Potter, Berkoff, and another Mercury Summer hit

And yet on closer inspection you could argue both are revolutionary in their own way.

Another connection is director Matt Culham, who not only has worked with Berkoff for more than 15 years but was also recently involved in the stage managing of the Harry Potter production.

Rather fortunately for us he is also the man behind the Mercury Theatre's latest summer family show, The Wind in the Willows, and if that is half as good as Matt's production of James and the Giant Peach last year, we're all in for a mighty treat.

Matt says: “I had so much fun doing Peach last year and the theatre were very generous in letting us run away with our ideas. There were all sorts of negotiations on how we might make it happen but they were brilliant from the costumes, the set, and everything really."

So more of the same for Kenneth Grahame's whimsical classic?

"It's very different to Dahl," he smiles, "mainly because Dahl is all about the story while Wind in the Willows is very whimsical and gentle but again we've been very fortunate with the estate of Willis Hall, whose stage adaptation we are using, allowing us to re-write the music and shaping it into something that drives that story along at a faster pace."

Playing for three weeks of the school summer holidays, when Toad’s motoring lands him in hot water, our reckless but loveable hero is sentenced to 20 years in prison. With the help of his loyal maid, Enid, it’s not long before he manages to escape – only to find that Toad Hall has been taken over by the Wild Wooder.

With Toad locked out of his home, can wise old Badger’s plans save the day? Will Rat and Mole be there for Toad in his hour of need?

Driven by an original score of live skiffle and fiesta music composed by Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Rebecca Applin, the cast is made-up of panto favourite Dale Superville, who will take on the role of Toad. Dale will be joined by his James and the Giant Peach co-stars Kate Adams, who is Badger and Pete Ashmore, who plays Rat.

Making up the heroic foursome is Sam Pay as Mole, while the rest of the cast is filled by Christopher Hogben as the Wild Wooder, and Simon Spencer-Hyde and Louisa Beadel.

"We're having a lot of fun with it." Matt smiles. "Playing with the ideas in the story and creating a new world that the audience can explore with us.

"On of the things that I wanted to do was give people a real sense of nature being vibrant," Matt continues, "and so we're taking them through all the seasons, hoping to give them that sense of snow as well as heat. I think, like Peach, it's going to be a lot of fun."

Born and brought up in Bedford, as Matt tells me his school 'didn't really do drama' so he looked for other outlets like the local community youth theatre, the National Youth Theatre before finally going to study physical theatre at Rose Bruford in Kent.

One of his very first jobs out of drama school was for the Mercury's current artistic director Daniel Buckroyd when he was at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton.

"I think it was either my 3rd or 4th," he says, "but it was a nine month contract going round local schools with a show and then he gave me my first directing job on A Midsummer Night's Dream. On and off I've been working with Daniel for about 15 years."

As well as Wind in the Willows, and last year's James and the Giant Peach, Matt directed Friend or Foe and was movement director for Macbeth, The Butterfly Lion and The Hired Man.

In between jobs for Daniel, Matt has kept himself very busy with a number of pretty high profile jobs, the longest of which has been working with legendary actor, writer and director Stephen Berkoff.

"I've been working with Stephen since 1999," Matt says. "He was looking for someone in particular for the 25th anniversary production of East and his PA remembered seeing me in a show at Edinburgh and suggested me to him. I've done about nine or ten projects with him now the last of which was Oedipus, which we took to America.

"The guy is a genius and a real believer in actors bringing stuff to the table. Over the years he's ended up with a gang of us who work with him regularly and it's always fascinating and exciting."

While Matt still acts occasionally - 'just bits and bobs, an episode or advert, here and there' it's directing and working with actors that stokes his creative fire.

"I've done a quite acting jobs in the past," he grins. "I was the baddie in the Scooby Doo tour for example, which meant I got to say the 'pesky kids' line every night, but in the end it was the passion to see the ideas I was having up on the stage that really drove me."

Most recently he's been involved with the biggest show to hit the West End in years, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"I was helping out with the workshops," he says, "which as you can imagine was very exciting. The playwright Jack Thorne is an amazing writer and just having Jo Rowling in the room was a great experience.

"It was fascinating seeing the Harry Potter world come to life and explore what we could do and what we couldn't. Jo has an assistant who basically knows the Harry Potter world inside and out, and so we would be asking them whether this was ok to use and whether it would fit in with the books.

"Just taking a look at dementors in a new way, working with Jack's ideas for the play, and basically being part of the process has been a real thrill."

Wind in the Willows

Mercury Theatre,

Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

July 29 to August 21. Various times.

£22.50 to £10 plus concessions. 01206 573948.

www.mercurytheatre.co.uk