Summer season in full

The productions coming up this spring and summer at Chichester Festival Theatre in the new season announced today are:

•The Other Boleyn Girl

by Mike Poulton, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, directed by Lucy Bailey. April 19-May 11, Festival Theatre.

Henry VIII’S court is a stage for love and treachery where the weapons of choice are sex, marriage and the executioner’s axe. As Henry’s mistress, Mary Boleyn is a pawn in her family’s lust for power. Queen Katherine of Aragon hasn’t produced a male heir, and Mary’s ruthless uncle scents the chance of putting his niece on the throne. But Henry’s wandering eye has fallen on another: Mary’s headstrong sister Anne, whose ambition not only threatens to destroy her bond with Mary and their brother George but shakes the foundation of Church and State. Can Mary take charge of her own fate?

Based on Philippa Gregory’s internationally bestselling novel, The Other Boleyn Girl is a recreation of intrigue at the Tudor court – a racy and riveting drama of events that changed the course of English history. The cast includes Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, The Tempest RSC) as Lady Elizabeth, Freya Mavor (Industry, Skins) as Anne Boleyn, Lucy Phelps (Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare’s Globe, Measure for Measure RSC) as Mary Boleyn and Andrew Woodall (South Downs/the Browning Version, Fracked! CFT) as the Duke of Norfolk.

•The House Party by Laura Lomas, an adaptation of Miss Julie by August Strindberg, directed by Holly Race Roughan, a co-production with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly. May 3-June 1, Minerva Theatre.

A wild party. A friendship. A cherished pet.

And a night that changes everything. It’s Julie’s 18th birthday, and she’s throwing a party in her father’s extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her, and her long-suffering best friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend