Sheffield Theatres has announced the final production in its current season, a new play by in-demand writer Bryony Lavery.
Fresh from success with The Believers, Lavery also has commissions for the National Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre underway, due for performance in the Christmas period.
Sheffield Theatres will pip those to the post, though, with her play Queen Coal running in their Studio in early November. It is to be directed by Robert Shaw Cameron, notable for his work with Birmingham REP.
In making the announcement, Sheffield Theatres Artistic Director Daniel Evans pointed to the still-current resonances in Sheffield of the miners' strike, which forms the backdrop to Lavery's play. The piece "examines the crucial role that women played during that intense period of British history."
Sheffield Theatres has also announced a trio of touring productions: Tim Firth's musical comedy This Is My Family, Twelfth Night in a co-production with English Touring Theatre to be directed by Jonathan Munby and the classic Cole Porter musical Anything Goes.
The first two of these will kick off in Sheffield before hitting the road in October, while Anything Goes, directed by Daniel Evans, will be the Crucible's big Christmas show. A subsequent tour will be announced shortly.