Michael Ball and Lenny Henry are among the stars performing at this year’s Chichester Festival Theatre season.

The Comic Relief star is set to play English lecturer Frank in a production of Educating Rita, which opens on June 18.

The performance is one of 11 which make up the much anticipated season.

As well as Educating Rita, other highlights include Four Weddings And A Funeral star Anna Chancellor in a series of Chekhov’s early plays (September 28 to November 14) and Michael Ball returns to Chichester in Mack and Mabel (July 13 to September 5).

This year’s event will be the first full season since the major redevelopment.

Jonathan Church, artistic director, said: “It has been gratifying to receive such a positive response to the refurbished building, and the work staged there and in the Minerva Theatre during 2014.

“We are looking forward to consolidating last year’s achievements with this year’s season.

“It features a particularly impressive calibre of directors, and embraces both the old and the new, ranging from the early work of one of the world’s most acclaimed and enduring playwrights, to an exciting world premiere by our Youth Theatre.”

Set up in 1962, with Sir Laurence Olivier as the first artistic director, the venue has a track record of producing plays that end up in the West End.

This year’s festival kicks off on April 23 with Way Upstream, a comic look at friendship, love and desire by Alan Ayckbourn. The season opener is set to be a highlight with the Festival Theatre stage being transformed into a river with a life-sized boat.

The Rehearsal (May 8 to June 6), a comedy about amateur dramatics, follows, along with A Damsel in Distress (May 30 to June 27), which is based on the novel by P.G Wodehouse.

The festival will explore themes of war, conflict and freedom of speech with Frank McGuinness’s award-winning drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (September 10 to October 10) and W. Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered, directed by Howard Davies (July 31 to September 5).

There is also a world premiere in the shape of Michael Morpurgo’s Running Wild (August 2 to 16). The War Horse author’s book tells the story of the devastating Boxing Day tsunami, and a young boy’s remarkable jungle adventures in Indonesia afterwards.

The festival closes with three of Chekov’s plays, Platonov, Ivanov and The Seagull (September 28 and November 14) starring Anna Chancellor.

Booking opens for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre on March 2 and the public on March 11.

For more details visit cft.org.uk