2024: Justin Audibert - The Caretaker and Redlands

2024: Justin Audibert - The Caretaker and Redlands

Justin Audibert’s first season as Artistic Director of CFT travelled through English history from the Tudors to the present, through unsung heroes and rarely told stories. Justin himself directed two productions: Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, and a new play by Charlotte Jones, Redlands. They exemplified his approach to the two different spaces: the Festival Theatre as a space for spectacle, big ideas and public discussion, while the Minerva lent into intimacy and tension.

Ian McDiarmid in The Caretaker Image: Ellie Kurttz 2024

The Caretaker, premiered in 1960, was only the second full-length play by Harold Pinter to be produced at Chichester. Ian McDiarmid played Davies, the unscrupulous drifter who finds himself in a power struggle with brothers Aston and Mick. The production notably achieved intermediate level for the Theatre Green Book – a set of sustainability guidelines established to help theatres transition to a circular supply chain.

Redlands – a local story with national resonance – told the dramatic story of the 1967 drugs bust at Keith Richards’s house in the Witterings, and how Michael Havers QC managed to get the Rolling Stones acquitted: a formative experience for his young son, the future actor Nigel Havers. Audiences and media alike relished the opportunity to revisit possibly the most bizarre English court case ever held.

Redlands Image: Ikin Yum 2024

Redlands production photos by Ikin Yum

A group of people in brightly coloured 1960s-style clothes in shades of yellow, green, orange, purple and pink are dancing or posing against an orange curtain background, with the word 'Go-Go' spelled out in neon yellow lights.
In the centre, two men in extravagant 1960s costumes - flowery flares and silvery satin shirts with ruffles - are giving an energetic performance. The man on the left is singing into a hand-held microphone with his right elbow bent and his hand on his hip. The musician on the right is also singing into his companion's microphone while playing a guitar. Behind them are two more guitarists and in the background are a number of large illuminated capital letters.
A young fair-haired man sits on a low carpeted step, resting his arms on his knees and with a thoughtful expression on his face. He wears a grey velvet jacket, brown rollneck and brown checked trousers. Behind him, out of focus, stands a man in barrister's gown and wig, carrying a brown paper file.
'Redlands' is spelled out in illuminated capital letters.
Three men stand behind a wooden desk on which is emblazoned the word 'Court', staring out to their left with shocked expressions. On the left, the man wears a shiny brown suit and tie; the other two men both wear barristers' legal dress and wigs. The older man in the centre wears glasses, and the younger man on the right carried a sheaf of papers under his arm.
Three people around a table set for lunch. At left, a young man looks away from the camera to his companions, wearing a bright pink flowery shirt. In the centre, a woman with long brown hair swept back, sits smiling at the young man, wearing a turquoise blouse and lifting a wine glass. At right, an older man stands talking cheerfully to them as though telling a joke; he has white hair and a moustache and is smartly dressed in a brown suit, checked waistcoat and tie.
A young woman with long blonde hair and red lipstick stands smiling to her left, wearing a yellow boho dress with red embroidery and carrying a yellow handbag. Behind her are illuminated yellow letters saying Go-Go.
An actor playing Mick Jagger stands at the right of the photo, performing a song. He holds a microphone to his mouth, grasping the mic stand with his left hand, and wears 1960s style ochre coloured velvet jacket, yellow shirt and trousers with a grey cravat. Behind him is a dark red curtain and at left, out of focus, is the outline of a policeman.
A young man with dark curly hair stands behind a wooden desk with the word 'Crown' emblazoned on it. He wears a Regency-style brown frock coat and cream shirt with extravagant ruffle at the neck and wrists, and looks out with a cheeky, irreverent expression.
A young woman with long blonde hair stands with a large pink fur rug wrapped around her. Next to her is a man wearing sunglasses, with a brown check blazer, striped shirt and yellow trousers. They are both looking up to their left. A red ruched curtain hangs to the left of the picture.
A middle-aged man with grey hair and glasses, wearing a dark three-piece pin-stripe suit, sits at a desk and stares out at the camera with a serious, unamused expression. An umbrella is propped against the desk and he holds a fountain pen in his right hand. Behind the desk, a brown-haired man wearing a shiny grey striped suit stands staring to the right, smoking a large cigar.
A scene in a courtroom. Towards the back on the left, a judge in wig and red robes sits behind a wooden desk on a tall-backed green leather chair, with a legal clerk to his right. On the right of the picture stands a barrister in legal robes and wig, wearing glasses and addressing someone out of shot to the left. Seated next to him is a younger barrister, also in a wig, behind a desk on which the word 'Court' is emblazoned.