CHICHESTER Festival theatre has a former grave-digger among its new season highlights.

Kerry Fox, who co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Ecclestone in the hit British movie Shallow Grave, will be joining the ensemble cast of the theatre's production of Cruel and Tender.

Originally from New Zealand, Kerry achieved international recognition for her extraordinary performance in Jane Campion's film An Angel at my Table.

In 2001 she won the Berlin Film Festival's Best Actress award for her role in Intimacy, which co-starred Timothy Spall and Marianne Faithfull.

The play will be directed by Luc Bondy, one of Europe's foremost theatre directors, who has recently been appointed at Chichester.

Other highlights of the theatre's 2004 festival season include a Cole Porter musical and plays from Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare and Kipling.

For more information, visit www.cft.org.uk or call the box office on 01243 785842.