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Blue sky with white clouds are the backdrop to a stately home, with green manicured lawns stretching out in front, at the foreground of the image. To the right, up close, is a woman side on, wearing a black dress and black long sleeved gloves, with pearls around her neck.>

The Circle

Jane Asher   Clive Francis   Nicholas Le Prevost

By Somerset Maugham
Directed by Tom Littler

Tue 30 Jan – Sat 3 Feb 2024
  • The show
  • Prices & info
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  • Delve deeper
  • DatesTickets

About The Circle

5 Stars

An exceptional cast. Thrilling to watch. A comic treat.

WhatsOnStage

4 Stars

Tom Littler’s deft production of Maugham’s play is consistently candid and surprising. Strongly acted.

Guardian

Gallery

  • An older woman in a red satin dress sits on a stool. She has curled red hair and wears gold jewellery. She holds one hand in a fist.  An older man with white hair in a black suit stands behind her, his hands on her shoulders. The woman's other hand holds his, it looks like he is comforting her.
  • A woman in a cream-coloured blouse and red skirt stands on stage, smiling. She has curly red hair and a red jewelled necklace, and is looking at a man in a brown suite jacket with slick-backed grey hair. He is smiling warmly too. Behind them is a small brown stool and a door with glass windows.
  • Three older people in smart clothes stand on a parquet wooden floored stage, around a small wooden table and chairs. Closest to the camera is a man with white hair in a chequered suit jacket. He looks towards a red-haired woman and a grey-haired man with an angry expression. It looks like he is shouting, the others are shocked.
  • An older woman with red, curly haair sits behind a small wooden desk. She has a stern expression. Behind her, a man in a grey suit and an older man in a brown and cream suit lean on the back of her chair. All three are looking at someone that we cannot see, with firm and slightly imposing expressions. In the background is a chaise longue and small table with a lamp.

Jane Asher (Alfie, Deep End) plays Lady Kitty, a society beauty who notoriously abandoned her stuffy husband Clive (Clive Francis, The Crown), and eloped with the handsome Lord Porteous (Nicholas Le Prevost, Shakespeare in Love, Testament of Youth).

Thirty years later, love’s young dream has descended into non-stop squabbling… Meanwhile their son Arnold faces the same marital fate, as his wife Elizabeth threatens to elope with the dashing Teddie Luton.

Will history come full circle? Or can one generation learn from their parents’ disastrous mistakes? Somerset Maugham’s sparky comedy of manners was first staged in 1921 and has remained a firm favourite with audiences ever since.

Somerset Maugham was among the most successful novelists and playwrights of the inter-war years. Many of his novels, including The Painted Veil, Theatre, Up at the Villa and Of Human Bondage, have been adapted for the screen.

logos

  • Prologue event

Booking info

Running time
Approximately 2 hours 15 minutes, including an interval

About booking info

The Circle Content and Themes

The Circle Content and Themes

Language - none
Nudity - none
Violence - none
Themes - marriage, society, lust, family, scandal

Pricing

Tuesday evening and weekday matinees

pink
£10
green
£19
orange
£31
yellow
£39
blue
£42

Wednesday - Thursday evenings

pink
£10
green
£19
orange
£31
yellow
£41
blue
£44

Friday - Saturday performances

pink
£10
green
£21
orange
£34
yellow
£43
blue
£48

Offers

Friends
Friends Tuesday - Thursday:
£2 off
Groups
Groups 8+ Tuesday - Thursday:
10% off
Schools and student groups
Schools and student groups 10+ Tuesday - Thursday:
£8.50 per ticket; one free teacher ticket with every nine paid
Concessions
Concessions (Full-time students, Over 60s, Jobseeker Allowance and Universal Credit claimants) Tuesday - Thursday:
£2 off

Book early for the best prices

Winter 2023/24 prices are guaranteed until Monday 9 October and are then subject to change

All tickets

Tickets are non-refundable.

If you return your tickets to the Box Office at least 48 hours before the performance, you can exchange your tickets for the same production on another date (subject to availability). There is a £1.50 exchange fee per ticket (free for Friends).

Only one reduction applies per ticket, and all discounts are subject to availability and at the discretion of the Box Office.

