The Cat and the Canary Adapted by Carl Grose From the play by John Willard
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to this performance of The Cat and the Canary – and congratulations on being brave enough to come! It’s hard to believe we’re welcoming you to the final production of Festival 2024. The Cat and the Canary, brilliantly adapted by Carl Grose from the original play by John Willard, has the perfect mixture of spooks and belly laughs and thrills to end the season; and there’s nobody better than the genius shape-shifting company Told by an Idiot, and director Paul Hunter, to tell it. As Paul says in this programme, entertainment is central to Told by an Idiot’s mission, and we’re thrilled to be co-producing this deliciously terrifying show with them. The cast includes one of the company’s co-founders, Hayley Carmichael, who last appeared at the Minerva in Home in 2021; we’re delighted to welcome her back as part of the superb ensemble company, some of them also returning to Chichester and others appearing here for the first time. Thank you so much for your support throughout Festival 2024 – Justin’s first season as Artistic Director. None of it would be possible without you. Soon, our Winter season will be in full swing with a huge variety of musicals, drama and new work. We hope you enjoy today’s performance and to see you again soon. Providing you get safely out of Bodmin Moor, of course…
Justin Audibert Artistic Director
Kathy Bourne Executive Director
Kathy Bourne and Justin Audibert Photograph by Peter Flude
Winter Season 2024 – 25 Here comes Winter! Bringing a hugely varied season of the best touring work on offer. Our adaptations of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Spy Who Came In From The Cold were big successes earlier this year, and Winter brings more drama based on popular and award-winning books with Birdsong (pictured above), The Girl on the Train, Never Let Me Go and the hilariously inventive Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of). Fans of classic drama will also relish new productions of A Man For All Seasons starring Martin Shaw, and a Rattigan double-bill Summer 1954 with Dame Siân Phillips and Nathaniel Parker. And for those looking for something a bit more alternative and quirky – but always stimulating and entertaining – there’s unmissable new work, from the award-winning Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz to Driftwood from ThickSkin and Pentabus. Plus another chance to see West End musical hit SIX alongside eagerlyawaited new shows such as the Dolly Parton musical Here You Come Again and the 1980s-inspired After the Act.
Check out the full line-up of drama, music,
Magical festive moments At the centre of the Winter season, of course, is Christmas! We’re packaging up magical festive moments for everyone, young and old, to make the season truly sparkle. Created especially for us by Michael Morpurgo, Hey! Christmas Tree will enchant small children and their families; while our brilliant Chichester Festival Youth Theatre will be making everyone’s wishes come true with a magical telling of Cinderella. Santa himself had such a good time in our Grotto last year that he’s bringing his trusty Elves back for another spell-binding workshop (you can also join the Elves at their own Christmas Party on 24 December when Father Christmas is off starting his deliveries around the world). Mistletoe & Melodies is a festive evening combining a sumptuous dinner with Christmas songs performed by West End singers; while Baby Broadway ensures our smallest guests aren’t left out of the party. And it wouldn’t be a real Chichester Christmas without The Band of HM Royal Marines and Chichester Cathedral Choir in our beloved Christmas Concerts.
dance and comedy at cft.org.uk
Making an imp We are delighted that Chichester District Council has granted planning permission for The Nest, a new 120-seat studio theatre created to be a vibrant hub for innovative and community performances from 2025. The news comes as two reports commissioned by CFT on its local impact are published. An Economic Impact report examining the monetary impact that Chichester Festival Theatre has on the economy of Chichester District shows that, in 2023, our net economic impact was almost £26 million – compared with £17.5m in 2014 and £20 million in 2016. This is substantially due to the expenditure (excluding tickets) by audiences attending the Theatre’s performances and events, but also the goods and services bought by the Theatre, its staff and artists from local suppliers. Meanwhile, a Social Impact Report has measured the social outcomes and longer-term impact of the Theatre’s performances, outreach and participatory
programmes – particularly the work of our LEAP (Learning, Education and Participation) programme, which provides over 80,000 participation opportunities annually for people of all backgrounds, abilities and ages. Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of participants, audiences, partners, visitors and staff, the Social Impact Report used robust social impact indicators to measure the effectiveness of the programmes. Among the findings were that 98% felt welcome and included; 93% reported a positive impact on their mental health and wellbeing; 90% reported improved knowledge and skills; and 96% of trainees and apprentices improved their career opportunities. Kathy Bourne, Executive Director of Chichester Festival Theatre, points out that ‘2024 marks the 10th anniversary of ‘Renew’, the major project to restore and upgrade the Grade II* listed Festival Theatre; our plans for The Nest show we’re not resting on our laurels.
mpact ‘We’ve always put our community first, whether that’s people who have lived and breathed Chichester all their lives, or the new community – whether students at the University or Chichester College, or those who’ve recently moved here. As Chichester regenerates post-Covid we want to be part of its future, building the audiences of tomorrow. ‘The Economic Impact report is a result of that commitment. The financial contribution is obviously meaningful, but we believe very strongly that commitment to our community is what powers our drive to ensure we sit at the heart of Chichester and all that it delivers. We’re determined to keep growing the artists and audiences of the future, and strengthen the remarkable work of our LEAP department, led by the indefatigable Dale Rooks whose exceptional vision was recently recognised with her well-deserved MBE.’ The Social Impact Report will also ensure that LEAP’s work will continue
to grow and evolve, says Dale Rooks. ‘For example, we are developing a Youth Theatre skills framework which will outline the progression of creative knowledge and skills from Year 6 to Year 13. Our ongoing evaluation processes will ensure that we are always reflecting on how we can further improve outcomes to strengthen the impact of our work.’ She acknowledges that measuring social impact ‘is not like marking maths with a right and a wrong answer. What can you put in place to measure how somebody’s confidence might have improved? Hence we brought in an external consultant to devise a framework of impact measures and to compile the report; but more importantly, worked with the participants and the people who gave their feedback to ensure there was a high degree of transparency and objectivity. It’s a comprehensive, detailed report that covers every aspect of our work. ‘What’s really lovely are the comments from the young people, parents, carers, teachers and supporters, so there’s a cross-section of people’s honest views of what they believe the value and impact of the work is. The stats are not always 100% and that’s how it should be; if you’re hitting 100% in everything, where’s the journey? Where’s the learning? We have to digest the Report and use it as a platform and foundation to look at the areas where we might improve. It’s a demonstration not just of the value of what we do for the community, but what we do to achieve that.’
