Notes Newsletter Summer 2019

NOTES NEWSLETTER

Summer 2019

Welcome

I am delighted to welcome you to the new edition of Notes Newsletter. As we enjoy Summer 2019, I am excited to share some insights in to a brand new season of shows. It’s been an incredible few months here at Sheffield Theatres with Standing at the Sky’s Edge - one of our most successful shows ever - hitting the Crucible stage to sold-out audiences in March. On page 2 of this issue, we look back at some of the work the Sheffield Theatres team did around our wonderful city to take the stories of Park Hill and Standing at the Sky’s Edge to the people of Sheffield.

Life of Pi is now open in the Crucible, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from the original novel by Yann Martel and directed by Max Webster. This is truly like nothing we’ve ever seen before on the Crucible stage and on page 5 we get an inside look at some of the exciting elements of the show!

The Willy Russell classic Educating Rita makes its way to us from Mon 22 July this summer. We hear from the acclaimed writer about one of his best-loved works on page 3. Also in the Lyceum, Jason Manford stars in the Tony Award winning musical Curtains (29 Oct – 2 Nov). We caught up with Jason on page 4 to chat about the show, and how he finds life in musical theatre compared to his roots in stand-up comedy.

On page 5 and 6, we catch up with Sheffield Theatres’ Producer John Tomlinson to gain an exclusive insight in to some of the fantastic shows coming to the Crucible over the next few months. We take a look at the mind-blowing elements in Life of Pi, meet the creative team behind Reasons to Stay Alive and find out why now is the perfect time to stage the political drama The Last King of Scotland.

Standing At The Sky’s Edge – A Sheffield Triumph

Educating Rita – Interview with Willy Russell

Curtains interview with Jason Manford

I hope you enjoy this edition of Notes and I look forward to seeing you at the Theatres this season.

Robert Hastie, Artistic Director

Bookings and membership

0114 249 6000 sheffieldtheatres.co.uk Sheffield Theatres Trust is a Registered Charity no. 257318

A look behind the scenes...

MEMBERS MEET THE CAST

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

We have some dates for your diaries. Don’t miss these upcoming Meet the Cast events. They’re an opportunity for members to meet the cast and creatives of some of our biggest shows and to gain a unique insight into the makings of a production. Please join us for tea, coffee and cake and find out more about what goes on behind the scenes at Sheffield Theatres.

Meet the Cast events help us to raise money to support our vital charitable work at Sheffield Theatres. There is a minimum donation of £10.00 for each event.

You can book directly with our Box Office on 0114 249 6000 or online at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk by logging in to your Centre Stage account.

NORTHERN BALLET’S CINDERELLA

Tue 24 – Sat 28 September Lyceum Theatre

LIFE OF PI

Sat 13 July 10.30am – 12.00pm

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

REASONS TO STAY ALIVE

Fri 13 – Sat 28 September Studio Theatre

Sat 12 October 10.30am – 12.00pm

GUYS AND DOLLS

Sat 4 January 10.30am – 12.00pm

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Mon 7 - Sat 12 October Lyceum Theatre

STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE – A SHEFFIELD TRIUMPH

In March this year, the Crucible stage was host to the smash-hit new musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge written by Sheffield playwright Chris Bush with songs by Steel City legend Richard Hawley and directed by Sheffield Theatres’ own Robert Hastie.

Over its three week run, we welcomed over 23,000 audience members through our doors, some for their very first visit. 625 individuals who had never been to the Crucible before, including ex-residents of Park Hill, were invited to the Public Dress Rehearsal of the show. The production received nation-wide acclaim and showcased Park Hill and the communities it created.

Local musicians and bands took to the trams to perform covers of classic Richard Hawley songs to the commuters of Sheffield.

Performing songs like ‘Open Up Your Door’, local singersongwriters, Laura Hegarty and Aeddon Lockett entertained Sheffield locals on public transport.

