Chichester Festival Theatre to stream selection of archive productions beginning with the musical Flowers for Mrs Harris

For the first time, Chichester Festival Theatre is to stream a selection of its archive productions online, beginning with the musical Flowers for Mrs Harris from Thursday 9 April for the Easter weekend. It  will be free to watch and broadcast for 30 days on CFT’s website 

With a book by Rachel Wagstaff and music and lyrics by Richard Taylor, Flowers for Mrs Harris captures the glowing humanity of the novella by Paul Gallico on which it is based. The production began at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield, where it won three UK Theatre Awards including Best Musical.It is the story of Ada Harris, a char-lady in post-war London whose drab life of dusting and scrubbing is transformed when she glimpses a Christian Dior dress in one of her client’s wardrobes and sets her heart on going to Paris to buy one for herself.

The 2018 Chichester Festival production is directed by Daniel Evans, with a cast led by Clare Burt (who won a UK Theatre Award for her performance), Joanna Riding and Gary Wilmot.Also in the cast are Claire Machin, Louis Maskell, Mark Meadows, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Nicola Sloane, Luke Latchman and Rhona McGregor, and a company of ‘Dior models’ largely drawn from Chichester Festival Youth Theatre.

Daniel Evans and Kathy Bourne, Artistic and Executive Directors respectively of CFT, said: ‘We are delighted that, thanks to the generous agreement of all the artists involved, we are able to make Flowers for Mrs Harris available for people to watch for free at home. Initially, this was intended to be no more than an archive recording, but we felt that the themes of kindness and compassion might bring a bit of joy to people’s lives during these very difficult conditions. While the T­­­­­­­­­heatre itself is closed, we are determined to keep working behind the scenes to bring theatre to people at home. Happy Easter from us all at CFT!’


Details of future broadcasts will be announced shortly.