Zoe Wanamaker, Lynda Baron, Chris Larkin

Chichester’s Festival 2014 opens with a major revival of Hugh Whitemore’s award-winning glimpse into the unconventional life of celebrated English poet and novelist Stevie Smith.

Nervous and droll, Stevie Smith spends her days as a private secretary at the Newnes Publishing Company and her evenings in the London suburbs eating Battenburg cake and Ginger Nuts with her beloved Aunt. All the time she is writing the piercing poetry and prose that will make her famous. In between there are diverting visits from a series of men and tussles with literary celebrity. All the while there is her greatest, often darkly comic struggle – to keep waving when she feels like drowning.

Zoë Wanamaker will be in conversation with author and broadcaster Kate Mosse for a short post-show interview on Tuesday 6 May.

There will also be the chance to meet some of the Stevie company at a post-show discussion on Monday 19 May.