Minerva Theatre, Chichester, Theatre venue in Chichester, England
The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre in Chichester, England, built as part of the Chichester Festival Theatre complex. Its stage is surrounded by seating on three sides, which brings the audience much closer to the performers than in a traditional theatre layout.
The Minerva Theatre opened in 1989, giving the Chichester Festival Theatre a smaller and more flexible space alongside its main stage. This allowed the company to stage productions that would not have fitted the scale of the larger building.
The Minerva Theatre is known for staging world premieres, often bringing new writers to the stage for the first time. The seating wraps closely around the performance area, so the audience feels directly involved in the action.
The theatre sits right next to the Chichester Festival Theatre, so both venues are easy to reach on foot from each other. Booking in advance is a good idea, as the small capacity means popular shows sell out quickly.
Several productions that began at the Minerva Theatre have later transferred to the West End in London after their run in Chichester. This means a show seen here might go on to reach a much wider national audience.
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