Jonathan Church announced as artistic director of Theatre Royal Bath summer season

The former artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre, Jonathan Church, has been announced as the new artistic director of the Theatre Royal Bath summer season.

The Peter Hall Company began an annual summer residency at the theatre in 2003 which ran for eight years and included 50th anniversary productions of Waiting for Godot and Look Back in Anger.

Recent summer seasons have included productions of Bad Jews, Mrs Henderson Presents and The Libertine, all of which have subsequently transferred to the West End.

On his new role, Church said: "I’m absolutely delighted to be taking on this role at the Theatre Royal Bath, one of my favourite theatres in the country.

"Over the last 20 years Danny [Moar, Theatre Royal Bath director] and I have worked together on a wide variety of successful projects, most recently Jeremy Herrin’s production of Another Country, Neil Armfield’s production of The Judas Kiss and my own production of Hobson’s Choice.

"I was also privileged to see a great deal of Peter Hall’s work at Bath which defined the breadth and ambition of Bath’s summer season. I look forward to building on that tremendous legacy over the coming years."

Church's first season will take place in the summer of 2017 and will be announced in January.