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The Cat and the Canary Adapted by Carl Grose From the play by John Willard
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Told by an Idiot celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. When you founded the company in 1993, did you have any idea it would still be going strong in 2024? Not at all, we’d have laughed at the notion. Way back then, [actor] Hayley Carmichael, [director] John Wright and myself came together to create a show we wanted to do at Edinburgh, like lots of young theatre makers. I remember standing in the Pleasance Courtyard thinking that whatever happens, even if everyone hates it, at least we can say we did it! The journey we ended up going on was never on our minds. How did you, John and Hayley meet? We were all at what was then Middlesex Polytechnic in the mid 1980s. In many ways it was a conventional drama school training, except John was a tutor who had worked in Paris with Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Paul Hunter
Gaulier, and his teachings were something Hayley and I had never really experienced before. John introduced us to the work of Complicité and we were blown away by this mad, European, circus type of theatre. There was nothing quite like that in Britain at the time. Complicité did a season at the Almeida and even if we couldn’t afford tickets, we’d wait in the bar to meet them. What was your first show? On The Verge of Exploding which was inspired by a couple of pages in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. It was improvised and almost wordless; we called it ‘a clown tragedy’. It had an extraordinary life; we did it in Edinburgh, London twice, and Romania. The year after we did Edinburgh, a South African producer by chance bumped into our producer and asked if there was a script because they wanted to perform it;
That’s ntertainment During rehearsals, we joined Paul Hunter, Artistic Director and co-founder of Told by an Idiot – and the director of The Cat and the Canary – to shine a light on this remarkable company
we didn’t want to write a script and jokily said, “But we’ll come to South Africa and do it!”. So we ended up at the world-famous Market Theatre and were the first British company to tour in post-apartheid South Africa. It was a brilliant start, but we were anxious not to repeat ourselves. What’s the secret of staying together so long? Right from the very beginning, we always went away to work with different people on different things, and then we would return to make work together. And I think that time apart allows you to reflect and come back with new energy, and keep it fresh. We don’t revive things very often. We toyed, in our 30th anniversary year, with revisiting On The Verge of Exploding but we all agreed that the world didn’t really need to see that! Our show about the early life of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel,
Charlie and Stan, which we toured to the Minerva amongst many other places, has stayed with us, on and off, for three years. Have the principles for the company’s existence changed in the intervening decades? I don’t think the ethos has changed. The notion of trying to explore the space between laughter and pain is something we identified very early on. Some might find that a strange place to be, but we find it really creative. It sounds contradictory but we take our comedy very seriously; I’d go as far as to say I’m slightly wary of work that doesn’t contain any comedy at all. If it’s good enough for Shakespeare, that’s a good benchmark! We’ve never had any interest in trying to create reality on stage. We’ve always been of the view that film and TV will do that infinitely better than theatre can; so revelling
in the artifice of performance, and the relationship with the audience which is ever-present and ever-shifting – those things have remained constant. We’ve been wary of trying to identify a style; that shifts and changes a lot. But – we use this word very deliberately – the desire to entertain is very important to us. It’s a word that sometimes people can be a bit sniffy about but I remember seeing an old copy of Brighton Rock in a bookshop in Hastings, and on the cover it said ‘An entertainment by Graham Greene.’ And I thought, again, well if that’s good enough for Graham Greene… It doesn’t mean you can’t be provocative or political, but entertainment is the bottom line. I remember John being interviewed on the radio and someone asked him about all the theories about acting, and he said, ‘There’s only one rule: don’t be boring.’ There’s a great derivation of ‘entertainment’ on Told by an Idiot’s website – from the French word ‘entretenir’, meaning holding together, support, hospitality. What got you into theatre? As someone who came from a very working-class background in Birmingham, with no history of theatregoing – mother
a dinner lady, dad an electrician – I feel a real drive to create access in its broadest sense, and a burning desire to give opportunities because that’s what I had. Kids who don’t get an opportunity to get anywhere near theatre or think it’s for them, can come and perform and play with us. I really liked books and reading, and when I was about 15 the English teacher announced there were going to be auditions for the school play. I was into football but a mate and I went undercover, and I was given a part in this George Bernard Shaw play. And I absolutely loved it. I didn’t know how you became an actor, and the same teacher explained there were things called drama schools. I do remember a conversation with my older sister and mother who were concerned about my future wellbeing, and said “You’re good at English; why don’t you go to university and get a degree which will be something to fall back on?” And I vividly remember rather angrily saying, “If I have something to fall back on, I will fall back on it.” There was no family money and I knew if I came to London and it didn’t work, I’d have to do something else. But that single-mindedness worked for me; I knew I had one shot at it. I’m not suggesting, for any young people reading this programme, that they should follow that particular way!
Sarah Brignall and Hayley Carmichael in On The Verge of Exploding
You obviously had an appetite for risk, which is crucial in any aspect of theatre. That’s really interesting; theatre is at its most deadly when you feel there’s no risk. I’m very wary of second-guessing reactions from audiences. I think we’re constantly surprised. One of our most successful shows was My Perfect Mind performed by me and Edward Petherbridge, directed by Kathryn Hunter, which we took to lots of places. It was devised around Edward’s experience of having had a massive stroke just before he was about to play King Lear. We had people saying to us, “I just saw your show and I really wasn’t sure in the first 10 minutes, and then I really loved it.” I didn’t mind them being candid and that’s the exciting thing: not to bamboozle or confuse an audience but provoke them and not just give them what they’re used to seeing. Without risk, it’s nothing.
The Cat and the Canary seems to sit naturally in that space between comedy and pain. Yes, it fits perfectly within that. It’s a play I wanted to do 12 or 13 years ago but we couldn’t get the rights. I have a memory of watching what I think is the best film version, the 1939 version with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, so it was a nod to my childhood in some ways. I was also drawn to it because it was a genre piece and we’ve never really done much what I’d call ‘genre’. And what appealed to me, and what I’ve tried to do with this terrific cast, is deliver to the audience all the tropes they recognise in this type of ‘whodunnit’ show – eyes moving within a portrait, being plunged into darkness, secret panels opening – but in a surprising, unexpected way, and reigniting a flame under something that’s been around a long time. One of my favourite and most influential film directors was Ernst Lubitsch, who directed a raft of amazing comedies in Hollywood, through the silent era through
Jerone Marsh-Reid, Danielle Bird , Nick Haverson & Sara Alexander in Charlie & Stan Photo Manuel Harlan
to the 1940s. He once said: ‘The job of the director is to do two plus two; let the audience say four.’ I really like that quote because it’s about the space you leave, and what the audience imagines. So The Cat and the Canary is as much about what you don’t see as what you see. We’ve always been interested in the notion that if we’re signalling very heavily to the audience that we’re going to turn right, you can bet your bottom dollar we’re going to turn left. Hayley Carmichael, one of your co-founders, is in the cast, alongside other TBAI veterans, but also actors new to the company. Is that important? It’s a crucial mix. We don’t have a plan when we cast shows but on the whole it tends to be a bunch of regular ‘Idiots’ and a bunch of new ‘Idiots’, which works brilliantly in a variety of ways. I don’t see my job as a director being in control; I see myself as a provocateur more than anything else. Yes, I put them together and shape the dynamic but the performers feed off each other. People often asked us in the past, have all your actors trained at Jacques Lecoq? And we’d say, not at all. The last thing I want is for everyone to have the same style. I want really skilful performers who also have a spirit of anarchy which we can unleash.
Are you optimistic for the future? I feel really fortunate, at this moment in time, to be doing this play with such extraordinary people and in a wonderful collaboration with Chichester. And I do feel excited about how you engage audiences. It’s easy to feel negative but there’s something about what theatre can do that other stuff simply can’t do. Our associate company Bric à Brac, are a great emerging company of young women and we’re currently working on a new production with them, which is set to tour to community spaces as well as theatres. We did an anarchic family sketch show called Get Happy, and part of the inspiration was an interview I read with the guy who set up Pixar films. They asked him, ‘Who’s your target audience?’ And he said, ‘Basically anybody who breathes.’ I thought that was such a brilliant way of putting it. And I thought yes, that’s what I want to do. I want all generations, grandparents and grandkids, all watching the same, live thing. Embracing the liveness of the event is what makes me feel hopeful because people do want those live experiences and to come together, they really do.
Above: Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge in My Perfect Mind Right: Rachel Donovan, Stephen Harper & Michael Ureta in Get Happy Photos Manuel Harlan
Chills and thrills The serious business of old dark house mysteries John Willard’s The Cat and the Canary (1922) is the best-remembered of a run of ‘mystery’ plays which were successful on Broadway and in the West End in the 1920s – epitomising a particular mix of chills, thrills, comedy, whodunit and theatrical artifice which would prove influential on the burgeoning horror film. The Cat and the Canary was filmed as a silent in 1927, remade as a talkie (The Cat Creeps) in 1930, produced in an alternate Spanish version (El Voluntad del Muerto) that same year, remade as a Bob Hope vehicle which restarted the whole spooky comedy trend in 1939, produced several times on television, remade with an odd mix of charm and violence in 1977 and imitated times beyond number. Willard also novelised his play script, and the story became a bestseller as well as an audience draw. But Willard’s Cat wasn’t the only phantom fiend creeping through secret passageways in an old dark house.
