Nikolai happy to say 'yes' to Noel Coward

A COUPLE of years ago the answer would have been "no, thanks!" if Nikolai Foster had been asked to come and direct a Coward at Chichester.Fortunately, Chichester Festival Theatre timed their invitation rather better than that. The response was an instant yes.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Apr 2009, 12:06 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 04:06 BST

In between times, Nikolai's view of Coward has undergone a pretty radical transformation. His production of Hay Fever opens the CFT main-house summer season (April 9-May 2).

"It's been a very interesting journey for me. I have not quite hit 30 yet and all through the last ten years I have worked in the theatre, I have consciously shied away from Coward.

"Growing up and reading his work and seeing productions of his plays, I have always felt that they had a very brittle exterior, that they were all about the style and the wit and the language and that there was not a lot going on underneath with the characters, that there was no real psychological journey there."

But then someone suggested he read A Song At Twilight, one of Coward's last pieces. Nikolai was hooked, so much so that he directed a revival currently on tour.

For full feature and more arts and entertainments see West Sussex Gazette April 8

Chichester Festival Theatre West Sussex Gazette