Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Clare Burt, Sheila Hancock and Kirsty MacLaren. Credit: Johan Persson/ When I arrived at Chichester Festival Theatre last night to see the first production of this year’s season I was uncharacteristically unprepared. I’m normally that person who meticulously researches every little detail of a show before seeing it but like the changing of a season or the realisation you’re no longer as fit (or young) as you used to be the date rather crept up on me.

It’s the simplest of structures for a play. A small group of people take turns telling each other stories. Nothing ground-breaking in the premise. Add a setting – a village pub in rural Ireland, a cast of 5, four local men and a woman new to the locale and give the stories a whiff of the supernatural – a hint of possibilities that could all have a logical explanation but nonetheless make the hairs stand up on your neck. Mix it all together and you have a truly excellent play on your hands.

Ian McKellen as Lear with Phil Daniels as the Fool and Sinead Cusack as Kent. Way back in the early days of Sitting In The Cheap Seats we had our first opportunity to review a Shakespeare play. In Chichester Festival Theatre ’s cosy Minerva space we saw Frank Langella lead a great cast and firmly add to our love of the Bard! Fast forward a few years and we’re back at the Minerva, once again awaiting an award winning actor to take on arguably the finest of roles!

Ahead of  Headlong ‘s new production of ‘This House’ heading to the West End we dispatched Emma van Kooperen to check it out in the cosy confines of Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.

While we can lay claim to a lot of things here at  Sitting In The Cheap Seats  we’ve not, as yet, mastered the act of being in two places at once. As such it was a case of divide and conquer on Friday night as Matt headed to London to see The Fix (review here ) while  Emma van Kooperen   braved the massed Pokemon trainers of Chichester to head to the  Minerva Theatre , Here’s her report…

60 or so years ago  Jean Anouilh ’s works were popular enough for the BBC to broadcast a recording of him reading one of his plays in the original French. These days he’s hardly a household name, but he still maintains enough popularity for his work to be readily revisited.  Chichester Festival Theatre  have regularly produced productions of his plays and this translation, by  Jeremy Sams  who also directs, was originally put together for a production at the Almeida Theatre way back in 1990.