Download Chichester Festival Theatre appoints Daniel Evans as new Artistic

PRESS RELEASE
Chichester Festival Theatre appoints Daniel Evans as new Artistic Director
Chichester Festival Theatre Chairman, Sir William Castell, announced today that the Board
has appointed Daniel Evans to succeed Jonathan Church as Artistic Director of Chichester
Festival Theatre. Daniel Evans has been Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres since
2009. He will take up his new post in July 2016.
Sir William said: “I am delighted to confirm Daniel Evans as our next artistic leader. After a
comprehensive search, we were presented with a very accomplished shortlist of candidates
but it was clear that Daniel’s breadth of experience as a director and actor makes him a
brilliant fit for Chichester Festival Theatre. He is widely admired for championing classical
work and musicals alongside a commitment to new writing, and his passion for theatre is
infectious. I am very happy he has chosen to share that with us as we look forward to a
terrific future for CFT.”
Daniel Evans said: “I am truly delighted to be asked by the Board at Chichester Festival
Theatre to become its next Artistic Director. Under the leadership of Jonathan Church and
Executive Director Alan Finch, Chichester has developed into the most incredible theatrical
powerhouse which has fed and nourished the local community in the South East as well as
the theatre ecology throughout the UK and internationally. I look forward to collaborating with
the team in West Sussex to develop that work further as the organisation evolves into this
next exciting chapter in its history.
“I am hugely grateful to the entire staff at Sheffield Theatres and I’m deeply proud of the
bold, passionate and enriching work we’ve achieved together in our City Region. It has been
a real privilege to lead the organisation for the last seven years.”
Jonathan Church, who leaves Chichester in September 2016, added: “I could not be happier
with this fantastic news. Daniel is a first-rate director with a real passion for theatre and I’m
really pleased to be leaving Chichester Festival Theatre in such good hands. As someone
who has lived and worked in Sheffield, I can truly appreciate everything that he has achieved
there. Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre has the only other large-scale Guthrie thrust stage in the
UK, so Daniel’s experience will sit wonderfully with our audience here in Chichester and be
welcomed with great excitement by our staff.
“I will continue to programme and deliver our Festival 2016 season as I hand over to Daniel
and wish him every good fortune as he takes over the helm.”
The recruitment of the Artistic Director was led by Sir William Castell with Genista McIntosh
as External Adviser. The recruitment of the new Executive Director to replace Alan Finch will
begin immediately with an announcement expected next spring.
Daniel Evans was born in 1973 in South Wales. He trained as an actor and has gone on to
be the recipient of two Olivier Awards and a Tony nomination. He has been Artistic Director
of Sheffield Theatres since 2009 where his programming has included acclaimed seasons of
plays by David Hare, Brian Friel, Michael Frayn and Sarah Kane. He is currently directing a
new production of Show Boat at Sheffield and his production of American Buffalo with
Damian Lewis recently completed a West End run at the Wyndham’s Theatre.
ENDS
Enquiries and photographs: Lydia Cassidy, Director of Marketing and Communications,
01243 812929 [email protected]
Biography - Daniel Evans
Daniel Evans was born in South Wales and trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama.
In 2009, Daniel was appointed Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres where his work as a
director includes Show Boat, The Effect, Anything Goes, The Sheffield Mysteries, Oliver!
(Best Regional Production, WhatsOnStage Awards 2014), This Is My Family (Best Musical
Production, UK Theatre Awards 2013), An Enemy of the People, Racing Demon, Othello,
Macbeth, My Fair Lady (Best Regional Production, WhatsOnStage Awards 2013) and The
Full Monty (Best Touring Production, UK Theatre Awards), and, as an actor, Company, The
Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest, which transferred to the Old Vic Theatre, London.
Sheffield Theatres won Regional Theatre of the Year Award for an unprecedented two
consecutive years in 2013 and 2014.
He has also recently directed American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom
Sturridge in the West End.
Daniel is also a double Olivier Award-winning actor. His theatre work includes Henry V,
Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure For Measure and Cymbeline for the
Royal Shakespeare Company); Cardiff East, Peter Pan, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, The
Merchant of Venice for the National Theatre; Merrily We Roll Along (Olivier Award) and
Grand Hotel for the Donmar Warehouse; Ghosts (English Touring Theatre); Other People,
Cleansed, Where Do We Live and 4.48 Psychosis for the Royal Court; Total Eclipse and
Sunday in the Park with George (Olivier Award, Tony nomination) at the Menier Chocolate
Factory, the West End and on Broadway.
Television credits include The Passion, Doctor Who, The Virgin Queen, Spooks, Love in a
Cold Climate, Great Expectations, Daniel Deronda and To The Ends of the Earth. Film
credits include Les Misérables.
Daniel is a Fellow of the Guildhall School and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam
University in 2012. Daniel is also co-founder of Act For Change.