SHEFFIELD THEATRES ANNOUNCES 2018-19 SEASON
Highlights of the season include:
· Three world premières: Standing at the Sky’s Edge by Michael Wynne, with music and lyrics by Richard Hawley, Steel by Chris Bush and Close Quarters by Kate Bowen
· A new production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Robert Hastie with music by Dan Gillespie Sells
· Paul Foster’s return to Sheffield Theatres to direct this year’s Christmas musical Kiss Me, Kate
Robert Hastie today announces Sheffield Theatres’ new season, his third as Artistic Director. The season brings another brand new British musical to the Crucible stage, presenting world premières of bold and political new plays, and the celebrated Christmas musical at the Crucible Theatre.
The season begins with the world première of Sheffield born playwright Chris Bush’s play Steeldirected by Rebecca Frecknall. Exploring the role of women in the Labour party over the last three decades, it asks what’s changed and what still must? This is followed by Robert Hastie’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Crucible with music by Dan Gillespie Sells who returns to Sheffield Theatres following the smash hit Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and a second world première with Close Quarters by Kate Bowen – a taut thriller about the first generation of British women in close combat roles and looks at gender politics in the world’s most dangerous workforce. This co-production with Out of Joint is directed by Kate Wasserberg, and is her first new play since taking over as the company’s Artistic Director.
Paul Foster returns to Sheffield Theatres to direct this year’s Christmas musical Kiss Me, Kate by Sam and Bella Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter following the success of Annie Get Your Gun.
2019 begins with Sheffield Theatres Associate Director Caroline Steinbeis’s production of Rutherford and Son, Githa Sowerby’s celebrated classic about the struggle for supremacy, legacy and deciding one’s own destiny. This is followed by debbie tucker green’s hang directed by Taio Lawson, who joined Sheffield Theatres this year as Resident Assistant Director the part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme.
The season is completed by the world première of Standing at the Sky’s Edge by BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning Michael Wynne, with music and lyrics by the internationally acclaimed musician Richard Hawley. The production, directed by Hastie, tells the story of the first residents of Sheffield’s iconic Park Hill in a heart-swelling, heart-breaking love song to the city.
The new musical follows the success of the Sheffield Theatres production Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in 2017. The West End transfer recently extended its booking period to October 2018 and received three awards at the WhatsOnStage Awards – Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.
Robert Hastie said today, “Our new season is deeply rooted in Sheffield and culminates in an exciting new musical about the iconic Park Hill estate which overlooks the theatre. I am thrilled to be directing Standing at the Sky’s Edge and to be working with Michael Wynne and Sheffield legend Richard Hawley. Together they have created a musical with a strong Sheffield heart and I can’t wait to bring it to the Crucible stage.
My passion for new writing and our commitment to supporting emerging artists and redressing the gender balance across our work is at the forefront of this season. We are delighted to welcome back Sheffield-born Chris Bush with her new play Steel, directed by Rebecca Frecknall; a timely piece exploring the role of women in Labour politics over the last three decades. This is followed by another world première, Kate Bowen’s Close Quarters, a thrilling debut play about the first generation of British female soldiers on the front line, directed by Kate Wasserberg as her first new play as Artistic Director of Out of Joint, with whom we’re delighted to be co-producing. And finally in the Studio, Taio Lawson, who joined Sheffield Theatres this year as the Regional Theatres Young Director Scheme Assistant Director, will direct debbie tucker green’s provocative play, hang.
In the Crucible, I am excited to open the season with a fresh take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream with music by Dan Gillespie Sells, and for our Associate Director Caroline Steinbeis to revive Githa Sowerby’s celebrated classic Rutherford and Son. At Christmas, we welcome Paul Foster back to Sheffield to direct a glorious show from the golden age of musical theatre, Kiss Me, Kate.”
STUDIO
A Sheffield Theatres Production
World Première
STEEL
By Chris Bush
13 September – 6 October 2018
Director: Rebecca Frecknall; Designer: Madeleine Girling
‘I am the Labour Party candidate. Now ask me why.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I am the best damn person for the job.’
The top candidate without question, Vanessa was made to be Mayor. Thirty years prior, Josie just wants things to change and seeks a seat on the local council. This witty new play by Chris Bush explores the last three decades of women in politics, asking what’s changed and what still must.