Urban Splash commissioned a new piece by local street artist, Standing at the Sky’s Edge Kid Acne, based on the title of was created for the people of the show. The piece was then Sheffield, with the people of projected on to the side of Sheffield and as such, the team Park Hill on the evening of the behind the show wanted to take Opening Night and was displayed the production out in to the city at Peddler, the popular Kelham to share our work with the wider Island weekend market, during community. We look back at some their ‘Veg Out’ event. of the projects that took Standing at the Sky’s Edge to the people of Sheffield Brewery Triple Point partnered with Sheffield Theatres Sheffield: to create a bespoke beer for the The Learning team invited the show. The cask ale, Sky’s Edge Everyone’s Singing Group, Gold was sold in pubs and bars who meet in the Arbourthorne around the city including our Community Centre every own Crucible Corner, and 10% Thursday, to write a new song of the price of each pint sold celebrating community, heritage was donated back to Sheffield and their sense of place in Theatres Trust.

Sheffield. They worked over Throughout the run of the show, a four sessions with professional composer Luke Carver-Goss to raffle was held offering exclusive prizes like a signed test-press create the song ‘Skyline Cranes’.

They were then invited to perform of Richard Hawley’s upcoming album, Further. The raffle raised their original song in the upper £3200 in total which will all go foyer of the Crucible before towards our work with children both the matinee and evening and young people throughout the performances of the show on city of Sheffield.

Wednesday 27th March.

EDUCATING RITA

WILLY RUSSELL

interview with

Photo: Robert Day

Photo: Robert Day

Photo: Paul Cox

It is 40 years since award-winning playwright Willy Russell wrote Educating Rita and it remains one of his best loved works, regularly performed around the world. For Russell, it’s a time for reflection on the success of his play.

“When will I ever be free of it?” he jokes. “It’s coming up to its 40th anniversary would you believe?”

Russell says he thinks of the play with great affection - not least because of the success of that original 1980 production at the Warehouse Theatre (now Donmar Warehouse) where Julie Walters first played the role of Rita opposite Mark Kingston as Frank.

He says: “The original production came together so well and I worked with people I really adored.

Nobody had any big plans for this play, so when something happens so unexpectedly you always have a special regard for it because it came out of nowhere and suddenly made it.”

The play tells the story of married hairdresser Rita who enrols on an Open University course to expand her horizons. But in her university tutor Frank she finds a frustrated but brilliant academic, a little too fond of a drink, who is initially less than enthusiastic to teach Rita. The two soon realise they have much to learn from each other.

Russell says: “There have been productions that have tried to set it in a contemporary setting, but the difference between education today and 1979 is so vast it doesn’t do the play any favours to make it a contemporary tale. People don’t see education as a route to salvation in the way they did in the year this was written.”

“The idea then of working class people returning to education was in the air, it was a new and vibrant thing, and the collision of those worlds, of the noneducated and the rather elite red brick university, was a massive collision, but all of that has gone now. The Franks of the education world today wouldn’t have the luxury of being able to teach a girl outside of his curriculum who came to his office once a week, someone like Frank would be responsible for at least 300 students today. We’re now so far away from 1979, that there’s actually something kind of exotic about setting it in its own time. “You can explore that world, design that world, costume that world and fortunately the universality of the play is exactly the same, someone’s struggle to make life better is an ageless struggle, an ageless story.”

The new production will see actress Jessica Johnson take on the role of Rita, after her acclaimed run in the role in Rebecca Frecknell’s 2017 production at Durham’s Gala Theatre. Then she played the role with a North East accent, but she will be a Liverpudlian Rita to star opposite Tompkinson in the new production.

Russell is looking forward to see Stephen Tompkinson take on the role of Frank. “I’ve long admired him as an actor,” he says. “Frank is a role which has a humour to it but has a real pain as well.

I can’t think of anyone more equipped to delving into both of those elements than Stephen.”

What does he believe is the enduring success of the play? He smiles: “If I could answer that, I’d write the formula, sell it for a lot of money and people could bottle it. One never, ever knows. You could say because it touches a nerve, because it’s about education, because it’s a love story of sorts, or that old Paul Simon line - the thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our bones, it touches that kind of nerve. You can identify all of these things, but none of it really explains it.”

CURTAINS

JASON MANFORD

interview with

chance to be on stage, and that’s not dissimilar from how I started! I came from a different world, coming from the stand-up comedy and television world and was surrounded by these hugely talented actors and performers, so I can relate to that a bit! There’s something in him that is just fun to play with as an actor.

