SHEFFIELD THEATRES ANNOUNCE SEASON FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2020
Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Robert Hastie, today announces the new Spring/Summer 2020 season.
The new season opens with the world première of Chloë Moss’ Run Sister Run in a co-production with Paines Plough and Soho Theatre, and directed by Paines Plough’s new co-Artistic Director Charlotte Bennett. Tom Bateman then makes his Sheffield Theatres’ debut in the title role of Coriolanus, adapted and directed by Hastie – seeing him return to Shakespeare’s political play after his critically acclaimed inaugural production of Julius Caesar.
In a co-production with Dante or Die, Sheffield People’s Theatre stage Everybody’s Got to Leave Sometime; and then, continuing the company’s association with Ramps on the Moon they play host to their new production of Oliver Twist, in a co-production with Leeds Playhouse – one of two plays this season by Bryony Lavery.
This is followed by This is What She Said to Me in a co-production with Utopia Theatre. Written by Oladipo Agboluaje, it was conceived from an idea by Moji Elufowoju, who also directs. Completing the season is Justin Martin’s production Oscar and the Pink Lady, again by Bryony Lavery, and adapted from the novel by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt.
Artistic Director Robert Hastie said today, “In recent months, Standing at the Sky’s Edge and Life of Pi have proved the importance of putting new work at the centre of our programme. Next season sees us continue this commitment to new writing with four world premières across our stages – Run Sister Run; Here’s What She Said To Me; Oscar and the Pink Lady and Everybody’s Got to Leave Sometime. Three are by British writers whose heart and humour leap off the page, and one co-created with Sheffield People’s Theatre, our company of Sheffield citizens whose determination to break new ground with every project is inspirational. It’s also brilliant to partner with Paines Plough, Utopia Theatre, Dante or Die and to continue our association with Ramps on the Moon – pioneering companies who are bringing vital new ideas and new ways of collaborating to our buildings.
“We compliment the new, with one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays – Coriolanus, and a society in turmoil. The old ways are being challenged by a new breed of political player, and caught in the middle is a famous soldier whose ambition clashes with his contempt for the people he wants to lead. Beginning my tenure at Sheffield by directing Julius Caesar showed me the power of big Roman plays in the Crucible’s forum-like auditorium. It’s a public stage for big ideas and bold performers, and I’m thrilled to be working with Tom Bateman on Coriolanus as he returns to the stage to play the title role.”
STUDIO
A Sheffield Theatres, Paines Plough and Soho Theatre Production
RUN SISTER RUN
By Chloë Moss
Director: Charlotte Bennett
27 February – 21 March
‘You can’t pick your family but if you could I’d still pick you’
Connie and Ursula are sisters, connected by the same beginning but heading in different directions.
Spanning four decades up to the present day, nurture competes with nature as the pair navigate their unbreakable bond. From award-winning playwright Chloë Moss, this story of family, love and dependence asks who gets it right?
Chloë Moss is an accomplished playwright and screenwriter. Her celebrated play This Wide Night (Clean Break, Soho Theatre, 2008) won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn prize and was subsequently produced off-Broadway, starring Edie Falco. She has written numerous other plays including The Gatekeeper (Royal Exchange Theatre, 2012), Fatal Light (for Clean Break at Soho Theatre, 2010 and 2011), Catch (Royal Court Theatre, 2006), and How Love Is Spelt (Bush Theatre, 2004, and New York’s Summer Play Festival, 2005). She has also written extensively for television, including Six Wives (BBC One) and Dickensian (Red Planet Pictures), and written episodes for New Tricks (BBC One), The Smoke (Kudos), and Prisoner’s Wives and The Secret Diary of A Call Girl (Tiger Aspect). She has also written Care, a single drama for Warp Films and Sky Arts, and an original series Switch, co-written with Tim Price, for Touchpaper / ITV2.
Charlotte Bennett directs. She is Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough. Previously she was Associate Director at Soho Theatre where she led the new writing department, developing artists and commissions and programming the upstairs studio. For Soho she has directed Whitewash by Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Happy Hour by Jack Rooke, curated a six-month off-site arts festival in Waltham Forest and led playwriting competition the Verity Bargate Award. Prior to this she was Artistic Director of Forward Theatre Project; an artists’ collective she founded. For Forward Theatre Project she made and directed new plays which toured nationally inspired by working in partnership with different communities around the UK and at venues including National Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Northern Stage, Derby Theatre, Live Theatre and The Lowry. As a freelance director she has worked extensively for Open Clasp Theatre Company, creating new plays inspired by marginalised women in the North-East. She also held the role of Creative Producer for theatre company RashDash where she toured experimental new theatre around the UK.
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres production
CORIOLANUS
By William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Robert Hastie
6 – 28 March
Cast Includes: Tom Bateman
‘What is the city but the people?’
Celebrated super soldier Coriolanus is propelled to power, only to lose the trust of the people. Torn down from his pedestal, banished at the height of his fury, he unites with an old enemy to bring down the city he once fought for.
