22 September 2020
Newsdesk
Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Robert Hastie, today announces the Together Season, a bold programme of exciting work that will bring live theatre back to Sheffield this autumn; an open call for submissions for local artists to bring work to the Crucible stage in 2021 and the appointment of a new Associate Artistic Director, Anthony Lau, supported by RTYDS.
The Together Season has been designed with everyone’s safety in mind, in accordance with the latest government advice. The performances will take place in the Crucible theatre which has been configured to ensure social distancing and the safest and most relaxed experience for everyone. This includes the introduction of contactless measures such as e-tickets, staggered audience arrival times, temperature checks, the ability to purchase tickets in distanced bubbles and new cleaning routines. All performances will be completed by 9.30pm. Sheffield Theatres will remain responsive to any further guidance over the coming weeks and months and will adapt its approach accordingly.
Speaking about the new season, Artistic Director Robert Hastie said:
“We’ve called this season Together because that’s the feeling we’ve missed most, and the experience that theatre does best. We’ve all been through – and are still going through – a lot. Now, more than ever, the experience of being together feels vital. This season offers a huge welcome back to the Crucible for the audiences, artists and staff we’ve missed so much this last six months. Together is a celebration of theatre, in all its glorious forms, with drama, music, comedy and pantomime all taking to the stage over the coming months.
I believe starting to make work again is the right thing to do – the best way to serve our audiences and the best way to support our artistic community. Sheffield loves its theatre, and I’ve never felt that love more powerfully expressed than during the last few months, when people have told us how much they’ve missed it. We’re hugely grateful to the audiences who’ve shown us such support and solidarity, and we know that we’ve now got an important part to play in the recovery of our great city and region.
I’m very excited to be joined as we embark on this journey by our new Associate Artistic Director, Anthony Lau. A director of exceptional talent and vision, he will help us extend the scope and ambition of our work, and it’s a real pleasure to be welcoming him to the team. The role is a new initiative supported by the RTYDS, with whom we’re proud to have worked many times in the past, and whose commitment to nurturing and championing the wealth of diverse talent in the next generation of theatre leaders is inspiring and invaluable.
We’re announcing the first half of the Together season today, with lots more to follow. It brings a range of voices to the stage, and while we can’t open our other spaces just yet, we’re packing the Crucible with all the energy and excitement we’d normally be sharing across all three venues.
I’m excited that our co-production with our company in residence, Utopia Theatre, Here’s What She Said to Me, originally slated for last season, will now move to the Crucible stage. This moving and intimate picture of three generations of Nigerian women spread across two continents, is directed by Utopia’s Artistic Director, Mojisola Elufowoju.
Operation Crucible returns after a sell-out 2016 Studio run, telling a story that captures the strength we find in friendship at times of great adversity, and casting a light on the night of the Sheffield Blitz in its 80th anniversary year.
Far Gone, a blistering one-man tour de force written and performed by our supported artist John Rwothomack, also makes a welcome return, having started life as a scratch performance in our Studio before growing into a full-length piece at Theatre Deli. It’ll be a joy to see John lighting up the Crucible stage.
And then, I’m so delighted that panto is popping-up with the irrepressible Damian Williams, our much-loved Dame, leading a company that promises plenty of festive fun and laughter. Pantomime is such an important part of our audiences’ year – Christmas in Sheffield just wouldn’t be the same without Damian.
A key element of the season is collaboration with local companies and artists. Looking to the future, we’re seeking more work made in Yorkshire that demands a platform through our Open Submissions programme. We’re inviting artists and companies from across the region to submit productions for programming in the second half of the season. It’s crucial not only that we make this process open and transparent, but that we broaden the pool of those who have a say in what gets seen on our stages. As Artistic Director, I’ll be observing but not leading this process, which will instead be convened by our new Associate Artistic Director Anthony Lau with a wide-ranging panel of artists, audience members and representatives of the theatre. Next month we’ll open for submissions.
We know that being together means taking a little extra care at the moment. We’ll be drawing on all that we learned as the host of one of the government’s pilot events in the summer, when we welcomed hundreds of people for the World Snooker Championships, and ensuring that everyone is offered a warm, relaxed and safe welcome back.
We’re going to be doing things differently for a while. We’re making ambitious programming possible by committing the Crucible to a unifying, cost-saving design framework, that creatively responds to social distancing on and off stage. It’ll take our audiences on a journey, and allow us to focus our resources on employing as many people brilliant people as we can – brilliant people with big ideas who can transform our space with imaginative reinvention of the set, prop and costume stores we’ve built up over years. Each show we produce will have its own full creative team, responding to the season design by creative associates Ben Stones and Lucy Carter.
