Full company announced for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at Chichester Festival Theatre
Photo credit: Seamus Ryan / Bob King Creative
Chichester’s Festival 2026 finale takes audiences to the exuberant, enchanted world of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, riotously transposed to 1990s Sussex where traditional values are going head-to-head with the party to end all parties, running from 18 September – 17 October.
It’s 1994 in Chichester, and Tory MP Theseus is riding high after shutting down free raves across the county, aided by local Chief Constable Egeus. Four spirited but unhappy young lovers rebel against their stuffy elders’ rules and take off to the South Downs.
Over the fields in Worthing, bohemian aristo-landowners Oberon and Titania are organising an illicit rave with naughty fixer Puck - when they aren’t arguing over the affections of The Changeling, a DJ party boy.
Meanwhile, the local Young Conservatives are busy rehearsing a play for Theseus’ forthcoming wedding, with the slightly over-enthusiastic support of new Club member, Bottom.
As night falls, psychedelic potions lead to startling transformations in the heady haze of freedom and desire. In the South Downs, magic is real. Anything can happen.
Artistic Director Justin Audibert follows his acclaimed Hamlet and hugely popular Festival Theatre production of Redlands, co-directing with Hannah Joss, in a production which celebrates Shakespeare’s language while spinning the world of Elizabethan players into full-colour living memory.
Joining comedian and satirist Munya Chawawa as Bottom, are Eve Ponsonby* (Hamlet, Chichester Festival Theatre) as Titania, and David Sturzaker (Dear England, UK tour) as Oberon; with Charlie Beck (Gentlemen, Arcola Theatre) as Snug / Mustardseed, Shane David Joseph (Driftwood, Kiln Theatre) as Puck, Celeste Dodwell (Much Ado About Nothing, National Theatre) as Hippolyta, Henry Everett (The Crucible, National Theatre) as Egeus, Tom Kanji (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Chichester/West End) as Theseus, Ellie Larkin (recent LAMDA graduate) as Lysanda, Afi Okaidja (Rocks) as Snout / Peaseblossom, Freya Parks (Here We Go) as Helena, Gavin Rasmussen (recent LAMDA graduate) as The Changeling / Philostrate, Angela Sant’Albano (Industry) as Hermia, Anna Soden (Malory Towers, Emma Rice Company) as Starveling / Moth, Giles Taylor (Shadowlands, West End) as Peter Quince, Kieran Taylor-Ford (Fat Ham, RSC) as Demetrius, and Kishore Walker (Easy Virtue, Cambridge Arts Theatre) as Flute / Cobweb.
Joining them as the Ravers are: Adhish Arul, Scarlette Guilfoyle, Mariana Fonseca, Hattie Musgrove, Jaz Reynolds, Cache Thake, Phoebe Tyler and Riley Woodford.
Also on the creative team are set designer is Joanna Scotcher, costume designer Ryan Dawson Laight, lighting designer Elliot Griggs, composer and sound designer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, video designer Ian William Galloway, movement director Jade Hackett, and casting director Matilda James CDG.
*replacing the originally announced Jemima Rooper, who for personal reasons is no longer able to perform in this production.
For more info on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, please click here.