Seven Keys to Baldpate was the Scream of its day – an exercise in metafiction. XXX xxx
The old dark house was a fixture of the Jacobean tragedy and the 18th century gothic novel – Shakespeare’s Dunsinane and Elsinore and Hugh Walpole’s Castle of Otranto are blood-soaked ancient piles, haunted by dark deeds performed by twisted families and mad heirs. The sensation fiction of the 19th century followed up with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White, Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and J Sheridan LeFanu’s Uncle Silas, which revive gothic conventions in a contemporary setting. These trade on the long-lasting success of hiss-the-villain, rescue-theheroine melodramas but are informed by Victorian legal reforms to counter unjust inheritance laws and a succession of scandals involving spurious claimants to titles and fortunes, inconvenient relatives shut away in madhouses or attics, and colossal financial swindles. With The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle added the ‘unknown heir poses as a supernatural creature to invoke a family curse and claim a fortune’ device to the repertoire of mystery writers. In 1913, Earl Derr Biggers – creator of the Chinese detective Charlie Chan – wrote
Above: Advert for the original 1922 Broadway play. Kilbourn Gordon, Inc. Poster for the 1927 silent film. Universal Pictures. Opposite: Poster for the 1939 film. Douglass Montgomery, Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard and John Beal in the 1939 film of The Cat and the Canary. Paramount Pictures.
a novel called Seven Keys to Baldpate which was turned into a stage drama by showman George M Cohan – best-remembered as the patriotic entertainer played by James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Seven Keys was the Scream of its day – an exercise in metafiction. Billy Magee, a novelist known for wild melodramas, rents isolated Baldpate Inn so he can work on a serious book only to find his hideaway invaded by a crowd of absurdly melodramatic or sinister characters who indicate that real life is more like a pulp thriller than a literary novel of manners. The play adds more layers – on stage, the hero takes a bet that he can write a novel over a weekend at the Inn, and the gangsters, swindlers, mad hermit and imperilled heroine who distract him turn out to be actors hired by a publisher to win the bet… only then, in another rug-pull, this story turns out to be the novel the hero was writing all along. Reviewing the play in The Green Book Magazine, Channing Pollock noted ‘The amazingly ingenious scheme of the piece suggests those wooden eggs, contained by one inside another, that used to be imported from China. Seven Keys to Baldpate is a play and a burlesque of that play synchronized. Its authors deride the trashy melodrama, in melodrama, and then justify melodrama
Hopwood’s The Bat (1920), with its pre-Agatha Christie ‘twist ending’ audiences were enjoined not to reveal; Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train (1923), the most successful British entry in the cycle, set in an old dark railway station waiting room; Crane Wilbur’s The Monster (1924), with its grand guignol-influenced mad scientist; and Ralph Spence’s The Gorilla (1925), most blatant of many imitations of The Cat and the Canary. The author JB Priestley was – like Billy Magee – inspired to write a serious novel with the form of a spooky mystery in Benighted (1927), which was retitled The Old Dark House for American publication and when it was turned into a film with Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton by James Whale.
by showing real life to be full of melodrama. Finally, they justify themselves and defy criticism in a brilliant bit of effrontery. “The critics will roast the tar out of it,” says Magee of his story, which, of course, is also the story in which he appears, “but this is the stuff the public wants”’. It turned out that Magee was right. Seven Keys was a huge hit and would often be revived and filmed – Cohan starred in the first film version in 1917 and the most recent was House of the Long Shadows (1983), with Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing stalking cobwebby corridors in a victory lap for their long careers and the old dark house genre in general. Willard’s The Cat and the Canary isn’t as tricksy as Seven Keys to Baldpate, but it is a great deal scarier – with first- and second-act curtain shocks which made audiences gasp the way jump scares do in contemporary horror films. But it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which was also the case with its rivals and peers – even before Seven Keys there was Paul Dickey and Charles W Goddard’s The Ghost Breaker (1909). Also raising hackles on Broadway (and in many other venues around the world) were Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery
Theatregoers watching Dracula might well have settled into their seats expecting an ending in which the Count turns out to be a hypnotist and conjurer.
Poster for the film Seven Keys to Baldpate, 1917. Heritage Auction Gallery. Poster for the film House of the Long Shadows, 1983.
The ‘mystery’ play in The Cat and the Canary evolved rather than disappeared – echoes of the form persist in such lasting hits as Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (1952) and Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth (1970). But the curtain might have come down on the cycle with the Broadway debut of Dracula in 1927 – adapted by John L Balderston from a 1924 British play by Hamilton Deane based on Bram Stoker’s novel. In its set-up, Dracula looked a lot like The Cat and the Canary – a drawing room, a cackling madman, a sinister foreigner, an imperilled heroine, a wise older man, secret passageways, comic servants, a disappearance managed thanks to a trapdoor and a cloak, a gruesome supernatural legend. Given that the 1897 book wasn’t especially well-remembered in the 1920s, theatregoers watching Dracula might well have settled into their seats expecting an ending in which the Count turns out to be a hypnotist and conjurer who’s posing as a vampire in order to dig up some missing jewels hidden in Carfax Abbey or to terrify the heroine out of an inheritance. It was such a shock that Dracula actually turns out to be a vampire – unlike so many previous fiends in what
would mutate into the Scooby-Doo formula – that Van Helsing had to come on stage after the end curtain and insist ‘there are such things’.
The genuine supernatural became an accepted possible outcome in cases of howling hounds on the moors or hooded phantoms creeping through passageways and clutching for throats. At that point, mystery and horror parted ways. Dracula was described by star Bela Lugosi as a ‘mystery play’ – like The Cat and the Canary and The Ghost Train, not like the mediaeval religious community theatre – but it turned into something else, and the genuine supernatural became an accepted possible outcome in cases of howling hounds on the moors or hooded phantoms creeping through passageways and clutching for throats. The forms never entirely separated – Psycho, for instance, is more in The Cat and the Canary than the Dracula tradition, let alone Scream or Saw. Benighted, a novel inspired by the theatre, finally became a play in 2016, and the ‘old dark house’ comic melodrama remains a pleasing form… with the squabbling heirs gathering at midnight, the unreasonable surprise clauses in the miser’s will, the escaped maniac in hidden passageways, the family jewels cunningly concealed, the heroine in danger, the sinister servants, the eyeholes in portraits, the unreliable electric light, and a climactic unmasking. Take a moment to consider the efforts of those greedy villains who put on an enormous show to get hold of the family fortune, and who would have got away with it, if it weren’t for those meddling kids. Kim Newman is a journalist, novelist and film critic.
Poster for the film Dracula, 1931. As in the 1927 Broadway production, Bela Lugosi took the title role. Universal Pictures.
The Cat and the Canary Adapted by Carl Grose From the play by John Willard
Cast Harry Blythe Mrs Pleasant Paul Jones Crosby / Hendricks / Patterson / PC Dougie McDougal Surinda Ghosh aka Susan Sillsby Dora Cicily Young Annabelle West Charlie Wilder
Tarinn Callender Hayley Carmichael Calum Finlay Nick Haverson Lena Kaur Heather Lai Nikhita Lesler Lucy McCormick Will Merrick
There will be one interval of 20 minutes.
A co-production with First performance of this new production of The Cat and the Canary at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 27 September 2024.
Director Designer Lighting Designer Composer Sound Designer Projection Content Designer Puppet Design Puppetry Consultant Casting Director
Paul Hunter Angela Davies Aideen Malone Ian Ross Adrienne Quartly Leah Bierman Lyndie Wright Rachel Leonard Matilda James CDG
Assistant Director
Xinxi Du
Production Manager Costume Supervisor Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Supervisor Props Supervisor
Mark Carey Rosy Emmerich Natasha Pawluk Katie Balmforth
Company Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager
Julian Johnson Grace Hans Daisy Vahey
Film Director: Samuel Bailey; Director of Photography: Ben Westaway; 1st Assistant Camera: Anton Berggren; 1st Assistant Director: Leah Bierman; Lighting Design: Sam Smith. With special thanks to Reece Shearsmith. Production credits: Movement by Siân Williams; Design Assistant Fiona McKeon; Scenery by MI Workshops Ltd; Set Electrics by Second Rodeo; Drapes by J D McDougall Ltd; Production Carpenter Jon Barnes for Datum Production Services; Costume hires supplied by Angels Costumes; Costume dyeing by Jessica Bishop; Lighting hires supplied by White Light; Video Equipment supplied by Blue I; Production Video Engineer and Programmer Steve Jonas; Transport by Paul Mathew Transport and EJS; Rehearsal Room National Youth Theatre. With thanks to: Bill Kenwright Ltd, Jack Norris, Ayesha Antoine, Okorie Chukwu, Michael Elcock, Katy Ellis, Rina Fatania, Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter, Sophie Russell, Rakhee Sharma, Meghan Treadway, Jenni Grainger, Joe Gilmour, Matthew Linley; Tom Paris (Digital Artwork and Technical Drawings); Alex Lupo for recording and spooky synthesisers. Special thanks for the ghostly voices to Members of Year 4 John Stainer Community School, Martha Garrett, Lupo and Luna Haverson, and Arthur Ray Grose.
