The complicated lives of kings and terrorists, priests and spies are woven together in 5/11, the first new play to grace Chichester Festival Theatre since 1998.

Master of mimicry Alistair McGowan plays King James I/VI in the production, which was commissioned to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot and was inspired by the life of Guy Fawkes.

Its themes of religious persecution and a state-led war on terror have particular relevance to today's audiences and this production could not have come at a more poignant time.

It's 1605 and the government is fighting a war on terror. Young mercenary Fawkes prepares to strike at the heart of the English government. But in a police state, no-one can be trusted and the plot is going to be turned against the very people it was meant to save.

This epic production is one of the largest new play commissions in the UK this year, with a cast of 25 and live music.

It reunites the director-writer dream team of The Master And Margarita (2004) and Nathan The Wise (2003), two of Chichester's recent big successes. Director Steven Pimlott also directed this season's King Lear at the Minerva. He was associate director at the RSC for nine years and has directed plays, musicals and operas around the world, including the West End hit Bombay Dreams, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination.

Writer Edward Kemp has just completed a comedy series for Radio 3, and has written and adapted plays and novels including Moliere's The Hypochondriac, Don Juan, Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and WG Sebald's The Emigrants for Radio 3.

Events linked to the production including a pre-show talk on August 15, a talk entitled The Other Gunpowder Plots on August 24, a meet the cast session on September 6 and a fireworks celebration in Oaklands Park, Chichester, on September 8, when the run comes to a close.