Discounts do not apply to Previews and Press Nights

Festival Theatre

Discounts apply to top three price bands only

Some seating areas may not be available for all performances

Access tickets may be available for Access Members

Log in to your account to see Access seats. Select the relevant Access tickets in the basket to receive your discount (where applicable).

£5 Prologue Tickets may be available for 16-30 year olds

Log in to your account to see Prologue seats

Your visit

Getting here

By public transport

To plan your journey from door to door on public transport visit traveline.info for the quickest route.

Rail

Chichester Station is a 20 minute walk or a 5 minute taxi ride away, with regular direct links to London Victoria, Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Gatwick Airport. Connect to London Waterloo trains at nearby Havant. Visit nationalrail.co.uk or call 08457 484950 for timetables, restricted services and other details.

Walking directions from the station (20 minute walk):
Head out of the main entrance towards The Foundry Pub, walk past the pub with it on your left and straight up South Street until you come to The Cross (stone monument) which indicates an intersection of four streets. Continue straight ahead up North Street. At the top of North Street is a ring road, take the pedestrian underpass to North Gate Car Park and continue through the car park to reach the Theatre on the far side.

Bus

The number 60 Stagecoach bus stops near the Theatre. Visit the Stagecoach website for more information.

By car

The M27 and A27 run along the coast, linking Hampshire, Sussex and Kent. The M3, A3, A29, A259 and A24 connect Portsmouth, Southampton, Mid-Sussex and London. Use the map above for directions to Chichester Festival Theatre. It's also worth looking out for scheduled roadworks on the West Sussex Council website.

We'd encourage you to think green and minimise car travel where possible but recognise that driving may be your only travel option. If so, you have the option to carbon-offset your journey for £1, when booking your tickets. This £1 goes directly to Ecologi to support carbon-offsetting projects and international tree-planting programmes. Read more about this partnership here.

Parking

Northgate Car Park (PO19 6AA) is a 900-space council-run pay and display car park right on our doorstep, which charges from 8am until 8pm Monday - Saturday and 10am until 5pm on Sundays. You can pay by cash, card and contactless and the MiPermit app - chichester.gov.uk/mipermit

As we're so conveniently located, the car park can get very busy with city centre shoppers as well as our audiences. Allow plenty of time to park (especially if you're coming to a matinee!) and consider alternative car parks in Chichester. You can find all options at chichester.gov.uk/parking.

Parking for disabled patrons

If you have a Blue Badge you can park anywhere in Northgate Car Park free of charge. There are 9 non-reservable spaces close to the Theatre entrance. Visit Chichester District Council for other available car parks.

We have a 'drop off' area in front of the Theatres, which you can access from the Broyle Road entrance.

By coach

Coming with a large group? The coach drop-off point is outside the Festival Theatre with a coach park in Via Ravenna.

By bike

We're linked to the city’s cycle lane network and our bike park can hold 26 bicycles. It's right next to the Pimlott Building by the park, just off the Theatre’s access road. chichester.gov.uk/cycling

Accessibility

Accessible toilets

Toilets, washrooms, bathrooms or loos - whatever you call them, it's likely that you'll want to visit ours while you're here.

We have two fully accessible toilets in the Festival Theatre Foyer (one on each side) and another in the Festival Theatre (auditorium left, adjacent with row L), plus one on each level of the Minerva Theatre.

We also have two sets of ladies and gents in the Festival Theatre and another two sets in the Minerva (offering a total of 63 cubicles, four of which are ambulant, and 27 urinals), so there's no shortage of places to spend a penny.

Accessible performances

You can filter what's on by access need and you can find accessible performances on each of the separate production pages as well. We hope this will make it easier to find what you need but if you have any queries or suggestions let us know at hello@cft.org.uk. We'd love to get your feedback!

For wheelchair users or people requiring step-free access
  • There is level access across the CFT site with lifts available to other levels.
  • The Café on the Park and our restaurant, The Brasserie, are fully wheelchair accessible and offer brilliant coffee and great dining experiences.
  • 16 wheelchair spaces are available across two levels in the Festival Theatre and we have two spaces in the Minerva Theatre. Call or email Box Office on 01243 781312 or box.office@cft.org.uk to book your space (or register as an Access member to book online).
  • Want to transfer from a wheelchair into a theatre seat? Let us know in advance when you book and we can help you.
  • Wheelchairs are available to borrow if you need one when you get here; email box.office@cft.org.uk to reserve yours in advance.
  • Not in a wheelchair but have limited mobility? Walking sticks, crutches and walking aids can all be taken into the theatres and if you can't fit them safely under your seat we'll store them for you in a safe location. We'll do our best to get them back to you swiftly at the end of the performance but please allow extra time in case our Front of House team are busy elsewhere.