Rehearsal and production photographs Manuel Harlan Programme consultant Fiona Richards Programme design Davina Chung Cover image Bob King Creative, photograph Seamus Ryan
Minerva Season Principal Charles Holloway OBE Supported by The Cat and the Canary Patrons and Supporters Circles: Steve and Sheila Evans, Jon and Ann Shapiro, Howard M Thompson, Bryan Warnett, and all those who wish to remain anonymous
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Cast Biographies Tarinn Callender Harry Blythe Theatre credits include the dual roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the original London cast of Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre: Black British Theatre Award nomination 2020 for Best Supporting Male Actor in a Musical); Bronco Billy in Bronco Billy (Charing Cross Theatre); Telemachus in The Odyssey: The Underworld (National Theatre); Neil in The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida); Johnny Moore in the original cast of The Drifters Girl (Theatre Royal Newcastle & Garrick Theatre London); Bob in Come From Away (Phoenix Theatre); Dick in Dick Whittington and His Cat (Hackney Empire); Paul in Kiss Me, Kate (Kilworth House Theatre); I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly); and most recently London Theatre At Sea (on board the Queen Mary 2 in partnership with the Olivier Awards).
Tarinn Callender Hayley Carmichael
Television includes Our House, Party, Mama Youth. Trained at Arts Educational Schools. Hayley Carmichael Mrs Pleasant Previously at Chichester, Kathleen in Home (Minerva Theatre). Theatre includes Duchess of York in Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe); Lil in Shed (Royal Exchange); Sister George in The Killing of Sister George (Told by an Idiot/ New Vic); Why, The Prisoner, Fragments (Bouffes du Nord); Super High Resolution, First Love is the Revolution (Soho Theatre); Beyond Caring (Yard Theatre); Too Clever By Half (Manchester Royal Exchange/Told by an Idiot); Hamlet (Young Vic); Forests (Birmingham Rep/Barbican); Sweet Nothings (Young Vic); Farenheit Twins, A Little Fantasy, I Weep at My Piano (Told by an Idiot); Bliss (Royal Court); Cymbeline
Calum Finlay Nick Haverson Lena Kaur Heather Lai
(Kneehigh); Theatre of Blood, The Birds (National Theatre); I’m a Fool to Want You (BAC/Told by an Idiot); Zumanity (Cirque du Soleil); The Dispute (RSC/Lyric Hammersmith); Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (Almeida); King Lear (Leicester Haymarket/Young Vic); The Street of Crocodiles (Complicite/NT). Television includes Silent Witness, Landscapers, Les Misérables, Kiss Me First, Witness for the Prosecution, Chewing Gum, Our Zoo. Radio includes 1001 Nights, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Burning Times. Films include Tonight the World, Dernier Amour, Undergods, A Hunger Artist, Tale of Tales, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Hayley is a co- founder of Told by an Idiot, with Paul Hunter and John Wright. She volunteers for Scene and Heard, a charity playwriting project for children, based in north London.
Nikhita Lesler Lucy McCormick Will Merrick
Calum Finlay Paul Jones Theatre includes A Voyage Round My Father (national tour); Rosencrantz in Hamlet and Oresteia (The Park Avenue Armory New York); Bloody Difficult Women (Riverside Studios); Switzerland (West End/Theatre Royal Bath); Mary Stuart, Hamlet (Almeida/ West End); The Ghost Train, Too Clever by Half (Told by an Idiot/Manchester Royal Exchange); Dunsinane (RSC/NT Scotland, international tour); Tartuffe (Birmingham REP); The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Mouse and His Child, Macbeth, Jubilee (RSC); Hamlet in The Prince of Denmark (National Theatre). Television and film includes EastEnders, Bates of the Amazon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Holby City. As a writer: FANNY (Watermill Theatre); piano_play (The Other Palace Studio & Underbelly, Edinburgh Festival); What Goes On In Front Of Closed Doors, co-written with Emma Bentley (Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival & UK tour); Paddington Tarinn Callender Nick Haverson Lucy McCormick
“Lo-Commotion”, Peter Rabbit’s Garden Adventure, Percy The Park-Keeper’s Autumn Treasure Hunt (Histrionic Productions). Calum is an Associate Artist for Playbox Theatre Company. Trained at LAMDA. Nick Haverson Crosby / Hendricks / Patterson / PC Dougie McDougal Previously at Chichester, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (also RSC Stratford & Haymarket London). Theatre includes One Man Two Guvnors, Four Nights in Knaresborough, Amadeus (New Vic Theatre Stoke); Charlie & Stan, And The Horse You Rode In On, Beauty and the Beast (Told by an Idiot); The Yeomen of the Guard (Grange Festival Opera); Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester/Told by an Idiot); Ben Hur (Watermill Theatre); The Devil and Mr Punch (Improbable Philadelphia USA/Barbican UK); 1984 (Northern Broadsides); Low Pay Don’t Pay
(Salisbury Playhouse); The Lost Voice (Southbank Centre); The Venetian Twins (Bolton Octagon); Ruby Moon (Northern Stage): Satyagraha (Improbable/London Coliseum/Metropolitan Opera House NY); Theatre of Blood (Improbable/National Theatre); The Hanging Man (Improbable US tour & Sydney Opera House); The Pirates of Penzance (Orange Tree Richmond); The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick); By Jeeves (Duke of York’s/Lyric); The Magic Carpet (Lyric Hammersmith); A Family Affair, A Mad World My Masters, The Little Shop of Horrors (New Wolsey Ipswich). Television includes Scott & Bailey, Tales From the Old Bailey, The Mimic, Thank God You’re Here (series), Ashes to Ashes, Spooks, New Tricks, Casualty, Head Over Heels (series, for which he also recorded the title song ), Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, Sunday, A Fatal Inversion, Last Days of Ashenden, The Bill, Redemption, Devices and Desires, Absolutely True, Wyrd Sisters (The Worst Witch 2). Lena Kaur Nikhita Lesler
Radio includes Hilda, The Barchester Chronicles, Two to Tandem, Men Who Sleep in Cars, By Jeeves, The Edge. Films include Matriarch, Muppets Most Wanted, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, Hilary & Jackie, Susie Gold, The Tales of Despereaux (animation), Gulliver’s Travels, Men Who Sleep in Cars, and the shorts Original Skin, Gli Zii, Sherman. Lena Kaur Surinda Ghosh aka Susan Sillsby Theatre includes Betty! A Sort of Musical (Royal Exchange Manchester); Living Archive (Royal Court); The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca (Hull Truck); Earthworks, Myth, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Rover, Seven Acts of Mercy (RSC); Around the World in 80 Days (St James Theatre); The Ghost Train (Told by an Idiot/Royal Exchange); Treasure Island (National Theatre); Thursday (ETT/ Australian tour); Sisters (Sheffield Theatres); Rubina (Birmingham Rep); The Sky’s The Limit (Old Vic); Free World (Contact Theatre); Silent Cry (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
Television includes I, Jack Wright, Happy Valley, Stargazing, Justin’s House, Doctors, Dani’s Castle, Prisoners’ Wives, Torchwood, Emmerdale, Speechless, Hollyoaks, Scallywagga, Torn. Films include The Radleys. Radio includes Reality Check, Silver Street, Maps for Lost Lovers. Heather Lai Dora As performer, theatre credits include Die Zauberflöte (Glyndebourne); My Neighbour Totoro (Barbican); Would You Bet Against Us? (Birmingham Rep); World Factory (Young Vic/New Wolsey/HOME Manchester/Attenborough Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction). Television includes Knuckles. As writer and performer, credits include Tea Time Story (Camden Solo Festival/ Edinburgh Festival/VAULT Festival).
Nick Haverson
Directing credits include Welcome to Nowhere! (Tristan Bates); assistant director for the Hans Christian Andersen Museum audio tour (Odense Denmark). Trained at Curious School of Puppetry. Nikhita Lesler Cicily Young Theatre includes Lizzie in one-woman show Eng-Er-Land (King’s Head Theatre); Poppy in Noises Off (West End tour); Jade in Glitterball (Rifco/Watford Palace Theatre); Greenie in Through the Lens, Parwana in Parwana (Tara Theatre). Television includes Blood Sex and Royalty, The Sixth Commandment, Casualty. She is also an established voice over artist and is currently recording for a major video game. Nikhita holds a BA Hons in Acting from Mountview and trained at National Youth Theatre and Sylvia Young Theatre School.