I can’t wait for us to be together again, safely socially distanced, to experience incredible work once more on the iconic Crucible stage.”
Anthony Lau joins Sheffield Theatres as the first appointment through the RTYDS Associate Artistic Director Scheme. The programme provides a new opportunity for an experienced and exceptional director to work in a leading regional theatre at a senior level, providing them with the tools to continue to develop their craft whilst learning about the role of an artistic director in cultural leadership. Sheffield Theatres were selected in November 2019 as the host for this inaugural opportunity.
Anthony Lau commented “I am hugely excited and privileged to be joining Sheffield Theatres and RTYDS, two brilliant organisations known for their artistic excellence and commitment to theatre and its future. In times like these, theatre has the power to unite and I am thrilled at the prospect of learning and building towards a collective tomorrow. This is a challenge that I can’t wait to meet head on.”
RTYDS Artistic Director, Sue Emmas said “Anthony will bring all his passion, insight and artistry to the role. Both RTYDS and Sheffield Theatres will benefit enormously from his ideas and energy. He will engage with the city, the people and the artists in Sheffield and for RTYDS he will enable us to support artists across the country with more depth and reach.”
The Together Season has been generously supported by the Victoria Wood Foundation.
The Together Season has been designed with everyone’s safety in mind. The performances will take place in the Crucible theatre which offers spacious foyers to enable socially distanced movement through the building. The auditorium has been configured for social distancing in line with the latest government advice. Seats will be available for sale in bubbles which customers can select online and there will be a range of prices on offer, starting from only £15 for all performances. Customers can also book with confidence, knowing that they will be offered a refund if any performance is subject to cancellation and should they be unable to attend due to ill health, they can also cancel and obtain a transfer or credit to their account.
To ensure everyone feels comfortable and confident in order to enjoy their experience, audiences will be advised of the most up to date guidance at the time of booking and in advance of their visit. Audiences will also be provided with an arrival time to support social distancing on entry to the theatre and Sheffield Theatres’ staff will be on-hand to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort throughout the events, all of which will run for a maximum of 90 minutes without an interval.
Anthony Lau, Associate Artistic Director
Anthony spent a year as Laboratory Associate Director at Nuffield Southampton Theatres and trained as a director at LAMDA, on the Young Vic’s Jerwood Assistant Director Programme and at the National Theatre Studio.
Credits as Director include The Shadow Factory revival and Juicy and Delicious (Nuffield Southampton Theatres); A Better Man as part of 5x5x5 and The Cherry Orchard parallel project (Young Vic); The Common Land (Rose Theatre Kingston); Dreaming in America (Shoreditch Town Hall); Still Life/Red Peppers (Old Red Lion); The Taste of Us (HighTide Festival) and I Am a Camera (Southwark Playhouse).
As Associate Director: The Shadow Factory (Nuffield Southampton Theatres). As Staff Director at the National Theatre: ANNA. As Assistant Director: Swive (Globe Theatre); Ink (West End); First Light, Canvas and King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre/Brooklyn Academy of Music); The Glass Menagerie and The Hudsucker Proxy (Nuffield Southampton Theatres/Liverpool Playhouse); Mint (Royal Court Theatre) and Bingo (Young Vic).
Ben Stones, Creative Associate – Together Season
Ben trained in stage design at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and went on to receive a Linbury Prize commission to design Paradise Lost for Rupert Goold. His designs now span theatre, ballet, comedy, fashion and Hip Hop.
Designs include; Standing at the Skys Edge (Crucible Theatre), The Watsons (Minerva Theatre & Menier Chocolate Factory), The Producers (Royal Exchange Theatre), Sylvia (Old Vic Theatre), The Bear/The Proposal (Young Vic Theatre), Frost/Nixon, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus (Crucible Theatre), The Suicide (National Theatre), HIR, The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre), Frankenstein, Breaking The Code, Doctor Faustus, Edward II, Taste of Honey, Salt (Royal Exchange), Good With People by David Harrower (Paines Plough, 59E59 NYC), Creditors directed by Alan Rickman, translation by David Greig (Donmar Warehouse and BAM New York), The Dazzle, Bug, Fool For Love (Found111), Belong, Ingredient X (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs), Thom Pain (Printroom Notting Hill), Arabian Nights (Tricycle Theatre), No Idea (Improbable Theatre at Young Vic), Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Donmar), Lower Ninth, The Silence of the Sea (Donmar Trafalgar), An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible), Sue The Second Coming (Soho Theatre), Wild Oats (Bristol Old Vic), Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre, West End), Paradise Lost (Headlong Theatre), Speaking in Tongues (Duke of Yorks Theatre), Da (Gate Theatre Dublin), Crocodile by Frank McGuinness (Sky Arts Live), The Lady In The Van (National tour), The Painter (Arcola Theatre), Swive, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeares Globe), The Adventures of Nhamo (Tricycle Theatre), My Generation (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Hobsons Choice, Twelfth Night (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), A Breakfast of Eels, (PrintRoom at the Coronet), Way Upstream (Chichester Festival Theatre).