Chris Bush is a Sheffield-born playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker. She was previously a resident artist for Sheffield Theatres, where her previous credits include What We Wished For, A Dream and The Sheffield Mysteries. Her upcoming work includes The Assassination of Katie Hopkins (Theatre Clwyd), Pericles (National Theatre) and The Changing Room (NT Connections 2018). Other work includes A Declaration from the People (National Theatre), Larksong (New Vic Theatre), Cards on the Table (Royal Exchange Manchester), ODD (Royal & Derngate concert performance), Sleight & Hand (Summerhall and BBC Arts), TONY! The Blair Musical (York Theatre Royal and UK tour), Poking the Bear (Theatre503) and Wolf (National Theatre Studio reading).
Rebecca Frecknall directs. As director, her credits include Summer and Smoke (Almeida Theatre), Educating Rita (Durham Gala), Julie, What Are They Like? and Idomeneus (Northern Stage), You, Me, and Everything Else (Soho Theatre and UK tour), Aftermath (Royal & Derngate), A Streetcar Named Desire Parallel Production (Young Vic), Something Cloudy, Something Clear (Greenwich Theatre) and Bassett (New Diorama). As Associate Director, her credits include Ink (Almeida Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre) and James and the Giant Peach (Northern Stage). Frecknall received a Jerwood Assistant Director Bursary to train at the Young Vic and was the 2012 recipient of the National Theatre Studio’s Resident Director Bursary. In 2015 she won the acclaimed Regional Theatres Young Directors Scheme Bursary and was Resident Director at Northern Stage for 18 months.
Crucible
A Sheffield Theatres Production
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
28 September – 20 October 2018
Director: Robert Hastie; Composer: Dan Gillespie Sells
“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Desperate lovers, squabbling supernaturals and a hapless troupe of amateur actors get tangled in this joyous tale of enchantment and transformation.
Full of magic and mayhem, this is Shakespeare’s most celebrated comedy, reimagined by Artistic Director, Robert Hastie, in a fresh production brimming with musicality.
Robert Hastie’s recent productions as Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres include The York Realist (co-production with the Donmar Warehouse), The Wizard of Oz, Of Kith and Kin (co-production with Bush Theatre) and Julius Caesar. Previous directing credits include 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).
Dan Gillespie Sells returns to Sheffield Theatres following the critically acclaimed musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, for which he composed the music, which transferred to the West End in 2017. The production received three WhatsOnStage awards and two UK Theatre awards, including Best New Musical at both, and Gillespie Sells won Best Composer at The Stage Debut Awards. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and principal songwriter in The Feeling. Their debut album, Twelve Stops and Home sold over a million copies, whilst their second album, Join With Us reached the No. 1 spot in the UK Charts. The band’s fifth album was released in March 2016. His other theatre credits include The Bad, The Sad, and The Broken Hearted (Soho Theatre and The Steve Allen Theatre Los Angeles – currently being developed as a series in America), 3WithD (London Coliseum and Stuttgart Ballet, a collaboration with Javier De Frutos and Ed Watson), and for television, the theme music to BBC’s Beautiful People. Gillespie Sells was the recipient of the 2015 Stonewall Award for Entertainer of the Decade for his work in the LGBT community and the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year.
STUDIO
A Sheffield Theatres and Out of Joint Co-Production
World Première
CLOSE QUARTERS
By Kate Bowen
25 October – 10 November 2018
Director: Kate Wasserberg
“Round my way, the boys would drive to the top of the car park – they’d drive to the edge full speed. I wanted to get involved. They said oh aye Sarah, no bother – if you sit on Gerro’s knee, he’ll hold you nice and tight. Well, I thought to myself, that sounds like a full breach of health and safety regulations.”
So I joined the army.
I drive the car now lads. And get paid to do it.
Kate Bowen’s taut thriller about the first generation of British women in close combat roles looks at gender politics in the world’s most dangerous workplace.
Kate Bowen’s taut thriller features the first generation of British women in close combat roles.
Privates Finlay and Cormack – holed up on a military base in the heat; waiting, frustrated. Then a new arrival creates new problems. Captain Sands – she’s interrogated hostile men the world over. But you never stop having to prove yourself.