Lucy McCormick Annabelle West Theatre includes Cowbois (RSC/Royal Court); Titus Andronicus (Globe); Wuthering Heights (National Theatre); Lucy & Friends, Post Popular, Roller Diner, First Love is the Revolution (Soho Theatre); Lessons for Life (Battersea Arts Centre); Dear Elizabeth (Gate Theatre); Effigies of Wickedness (Gate Theatre/English National Opera); Collective Rage (Southwark Playhouse); Cinderella (Oxford Playhouse); The Naked Truth (national tour); Splat! (Barbican
Centre); Violent Incident (Arnolfini Bristol); Dusa Fish Stas & Vi, As You Like It (Worksworth Festival); The House of Bernada Alba (Tristan Bates Theatre); The Children’s Hour, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Three Sisters (E15). Television includes This Time with Alan Partridge S2, Peacock, Live at Television Centre. Films include Sparkes, Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Exhibition of a Film.
Tarinn Callender Nikhita Lesler Lena Kaur Will Merrick Calum Finlay Nick Haverson
Will Merrick Charlie Wilder Theatre includes Bernard in Death of a Salesman, Charles Murdock in The Ghost Train (Manchester Royal Exchange); Bertram in All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare’s Globe); Billy Downs in The Libertine (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Slightly in Wendy and Peter Pan (RSC); Benny in Boys (Arcola Theatre). Television includes My Lady Jane, Silo, Bodies, Miss Scarlett and the Duke, Dead Pixels series 1 & 2, Poldark series 3 & 4,
Brief Encounters, Fail, The Rack Pack, Count Arthur Strong series 2, Atlantis, Coming Up: Burger Van Champion, Doctor Who, Skins. Radio includes The Attendant, Tolkien in Love. Films include F1, Barbie, A Classic Horror Story, Modern Life is Rubbish, 7.2, About Time and the shorts The Painting and the Statue, A Matter of Choice.
Creative Team Angela Davies Designer Previously at Chichester, The Syndicate, The Father, Stairs to the Roof (Minerva Theatre). Performance Design includes The Mouse and His Child, Victoria, Night of the Soul, In the Shadow of the Glen, Riders to the Sea, Purgatory (RSC); The Dark Philosophers (National Theatre Wales/Told by an Idiot); Radium Girls, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bristol Old Vic); Wizard of Oz (set), Cinderella (Birmingham Rep); Blue Heart (Tobacco Factory/ Orange Tree); Living Quarters (Tobacco Factory); A Good Night Out in the Valleys, Crouch Paul Hunter
Touch Pause Engage (National Theatre Wales); The Malcontent (Sam Wanamaker Theatre); Henry VIII, The Maid’s Tragedy (The Globe); The Prince of Homburg, Life is a Dream (Donmar Warehouse); Mahabharata (Sadler’s Wells); The Odyssey, The Magic Carpet, Treasure Island (Lyric Hammersmith); Brontë, The Clearing, After Mrs. Rochester, A Doll’s House, Mother Courage, The House of Bernarda Alba (Shared Experience); Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Broken Glass, Don Juan, The Hypochondriac (West Yorkshire Playhouse); As You Like it (Washington Shakespeare Theatre).
Donmar Warehouse. Illustration: Authorial Practice in Illustration (MA). Xinxi Du Assistant Director Theatre includes as Director, Gone with the Wind (Maison Pan Gallery), Till the Flight Departs (also writer: Wuxi China & live stream), Wedding Banquet (The Good Hotel/FeastFest), Frankenstein Stories (The Asia Mansion Shanghai), City Myth: 18-Face Knight (Jelly Brown Theatre Shanghai), A Report to an Academy Live (Prism Mini Theatre Festival Beijing & live stream), Butterfly, The Most Beautiful Woman in the World (Barons Court Theatre), Sink (also writer: Courtyard Theatre, Pembroke College Oxford, Edinburgh Fringe & Southbank Centre), String (also writer: Lion and Unicorn Theatre); as Assistant Director, Dido’s Bar (The Factory/ Royal Docks), Frankenstein (Chinese version) (Poly Theatre Beijing), Frankenstein (Inside Out Theatre Beijing & tour), Shades of Change (Shandong Grand Theatre, Artus Contemporary Art Studio Budapest & A4 – Zero Space Bratislava). Films include as Assistant Director, The Janissary, Fando and Lis. Trained at RADA and Central School of Speech and Drama. Opera design includes Rigoletto, Falstaff (Grange Park Opera); La Cenerentola, La Gazza Ladra (Garsington Opera); The Magic Flute (Graz); Snatched by the Gods, Broken Strings, Powder Her Face (Almeida Opera). Theatre with Film: Max Clapper: A Life in Pictures; Hamlet (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Production Design / Film: Simon Magus (Film4), National Achievement Day and The Holy Time (costume). Awards include the Linbury Prize for Theatre Design and Time Out Design Award (The Great Highway/In the Heart of America). Educator: Course Leader (MA) and Head of Design BOVTS (11 years). Workshop Leader Nigeria (British Arts Council) and
Carl Grose Writer Carl Grose’s plays include Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, Gargantua, Horse Piss For Blood, The Kneebone Cadillac, 49 Donkeys Hanged and The No-Brainer. For twenty four years he worked with the internationally acclaimed Cornish theatre company, Kneehigh, as both actor, writer and co-artistic director alongside founder Mike Shepherd. Writing for Kneehigh includes Tristan & Yseult (with Anna Maria Murphy), Blast!, Hansel & Gretel, The Wild Bride, The Tin Drum, based on the novel by Gunter Grass, Ubu! a singalong satire and Dead Dog In A Suitcase (and other love songs). Other writing includes Wormy Close
(Soho Theatre), Faust (Vesturport/Young Vic), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC at Latitude) and The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre and Gimble), Oedipussy and The Frogs for Spymonkey, and Robin Hood for Regent’s Park. He also wrote the book and co-authored lyrics for Bristol Old Vic’s cult musical, The Grinning Man. Other writing for Told by an Idiot includes The Dark Philosophers and Never Try This At Home. Coming soon…
The company
Insidious – The Further You Fear, a theatre show based on the Sony / Blumhouse hit horror film franchise, which will tour America next year. Paul Hunter Director Paul Hunter is co-founder and Artistic Director of Told by an Idiot. Paul has worked on all Told by an Idiot shows to date as director/writer/performer.
Directing credits include: The Ghost Train, Too Clever By Half , You Can’t Take It With You (all Told by an Idiot/Royal Exchange, Manchester); Every Last Trick (Spymonkey/Royal & Derngate, Northampton); The Mouse and his Child (RSC); Low Pay, Don’t Pay (Salisbury Playhouse); Senora Carrar’s Rifles (Young Vic); The Opium Eater and Light is Night (Brouhaha); The Underpants (Hope Street, Liverpool); One Set to Love (National
Theatre, Hungary); Not With That Hand and Jiggery Pokery (Tour/BAC); Ordago (for Punto Finco in Bilbao). As Associate Director at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Paul directed: The Venetian Twins, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Best Production, Manchester Evening News award), Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Cleo, Camping Emmanuelle and Dick. Theatre performance credits include: Cowbois (RSC/Royal Court); La Cage
Aux Folles (Park Theatre); Wise Children (Wise Children/Old Vic & UK tour); Life of Galileo (Young Vic); The Little Match Girl (Shakespeare’s Globe); Gaslight (Royal & Derngate); Tartuffe (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, The Globe Mysteries, Troilus and Cressida, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Under The Black Flag (Shakespeare’s Globe); Rapunzel and The Red Shoes (Kneehigh); The Water Engine (Young Vic/Theatre 503); The Play What I Wrote (West End); Oliver Twist and
Pinocchio (Lyric Hammersmith); Into Our Dreams (Almeida); title role in Richard III (English Shakespeare Company); Animal Farm and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Northern Stage); Les Enfants du Paradis (RSC); and the title role in The Servant With Two Masters (Sheffield Crucible). Film performance credits include: Pan, Cryano, Princess and Peppernose, Cinderella, Denial, This Beautiful Fantastic, Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides.
Nick Haverson Calum Finlay Heather Lai Nikhita Lesler Tarinn Callender Lena Kaur
Television performance credits include Masters of the Air, The Great, Bridgerton, Quiz, Midsomer Murders, Trinit, My Family, Still Open All House, Marvellous, Black Books. Matilda James CDG Casting Director Also for Festival 2024, The House Party (Minerva Theatre). Upcoming projects include Here in America (Orange Tree); Reverberation
(Bristol Old Vic); The History Boys (Bath Theatre Royal & tour). Recent Theatre includes Testmatch, A Suite in Three Keys, Red Speedo, Uncle Vanya, Northanger Abbey (Orange Tree); A Child of Science (Bristol Old Vic); Quiz (CFT/UK tour); 2.22: A Ghost Story (West End & tour); Vanya (understudy casting, Duke of York’s); Family Tree (ATC/Belgrade Theatre Coventry); Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate/China Plate/English Touring Theatre).
