SHEFFIELD THEATRES ANNOUNCES NEW SHOWS CULMINATING IN A CELEBRATION OF SHEFFIELD
Today, Sheffield Theatres announces its new season of exciting shows to take place throughout 2018 and into 2019: including new plays, sensational musicals, traditional dramas and shows that put Sheffield centre stage
To start the season in the Crucible, Sheffield Theatres’ Artistic Director Robert Hastie will direct a fresh production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Brimming with musicality, Dan Gillespie Sellswill be returning to Sheffield Theatres following his work on Everybody’s Talking About Jamie to compose a brand new and exciting score. This tale of desperate lovers, squabbling supernaturals and a hapless troupe of amateur actors is Shakespeare’s most celebrated comedy and runs from Friday 28 September 2018 – Saturday 20 October 2018.
This year’s Crucible Christmas musical will be Kiss Me, Kate; from the Golden Age of musicals, this riotous, romantic musical comedy will be directed by Paul Foster (Annie Get Your Gun). 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. Featuring some of Cole Porter’s finest music, including: So In Love, Brush Up Your Shakespeare and Too Darn Hot, Kiss Me, Kate runs from Friday 7 December 2018 – Saturday 12 January 2019. Also running over Christmas is Peter Pan, a co-production with Evolution Pantomimes running in the Lyceum Theatre from Friday 7 December 2018 – Sunday 6 January 2019 and will once again star Damian Williams, returning for his 11th year as the Dame.
2019 in the Crucible will open with Githa Sowerby’s celebrated classic, Rutherford and Son, directed by Sheffield Theatres Associate Director, Caroline Steinbeis. Rutherford is overbearing, dogmatic and disappointed, with three grown children and not one qualified to take over the family-owned glassworks. Set in the Industrial North in 1912, this is a story about how the women in the family come out from under Rutherford’s shadow and prove themselves equally worthy of inheriting his legacy and will run from Friday 8 February – Saturday 23 February 2019.
Finally, Robert Hastie will close the season by directing the World Première of Standing at the Sky’s Edge. A brand new musical written by Michael Wynne, featuring music and lyrics by Sheffield’s very own Richard Hawley. In 1961, the first residents of Park Hill were given the keys to their new homes, and Standing at the Sky’s Edge tells their story over the next 50 years, in a heart-swelling, heart-breaking love song to Sheffield. This will run in the Crucible from Friday 15 March – Saturday 6 April 2019.In the Studio, the season opens with Inherited Cities – a co-production between Third Angel and Sheffield Theatres. During its lifetime, Sheffield has been inherited over and over again and soon it will be time for you to pass it on to the young people of the city – Inherited Cities asks you to see the city through their eyes and runs from Thursday 26 – Saturday 28 July. Next is the World Première production of Steel. Running from 13 September – 6 October 2018, Steel is a witty new play by Sheffield playwright Chris Bush and directed by Rebecca Frecknall, which explores the last three decades of women within the Labour party, asking what’s changed and what still must. Later in the year, the World Première of Close Quarters – written by Kate Bowen – will run from Thursday 25 October – Saturday 10 November 2018. A co-production between Sheffield Theatres and Out of Joint, Close Quarters is 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 workplace and will be directed by Out of Joint’s Artistic Director, Kate Wasserberg. Finally, the Studio season will end with debbie tucker green’s hang, which will be directed by Taio Lawson, who joined Sheffield Theatres this year as Resident Assistant Director the part of the Regional Theatres Young Director Scheme. This provocative and haunting play about what happens when the victim of crime has power over the fate of the criminal will run from Thursday 21 February – Saturday 9 March 2019.
In the Lyceum this season we welcome Ken Dodd on Saturday 7 July and Thriller Live again returns from Monday 16 – Saturday 21 July. Prepare for a barrel of laughs as Showstopper! – The Improvised Musical comes to Sheffield hot from its acclaimed West End run on Wednesday 25 July. Explore the magical world of Tellytubbyland as Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po star in Tellytubbies Live from Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 July. Be blown away by the phenomenal Flashdance – starringStrictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton – from Tuesday 7 – Saturday 11 August. Explore the kaleidoscopic colours of India straight from a sell-out London season in the smash-hit Bollywood musical, Taj Express, from Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 September. Children’s favourite The Gruffalo’s Child will delight little ones from Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 September. The BAFTA award winning Cilla, telling the story of the late Cilla Black, visits Sheffield from Tuesday 2 – Saturday 6 October. Audiences can enjoy the iconic tunes featured in Fame from Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 October. Following huge demand, Take That’s sensational musical, The Band, returns from Tuesday 16 – Saturday 20 October. Northern Ballet will return to present The Three Musketeers, choreographed by David Nixon, from Wednesday 24 – Saturday 27 October. Before it heads to the West End, catch The Messiah – starring Hugh Dennis and Lesley Garrett – fromMonday 5 – Saturday 10 November. The National Theatre bring a new production of Macbeth byWilliam Shakespeare from Wednesday 21 – Saturday 24 November. Finally, prepare to rock out as the explosive Rock of Ages returns, from Monday 26 November – Saturday 1 December.
Across the season, the Studio is set to host an extensive range of touring productions, including:Bridget Christie – What Now? (Monday 4 – Tuesday 5 June), Superposition (Wednesday 6 June), On Behalf of the People (Thursday 14 June), You’ve Changed (Friday 15 – Saturday 16 June), and, finally, the critically acclaimed Believers Are But Brothers, directed by Sheffield Theatres’ Associate Director, Javaad Alipoor (Monday 16 – Saturday 21 July).
Sheffield Theatres is also delighted to announce that it is expanding its IGNITE scheme – which offers free theatre tickets to those studying Drama or Performing Arts at school or college – to now include those studying English, and to include those at University anywhere within South Yorkshire. For more information, please call the Sheffield Theatres Box Office.
Tickets for all new season productions will go on sale to Centre Stage Members – who enjoy exclusive discounts and priority booking – on Saturday March 10. General booking will open on Saturday 24 March at 10.00am