Kate Bowen’s debut play Shutter Speed was developed and workshopped by the National Theatre of Scotland/Dundee Rep company in 2011. Her other writing includes Super Sunday, a Five Minute Theatre piece for National Theatre Scotland, the audio play The Prize Fighter (part of the Traverse 50 programme at the Traverse Theatre), and The Lawyers for Play, Pie and a Pint’s Three Minute Theatre project in Glasgow. Bowen was winner of the Playwright’s Studio Scotland New Writer’s Award in 2012, awarded a place on the Channel 4 Playwright’s Scheme Bursary to work with Out of Joint throughout 2017, and last year given a place on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Starter for Ten scheme to develop a new project, Stunt.
Kate Wasserberg is Artistic Director of Out of Joint for whom she has directed Rita, Sue and Bob, Too (Bolton Octagon, Royal Court Theatre and tour). She was the founding Artistic Director of The Other Room in Cardiff, where her directing credits included The Dying of Today, Play/Silence, Sand and Seanmhair. Her other directing credits include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Glengarry Glen Ross, Roots, Gaslight, The Glass Menagerie and A History of Falling Things (as Associate Director for Theatre Clwyd), All My Sons and Insignificance (Theatre Clwyd), The Barnbow Canaries (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Ten Weeks (Paines Plough), The Knowledge (Dirty Protest at the Royal Court Theatre) and Last Christmas (Edinburgh Festival).
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres Production
KISS ME, KATE
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam and Bella Spewack
7 December 2018 – 12 January 2019
Director: Paul Foster; Designer: Janet Bird; Musical Director: James McKeon;
Lighting Designer: Howard Hudson; Casting Director: Will Burton CDG
From the Golden Age, a riotous, romantic musical comedy to make your heart soar. It’s opening night for feuding divorcees Fred and Lilli as they star in The Taming of the Shrew. But as the curtain rises, gambling, gangsters and mistaken identity conspire to create chaos.
Paul Foster directs this lavish and sensational celebration of theatre featuring some of Cole Porter’s finest songs: So In Love, Brush Up Your Shakespeare and Too Darn Hot.
Paul Foster returns to Sheffield Theatres where he previously directed Annie Get Your Gun. His other theatre credits include The Light Princess and Sweet Charity (Cadogan Hall), A Little Night Music and Laurel and Hardy (The Watermill Theatre), Tell Me on a Sunday (The Watermill Theatre and UK tour) Bette Midler and Me (St James Theatre), Flora the Red Menace (Edinburgh Festival), Bells are Ringing, Darling of the Day, Crimes of the Heart (Union Theatre), A State Affair (MTA), Cowardy Custard (Yvonne Arnaud and UK tour), The Vagina Monologues (UK tour) and Little One (Royal Court Young Writers Festival). His radio credits include Britannicus.
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres Production
RUTHERFORD AND SON
By Githa Sowerby
8 – 23 February 2019
Director: Caroline Steinbeis
“No one’s any right to be what father is – never questioned, never answered back”
1912, the Industrial North
Rutherford is overbearing, dogmatic and disappointed. With three grown children and not one qualified to take over his family-owned glassworks, he rules his household with tyranny and disdain. Janet, John and Richard have dreams of their own but none can break free.
Mary is different. Married into the family and with ambitions for her son, she’ll untangle the ties that bind. Caroline Steinbeis directs Githa Sowerby’s celebrated classic about the struggle for supremacy, legacy and deciding one’s own destiny.
Githa Sowerby (1876 – 1970) was a British playwright whose first play Rutherford and Son was originally performed in 1912. Published under her initials GK Sowerby, it was assumed the writer was a man, until the press discovered her identity and Sowerby became an overnight celebrity and feminist icon as Rutherford and Son transferred into the West End. Her other plays included Before Breakfast, A Man and Some Women, Sheila, The Stepmother and The Policeman’s Whistle.
STUDIO
A Sheffield Theatres Production
hang
By debbie tucker green
21 February – 9 March 2019
Director: Taio Lawson
“You want to know my decision.”
