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),
New Vic Theatre and this shortened name was formally adopted later. Whereas the old theatre had a seating capacity of 389, the main auditorium in the new theatre has a capacity of just over 600, with the audience surrounding a central stage as before. The acoustics for music are good and the Lindsay String Quartet performed there regularly, as they had done at the old theatre. The theatre continues to keep close to its Potteries roots. One of the plays in its re-opening season was by local playwright Arthur Berry. In 1998 Peter Cheeseman retired as Artistic Director, and was succeeded by Gwenda