Award-winning theatre director and producer Jonathan Church CBE, has announced the launch of a new production company Jonathan Church Theatre Productions supported by Trafalgar Entertainment’s Joint CEOs Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire.
As Artistic Director of Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, Church will create theatrical work including new and classic musicals and plays for London, the UK regions and internationally. He will be joined by Georgia Gatti in the role of Executive Producer.
Jonathan Church is currently Director of Jonathan Church Productions where his credits include: the Olivier award winning A Monster Calls (UK Tour/Washington); The Man in The White Suit (Bath Theatre Royal/Wyndham’s Theatre); The Price starring David Suchet (Bath Theatre Royal/Wyndham’s Theatre); Arinzé Kene’s Misty (Trafalgar Studios); Pressure by David Haig (UK Tour/Ambassadors Theatre);The Life I Lead (UK Tour/Wyndham’s); Frozen (Theatre Royal Haymarket); The RSC’s productions of Loves Labours Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Associate Producer on Mary Stuart (Duke of York’s Theatre) and This House (Garrick Theatre and UK Tour).
As a Director, West End Productions include: The Price (Wyndham’s Theatre); An Ideal Husband and Hobson’s Choice (Vaudeville Theatre); Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Singin’ in the Rain (Palace Theatre); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Duchess Theatre); Of Mice and Men (Savoy Theatre and The Old Vic); The Witches (Wyndham’s Theatre); and The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby (Gielgud Theatre).
Church’s West End transfers from Chichester include Rupert Goold’s productions of Enron by Lucy Prebble (Royal Court/Coward Theatre/Broadway) and Macbeth (Gielgud Theatre, BAM and Broadway); Jonathan Kent’s productions of Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton (Savoy Theatre), Sweeney Todd starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton (Adelphi Theatre) and Private Lives starring Anna Chancellor and Toby Stephens (Gielgud Theatre); Half a Sixpence (Coward Theatre); The Last Confession starring David Suchet (Haymarket Theatre and World Tour); Trevor Nunn’s production of Kiss Me Kate (Old Vic) and Richard Eyre’s production of The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre).
Church is also Artistic Director of Bath Theatre Royal’s Summer Season where his tenure has recently been extended to 2022. Highlights this year included Jennifer Saunders in Blithe Spirit directed by Richard Eyre (soon to transfer to the Duke of York’s Theatre) and Rupert Everett making his directorial stage debut with Uncle Vanya.
Previously, Church was Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre (2006-2016); Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2001-2006); Associate Director of Hampstead Theatre (1999-2001); and Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse (1995-1999). In addition, he has worked with key venues in Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Derby and Leeds. He was awarded a CBE in 2015 for Services to Theatre.
Jonathan Church said: “I have been collaborating with Howard & Rosemary since we first worked together in Birmingham nearly 20 years ago. Their impact on our industry through ATG and now Trafalgar Entertainment has been nothing short of seismic and the support I have received from them has been a vital part of enabling much of the work we have produced over the last few years. It is therefore a welcome and exciting opportunity to be working more closely with them at a time of such ambition and growth for Trafalgar Entertainment and I look forward to this opportunity to increase the scale, quality and reach of the work that my team will be making over the coming years.”
Howard Panter said: “With more than 20 years in both commercial and subsidised theatre, Jonathan’s remarkable career has seen him become one of the UK’s most sought after theatre directors and producers with a string of significant theatre successes to his name. He has also turned around the fortunes of several major theatres and established himself as one of the theatre industry’s key figures.
“Throughout my career as a theatre producer, I’ve enjoyed working collaboratively with some of the best producers, directors and production companies in the business. With such an extensive portfolio of exceptional work from Jonathan, the creation of Jonathan Church Theatre Productions is a very exciting prospect.
“We warmly welcome Jonathan and look forward to working with him to create exciting productions.”
Trafalgar Theatre Productions (the production arm of Trafalgar Entertainment) is currently producing A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at Trafalgar Studios starring Toby Stephens, Claire Skinner and Patricia Hodge, the multi Tony and Olivier winning Lincoln Center musical, The King and I (following its sell-out run at the London Palladium) on an international and national tour (having just returned from a sell-out season in Tokyo) and The Rocky Horror Show worldwide (including Asia, South Africa and Europe) and currently in the UK.
Recent productions and co-productions include Arinze Kené’s Misty, Nine Night with The National Theatre and Tom Morris’s musical The Grinning Man – all at Trafalgar Studios, The Height of the Storm starring Dame Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce at the Wyndham’s Theatre, Mary Stuart starring Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams at the Duke of York’s Theatre, The Starry Messenger starring Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern at the Wyndham’s Theatre, Apologia starring Stockard Channing, Admissions starring Alex Kingston at Trafalgar Studios and Death of a Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre. Previously Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire built the Ambassador Theatre Group from scratch, into the largest theatre owning and producing company in the world.