Mitchell Sue and Peter Morgan Roger and Jackie Morris Terence F Moss Mrs Mary Newby Patricia Newton Bob and Maureen Niddrie Lady Nixon Pamela and Bruce Noble Eileen Norris Jacquie Ogilvie Margaret and Martin Overington

Mr and Mrs Gordon Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Richard Parkinson and Hamilton McBrien Simon and Margaret Payton Terry and John Pearson Stephen and Annie Pegler Jean Plowright Barbara Pope John Pritchard Trust Brian and Margaret Raincock David Rees The Rees Family Tom Reid and Lindy Ambrose Adam Rice John and Betsy Rimmer Robin Roads Philip Robinson Nigel and Viv Robson Ken and Ros Rokison Graham and Maureen Russell Clare Scherer and Jamie O'Meara Dr David Seager John and Tita Shakeshaft Mrs Dale Sheppard-Floyd Jackie and Alan Sherling The Sidlesham Theatre Group David and Linda Skuse Monique and David Smith Simon Smith Mr and Mrs Brian Smouha David and Unni Spiller Mel and Marilyn Stein Elizabeth Stern Barbara Stewart Peter Stoakley Anne Subba-Row Professor and Mrs Warwick Targett Harry and Shane Thuillier Mr Robert Timms Miss Melanie Tipples Alan and Helen Todd Peter and Sioned Vos David Wagstaff and Mark Dunne Ian and Alison Warren Brett Weaver and Linda Smith Chris and Dorothy Weller Bowen and Rennie Wells Judith Williams Angela Williams Lulu Williams Nick and Tarnia Williams David and Vivienne Woolf Angela Wormald And all those who wish to remain anonymous

‘Chichester Festival Theatre enriches lives with its work both on and off stage. It is a privilege to be connected in a small way with this inspirational and generous-hearted institution, especially at such a challenging time for everyone in the Arts.’

John and Susan Coldstream, Benefactors and Festival Players

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S U P P O R T E R S 2022

PRINCIPAL PARTNERS Platinum Partner

Prof E.F Juniper and Mrs Jilly Styles

Gold Level

Silver Level

CORPORATE PARTNERS Addison Law Criterion Ices

FBG Investment J Leon Group

Jones Avens Oldham Seals Group

The Bell Inn William Liley Financial Services Ltd

Please get in touch for more information: cft.org.uk/support-us | development.team@cft.org.uk | call 01243 812911