Coram Boy By Helen Edmundson Based on the novel by Jamila Gavin
Welcome
Welcome
Hello, and a warm welcome to Coram Boy. Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Jamila Gavin’s Whitbread Award-winning novel premiered at the National Theatre in 2005, and we are thrilled to give this enthralling adventure a new life on our Festival Theatre stage. Having started the season with the Tudors, we now move to the 18th century: an equally colourful, and sometimes brutal, world. Coram Boy doesn’t shy away from the dark side of Georgian England, but – as Gillian Pugh recounts in her fascinating article about the origins of the Foundling Hospital – it also celebrates the uplifting efforts of those who strive to alleviate suffering and injustice. As John Simmons says in his reflection on philanthropy, ‘People choose to do terrible things but they also choose to do good things.’ We are delighted to welcome director Anna Ledwich back to Chichester, where she was formerly Artistic Director of Theatre on the Fly (2012) and has also been our writer in residence: contributing adaptations of Michael Morpurgo’s The Butterfly Lion, Pinocchio and Beauty and the Beast, as well as her promenade play Crossing Lines. Her expert creative team also includes many familiar names, including designer Simon Higlett. Another important local partnership is with Chichester Cathedral, whose young choristers – led by the Organist and Master of Choristers, Charles Harrison – recorded some of Handel’s wonderful music which you’ll hear in the play. Our thanks to them, and to the superb ensemble cast of seasoned and newly minted actors. We hope you enjoy this performance and to see you again soon – whether for our eagerly-anticipated summer musical Oliver! or one of our world premiere dramas, including The Promise and Redlands.
Justin Audibert Artistic Director
Kathy Bourne Executive Director
Kathy Bourne and Justin Audibert Photograph by Peter Flude
Consider yourself one of us!
Oliver! Festival Theatre 8 July – 7 September What would a Festival season be without a magnificent musical as its centrepiece? Matthew Bourne, who’s internationally renowned for his ground-breaking reinventions of dance classics such as Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands, as well as his Olivier Award-winning choreography for My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins, is making his Chichester debut as both director and choreographer of Lionel Bart’s unforgettable Oliver! We’re once again collaborating with producer extraordinaire Cameron Mackintosh, with whom we last worked on Half a Sixpence, who has a six decade-long love of this iconic musical, and longstanding friendships and collaborations with both Lionel Bart and Matthew Bourne. He and Matthew have been inspired to go back to the more intimate ensemble roots of the original production and create a brand new reimagining of Bart’s masterpiece. Cameron tells us: ‘I was taken to see Oliver! for the first time as a 13-year-old schoolboy, shortly after it opened in June 1960; Lionel’s glorious songs blew me away and the show changed the British musical for ever.
‘We very much hope that audiences will be coming back for more all over again!’
To promise nearly fifty million people truly universal health care – ‘cradle to the grave’ – is crackers.
The Promise Minerva Theatre 19 July – 17 August Following The Caretaker into the Minerva Theatre is our third world premiere of the season: Paul Unwin’s new play The Promise. The NHS is never far from the headlines so, in what looks certain to be an election year, it’s worth remembering that we haven’t always been lucky enough to have it. Directed by Jonathan Kent, The Promise evokes the dramatic political struggle to establish this revolutionary service. CFT Artistic Director Justin Audibert says: ‘Set in post-war Britain, the play features many of the true titans of the Labour movement, from Ernest Bevin and Aneurin Bevan, to Stafford Cripps, Clement Atlee and Herbert Morrison. But it really centres around Ellen Wilkinson, who was a radical outsider (chiming with one of the themes of this season) and how she galvanised that Cabinet, alongside Nye Bevan, to create something so hopeful.
‘You’ll feel like a fly on the wall, watching these brilliant personalities as their emotional lives get tangled up in arguments and compromises to create this integral part of our society.’
Technically Speaking With every show, the spotlight falls inevitably on the performers on stage. But have you ever wondered who is operating the lighting and sound effects; who sewed the costumes, sourced the props and made sure all the elements came together as a seamless whole? Running alongside Chichester Festival Youth Theatre groups focusing on drama, dance and musical theatre, the Technical Youth Theatre offers a chance to explore all the practical, technical and creative elements that go into putting on productions. It’s led by Sally Garner-Gibbons, CFT’s Apprenticeship Co-ordinator. ‘I’ve been working with the Youth Theatre since 1998, and we always had a little army of backstage cadets – in fact Graham Taylor, now CFT’s
Head of Lighting, was one of those people,’ says Sally. ‘We try to give everyone a taste of the minutiae of what it means to work backstage. We do a lot of making and designing – prop and costume making, masks and puppetry. We look at lighting and sound, and stage management techniques such as scale measuring and how to cue a sequence. We have visiting lecturers and the CFT staff are incredibly generous with their time and expertise.’ The most exciting aspect for most participants is the chance to work on the CFYT productions alongside the professional technical and stage management teams. ‘Everything we’ve covered in the Youth Theatre sessions suddenly comes to life,’
Above: Sally Garner-Gibbons and Technical Youth Theatre members with lighting designer Ryan Day. Opposite: Jack Ratcliffe, a Technical Youth Theatre member.
