FIRST THRUST: CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE

London: Davis-Poynter. Very Good/Very Good. 1975. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0706701526 Dust jacket complete in a clear protective sleeve. black cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership inscription. 215 pages clean and tight. The Chichester Festival Theatre, the first major British theatre to have a thrust stage, is still one of the most exciting theatrical spaces in the country. Since it opened in 1962, we have forgotten how difficult it was first of all to bring it into existence, and then to keep it alive - the hostility and criticism which it endured have largely been lost in the delight of the millions who have visited it. Other theatres have been built without a proscenium, but none of them have come to be so important in our theatrical life, with large audiences sitting in close and intimate circles about the performances of our finest actors, in productions by our best directors. Ronald Hayman tells the story of how an unconventional theatre - the dream of one man - came to be built in a quiet West Sussex city, despite opposition and pessimism from all quarters. He discusses the challenges that the open stage presents to the actor, the director, and the designer, and the problems of choosing plays for it. He examines the use to which the theatre has been put during Olivier's four years as Artistic Director, Sir John Clements' eight years, and Keith Michell's first year, maintaining that a new theatre shape should elicit a new theatre style. In the second half of the book he gives a detailed critical survey of all the work so far performed at Chichester, analysing each production separately. This is a book for all who love the theatre, and who care about its development as an art form - it is also a fine tribute to the creation and continued existence of `the impossible theatre'. .