Matilda was Head of Casting for Shakespeare’s Globe (2012-2017) casting over 50 shows for the Globe and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Films include Portraits of Dangerous Women, Benjamin, Pond Life, Wasteland, The Complete Walk. She is Casting Associate for the Orange Tree Theatre, Casting Consultant for Bristol Old Vic and is a member of BAFTA Connect.
Tao of Glass (Improbable); The Adventures of Curious Ganz (Silent Tide); The Journey Home, Sleeping Beauty in The Wood, Angelo, The Little Mermaid (The Little Angel Theatre). Film includes Puppetry for Prometheus, Solo, A Star Wars Story, Muppets Most Wanted. Trained at The Little Angel Theatre and The Puppet Theatre Barge.
Rachel Leonard Puppetry Consultant Previously at Chichester, Puppetry Design and Direction for The Witches (Chichester Festival Youth Theatre). Theatre includes Puppetry Direction for Would You Bet Against Us (Told by an Idiot), Cymbeline (RSC); Associate Puppetry Direction for The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios); Assistant Puppetry Direction for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC). Puppetry for Little Amal (The Walk Productions); Fup (Kneehigh & O’Region); A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings (Kneehigh); Venus and Adonis (RSC); War Horse (NT); Il Returno D’Ulisse (Handspring);
Aideen Malone Lighting Designer Theatre credits include Kyoto (RSC); Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Dracula (National Theatre of Scotland); Tess of the d’Urbervilles (Peacock Theatre); Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Pinter Theatre); You Bury Me (Bristol Old Vic); Duet for One (Orange Tree); The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse); Wonder Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Running With Lions (Lyric Hammersmith); Hamlet (Young Vic); Old Bridge (Bush Theatre); A Kind of People (Royal Court); Death of a Salesman (Young Vic & Piccadilly Theatre); A Monster Calls (Old Vic/Bristol Old Vic/Parco Japan);
Tarinn Callender Will Merrick
Brighton Rock (York Theatre Royal); La Strada (The Other Palace); Jane Eyre and Peter Pan (National Theatre & Bristol Old Vic); Hetty Feather (Duke of York); A Raisin in the Sun (Sheffield Theatre). Musical credits include Fiddler on the Roof (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Now is Good (Storyhouse); Carousel (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Talent (Sheffield Theatre); Worst Witch (Vaudeville). Dance credits include Outwitting the Devil and Kaash (Akram Kahn Co); Darbar Festival (Sadler’s Wells); Unkindest Cut (Sadhana); Time Over Distance Over Time (Liz Roche); La Tete (Jasmin Vardimon). Opera credits include Ariodante, The Turn of the Screw, The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mary Queen of Scots, Così fan tutte, Jenufa and Tosca (English Touring Opera). Adrienne Quartly Sound Designer Sound design credits for Told by an Idiot: Get Happy, I Am Thomas, The Ghost Train, Napoleon Disrobed, You Can’t Take It With You, Too Clever By Half, And the Horse..;
Kim’s Convenience (also Composer) Riverside Studios; The Tempest (also Composer), Thomas Hobbes, Mary Spindler (also Composer) (Royal Shakespeare Company); Gunpowder Immersive (also Composer) (Tower of London); The Two of Us (also Composer) Watford; The Paper Man (also Composer), Opening Skinner’s Box (Improbable Theatre); The Price (Gate Dublin); The Nutcracker (Bristol Old Vic); Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Footfalls, Rockaby (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Gift (also Composer), Black Men Walking, A Raisin in the Sun (Eclipse Theatre); The Girl Who Fell (Trafalgar Studios); Citysong (Abbey, Dublin); Queen Margaret, Augmented (also Composer) (Royal Exchange Manchester); Kindertransport (also Luxembourg), The Crucible, Partners in Crime (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Rose (HOME Manchester); Grand Guignol, Horse Piss for Blood, The Whipping Man, After Electra, Merit, The Here and This and Now (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Inside Wagner’s Head (Royal Opera House); A Tale of Two Cities (Royal & Derngate); Splendour (Donmar Warehouse); Cuttin’ It, 93.5FM (Royal Court); Every Last Trick (Spymonkey); Fräuline Julie (After August) (Barbican Theatre/Schaubühne); Rings of Saturn (Halle Kalk, Cologne); The Container, The Shawl (Young Vic); Stockholm (Frantic Assembly/Sydney Theatre Co); 365 (National Theatre of Scotland); Woyzeck (St. Ann’s Warehouse, NYC). Albums: Artists Rifles (cello), Incidental Music for the stage. Radio: Mansfield Park Audible, Winner Audible’s Audiodrama Award. Films: 7 Deadly Idiots, Last Tango. adriennequartly.com Ian Ross Composer Ian is a Bristol-based multi instrumentalist, composer, and music director. He leads the band Eleven Magpies. Theatre for Kneehigh includes Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes, Don John, The Wild Bride, Tristan and Yseult, Dead Dog in a Suitcase.
Theatre as Music Director includes Girl from the North Country (Toronto 2019, Runway), London Tide (National Theatre). Theatre as Composer includes Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe); Wise Children, Malory Towers, Bagdad Café and Wuthering Heights (Wise Children); The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh). Film as Composer includes The Princess and Peppernose (RSA and Joe Wright). Nominations include the Dora Mavor Award for Outstanding Musical Direction 2020 (Girl from the North Country): Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play 2023 (Wuthering Heights). Lyndie Wright MBE Puppet Design Lyndie Wright founded the Little Angel Theatre with her husband John Wright in 1961. She still works in her workshop next door where she has designed and made world-renowned puppets ever since. Her designs for Little Angel include Petrushka, Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Singing Mermaid, Paper Dolls, Cindermouse and Angelo. For Kneehigh: The Tin Drum, Brief Lucy McCormick
Encounter, Hansel and Gretel, Dead Dog in a Suitcase. For Shakespeare’s Globe: The Little Matchgirl, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For the RSC: Venus and Adonis, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Work for other Theatres includes A Season in the Congo (Young Vic); The Magic Flute (Opera North); Coram Boy (National Theatre); Paddington Bear, Stewart Little (Polka Theatre); Tranquilla Trampeltreu (Brandenberg Theatre, Germany); The Adventures of Curious Ganz (Silent Tide). For film: Cyrano, Anna Karenina, Hanna, Atonement.
Events
The Cat and the Canary Pre-Show Talk Wednesday 2 October, 5.30pm Join director Paul Hunter for a fascinating insight into how his production came together, with a chance to ask questions of your own. Paul is in conversation with best-selling author Kate Mosse. Free but booking is essential.
Live Music Minerva Sessions Thursday, Friday & Saturday eves, 27 September – 26 October, 6.15pm Relax in our renovated Minerva Bar pre-show or share a post-work drink with friends as we showcase local musical talent. Free
The Cat and the Canary Experience Weekend 5 & 6 October, 10am – 5pm Get closer to the production in this practical two-day workshop featuring discussions, tours and masterclasses led by the creative team, offering an insight into Told by an Idiot’s unique approach to making theatre. £120, includes a matinee ticket. Ages 18+
Post-Show Talk Wednesday 23 October Stay after the performance to hear from company members about all the action behind the scenes and ask questions of your own. Free
Pre- and Post-Show Talks sponsored by Close Brothers Asset Management
Told by an Idiot have been creating the unexpected since 1993, exploring the human condition through theatre that is ‘bigger than life’. We acknowledge the artifice of performance and make no attempt to put reality on stage, but we inhabit the space between laughter and pain which exists in the real world. Our work is rooted in the live event and thrives on a sense of spontaneity and risk, celebrating the unpredictability of performance. Through playful collaborative writing, anarchic physicality and a comedic sensibility we create genuinely spontaneous experiences for audiences. We consistently experiment with what art can be and who can be involved and, in doing so, our work blurs the lines between artist, participant and audience. Our commitment to accessibility informs the entwined relationship between our productions and our participation work. Through our work on stage, and through our Taught by an Idiot Programme, we foster a sense of openness, curiosity and the desire to play. We take creative risks, we tell universal stories and we include everyone. Our education and participation strand, Taught by an Idiot, offers projects and workshops that are anarchic, spontaneous and accessible to the widest possible audience with no regard to age, ethnicity, ability or training. The only thing that is asked of participants is a sense of openness, curiosity and the desire to play. We run workshops for theatre professionals and we also work with schools, colleges, universities and community groups to provide bespoke Idiot participation opportunities. For more information and to book an upcoming workshop, visit www.toldbyanidiot.org To be the first to hear about upcoming shows, news and events, you can sign up to our mailing list here toldbyanidiot.org/mailinglist Told by an Idiot is a charity. If you would like to support us, please consider donating. We welcome donations of any size, it all makes a difference and makes our work possible. toldbyanidiot.org/supportus Artistic Director
Paul Hunter
Executive Director
Jennifer Holton
Finance Manager
Julie Renwick
General Manager
Kitty Kong
Assistant Producer
Maria Laumark
Board of Trustees: Sophie Scott (Chair), Stephen Burr, Joanna Dong, Matt Hassall, Helen O'Hanlon, Alison Paines, Sophie Mercell.
