STAGE TUBE: Get a Sneak Peek at Chichester's New HALF A SIXPENCE

Rachel Kavanaugh directs a new stage version of HALF A SIXPENCE a Chichester Festival Theatre this season, with book by Julian Fellowes and new music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, alongside original songs by David Heneker. The show runs at the Festival Theatre now through 3 September 2016. Below, check out footage from the production in a brand-new trailer!

Half A Sixpence is the iconic British musical adaptation of H.G. Wells's disguised autobiographical novel Kipps: The Story Of A Simple Soul, based on the author's unhappy apprenticeship as a draper at Hyde's Drapery Emporium in Southsea. This new stage version of the novel is a completely fresh adaptation by Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning screenwriter and creator of Downton Abbey.

Arthur Kipps, an orphan, is an over-worked draper's assistant at Shalford's Bazaar, Folkestone, at the turn of the last century. He is a charming but ordinary young man who, along with his fellow apprentices, dreams of a better and more fulfilling world, but he likes his fun just like any other, except not quite.

When Kipps unexpectedly inherits a fortune that propels him into high society, it confuses everything he thought he knew about life. Watching him wrestle with his new identity is his childhood companion and not-quite girlfriend, Ann Pornick, who sees with dismay how Arthur is being made over in a new image by the beautiful and classy Helen Walsingham. She is always there with helpful hints on how Arthur could improve himself and make his life richer and more meaningful, if only he would believe in himself, and listen to her. Both of these young women love Arthur - there is no doubt about that - but which should he listen to? With the help of his friends, Arthur learns that if you want to have the chance of living the right life, you need to make the right choices.

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