Sheffield Theatres' production of The Full Monty (Lyceum Theatre and tour) was reported on last month, and now appetites are whetted still further with news of the next season.
At the Crucible …
Artistic director Daniel Evans directs the Lerner and Loewe classic My Fair Lady, with musical direction by Nigel Lilley.
Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw and Gabriel Pascal’s film of Pygmalion, the show is packed with songs that endure over the decades, amongst them "On The Street Where you Live", "With A Little Bit of Luck" and "Wouldn’t It Be Loverly".
Dominic West returns to Sheffield to play Professor Higgins—in 2011 he played Iago when Daniel Evans directed Othello. West's other theatre credits include Butley at the Duchess Theatre and Life is a Dream at the Donmar Warehouse, but he is also well known for his television work, most notably his BAFTA award winning performance in TV film Appropriate Adult and the HBO's series The Wire.
Carly Bawden whose recent work includes The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at Kensington Gardens, Pippin at the Menier Chocolate Factory and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre will play Eliza Doolittle.
Anthony Calf will play Colonel Pickering, Martyn Ellis takes the role of Alfred Doolittle and Louis Maskell that of Freddy Eynsford-Hill.
D H Lawrence's play The Daughter-in-Law will then open in February with Paul Miller, Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres, directing.
Set in a Derbyshire mining town in 1912 there is unrest at the pit and at home where Luther's new wife Minnie tries to disentangle him from his mother’s apron strings.
Award–winning Lynda Baron plays the mother, Mrs Gascoigne. Her recent stage credits include When We Were Married at Guildford and the West End and Rookery Nook at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Lynda Baron's television credits include Doctor Who, Dinnerladies and the memorable Nurse Gladys Emanuel in Open All Hours.
Claire Price plays Minnie. She has previously worked for Sheffield Theatres in Company amongst others. She has also worked at the Bush Theatre in Little Platoons, The National Theatre in The Power of Yes and at Clwyd Theatr in Mary Stuart, a performance for which she received the TMA Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Play
Also announced for The Crucible is The History Boys by Alan Bennett to be directed by Michael Longhurst. Casting has yet to be announced.
Set in Sheffield The History Boys concerns a group of pre–university students preoccupied by love, sex and higher education, being taught on the one hand by inspirational but unconventional Hector and on the other by results–driven Irwin.
At the Studio…
The Studio sees a programme of all-new work.
Mike Bartlett’s play Bull about office politics starts previewing on 6 February. Bartlett has been writer in residence at the National Theatre and at the Royal Court Theatre, and his credits include Chariots of Fire at Hampstead Theatre and West End, and Earthquakes in London for Headlong at the National Theatre. He has also written plays for radio and is currently associate playwright at Paines Plough.
Clare Lizzimore will direct Bull.
20 Tiny Plays about Sheffield from Sheffield People’s Theatre takes to the studio stage in April. A group of 20 plays, each five minutes in length and each by a different writer, offer something unique to and about the city. Andrew Loretto will direct and the musical director will be Moony Wainwright.
A new musical comedy by Tim Firth opens in June to be directed by Daniel Evans. Firth has writing credits for stage, TV and film including Sign of the Times, Our House, Trapped, Kinky Boots and Calendar Girls.
In This Is My Family a thirteen-year-old wins a writing competition with a description of the family. The prize is a holiday but the family aren’t exactly as described…
The cast has been announced and comprises Janie Dee, Sian Phillips, Bill Champion, Evelyn Hoskins, Terence Keeley and Rachel Lumberg.
Janie Dee's credits span all performing media. On stage these include NSFW at the Royal Court, All’s Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare’s Globe and A Month in the Country at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Sian Phillips also has significant stage, television and film credits. Recent amongst her theatre work are Cabaret at The Savoy Theatre, Little Dogs for Frantic Assembly/ National Theatre of Wales and Calendar Girls in the West End and touring.
For information and booking contact 0114 249 6000 or visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
- My Fair Lady – 12 December 2012 to 26 January 2013
- The Full Monty – 2 to 23 February 2013
- Bull – 6 to 23 February
- The Daughter-in-Law – 27 February to 23 March
- 20 Tiny Plays about Sheffield – 8 to 13 April
- The History Boys – 16 May to 8 June
- This Is My Family – 19 June to 20 July