What better way for a festival to start than with a sold-out run of its first show?

The woman behind suburban behemoth Hyacinth Bucket, Patricia Routledge, is starring in Alan Bennett's Office Suite, which is made up of two one-act plays: A Visit From Miss Prothero and Green Forms.

Both plays were written for Patricia and examine changes in office life, taking the viewpoints of a retired Warburtons manager and a pair of long-time colleagues facing budget cuts.

Office Suite opens the second Chichester Festival, curated by Jonathan Church who is following in the footsteps of former artistic directors Derek Jacobi, Patrick Garland and Sir Laurence Olivier.

"We are delighted that Office Suite has got the festival off to a hugely positive start," says executive director Alan Finch.

"We're very pleased with the response to all the shows so far."

Receiving its world premiere at the Festival Theatre from Friday, April 27, is Roger Crane's The Last Confession, a new thriller starring David Suchet, set in The Vatican in 1978 after the sudden death of Pope John Paul I .

Rodgers and Hart's rarely-performed Babes In Arms, complete with hit songs The Lady Is A Tramp and My Funny Valentine, is this year's summer musical, running from the end of May to the first week in July at the Festival Theatre.

The great Patrick Stewart makes his Chichester debut in the Minerva playing Macbeth from Friday, May 25, until September, and he also plays Malvolio in Twelfth Night - with the same 20-strong cast - at the Festival Theatre in July and August.

A new translation of Jean Anouilh's bittersweet farce The Waltz Of The Toreadors, starring Peter Bowles, is at the Minerva from Saturday, June 16 for six weeks.

Coronation Street's own Fred Elliott, John Savident, plays a put-upon Salford cobbler in Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice at the Festival Theatre throughout August.

Also in August there's a celebrity round table look at the work of the Bard, featuring special guests Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere and Shakespeare himself, played by former Globe Theatre artistic director Mark Rylance. The I am Shakespeare Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show is at the Minerva.

Closing the festival at the Festival Theatre in September is last year's hit show The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby.

Office Suite is at 7.45pm, at the
Minerva Theatre,
Oaklands Park,
Chichester, Thurs
until Sat,
May 12.
SOLD OUT

the Chichester Festival runs from April 12 to September 22

www.cft.org.uk