Dance; Some Like It Hip Hop (Sadlers Wells, National Tour), Groove on down the Road (ZooNation at QEH Southbank Centre), ZooNation Unplugged (Sadlers Wells Theatre), World premiere reimagining of KES - Dance Theatre production by Jonathan Watkins (Sheffield Crucible), Smile (Sadlers Wells), Into The Hoods (Sadlers Wells National Tour), The Mad Hatters Tea Party (Royal Opera House 2015 and RoundHouse 2017), Message in a Bottle (Sadlers/Universal Music). Opera: The Merry Widow (ENO). Fashion; Burberry: London in Shanghai (Shanghai), Burberry: London in Los Angeles (Griffith Observatory).
Lucy Carter, Lighting Designer – Together Season
Lucy Carter is a multi-award winning, critically acclaimed Lighting Designer. She was awarded the 2018 Critics Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance. She is a two-time winner of the prestigious Knight of Illumination Award for Dance for Chroma (2008) and for Woolf Works (2015); winner of the 2013 TMA Achievement award in Opera for Lohengrin; and the 2004 Olivier Dance Award for 2 Human.
Opera credits include: Orphée (ENO); Katya Kabanova (Royal Opera House - Best New Opera Production, Olivier Awards 2019); Hansel and Gretel (Royal Opera House); Werther (Bergen National Opera); Elektra (Goteborg Opera); Lohengrin (Greek National Opera, Polish National Opera, Welsh National Opera); La Finta Giardiniera (Glyndebourne, Teatro alla Scala); Peter Grimes (Aldeburgh on the Beach); Salomé, The Dream of Gerontius (ENO at The Royal Festival Hall).
Dance credits include: McGregor and Mugler, Woolf Works, Obsidian Tear, Afterite, Yugen, Multiverse, Chroma and Autobiography with long-term collaborator Wayne McGregor; Threshold (Le Patin Libre); The Most Incredible Thing (Charlotte Ballet).
Theatre credits include: Coriolanus (Crucible Theatre); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End & UK Tour); On The Town (Hyogo Performing Arts, Japan); Home, I’m Darling (National Theatre and West End); The Almighty Sometimes (The Royal Exchange); Oil (Almeida); The End of Longing (West End).
Other credits include: lighting design for Gareth Pugh’s Women’s Collection in London Fashion Week 2017 and 2019 and Paloma Faith’s performance at the Brit Awards 2015
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres and Utopia Theatre Production
World Première
HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID TO ME
By Oladipo Agboluaje
Conceived and directed by Mojisola Elufowoju
Friday 30 October – Saturday 14 November 2020
Press night: Monday 2 November at 7.30pm
“If I were like you, I’d have never found a man to marry me.
And that right there is a problem.”
Meet Agbeke, Omotola and Aramide, the three generations of proud African women connecting with each other across two continents, across time and space. Together they share their struggles, their joys, tragedies and broken dreams in order to find healing in the present.
Here’s What She Said to Me combines drama with music, poetry and movement to tell a moving story of daughters and mothers in the world of migrations and shifting identities, braving life with an undying hope, optimism and resilience.
Oladipo Agboluaje was born in London. He returned to Nigeria where he attended Abeokuta Grammar School and studied for a BA in Theatre Arts at the University of Benin before returning to the UK. He has taught creative writing and post-colonial theatre at London Metropolitan University, Florida State University – London campus, Goldsmiths University of London and University of Greenwich. He has been a writer in residence at New Wolsey Theatre, Soho Theatre and the National Theatre. He is a winner of the Alfred Fagon Prize for playwriting and is a nominee for an Olivier Award and a Writers’ Guild Award. He is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at University of East London.
Plays include: Early Morning, Mother Courage (adaptation), Knock Against My Heart, Immune, The Estate, Iyale – The First Wife, The Christ of Coldharbour Lane, The Hounding of David Oluwale (adaptation), Threshold, The Garbage King (adaptation), New Nigerians.
