THE NARCISSIST A new play by Christopher Shinn
WELCOME
KATHY BOURNE AND DANIEL EVANS PHOTOGRAPH BY SEAMUS RYAN
FESTIVAL 2022
Christopher Shinn’s new play The Narcissist was one of the productions originally scheduled for Festival 2020; so we’re delighted to be finally welcoming you to this performance. (Our particular thanks if you’re among those members of our audience who’ve patiently kept their tickets for two years.) The play is set in the autumn of 2017 and while the setting, action and characters all remain the same as in the 2020 version, Chris has revised the play for this 2022 world premiere. But, even though he describes it now as ‘a kind of history play’, one of its central questions – can politics do any good? – has never seemed so pertinent. Many of Chris’s plays have premiered in the UK and we’re thrilled to present this witty, intimate and thought-provoking take on personal and political communication for the first time in Chichester.
The director Josh Seymour makes a very welcome Chichester debut, as do actors Harry Lloyd and Claire Skinner who lead an excellent cast. Claire’s scheduled debut in early 2021 was also a casualty of the pandemic – a reminder of how much we lost during that period, and how glad we are that audiences are returning for the uniquely stimulating experience of live performance. While summer may be drawing to a close, there are three more productions still to come in our 60th anniversary season: the musicals Local Hero and The Famous Five, and a new production of Alan Ayckbourn’s dazzling black comedy Woman in Mind, with the incomparable Jenna Russell in an unforgettable portrait of a woman on the edge of reality. We hope to see you again soon, and that you enjoy this performance.
Executive Director Kathy Bourne
cft.org.uk
Artistic Director Daniel Evans
F E S T I VA L 2 0 2 2
Jenna Russell
WOMAN IN MIND By Alan Ayckbourn Olivier Award winner Jenna Russell stars in Alan Ayckbourn’s dazzling black comedy, taking us on a dizzying journey through the looking glass into a woman’s mind. Anna Mackmin directs.
FESTIVAL THEATRE 23 September – 15 October #WomanInMind
cft.org.uk
F E S T I VA L 2 0 2 2
LOCAL HERO Book by David Greig, Music & Lyrics by Mark Knopfler Based on the Bill Forsyth film CFT Artistic Director Daniel Evans directs a new musical version of this funny and enchanting story, featuring new songs by the legendary Mark Knopfler (formerly of Dire Straits).
MINERVA THEATRE 8 October – 19 November #LocalHero
cft.org.uk
LEARNING ON THE JOB Apprenticeships and Traineeships are an important feature of CFT’s work, not least because they support the training of the next generation of theatre makers and provide vital access routes into the creative industry.
WITHIN THE LAST SIX YEARS: • 10 Technical Theatre and two Education apprentices and trainees have successfully graduated from CFT and are all now working professionally in the industry. • 12 Trainees and 42 Young Practitioners have trained in our LEAP department, with 89% opting for careers in the arts. • Over 200 work experience opportunities have been offered to school students. • In 2021, an alumni apprentice, Jesse Caie, won the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) Award for Emerging Excellence. • We have also partnered for three years with the Association of Professional Lighting
LEAP YOUNG PRACTITIONERS – KATE POTTER
Designers (ALPD) to launch Lumiere: an early career development programme to offer professionals working in theatrical lighting a six-month placement at CFT, followed by six months with a freelance theatre lighting designer. CURRENTLY: • We have a new Creative Learning and Participation Officer Apprenticeship (level 3); a Creative Venue Technician Apprenticeship (level 3); and a Creative Industries Production Manager Apprenticeship (level 7) which we believe to be the first of its kind in theatre. • We also have one Trainee Producer; one Youth & Community Trainee, one Youth & Outreach Trainee and six young people undertaking the annual Young Practitioners Training programme.
