00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now the
00:05 opening play in the Minerva season is going to be fantastic. It's The House Party, a modern
00:11 adaptation of Schoenberg's Miss Julie, but one of the most exciting things is it brings
00:16 back to Chichester Festival Theatre for the third time in three years, Rochelle Diedrich's.
00:21 Now you are so excited to be back, aren't you?
00:26 Yeah, I love Chichester and everyone's so lovely and it's just, I'm so excited to be
00:31 there when it's going to be warm as well. So it's just going to be a little holiday.
00:35 And Chichester has given you some fantastic opportunities, hasn't it? But what is it about
00:39 Chichester that you enjoy in terms of just being here?
00:45 Well, it's exciting work. Everything that I see there is amazing. And it's the artistic
00:56 directors of that building have just done such an amazing job of programming and I just
01:03 get excited about coming back.
01:06 And I think you were in one of the most exciting things I've ever seen in more than 30 years
01:14 of watching things at the Festival Theatre. Your debut at the Festival Theatre was Our
01:18 Generation just slightly coming out of the pandemic, which was an absolutely impactful
01:23 piece, wasn't it? And must have been superb to be part of.
01:27 Yeah, it is. And it's like, the reach of OurGen has been insane. I worked at a theatre a couple
01:35 of weeks, a couple of months ago, and it's been like two, three years now, nearly, since
01:40 OurGen finished. But like, people are still stopping me, like in Tesco's being like, I
01:45 saw OurGen with my kid and he's like, two years old now. And like, we loved it. And
01:50 I'm like, oh my goodness, that is...
01:51 And now I'm doing the same. I mean, it was fabulous, wasn't it? It was a brilliant piece.
01:55 Yeah, I love it. Think about it like every other day, really. Yeah, because it's just
02:01 that it was so fun.
02:02 But it was so appropriate for the moment, wasn't it? And it sounds like this is going
02:06 to be appropriate for the moment too. This is again, targeting new audiences, fresh audiences,
02:11 bringing them into the theatre. Why is this going to be a cracking show? What do you think
02:16 of it?
02:17 Well, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be an exciting night at the
02:22 theatre. It's immersive. So we're hoping that people really embrace that and like, you know,
02:30 that they're up for a party, but also a party that just is mental. So yeah, I think it's
02:39 a representation of young people going through some like really heavy stuff and navigating
02:44 that. So yeah, it's exciting.
02:49 Fantastic. Well, it opens in the nervous season. Really lovely to see you again and speak to
02:55 you again and looking forward to your fourth in four years, next year, whatever that will
02:59 be.
03:00 I hope, I hope. A yearly stage is there. I'd love it.
03:08 Thanks so much.
03:10 Thank you, Phil.
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