Chichester Festival Theatre pays tribute to Dame Penelope Keith

We are greatly saddened to learn of the death of Dame Penelope Keith CBE. Justin Audibert (Artistic Director) and Kathy Bourne (Executive Director) said:

"Penelope Keith was already a hugely popular and cherished actress when she came to Chichester for the first time in 1977 in The Apple Cart, and her many leading roles over the subsequent four decades only enhanced her reputation. In particular, her choice to open Jonathan Church's first season in 2006 in Entertaining Angels was widely credited with restoring CFT to good fortune after a lean period: it sold out, ran for two sell-out UK tours (including a return to CFT in 2009) and played to over 100,000 people. 

Rightly acclaimed as a consummate player of comedy, with immaculate timing and mastery of witty repartee, Dame Penelope could also summon great emotional depth. She will be hugely missed, and our thoughts and sympathies are with her family and friends."

Dame Penelope Keith's association with Chichester Festival Theatre stretched over 40 years, from classic comedies to new plays. She first appeared in Shaw's The Apple Cart in 1977, when she was already well known as Margo in The Good Life. It was an auspicious start since she was also asked to appear in a royal Gala performance. As Penelope later recalled: The world and his wife were there. It was lovely and Princess Alexandra was the royal visitor. It was the height of the IRA bombing campaign and so there was a very heavy police presence. I came down the steps from my dressing room, bumped into this policeman and thought: :Oh, he looks dishy," then went on stage and did Fanny Burney - How to Behave at the Court of Queen Charlotte. But I don't remember much about it because I had just met my future husband [Rodney Timpson]. We got married the next year. 

Her other Chichester Festival season appearances included the title role in Miranda by Beverley Cross after Goldoni (1987), Mistress Ford in Shakespeares The Merry Wives of Windsor (1990), Eleanor in Monsieur Amilcar by Yves Jamiaque (1995), Grace in the world premiere of Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett (2006), Lady Wishfort in Congreves The Way of the World (2012), Mrs Patrick Campbell in Mrs Pat by Anton Burge (2015), and finally Mrs St Maugham in Enid Bagnolds The Chalk Garden in 2018. She also appeared in several touring shows which visited Chichester, including The Importance of Being Earnest and The Rivals.