Established in 1962 by Leslie Evershed-Martin, a local optician, the Chichester Festival Theatre was England’s first modern thrust-stage theater. Funded by the community, it has built a global audience over the last six decades. This year, the festival will present seven productions, including an Oliver! reconceived by Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh and the first-ever stage adaptation of a John le Carré novel (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold). “We travel through English history—from the Tudors to the present—through unsung heroes and rarely told stories,” said Justin Audibert and Kathy Bourne, the festival’s artistic director and executive director. First in the lineup is Mike Poulton’s The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Philippa Gregory’s novel. It begins with the problem of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who has not produced an heir. Mary Boleyn, Henry’s mistress, receives pressure from her uncle to have a royal child. The king, however, turns his attention to Mary’s sister, Anne, who is willing to do almost anything for power. —Jeanne Malle