says Sally. ‘We’ve been so fortunate with the Deputy Stage Managers [who call the actors’ and technical cues during a performance] and Assistant Stage Managers [generally responsible for all the props used on a show] because they’ve been so open to having young trainees around. As far as I’m aware, it’s the longest established Technical Youth Theatre in the country.’ The experience can open the door to career possibilities of which young people were previously unaware. ‘Often they don’t know anything about stage management when they’re young,’ Sally explains. ‘Matthew Hoy, who was one of our very early intake, came because he couldn’t find an after school club for photography; he did two sessions on stage management and realised he loved it. He’s now ASM on Hamilton and Les Mis in the West End. Ryan Pantling went on to Chichester College and completed his apprenticeship here in 2020. He is now a regular casual technician with the sound department. ‘Georgia Dacey has since worked at the RSC and The Old Vic and is returning to CFT as ASM for this year’s Christmas show, Cinderella. Hannah Lipton was Company Stage Manager on Truth & Tails, CFT’s show for families and schools in 2023 and has been appointed ASM for The Caretaker and Hey! Christmas Tree. Henry Reeder went on to Northbrook College to study Production Arts and has just been appointed as ASM Dep for Oliver!; in 2023, he also won the John Hyland Award for his outstanding contribution to the work of CFT. Following his professional training, Sammy Lacey has just finished a UK tour of The Full Monty as ASM.’ But whether or not you decide to make theatre your career, Sally is clear that any young person will get a lot out of the experience. ‘The wonderful thing about the Tech Youth Theatre is that it becomes a skillssharing opportunity. I see the progression: having done two Christmas or Summer shows, the young people then mentor the new intake. And because people tend to
join with people they’ve never met before, they have to forge relationships outside their tight little school group. It builds their confidence and communication skills. ‘I try really hard to ignite the flame that I had ignited in me, all those years ago, about how wonderful it is to be backstage. Theatre is not just about what happens on stage or front of house, it’s about all the magic that we make happen.’
Technical Youth Theatre sessions run one evening a week during term-time at CFT. Anyone in Year 10+ can apply; no experience is necessary. For more information please email cfyt@cft.org.uk; the next intake for members will be September 2024. With thanks to Liz Juniper for supporting the Technical Youth Theatre and all of our LEAP supporters
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Coram Boy By Helen Edmundson Based on the novel by Jamila Gavin
Thomas C
and the Foundling H England in the early 18th century was, as indeed it still is, a country of deep contrasts. The population in 1750 is estimated to have been just over six million, about 10% of whom lived in London. While there was considerable wealth among the landed gentry and aristocracy, the country was largely poor and rural, although cities such as London were an increasing magnet to those who wanted to make a better living. As growing urbanisation began to replace a largely agricultural way of life, there was a rise in homelessness and illegitimate children. This was, of course, well before the days of the welfare state. The government saw its responsibility primarily as to fight the French and uphold law and order. It was up to parishes or charities to educate children, heal the sick, house the homeless, and provide pensions for the elderly.
Unmarried mothers and their illegitimate children were seen as a particular burden, combining moral failing and a lack of financial responsibility. Poverty tended to be seen as a moral defect that threatened social order. The Poor Law system was struggling to cope with the demands made on it. The problems of the poor had far outstripped the ability of the parish relief system to cope, and there was
Captain Thomas Coram by William Hogarth, 1740. © Coram in the care of the Foundling Museum.
a view that workhouses encouraged idleness, which led to vice and crime.
In the face of considerable opposition, Coram spent 17 years building up support for a foundling hospital… he was disgusted at the church’s self-righteous and unforgiving attitude to unmarried mothers. In this climate, unmarried mothers and their illegitimate children were seen as a particular burden, combining moral failing and a lack of financial responsibility. An unmarried mother was shamed and seen as an encumbrance on the parish. If her baby died, she would be accused of murder and may well have been hanged. If the baby survived, her life would be in ruins. So, many babies were abandoned while their mothers sought to improve their fortunes. The infant mortality rate was high – one in three babies died before the age of two, and half of those who survived died before the age of 15. The death rate in workhouses was 90% and in one Westminster parish, only one in 500 foundlings survived. This was the London to which Thomas Coram returned after a life at sea. He was born in 1668 in Lyme Regis. His mother died when he was three, and at the age of 11, after limited schooling, his father sent him to sea.
Coram
Hospital