Cast confirmed
Casting has been announced for The Taxidermist’s Daughter, a new play by Chichester’s internationally best-selling author Kate Mosse, based on her novel, which opens Chichester Festival Theatre’s 60th anniversary season from April 8.
Directed by Róisín Mcbrinn, the company includes Geoffrey Aymer, Pearl Chanda (as Cassie), William Chubb, Tim Frances, Daisy Prosper (as Connie), Forbes Masson, Taheen Modak, Akei Osai, Alastair Parker, Raad Rawi, Howard Saddler, Posy Sterling and Connie Walker.
1912. In the isolated Blackthorn House on Sussex’s Fishbourne Marshes, Connie Gifford lives with her father.
His Museum of Avian Taxidermy was once legendary, but since its closure Gifford has become a broken man, taking refuge in the bottle.
Robbed of her childhood memories by a mysterious accident, Connie is haunted by fitful glimpses of her past. A strange woman has been seen in the graveyard; and at Chichester’s Graylingwell Asylum, two female patients have, inexplicably, disappeared.
As a major storm hits the Sussex landscape, old wounds are about to be opened as one woman, intent on revenge, attempts to liberate another from the horrifying crimes of the past.
A story of retribution and justice, The Taxidermist’s Daughter comes promised as a thrilling Gothic mystery set in and around historic Chichester. This world premiere is written by Cicestrian Kate Mosse, based on her number-one internationally best-selling novel.
Kate Mosse’s novels include The Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel), The Winter Ghosts and her new historical series, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears; non-fiction includes
An Extra Pair of Hands.
She is founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, founder of the global Woman in History campaign and visiting professor in contemporary fiction and creative writing at the University of Chichester.
Róisín Mcbrinn is joint artistic director of Clean Break; elsewhere she has directed many productions for theatres including The Abbey and Gate Theatres (Dublin), Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres, Donmar Warehouse, Bush Theatre and Sherman Theatre.
Pearl Chanda makes her Chichester debut as Cassie; her theatre work includes Masha in Three Sisters and James Graham’s Ink (also West End) at the Almeida Theatre while television includes The War of the Worlds and I May Destroy You.
Daisy Prosper makes her professional theatre debut as Connie; on television she has appeared in The Devil’s Hour and Toast of Tinseltown.
Tickets on cft.org.uk or 01243 781312.