By Ian Murray

IT’S easy to imagine Patricia Hodge as a free spirit. Which is why she seems perfectly cast as the slightly zany, slightly disturbing, and yet ever-so persuasive Aunt Augusta in the opening production of this year’s Chichester Festival.

A combination then of playing Graham Greene’s bohemian lead in Travels With My Aunt in its first outing as a musical and a return to Chichester proved an attractive lure for the actress better known to modern audiences perhaps as Miranda Hart’s equally free-spirited and persuasive mother Penny in the TV sitcom Miranda. She also starred in the final episode of Downton Abbey and has been a popular actress since first treading the boards in 1972.

‘It’s always a privilege to be in at the start of something, particularly a musical, because there are so many different creative forces at play, all working to the same end. It’s this sort of collaborative theatre that I like best of all,” she told the Daily Echo during rehearsals for Travels ( which opens on Monday April 18).

‘What drew me to this particular new musical, Travels with My Aunt, is that it’s a wonderful story; so whatever you add is only going to enhance something that’s good in the first place. At the heart of the piece, its raison d’etre, is a major novel by a major writer.

‘Even for 1969 – which would have considered itself a pretty liberated time – Aunt Augusta is the ultimate free spirit. But even the most liberal free spirits have their moments of reckoning.

‘I’ve done many jobs in my life, some of which are easier to remember than others! But the ones that have stayed with me most clearly are those that I’ve done here in Chichester. The National Theatre and Chichester are the places I love most dearly; where the work comes first and we’re allowed to really explore the craft.

‘I’m often asked which was my favourite role and I’m never able to pick one out; but I can define my favourite job, and that was The Mitford Girls which I did at the Festival Theatre in 1981. It was the most sublime summer and a wonderful cast. Every time we went on stage, to a packed auditorium, something magical would happen – a fusion between performers and audience that was unforgettable.’

Steven Pacey plays retired bank manager Henry Pulling who finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of travel and adventure when he meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time at his mother’s funeral. A madcap tour of some of the world’s hot spots ensues as Aunt Augusta leads them both on a merry dance.

Olivia Award-winning team George Stiles and Anthony Drew provide the score for the new production which launches the festival on Monday, April 18 and runs until June 4.

More information at cft.org.uk