World premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre

Directed by Philip Franks, the play runs from May 11– June 2 at Chichester Festival Theatre.

A Marvellous Year for Plums focuses on the Suez Crisis of 1956. As his health collapses, Prime Minister Anthony Eden faces the prospect of leading his country into war. Meanwhile his friends, colleagues and opponents – among them Hugh Gaitskell, Ian Fleming and his wife Ann - deal with political and emotional crises of their own.

Anthony Andrews plays Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Andrews is best known for his role as Lord Sebastian Flyte in ITV’s drama series Brideshead Revisited, for which he received Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards.

Nicholas Le Prevost plays Hugh Gaitskell. He has previously appeared at Chichester in The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound (Festival 2010), The Last Cigarette (Festival 09), The Recruiting Officer and Hedda Gabler.

Imogen Stubbs plays Ann Fleming. She has previously appeared at Chichester in Uncle Vanya. Other theatre credits include West End productions of Salt, Root and Roe, Closer, A Streetcar Named Desire and Heartbreak House, The Glass Menagerie (Shared Experience) and Hamlet (The Old Vic).

Abigail Cruttenden plays Clarissa Eden. She has previously appeared at Chichester in The Rivals. David Yelland plays Selwyn Lloyd. He has previously appeared at Chichester in The Circle, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (which toured the UK and Canada and transferred to the West End), Rumours, The Merchant of Venice, Time and the Conways and A Patriot for Me, which transferred to the West End and toured in the US.

The cast also includes Olivia Darnley, Simon Dutton, Daniel Easton, Martin Hutson and James Simmons.

Philip Franks’ productions for Chichester include The Deep Blue Sea, Rattigan’s Nijinsky, The Master Builder, Separate Tables, Collaboration, Taking Sides and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.