This contemporary take on Shakespeare’s play about the disconnect between the rulers and the ruled follows Artistic Director Robert Hastie’s critically acclaimed Julius Caesar.
Tom Bateman makes his Sheffield Theatres’ debut as Coriolanus. For theatre, his credits include The Winter’s Tale/ Harlequinade (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company at Garrick Theatre), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Lizzie Siddal (Arcola Theatre), The Duchess of Malfi (The Old Vic), The Lion in Winter (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s Theatre). For television his work includes Beecham House, Vanity Fair, Cold Feet, Jekyll & Hyde, The Honourable Woman, The Tunnel, Da Vinci’s Demons, Parade’s End and Vanity Fair; and for film, Cold Pursuit, Murder On The Orient Express, Snatched, B&B, The Creditors, and the forthcoming Death on the Nile.
Robert Hastie’s recent productions as Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres include Standing at the Sky’s Edge, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The York Realist (co-production with the Donmar Warehouse – Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Best Director), The Wizard of Oz, Of Kith and Kin (co-production with Bush Theatre) and Julius Caesar. Previous directing credits include Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Breaking the Code (Royal Exchange Manchester), Henry V (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Theatr Clwyd). As an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse, his work includes My Night with Reg by Kevin Elyot (Donmar Warehouse/West End – Best Newcomer nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, and Best Revival nomination at the Olivier Awards) and Splendour by Abi Morgan. His other directing credits include Carthage and Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun (Finborough Theatre), Sunburst (Holborn Grange Hotel), Sixty-Six Books (Bush Theatre) and A Breakfast of Eels (Print Room).
A Sheffield People’s Theatre and Dante or Die Production
EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEAVE SOMETIME
May 2020
Everybody’s Got To Leave Sometime follows one person’s decision to create a personalised funeral plan, and the repercussions that has on their family, friends and unexpected new connections.
This surprising, humorous and personal look at how we deal with the end of life sees Sheffield People’s Theatre collaborate with renowned site-specific company Dante or Die. In a unique theatrical experience, at a yet to be revealed location, you’ll be led through a series of intimate experiences by a 50-strong cast.
Tickets will be on sale shortly.
A Leeds Playhouse Production in Co-Production with Ramps on the Moon
OLIVER TWIST
A new play by Bryony Lavery
Written by Charles Dickens
13 – 23 May
Director: Amy Leach
Born into poverty and misfortune, Oliver Twist escapes the workhouse for a life of adventure where he joins the Artful Dodger, Fagin and their mischievous gang of pick pockets. But the enjoyment is short lived as he falls under the influence of the vicious Bill Sykes. This bold, brutal and beautiful new version of Oliver Twist sends you on a dark adventure through the twisted streets of London.
Adapted by award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery, every performance of Oliver Twist will feature the use of integrated creative sign language, audio description and captioning. Oliver Twist is in association with Ramps on The Moon, who are committed to putting D/deaf and disabled artists and audiences at the centre of their work.
Amy Leach directs. She joined Leeds Playhouse as Associate Director in 2017. For the venue, her credits there include Hamlet, A Christmas Carol and Road within the theatre’s acclaimed Pop-Up Season; and Talking Heads, Queen of Chapeltown, Romeo and Juliet, Kes, The Night Before Christmas and Little Sure Shot. She is committed to placing accessibility and inclusion at the centre of her work, and was instrumental in forming Leeds Playhouse’s partnership with Mind the Gap’s Staging Change initiative which encourages professional opportunities for learning disabled actors and creatives.
STUDIO
A Sheffield Theatres and Utopia Theatre Production
World Première
HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID TO ME
By Oladipo Agboluaje
From an idea conceived by Moji Elufowoju
Director: Moji Elufowoju
18 June – 4 July
Meet three generations of women on two continents and follow their need to connect with each other across time and space. Together they confront the secrets of their past in order to find healing in the present.
Here’s What She Said to Me is a kaleidoscope of music, ritual, poetry and movement; a story about
what it is to be a daughter and a mother, a story of migration and shifting identity and a compelling tale of hope, optimism and resilience in the face of life’s broken promises.
Oladipo Agboluaje’s plays include Early Morning, The Christ of Coldharbour Lane, The Hounding of David Oluwale and New Nigerians. He is the 2018/19 writer in residence of the National Theatre.
