Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, Sussex, England, is a theatre designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. The smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989. The inaugural Artistic Director was Sir Laurence Olivier, and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed. Chichester's productions would transfer to the NT's base at the Old Vic in London. The opening productions in 1962 were: "The Chances" by John Fletcher (first production 1638) which opened on 3 July; "The Broken Heart" (1633),
The Old Vic to the stage. Since 2015 Matthew Warchus has been Artistic Director of The Old Vic. His debut season opened in September 2015 with Warchus's production of a new play about education, "Future Conditional" by Tamsin Oglesby. On 24 October 2017 The Old Vic announced its bicentenary season. The theatre celebrated its 200th birthday on Friday 11 May 2018 with a free performance of Joe Penhall's Mood Music, featuring Ben Chaplin. Productions with Kevin Spacey as artistic director include: 2011 season 2012 season 2013 season 2014 season 2015 season Productions with Matthew Warchus as artistic director include: 2015-16 season 2016-17 season