If you find an area of our building where access is restricted (unfortunately there are a few), our Box Office and Front of House team members have all completed accessibility training so have a chat to them. They'll happily answer questions or take on feedback to share with the rest of the organisation.

For people with visual impairments
  • Audio described performances provide friendly live commentary over discreet headphones. Pick up your headset from our cloakrooms in the Festival Theatre or outside the Minerva auditorium. (And as an added bonus, we'll share a "pre-description" with you before the show just to give you a taste of what's to come.)
  • Free touch tours are available 90 minutes before audio described performances so you can explore the set and costumes. Make sure you book your space in advance.
  • All seat row ends and individual seats have Braille signage and we can provide a Braille or large print cast list for all Festival season productions.
  • Our season brochures are available in large print or audio format (we're on Soundcloud or contact access@cft.org.uk and we'll send you a CD).

Can't make our audio described dates? Let our House Manager know (housemanager@cft.org.uk) and we'll see if it's possible to arrange an alternative.

For those who are D/deaf or hard of hearing
  • At BSL interpreted performances a British Sign Language interpreter stands on or at the side of the stage and interprets the spoken word and sound effects.
  • Stagetext captioned performances provide English subtitles either on a screen above or to the side of the stage, or on a personal tablet in specific seats. Our Box Office can make sure you're booked into a seat that gives you a good view of the captioning units so contact them on 01243 781312.
  • We record and caption many of our pre-show talks and make them available on YouTube.
  • Both theatres are equipped with Infra-Red audio enhancement system and you can pick up a headset at our cloakrooms before the show for free.
  • Hearing aid user? Switch to the 'T' position once inside the auditorium to use our induction loop system. Handy tip: this system works best if you're sat in the centre of the auditorium so chat to our Box Office (01243 781312 or box.office@cft.org.uk) when booking if you'd like to use this service.
  • We have a chat function available on the website and can answer questions via email if helpful at access@cft.org.uk

We carry out regular checks on these systems but sometimes technology unfortunately fails us. If you're having any difficulties whatsoever, make sure you speak to a member of staff as soon as possible so we can try to fix the problem.

Seat widths

In the Festival Theatre, seats vary from 500mm wide to 560mm wide. In the Minerva Theatre they are either 515mm wide or 520mm wide. All our seats have fixed armrests. Click here to download plans for both venues showing the widths of the different seats.

Please give our Box Office a call on 01243 781312 or email access@cft.org.uk if you would like any further information.

The Festival Theatre foyer is full of people, some sitting, some standing and some waiting for drinks at the bar.

Explore our spaces

Take a peek before you arrive, book a tour or plan your visit
More info
Two customers are waiting at the counter in our cafe which is loaded with delicious looking cakes. Behind the counter a staff member is making barista coffees.

Food and drink

Delicious dining in The Brasserie, drinks in the Bar or grab a cuppa in our cracking café
More info
A close up of some hand-drawn 3D versions of Chichester landmarks in the middle of a giant paper map. The map sits in the middle of the theatre foyer with children running around it and cutting out other landmarks.

Meet our neighbours

There's so much to do in Chichester and the surrounding area
More info

Get Involved

Linked events

  1. Festival Theatre

    Post-Show Talk: The Circle

    Thu 1 Feb 2024
    More info about Post-Show Talk: The Circle Book now
  2. Touch tour

    Touch Tour: The Circle

    Fri 2 – Sat 3 Feb 2024
    More info about Touch Tour: The Circle Book now

Choose Dates and Book

Filter by:

Venue

Festival TheatreFrom £10
Running time
Approximately 2 hours 15 minutes, including an interval

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  • Prologue event

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A stage for every story

Chichester Festival Theatre

Contact Details

Call: (01243) 781312 Email: hello@cft.org.uk
Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, PO19 6AP


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©2023 Chichester Festival Theatre. Chichester Festival Theatre is a registered charity. Charity no. 1088552. Chichester Festival Theatre is a company limited by guarantee. Company no. 4210225. Website by Supercool.