The Chichester Festival Theatre opens for its summer season on Saturday.

It will be the earliest start to a new season ever and heralds a ruling triumvirate of artistic directors.

There will be four productions in the main theatre and five in the Minerva Studio as well as other workshops.

One of the artistic directors, Ruth McKenzie, said: "What we are hoping is to set up an artistic ensemble company here.

"Taking about 60 actors, keeping them very much on site and utilising their skills and talents to build up a formidable cast for future years.

"We want to go on doing that with our audiences and there are some great discounts if you book for the whole season. I think people will find a renewed sense of purpose and great energy here and we want our audiences to become a part of the theatre."

The season kicks off with Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Gondoliers, which will run until August 23.

It is widely regarded as one of Gilbert's most ludicrous stories set to Sullivan's sumptuous music using lots of Mediterranean rhythms.

Ms McKenzie says: "It is being directed by Martin Duncan, who has done a great deal of opera.

"We have chosen Venice as a theme for this year's summer season and The Gondoliers is ideal. It is set in St Mark's Square and is full of fun."

Among the memorable songs from the show are When A Merry Maiden Marries, I Am A Courtier Grave, Serious and Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes.

Second up, in the Minerva Studio, is Nathan The Wise, a classic German peace play which was banned by the Nazis.

Written by Gotthold Lessing in 1779 and given a revision this year by Edward Kemp, it is a passionate plea for religious toleration set in the Middle East during the bloody conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem in 1192.

Other plays this season are, in the main house, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, a version of Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies as a musical and Anton Chekov's The Seagull.

In the Minerva the plays will be Holes in the Skin by Robert Holman, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1969 play The Coffee House based on a French play from the 18th Century and the Marquez Brothers new play The Brothers Marquez Do Venice.

There is also a family production of Pinocchio, put on by a youth company of 130 ten to 19-year-olds. This will be presented in a vast outdoor area.

Tickets and brochure details on 01243 781312.