"I hope people are going to walk in and be excited before anybody even does any acting.”

Anyone who thought the way Chichester’s temporary giant tent hosted Barnum earlier this year was unbeatable is in for a surprise.

Neville’s Island director Angus Jackson has revealed his version of Tim Firth’s comedy is going to be no less epic, in a way they could never recreate on the Chichester Festival Theatre stage.

“We went to the Goodwood Estate and selected 20 trees – all 6m or 7m high – which will be part of the set,” he says. “We are also getting ten to 15 tonnes of water to create the lake.

“There are a few extra surprises too which will have a big impact.

“It will be a real epic environment in the middle of that tent. It’s pretty exciting.”

Allied to that is an impressive comic cast – headed up by The Young Ones and Bottom star Ade Edmondson and stand-up Rufus Hound, fresh from playing the lead in One Man, Two Guvnors at London’s Haymarket.

Rounding off the line-up will be John Marquez as the titular Neville – who is best known alongside sibling Martin as one half of comedy team The Brothers Marquez – and National Theatre and Complicite veteran Tim McMullan.

Slaves to technology

Neville’s Island tells the story of four middle managers shipwrecked on Rampsholme Island in the middle of the Lake District when an outward bound course goes wrong.

“The read-through was extraordinarily funny,” remembers Jackson, who also directed If Only at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre earlier this year and will be working with the legendary Frank Langella on King Lear next month.

“Tim has upgraded the play to include stuff about mobile phones and office culture.

“It’s really about office culture thrown into the jungle and how we are all now slaves to technology.

“It’s great to see those people chucked up trees and falling into lakes.”

All that comes with its own risks – something Jackson is having to take into account as the production moves into technical rehearsals.

“They all start the show soaking wet, so we have to deal with the consequences for the actors,” he says.

“There’s lots of climbing trees, too – Rufus goes up a tree in his pants, so there are lots of decisions that have to be made about keeping him safe.

“Audiences like to see actors doing real stuff, so we wanted to get people up trees and swimming around – it’s exciting when you see it in the theatre.”

Aside from the physical challenges, the actors are having to deal with the individual revelatory journeys each character goes on and the complex interactions they make during the play.

“The lines are often short and punchy, with people talking over each other,” says Jackson. “It’s really difficult to learn.”

Jackson admits he did think twice about making his cast endure the real experience.

“The designer [Robert Innes Hopkins] and I rowed out to the original island [in Derwent Water].”

“It took about three-quarters of an hour on a beautiful day about three months ago – you could never try to swim back to the shore even then. We had a throughly nice time but in the middle of November [when the play is set] it would be pretty hostile.

“I did consider sending the cast out on an outward bound weekend but I think everyone has already had that experience. It’s amazing the number of people who did the Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award.

“Everybody had some way of relating to the action of the play – camping on the side of a cliff, running out of water halfway down a mountain with snow coming in, or filming in the Norfolk Broads and ending up in the river.

“We’re in a corporate team-building environment all the time in our industry. We are constantly thrown into situations where you have to deal with problems.

“We’re getting some great stories out of each other.”