‘Their work is never less than sublime’ The Independent
‘Theatre about as inventive, imaginative and fantastical as it gets’ Time Out
Help us hatch the next generation of talent. Please donate today. We have an urgent need to build a third space for emerging artists, community groups and families. Our solution is The Nest: a sustainably built performance venue nestled among the trees, providing a supportive space for exciting new projects. With The Nest we will be able to host community and family classes, late night events, fringe-style performances and rehearsals for our Emerging Artist Development Programme.
We are halfway there!
We now have planning permission. We need to raise at least £1,500,000 to make this dream a reality and we have just reached the halfway point – so now we urgently need your help to get us across the finish line.
‘Nurturing the next generation of artists is vital to ensure that theatre in the UK maintains its international reputation for excellence. I am delighted to support Chichester Festival Theatre - a place dear to my heart - as they embark on creating this exciting new space. I cannot wait to see the work that is incubated in The Nest!’ SIR SAM MENDES CBE
Registered Charity No. 1088552
Discover more and donate cft.org.uk/the-nest
Consider yourself part of the CFT family Get closer to CFT and become part of our community with our Learning, Education and Participation team (you can call them LEAP for short). Whatever your age or ability, there’s something for you at CFT. From people who have been coming to CFT for years, to those who have never set foot in a theatre, we offer exciting opportunities for everyone from newborns to those in their 90s. Weekly classes. One-off workshops. Long term projects to get your teeth into. Our LEAP team does it all. This is a space where experiences are created and shared, and where everyone can find their place. So come join us, and become part of our story.
‘Working at the theatre under many guises gave me a well-rounded knowledge of our industry and the support was always there and still is – I wouldn’t be where I am without it. Please never stop working tirelessly to grow us into the next generation.’ Former CFYT member
‘I’ve discovered abilities I never knew I had. The classes contribute greatly to my quality of life and to that of the wider community.’ Community participant
So many people think they know what we do here at CFT. But did you know that we offer: • Free Youth Theatre places for young carers and anyone from underprivileged backgrounds
• Groups for adults with disabilities
• A creative outlet for isolated individuals through our weekly Chatter Project
• Wellbeing support for participants, visiting cast and company members, and staff
• Weekly Festival Fridays for kids who find creative ways of learning more accessible
• Free Buddy support for anyone who feels unable to attend shows or classes on their own
• Work experience, training opportunities and apprenticeships
• Training opportunities in Technical Theatre And that’s really just scratching the surface of our LEAP team’s reach. Visit cft.org.uk/get-closer or email leap@cft.org.uk to find out more and discover a way into CFT that’s right for you. With thanks to all our amazing LEAP supporters who generously fund this work.
Our Supporters 2024/5 Minerva Season Principal Charles Holloway OBE Major Donors Deborah Alun-Jones Robin and Joan Alvarez Elizabeth and the late David Benson Philip Berry George W. Cameron OBE and Madeleine Cameron Sir William and Lady Castell David and Claire Chitty John and Susan Coldstream Clive and Frances Coward Yvonne and John Dean Jim Douglas Nick and Lalli Draper Mrs Veronica J Dukes Melanie Edge Sir Vernon Ellis Huw Evans Steve and Sheila Evans Val and Richard Evans Sandy and Mark Foster Simon and Luci Eyers Robert and Pirjo Gardiner Angela and Uri Greenwood Themy Hamilton The Heller Family Liz Juniper Roger Keyworth Vaughan and Sally Lowe Jonathan and Clare Lubran Elizabeth Miles Eileen Norris Jerome and Elizabeth O’Hea Denise Patterson DL Stuart and Carolyn Popham Dame Patricia Routledge DBE David Shalit MBE and Sophie Shalit Greg and Katherine Slay Christine and Dave Smithers Alan and Jackie Stannah Oliver Stocken CBE Howard Thompson Bryan Warnett Ernest Yelf
Trusts and Foundations The Arthur Williams Charitable Trust The Arts Society, Chichester The Bassil Shippam and Alsford Trust The Bernadette Charitable Trust Bruce Wake Charitable Trust The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Charity Dora Green Educational Trust The Dorus Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Elizabeth, Lady Cowdray’s Charity Trust Epigoni Trust Friarsgate Trust The Garrick Charitable Trust The G D Charitable Trust Hays Travel Foundation Hobhouse Charitable Trust John Coates Charitable Trust The Mackintosh Foundation The Maurice Marshal Preference Trust Noël Coward Foundation Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Theatre Artists Fund theatre works! Wickens Family Foundation
Festival Players 1000+ John and Joan Adams Lindy Ambrose and Tom Reid Sarah and Tony Bolton Robert Brown Ian and Jan Carroll C Casburn and B Buckley Jean Campbell Sarah Chappatte David Churchill Denise Clatworthy Michael and Jill Cook Lin and Ken Craig Deborah Crockford Clive and Kate Dilloway Jim Douglas Peter and Ruth Doust Gary Fairhall Mr Nigel Fullbrook George Galazka Wendy and John Gehr Marion Gibbs CBE Stephen J Gill Mr & Mrs Paul Goswell Rachel and Richard Green Ros and Alan Haigh Rowland and Caroline Hardwick Chris and Carolyn Hughes John and Jenny Lippiett Anthony and Fiona Littlejohn Alan and Virginia Lovell Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Sarah Mansell and Tim Bouquet Patrick Martyn Rod Matthews James and Anne McMeehan Roberts Mrs Sheila Meadows Mrs Michael Melluish Celia Merrick Roger and Jackie Morris Jacquie Ogilvie Mr and Mrs Gordon Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Richard Parkinson and Hamilton McBrien Nick and Jo Pasricha John Pritchard Trust Philip Robinson Nigel and Viv Robson Ros and Ken Rokison David and Linda Skuse Peter and Lucy Snell Julie Sparshatt Pip Taylor Joanna Walker Ian and Alison Warren Angela Wormald
Festival Players 500+ Judy Addison Smith Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard (The Barness Charity Trust) Martin Blackburn Janet Bounds Frances Brodsky and Peter Parham Sally Chittleburgh Mr and Mrs Jeremy Chubb Mr Charles Collingwood and Miss Judy Bennett Lady Finch Colin and Carole Fisher Beryl Fleming Karin and Jorge Florencio Roz Frampton Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Dr Stuart Hall Dennis and Joan Harrison Barbara Howden Richards Karen and Paul Johnston Frank and Freda Letch Anthony and Fiona Littlejohn Jim and Marilyn Lush Selina and David Marks Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Sue Marsh Adrian Marsh and Maggie Stoker Trevor and Lynne Matthews Tim McDonald Mrs Mary Newby Margaret and Martin Overington Jean Plowright Ben Reeder Robin Roads Graham and Maureen Russel David Seager John and Tita Shakeshaft Mr and Mrs Brian Smouha Elizabeth Stern Anne Subba-Row Harry and Shane Thuillier Miss Melanie Tipples Penny Tomlinson Tina Webster Chris and Dorothy Weller Nick and Tarnia Williams
...and to all those who wish to remain anonymous, thank you for your incredible support.
