IAN McDiarmid has been confirmed to play The Father in Chichester Festival Theatre's Six Characters In Search Of An Author, which opens next month.

Ian has an impressive CV in theatre, film, and television, but it is his role as Palpatine in the Star Wars films that he is best known for.

His theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice and Henry V (RSC Stratford), The Country Wife (Royal Exchange) and Peer Gynt (Oxford Playhouse).

Film credits include Star Wars (Episodes 1-3), Sleepy Hollow and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Television credits include Spooks, Crime And Punishment and The Professionals Premiered in Rome in 1921, Luigi Pirandello's innovative and probing drama changed theatre's perception of itself and is regarded as a master work by a master dramatist.

Six Characters In Search Of An Author blurs the border between fiction and life, between the stage and the world outside.

Now updated and re-contextualised for the 21st century, it is a sinister parable for a media-obsessed age and an exhilarating exploration of how we define ourselves and what we call reality.

Six Characters In Search Of An Author is directed by Rupert Goold, whose production of Macbeth was the runaway hit of Festival 07 and went on to play sell-out seasons in London and New York.

It runs from June 27 to August 23. Tickets can be booked from cft.org.uk or telephone 01243 781312.