CFT APPRENTICES RYAN PANTLING & AMY CLAYTON
Lucy Guyver is Creative Industries Production Manager Apprentice: a two-year MA-equivalent course at CFT in partnership with Chichester College I did a degree in technical theatre and stage management at RADA. I wanted to go into production management, but didn’t have enough experience. So this apprenticeship, for this very specific job, was exactly what I needed. The production manager oversees all the physical and technical aspects of getting a production ready for the stage, making sure the set is built and every department has the time they need to create the vision on stage. You have to keep everyone happy! Budgets and scheduling are the other key aspects. CFT has given me opportunities to be mentored by professionals. I’ve achieved a West End credit as Assistant Production Manager on Cock at the Ambassador’s Theatre, which came through their production manager, Ben Arkell, who works regularly
at CFT; next, I’m going to help him on the South Pacific tour. The apprenticeship is 80% working at CFT, 20% college work or self-training. Alongside this is a lot of coursework, building up to my end-point assessment for which I have to complete a big project and give a presentation on why I did it the way I did, and present my portfolio. This course is unique; it’s the first in the country. I genuinely don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t found it. To be a good production manager, you need a lot of experience; it’s hard to get into and it’s still a very male-dominated field, although the number of women is growing. Without this apprenticeship, I doubt I would still be considering it as a career. It’s been pretty life-changing.
FOOD AND DRINK Enjoy delicious food and drink at Chichester Festival Theatre. 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.
FOOD AND DRINK BEFORE THE SHOW
GREAT COFFEE IN A GREAT LOCATION
The Minerva Bar & Grill has a relaxed light menu with a great range of local gins and spirits, beers and wines.
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.
For more formal dining, a contemporary British menu is available in our stylish restaurant, The Brasserie.
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.
THE NARCISSIST A new play by Christopher Shinn
NOMINATING PRE The US presidential primaries and caucuses are held in the various states, Washington DC, and territories of the United States as a key part of the process of nominating candidates for election to the office of president of the United States. PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY HISTORY The US constitution doesn’t even mention political parties. Nor does it provide a method for choosing presidential candidates. It was not that the Founding Fathers did not anticipate
political parties as they had known them in England would come along; they simply were not keen to seemingly sanction party politics and its many inherent ills by recognising it in the nation’s constitution. In fact, the first confirmed official presidential primary was not held until 1920 in New Hampshire. Until then, presidential candidates were nominated solely by elite and influential party officials without any input from the American people. By the late 1800s, however, social activists of the Progressive
and caucuses start in late January or early February and are staggered state-by-state to end by mid-June before the general election in November. The state primaries or caucuses are not direct elections. Rather than choosing a specific person to run for president, they determine the number of delegates each party’s national convention will receive from their respective state. These delegates then select their party’s presidential nominee at the party’s national nominating convention.
Primaries provide a nationwide stage for the free and open exchange of all ideas and opinions.
ESIDENTS Era began to object to the lack of transparency and public involvement in the political process. Thus, today’s system of state primary elections evolved as a way to give the people more power in the presidential nomination process. Today, some states only hold primaries, some only hold caucuses and others hold a combination of both. In some states, the primaries and caucuses are held separately by each party, while other states hold ‘open’ primaries or caucuses in which members of all parties are allowed to participate. The primaries
After the 2016 presidential election, when Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton won the nomination over popular challenger Bernie Sanders, many rank-and-file Democrats argued that the party’s often-controversial ‘superdelegate’ system circumvented, at least to an extent, the intent of the primary election process. Whether the Democratic Party leaders will decide to retain the superdelegate system or not remains to be seen. Now, on to why the presidential primaries are important. GET TO KNOW THE CANDIDATES First, primary election campaigns are the main way voters get to know about all the candidates. After the national conventions, voters hear mainly about the platforms of exactly two candidates – one Republican and one Democrat. During the primaries, however, voters get to hear from several Republican and Democratic candidates, plus the candidates of third parties. As media coverage focuses on the voters of each state during primary season, all the candidates are more likely to get some coverage. The primaries provide a nationwide stage for the free and open exchange of all ideas and opinions – the foundation of the American form of participatory democracy.