Chichester Festival Theatre

After a string of stage hits such as War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors, he has turned the site on the South Bank into a vibrant production house.

While Hytner has been working miracles in London, Jonathan Church has performed similar feats as artistic director at Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT).

His seven-year tenure at the helm includes a string of West End transfers – including award-winners Kiss Me Kate, The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui and Sweeney Todd – its largest audience ever (more than 200,000 visitors for its 50th anniversary year in 2012) and this year the main house is getting a full-scale revamp. All this during catastrophic economic times.

Two weeks ago, Hytner confirmed he is to step down in March 2015. Church is not surprised to be questioned about the vacancy. His name will be on many people’s lips. The writer and former executive director of Chichester Festival theatre Kate Mosse, who is one of the National Theatre’s search committee, will surely be on his side.

“I’m looking forward to the refurbishment here and getting the business of production back on its feet. The National is a building that rarely comes up, so if one gets a phone call encouraging one to apply – and I am yet to receive that phone call – I’ll have a think about it. Until it does, I will stay focused.”

Church admires Hytner’s work.

“The National has had an incredible decade under Nic. So in a way, for the media to spend five minutes celebrating his achievements then have lots of speculation about who is taking over is a bit unfair.”

What both directors have done is update their theatres’ repertoire and help to fund new work and development by spotting commercial opportunities.

Church is just back from New York, where he has been scoping out opportunities for theatre from across the Atlantic.

Calls regularly come from the West End for show transfers. The interest is the result of high standards rather than the theatre producing with an eye on London, he says.

The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui is due to open later in the year at London’s Duchess Theatre.

Yet so powerful was Henry Goodman’s performance that the production returns to the Minerva Theatre in August as part of CFT’s new season, which opened on Monday.

“That was the surprise hit of last year. We didn’t know how Brecht would go. It’s not a snappy title and Brecht is supposed to be difficult. But people discovered it and far more people wanted to see it than could get to it.

Opening the season in the smaller of CFT’s two theatres in Oaklands Park is The Pajama Game. It is directed by Richard Eyre, former artistic director at the National Theatre. The run is almost sold-out already.

“It proves the appetite is still there,” says Church.

The Pajama Game is a rom-com musical.

“It is a light romance and underlying it is a story of industrial relations, which is what makes it a great classic. I certainly know why Richard Eyre tackled it: it has a broad spectrum.”

Church’s hunger for pushing the boundaries is evident with Barnum, another musical, which will be performed in a temporary theatre in the park.

The Theatre In The Park will host two shows, while workers add a hundred seats to the main Festival Theatre and spruce up the entire building thanks to Arts Council and Heritage Lottery grants.

The Theatre In The Park, a high-tech tented structure with room for 1,400, has a thrust stage to replicate the main house – perfect for Barnum.

“In terms of financial resources and the number of people working on it, Barnum is certainly the biggest and most complicated show we have ever done.”

The Broadway musical will run for seven weeks rather than ten (the usual length for CFT’s summer season) but there are more tickets on offer.

PT Barnum lived from 1810 to 1891 and described himself as America’s greatest showman. He was a circus performer, an author, philanthropist and politician.

Cameron Mackintosh – the decorated British producer of Cats, Les Misérables and The Phantom Of The Opera – is working with Timothy Sheader, artistic director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, on the production.

“It’s an absolute one-off event,” says Church. “To be co-producing a show with Cameron Mackintosh about PJ Barnum in a huge tent designed especially for us is new territory.

“Not only do we have all the things typical of a Chichester musical – the great choreographer, the great performances – we have added circus.”

The cast will be trained by a circus professional. The lead, Christopher Fitzgerald, will have to walk the tightrope, as Michael Crawford did in the original London production at The Palladium which opened in 1981 and ran for 655 performances.

“The quality will be that little bit bigger and more dazzling than usual.”

In September, Neville’s Island opens in The Theatre In The Park. Tim Firth’s comedy is about four over-worked, under-exercised businessmen who get shipwrecked on an island in the Lake District.

“The summer festival always benefits from a good comedy and this is the funniest I have ever worked on.

“It’s set on an island in the middle of a lake, so the idea is to transform this temporary theatre into that space. We will flood it and bring in these huge trees to make an installation.”

One-off projects are one way Church says he is dealing with current challenges in the theatre world.

“The big challenge for everyone is the funding system is struggling and this Government’s policy toward the arts is compounding the situation.

“That makes audiences even more vital and it is no bad thing having to focus on your audience.

“More important for me, though, is the way you deal with these difficulties. It is not to begin cutting what you do.

“If anything you try to create a sense of event to make the work you do exciting. You risk failing, but it’s so important to create a sense of adventure.”

• For full listings of what’s on at Chichester Festival Theatre this season, visit cft.org.uk