Audiences may know you best from your TV and comedy work, but you’ve been part of many musicals over the years. What initially made you want to make the leap?

What I really love about theatre, which I didn’t realise at first, was how much I enjoy working with other people. You spend so much time alone when you’re touring as a stand-up. I mean, don’t feel sorry for me, I did very well out of it, but it’s a lonely job! So, in theatre it’s lovely to be part of a cast, a family feel, which I really love.

Do you prefer performing in theatre to stand up comedy, or do you find one or the other better suits you at different points in your life?

Comedian and TV Star Jason Manford comes to the Lyceum from Tuesday 29 October starring in a brand-new UK Tour of the Tony Award winning musical CURTAINS. We caught up with Jason to chat about the show, and how he finds life in musical theatre compared to his roots in stand-up comedy.

Firstly, can you tell us a little about Curtains?

The show was a huge success on Broadway so it’s really exciting to be bringing this new production to the UK. It’s a comedy musical ‘whodunit?’ and I play a detective obsessed with musicals.

When a murder happens in a theatre, he, along with the audience, turns up to discover who the killer is. It’s written by Kander and Ebb who wrote ‘Chicago’ and ‘Cabaret’, so the music is great and it’s a hilarious script.

You’re playing the role of Frank Cioffi, a local detective and huge musical theatre fan. What appealed to you about taking on the role?

What I love about Frank is that he’s such a sweet guy, even considering he’s there to solve a murder! He loves theatre but hasn’t had the

I just find that there are times when standup is number one, and there are times when it’s theatre. With stand-up I’m starting with a blank page – I sit down and think about what I want to tell stories and jokes about whereas with musicals somebody else is setting the parameters that I then get to explore and play in. There’s something quite exciting about that – someone saying here are the rules, a script, story, songs, and then you’ve got to use what you’ve got to collaborate with them, with what pre-exists.

It’s actually a really good discipline, and I’ve been able to use some of the skills I’ve learned in theatre and translate them to how I perform stand-up comedy.

What was your very first experience of musical theatre, and when did you fall in love with it?

I remember being about nine or ten at school, and I don’t know how they got away with it, but they took us to see Sweeney Todd! It was quite an experience, and I remember thinking it was just brilliant. I was in every musical I could be at high school, whether it was my year group or not I would badger the teacher until they let me be a part of it somehow.

Do you think you’d ever want to write any musical theatre in the future?

I’ve got a couple of things that I’m working on that I would like to develop but it’s a big world to dive into and a flop is a real flop, so it’s a big risk. It’s a lot of work but I’ve got a couple of nice ideas that I might like to explore more in the future.

A LOOK BEHIND THE PRODUCER

JOHN TOMLINSON

I’m very excited to be working with some great new teams on some brilliant shows and would love to share some insights in to what’s coming up on our stages over the next few months: Life of Pi promises to be something really extraordinary. It’s one of the most imaginative projects I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see what our audiences think of it. To make a story like this come to life is quite something – it’s not often you have to allocate a dressing room for a Bengal Tiger! The creative team and actors (I’m including the animals in that!) will take you across the world in front of your very eyes. The detail of the design on this will blow you away.

Video Design might not sound particularly exciting, but when you realise what it can do to our auditorium, you’ll know how important it is.

Photo: Ant Robling

Some of you may know that I was here at Sheffield Theatres a few years ago as Assistant Producer. I loved my time here and am thrilled to be back in the role of Producer. It is such privilege to come back and as someone who was brought up on the work made here, it’s really special to be a part of such an exciting chapter.

Our autumn season is electrifying - our Studio shows begin in September with Reasons to Stay Alive, adapted from the book of the same name that has changed so many people’s lives and views on mental health. The creative team that has been assembled are all incredible in their own right - working with Jonathan Watkins in particular on this will be great as his process is very different: using the text to inspire his physical style. Here we find out a bit more about Jonathan and the author of the best-selling book, Matt Haig:

SCENES WITH...

MATT HAIG Photo: Clive Doyle

Matt was born in Sheffield in 1975.

Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and was in the UK top 10 for 46 weeks and won the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Awards in 2016.

JONATHAN WATKINS

Jonathan was born in South Yorkshire.

He trained locally before attending The Royal Ballet School.

His bestselling children’s novel, Father Christmas and Me, is currently being adapted for film, produced by Studio Canal and Blueprint Pictures.

He began choreographing from an early age and showed clear choreographic talent, winning the Kenneth Macmillian Choreography Competition at the Royal Ballet School, aged just 16 years old

In 2018, he wrote lyrics for English singer and songwriter Andy Burrows music album.

The album title was taken from Haig’s book Reasons to Stay Alive.

For Sheffield Theatres, he created Kes, a new full length dance theatre adaptation of the book A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines.

We are so excited to be producing the world premiere of The Last King of Scotland. It’s a historical drama based on the novel by Giles Foden, adapted for the stage by Steve Waters.

It’s a fascinating piece about politics in Uganda in the early 1970’s when an unlikely relationship brings a Scottish doctor close to Idi Amin, his power, his regime and the impact it had on the world. It’s a really powerful story of what has happened in a particular part of the world, time and setup – but it feels unnervingly real to the stories we hear in the world right now.

We’re bringing together an incredibly exciting creative team who are new to Sheffield Theatres – so there’s a real energy about the vision from them about how we serve a piece of work for an audience today to enjoy and recognise. Expect a visceral punch of drama, layered with a physical and digital undertone to transport the flaws, vulnerability, paranoia and power of a historical political leader to remind us of where we might be heading today…

Director - Gbolahan Obisesan Designer – Rebecca Brower Lighting Designer – Sally Ferguson Sound Designer – Donato Wharton

Video Designer - Zsolt Balogh Movement Director – Kane Husbands Casting Director – Nadine Rennie Assistant Director - John Rwoth-Omack

SHEFFIELD PEOPLE’S THEATRE & FRANTIC ASSEMBLY This season Sheffield People’s Theatre are taking part in one of three intensive residency weeks with professional companies Frantic Assembly, Barrel Organ and Show Stoppers. During these residencies, the groups will develop skills in theatre-making, devising, political and physical exploration. In May the participants spent the week with Frantic Assembly, the internationally renowned physical theatre company, to develop a final piece performed on the Crucible stage.

Adapted from some initial pieces of writing, the company created a piece centred around a birthday party which they shared to an audience of 250 people.

Over the space of the week, the Sheffield Theatres team and Frantic Assembly artists Amelia

AN EVENING WITH SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON Monday 10 February Crucible On sale to members Saturday 20 July

DONATE & SUPPORT

Cardwell and Jonnie Riordan, worked with 22 Sheffield People’s Theatre members, 10 of whom had never worked with us before. The group were experimenting with lifts, balances and completely new physical theatre practices. Creative Projects Manager Emily Hutchinson said, ‘The group worked extremely hard, they were brave and generous throughout the whole week and they created a really magical and emotional piece.’

An evening with Sir Michael Parkinson celebrates the life and career of a man who has interviewed over 2000 of the most important cultural figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. In conversation with his son Mike and showing highlights from the Parkinson archive, An Evening with Sir Michael Parkinson is a unique opportunity to get an intimate, entertaining and informative look at his remarkable journey from a pit village in Yorkshire to the top of those famous stairs whilst re-living the best moments from a show that for many defined their Saturday night.

At Sheffield Theatres we make bold and brilliant theatre for everyone and together with supporters like you we can welcome, inspire and involve our diverse city.

If you join our Actors’ Circle and donate £25.00 per month you will be supporting the exciting ways in which we work with our community: •• Sheffield People’s Theatre – our intergenerational theatre company •• Launchpad – weekly theatre workshops for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism •• Storyframe – engaging primary school children with storytelling and theatre-making •• Young Company – an opportunity for young people aged 18-25 to build a career in the theatre industry through skills development Our thank you to our donors will include invitations to exclusive behind-the-scenes events, 2 tickets to a Public Dress Rehearsal of your choice per season and an annual celebration event.

For more information contact Leah Woffenden on l.woffenden@sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or 0114 201 3820.