A woman makes a choice. The tables have turned. The victim of crime has power over the fate of the criminal. Olivier and Bafta Award-winning debbie tucker green’s provocative and haunting play.
debbie tucker green is a writer-director and works across theatre, television and film. Her theatre credits include a profoundly affectionate passionate devotion to someone (-noun), hang, truth and reconciliation and random (Royal Court), nut (National Theatre) and generations (Young Vic). The film version of random, which she adapted from her stage play and directed for Channel 4, won the BAFTA for Best Single Drama in 2012. Debbie’s first feature film Second Coming won the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015 Big Screen Award and was BAFTA nominated. She has written and directed several radio plays including an adaptation of Assata Shakur’s biography Assata Shakur – the FBI’s Most Wanted Woman, as well as original work including, lament – winner of a gold ARIAS award, gone and freefall.
Taio Lawson directs. He is Resident Assistant Director at Sheffield Theatres (part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme), where he has assisted on Desire Under The Elms, The Wizard of Oz and Frost/Nixon. His directing credits include How to Make Love to a Muslim Without Freaking Out (Rehearsed Reading, Bush Theatre), Face in a Jar (St Paul’s Furzedown Church and Rhoda McGaw Theatre), What We Are and 90’s Kid (ETC Theatre), Gutted ‘n’ Battered (UK and international tour) and Sexy Buff Ting (Cockpit Theatre). Other Assistant Director credits include Life of Galileoand Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic), OIL and They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida Thetare), Octagon (Arcola Theatre) and Perseverance Drive (Bush Theatre)
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres Production
World Première
STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE
Music and Lyrics by Richard Hawley
Book by Michael Wynne
From an original idea by Matthew Dunster
15 March – 6 April
Director: Robert Hastie; Designer: Ben Stones; Movement Director: Lynne Page
“Tonight the streets are ours”
In 1961, the first residents of Park Hill were given the keys to their new homes. With music by Richard Hawley, Standing at the Sky’s Edge tells their story over the next 50 years, in a heart-swelling, heart-breaking love song to Sheffield.
Richard Hawley is synonymous with his native city of Sheffield. Richard has released eight studio albums over the last 16 years with two being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. He is also a Brit nominee and received a South Bank award in 2007. Over the years Richard has become as well known for his guitar playing as his singing and has dueted with Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra and Shirley Bassey, whilst also having played with Arctic Monkeys, Elbow, Paul Weller, Manic Street Preachers and Pulp, the band he played guitar with for a number of years. Best known for his mix of classic songwriting, soothing vocal and northern grit realism, Richard is something of a unique artist in British popular music; being able to cross boundaries from one musical style to another whilst keeping intact his own strong identity.
Michael Wynne’s plays include The Priory (Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), The People are Friendly, The Knocky (The Meyer Whitworth Prize), The Red Flag and Friday Night Sex (Royal Court), Sell Out (Time Out Award for Best Off-West End Production) and Dirty Wonderland (Frantic Assembly), The Boy Who Left Home (Actors Touring Company UK tour), Tits/Teeth (Soho Theatre), Canvas (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Hope Place (Liverpool Everyman). His television credits include Substance, Where the Heart Is, Grafters, Reach for the Moon, As If, U Get Me, Eyes Down, Sugar Rush, Mayo, Little Crackers, Lapland and Being Eileen. His film includes My Summer of Love (BAFTA for Best British Film, Evening Standard Film Award for Best Screenplay, The Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Joint Winner of the Directors Guild Award for Best British Film) and radio includes The Knocky.
Robert Hastie directs.
Sheffield Theatres
Listings
Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA
Box Office 0114 249 6000 – Mon – Sat 10.00am to 8.00pm
On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6.00pm.
Sheffield Theatres:
FROST/NIXON
Until 17 March
THE YORK REALIST
27 March – 7 April
OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD
Sat 12 – Sat 19 May
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
7 June – 23 June
LOVE AND INFORMATION
28 June – 14 Jul
SONGS FROM THE SEVEN HILLS
18 July – 21 July
STEEL
13 September – 6 October 2018
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
27 September – 20 October 2018
CLOSE QUARTERS
25 October – 10 November 2018
KISS ME, KATE
7 December 2018 – 12 January 2019
RUTHERFORD AND SON
7 – 23 February 2019
HANG
21 February – 9 March 2019
STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE
14 March – 6 April
West End:
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE
Apollo Theatre
Booking until 6 October 2018