Moji Elufowoju directs. She is a British born Nigerian award-winning director and founder of Utopia Theatre. She is a recipient of a 2017 Opera Awards Foundation bursary, a founding member of Mosaic Opera Collective, and currently a guest director at the LAMDA and at London South Bank University. She is a staff director at the National Theatre, working alongside Nadia Fall, Three Sisters by Inua Ellams. Other credits include Far Gone (Theatre Deli – Sheffield) The Bogus Woman (Camden People’s Theatre), On Missing (The Cockpit Theatre), Shadows In Different Shades (Work In Progress – Sheffield Theatre), The Pied Piper Of Chibok Opera (Opera North Residency and Arcola Theatre), I am David Oluwale (Work In Progress- Leeds Playhouse), Iyalode of Eti (Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Crucible, Cast – Doncaster and Ake Festival Nigeria), London Tales (Rich Mix and Lost Theatre), This Is Our Chance (Cultural Centre Calabar, Nigeria), The Shepherd’s Chameleon (CLF Art Cafe 2013), House of Corrections (Riverside Studios), and Wake Me When It’s Time (York Theatre Royal).
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres Production
World Première
OSCAR AND THE PINK LADY
Based on the novel by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Adapted for the stage by Bryony Lavery
26 June – 18 July
Director: Justin Martin
Oscar is 10. He lives in a children’s hospital. It’s a frantic, magnificent and scary place, and he feels
very much alone. Granny Rose is old. She’s a hospital volunteer and knows a lot about wrestling. And she doesn’t mind telling the truth about grown-up stuff.
With little time and big questions, Oscar embarks on a fast-forward adventure through life and all
of the moves it has to throw at him — first love, responsibility and kissing with tongues.
A magical new play by Bryony Lavery, based on the novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Oscar and the Pink Lady reminds us to live every day like it’s the last.
Eric-Émmanuel Schmitt is Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer, novelist, and film director.
His novels and short stories include Mr Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran, Oscar and The Lady in Pink, Madame Pylinska and Chopin’s Secrecy, Ulysses from Baghdad, Night of Fire, The Man Who Could See Through Faces and Odette Toulemonde. His books have been translated into 46 languages and been adapted for both the stage and screen. He is the author of more than 20 original plays including Enigma Variations (with Alain Delon), The Libertine, Frederick or the Crime Boulevard, Between Worlds, Partners In Crime (with Charlotte Rampling), Oscar and The Lady In Pink (with Danielle Darrieux), Si On Recommencait (with Michel Sardou),and several adaptations, including Milady (based on Dumas Three Musketeers), Le Bossu, Twenty-Four Hours In The Life Of A Woman (based on Stefan Zweig’s novel), and a new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. His film and television credits include Mr Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran (with Omar Sharif), Odette Toulemonde, Oscar and The Lady in Pink (with Michele Laroque and Max von Sydow), and a TV mini-series of Les Liasions Dangereuse (with Catherine Deneuve and Rupert Everett). He is a member of the Goncourt Jury, and The Royal Belgian Academy or French Language and Literature.
Bryony Lavery returns to Sheffield Theatres, where her play Queen Coal premièred in 2014. Her play Frozen, won TMA Best Play Award, the Eileen Anderson Central Television Award and was produced on Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony Awards, and most recently in the West End at Theatre Royal Haymarket. She has collaborated three times with Frantic Assembly on Stockholm – which won the Wolff-Whiting award for best play of 2008, Beautiful Burnout Fringe First award at Edinburgh Festival, before touring the UK, New York, Australia and New Zealand; and most recently The Believers. Other work includes The Lovely Bones (Birmingham Rep and UK tour), The Midnight Gang (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Borrowers (Storyhouse), Brighton Rock (Pilot Theatre), Last Easter, Kursk – with Sound and Fury at the Young Vic and Sydney Opera House; A Christmas Carol (Chichester, Birmingham and West Yorkshire Playhouse), Thursday (ETT/Brink in Adelaide and Canberra), Dirt (Studio Theater, Washington DC – nominated for Best New Play, Helen Hayes Award), A Doll’s House (Manchester Royal Exchange), Her Aching Heart and A Wedding Story. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, an honorary Doctor of Arts at De Montfort University and an Associate Artist at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Justin Martin directs. His most recent credits include The Jungle (co-director with Stephen Daldry – Young Vic/Playhouse West End/St Ann’s Warehouse New York/Curran San Francisco), Low Level Panic (Galway Theatre Festival/Irish National Tour/Old Fitz Sydney), Fifty Two (Leicester Square Theatre), Harvey and Frieda (Arcola Theatre), Skintight/Far Away (both at fortyfivedownstairs Melbourne), and Last Chance (Young Vic). He was the associate director on The Inheritance (Young Vic/Noël Coward Theatre), Skylight (Wyndham’s Theatre) and The Audience (Gielgud Theatre), all of which transferred to Broadway. He also worked with John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett on the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Let The Right One In (NTS/Royal Court Theatre/Apollo Theatre/St Ann’s Warehouse, New York). He was an associate director on Billy Elliot The Musical working on Broadway, throughout North America, Korea, Amsterdam and Australia. Alongside this he is working with Stephen Daldry and Peter Morgan on their television series The Crown. In 2005, he was the inaugural recipient of the Roger Leach Award for Theatre.
Sheffield Theatres Listings
Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA
Box Office 0114 249 6000 –Mon – Sat 10am to 8pm
On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6pm.