‘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, Major Donors
Our Supporters 2024/5 Principal Partners Platinum Level
Prof. E.F. Juniper and Mrs Jilly Styles Gold Level
Silver Level
Corporate Partners Carpenter Box Jones Avens FBG Investment J Leon Group
Montezuma’s Oldham Seals Group Phoenix Dining
William Liley Financial Services Ltd
Why not join us and support the Theatre you love: cft.org.uk/support-us | development.team@cft.org.uk | 01243 812911
Staff Trustees Mark Foster (Chairman) Neil Adleman Jessica Brown-Fuller Jean Vianney Cordeiro Paddy Dillon Tasha Gladman Vicki Illingworth Rear Admiral John Lippiett CB CBE Caro Newling OBE Nick Pasricha Philip Shepherd Stephanie Street Hugh Summers
Sally Garner-Gibbons
Apprenticeship Co-ordinator
Matthew Hawksworth
Head of Children & Young People’s Programme
Hannah Hogg
Senior Youth & Outreach Manager
Shari A. Jessie Kate Potter
Creative Therapist Youth & Outreach Co-ordinator
Directors Office Justin Audibert Kathy Bourne Keshira Aarabi
Marketing, Communications & Sales Josh Allan Assistant Box Office Manager
Helena Berry Angela Buckley
Artistic Director Executive Director Projects & Events Co-ordinator Heritage & Archive Manager Projects, Events & Green Book Co-ordinator
Miranda Cromwell Sophie Hobson Hannah Joss
Associate Director Creative Associate Associate Director (Literary)
Patricia Key Aimée Massey
Executive PA Diversity, Inclusion & Change Consultant
Julia Smith
Company Secretary & Board Support
Building & Site Services Chris Edwards Maintenance Engineer Lez Gardiner Duty Engineer Daren Rowland Facilities Manager Graeme Smith Duty Engineer Costume Brooke Bowden Wardrobe Manager Ev Butcher Dresser Isabelle Brook Wardrobe Assistant Tobias Dane Dresser Aly Fielden Wardrobe Manager Helen Flower Senior Costume Assistant Abigail Hart Wardrobe Assistant Laura Martin-Brooks Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager Natasha Pawluk
Deputy Wigs, Hair & Make-Up
Roseby Willow Scovell
Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant
Isobel Shackleton
Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant
Hannah Sinclair
Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Assistant
Loz Tait Daniel Thatcher Colette Tulley Eloise Wood
Head of Costume Wardrobe Manager Wardrobe Maintenance Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Manager
Louise Rigglesford
Senior Community & Outreach Manager
Dale Rooks Angela Watkins
Director of LEAP LEAP Projects Manager
Caroline Aston Becky Batten
Audience Insight Manager Head of Marketing (Maternity leave)
Laura Bern
Head of Marketing (Maternity cover)
Emily Biro Jessica Blake-Lobb Helen Campbell Jay Godwin Lorna Holmes
Box Office Assistant Marketing Manager (Corporate)
Box Office Systems Manager Box Office Assistant Assistant Box Office Manager
Mollie Kent Box Office Assistant Stephanie McKelvey-Aves Marketing & Press Assistant James Mitchell
Sales & Marketing Assistant
James Morgan Lucinda Morrison
Head of Sales & Ticketing Head of Press & Publications
Brian Paterson Kirsty Peterson Catherine Rankin Vic Shead Luke Shires
Distribution Co-ordinator Box Office Assistant Box Office Assistant Marketing Manager Director of Marketing & Communications
Jenny Thompson
Social Media & Digital Marketing Officer
Grace Upcraft Josh Vine Isobel Walter Claire Walters Joanna Wiege Jane Wolf
Box Office Assistant Box Office Assistant Marketing Officer Box Office Assistant Box Office Manager Box Office Assistant
People Paula Biggs Naz Jahir Emily Oliver Annie Thomas Bent Gillian Watkins
Head of People People Manager Accommodation Co-ordinator People Administrator HR Officer
Development Nick Carmichael Development Officer Julie Field Friends Administrator Sophie Henstridge-Brown Head of Philanthropy
Production Niamh Dilworth Producer Amelia Ferrand-Rook Senior Producer Robin Longley General Manager Claire Rundle Production Administrator George Waller Trainee Producer Nicky Wingfield Production Administrator
Sarah Mansell Liz McCarthy-Nield Leo Powell Charlotte Stroud Karen Taylor Megan Wilson
Technical Sam Barnes Steph Bartle Victoria Baylis Hugo Blackwood
Finance Alison Baker Victoria Clarke Sally Cunningham Mandy Fletcher Krissie Harte Katie Palmer Simon Parsonage Amanda Trodd Protozoon Ltd LEAP Ellen de Vere Matthew Downer Zoe Ellis
Appeal Director Development Director Appeal Co-ordinator Development Manager Development Manager Events and Development Officer
Payroll & Pensions Officer Finance & Commercial Director Purchase Ledger Assistant Finance Analyst Finance Officer Assistant Management Accountant Interim Finance & Commercial Director Management Accountant IT Consultants
Youth & Outreach Trainee Cultural Learning & Participation Apprentice LEAP Co-ordinator
Finley Bradley Joe Chads Leoni Commosioung Rebecca Cran Sarah Crispin
Sound Technician Deputy Head of Lighting Props Assistant Technical Theatre Apprentice Assistant Technician Stage Crew Stage Technician Stage Crew Deputy Head of Props Workshop
Connor Divers Lighting Technician Elise Fairbairn Stage Technician Zoe Gadd Lighting Technician Lyla Garner-Gibbons Stores Assistant Sam Garner-Gibbons Technical Director Jack Goodland Auto Technician Fuzz Guthrie Senior Sound Technician Laura Hackett Technical Apprentice Anaya Hammond Stage Crew Katie Hennessy Props Store Co-ordinator Tom Hitchins Head of Stage & Technical Joe Jenner Production Manager Apprentice Mike Keniger
Head of Sound
Andrew Leighton Matthew Linklater Ethan Low Fin Macknay Charlotte Neville Stuart Partrick
Senior Lighting Technician Sound Technician Stage Crew Stage Crew Head of Props Workshop Transport & Logistics Assistant
Neil Rose Ernesto Ruiz Anna Setchell (Setch) James Sharples Graham Taylor Dominic Turner Linda Mary Wise Simon Woods Theatre Management Janet Bakose Judith Bruce-Hay Charlie Gardiner Ben Geering
Deputy Head of Sound Prop Maker Deputy Head of Stage Senior Stage Crew & Rigger Head of Lighting Lighting Technician Sound Technician Stage Crew
Theatre Manager Duty Manager Duty Manager Head of Customer Operations
Dan Hill Assistant House 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 Goldcrest Guarding
Security
Stage Door: Bob Bentley, Janet Bounds, Judith Bruce-Hay, Caroline Hanton, Keiko Iwamoto, Chris Monkton, Sue Welling Ushers: Miranda Allemand, Judith Anderson, Maria Antoniou, Jacob Atkins, Carolyn Atkinson, Ieva Bagdonaite, 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, Lexi Finch, Suzanne Ford, Suzanne France, Jessica Frewin-Smith, Nigel Fullbrook, Barry Gamlin, Charlie Gardiner, Lyla Garner-Gibbons, Caroline Hanton, Justine Hargraves, Joseph Harrington, Joanne Heather, Marie Innes, Keiko Iwamoto, Joan Jenkins, Pippa Johnson, Julie Johnstone, Ryan Jones, Jan Jordan, Jon Joshua, Grace King, Sally Kingsbury, Alexandra Langrish, Judith Marsden, Janette McAlpine, Fiona Methven, Chris Monkton, Ella Morgans, Susan Mulkern, Chris Murray, Lucija O’Donnell, Isabel Owen, Martyn Pedersen, Susy Peel, Helen Pinn, Barbara Pope, Alice Rochford, Sian Rodd, Fleur Sarkissian, Derren Selvarajah, Peg Shaw, Janet Showell, Lorraine Stapley, Sophie Stirzaker, Angela Stodd, Christine Tippen, Charlotte Tregear, Andy Trust, Hannah Watts, Sue Welling, Gemma Wilcox, James Wisker, Dawn Wood, Donna Wood, Kim Wylam. We acknowledge the work of all those who give so generously of their time for Chichester Festival Theatre, including our CFT Buddies, Heritage & Archive Volunteers, and our Volunteer Audio Description Team: Lily Barkes, Janet Beckett, Richard Chapman, Tony Clark, Robert Dunn, Geraldine Firmston, Suzanne France, Richard Frost, David Phizackerley, Christopher Todd, Joanna Wiege. Youth Advisory Board: Issie Berg Rust, Theo Craig, Anayis Der Hakopian, Esther Dracott, Chloe Gibson, Aled Hanson, Ophelia Kabdenova, Alice Kilgallon, Francesca McBride, Ace Merriot, Katherine Munden, Jacob Simmonds, Susie Udall, Priya Uddin.