Mojisola Elufowoju directs. Mojisola is the CEO and Artistic Director of Utopia Theatre. Her work includes devising and curating Utopia Theatre Creative Hub; staff director at The National Theatre, working alongside Nadia Fall (Artistic Director of the Royal Theatre Stratford East) on Three Sisters by Inua Ellams; recipient of the 2017 Opera Awards Foundation bursary; founding member of Mosaic Opera Collective; guest director at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts and London South Bank University.
Other credits include: How Far Apart? (Work In Progress - Arcola Theatre and Sheffield Hallam Performance Lab 2019) Far Gone (Theatre Deli - Sheffield and Sheffield Theatre Studio 2019) The Bogus Woman (Camden People’s Theatre 2019), On Missing (The Cockpit Theatre 2018), Shadows In Different Shades (Work In Progress - Sheffield Theatre 2018), The Pied Piper Of Chibok Opera (Opera North Residency and Arcola Theatre 2018), I am David Oluwale (Work In Progress-Leeds Playhouse 2018), Iyalode of Eti (Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Crucible, Cast - Doncaster and Ake Festival Nigeria 2016/2017) London Tales (Rich Mix and Lost Theatre 2015) This Is Our Chance (Cultural Centre Calabar, Nigeria 2013) The Shepherd’s Chameleon (CLF Art Cafe 2013) House of Corrections (Riverside Studios (2012) Wake Me When It's Time (York Theatre Royal 2012).
About Utopia Theatre
At Utopia Theatre, we are passionate about producing for the British and international stage, innovative contemporary African Theatre celebrating elements of the culture, language and traditions from Africa.
Utopia Theatre is a producing company formed in 2012. We commission new plays and we are dedicated to demonstrating the rich cultural heritage of Africa’s theatre canon, and in so doing, dispel stereotypes and encourage authentic voices from the African Diaspora. The company synthesises African and Western performing traditions to celebrate the meeting of different cultures, and presents productions in Sheffield and on tour.
The company has recently established Utopia Theatre Creative Hub which is designed to support the development of a sustainable talent pool, give African Theatre practitioners greater visibility and inspire the next generation of artists, ultimately strengthening African communities within the Arts.
www.utopiatheatre.co.uk
Twitter: @Utopia_Theatre
Facebook: /utopiatheatrelimited
CRUCIBLE
A McGill Productions and From Ground Up production in association with Sheffield Theatres
OPERATION CRUCIBLE
By Kieran Knowles
Directed by Bryony Shanahan
Designed by Sophia Simensky
Lighting Designer Seth Rook Williams
Tuesday 17 – Saturday 28 November 2020
Following its sell-out run in autumn 2016, this critically acclaimed story of four ordinary men in extraordinary times returns to the Crucible.
Eighty years ago, on the 12th December 1940, Sheffield was subjected to a bombing raid which aimed to wipe its world-renowned steel works off the map. A single bomb reduced the Marples Hotel, which stood in Fitzalan Square, from seven stories to just 15 feet of rubble. Only one of the ten compartments in the hotel’s cellar withstood the blast. Trapped within it were four steelworkers. This is their story.
This is a universal story of hope in the darkest of hours, courage in the face of adversity and camaraderie in times of chaos.
Kieran Knowles, was nominated for Most Promising New Playwright for his first play, Operation Crucible, he is a graduate of Loughborough University, LAMDA and the Royal Court Young Writer’s Programme. As an actor his work includes Toast (UK tour and New York), Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre and UK tour), The Bear, The Owl and The Angel (New Wimbledon Studio), The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew (RSC), The Witches’ Promise (Birmingham REP), Waiting For Lefty (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Darkness (Lakeside Theatre, Colchester, and Edinburgh) and The Exclusion Zone (Southwark Playhouse).
Salvatore D’Aquilla’s theatre work includes Comet (Redbridge Drama Centre), Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre), War Horse (National Theatre/West End), The Way of The World (Chichester Festival Theatre), and Still Life (Old Red Lion Theatre).
Paul Tinto’s theatre credits include Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre), In Time O’ Strife, international tour of Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre/West End), The Odyssey (National Theatre), Claustrophobia, Release (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). For television, his work includes First Light and Outlander; and for film, Tommy’s Honour.
James Wallwork’s theatre credits include Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre), My Beautiful Laundrette (ATS Theatre) Darkness (Lakeside Theatre, Colchester and Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Last Man Standing (Nursery Theatre). For film, his work includes A Thousand Empty Glasses, V.P. and Nightstand. Wallwork is also a Director and co-founded the award-winning film company Take Cover Films in 2011.
Bryony Shanahan directs. Bryony is the joint Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She won the Genesis Future Directors award and directed Trade at the Young Vic in 2016.
Directing credits include: Wuthering Heights (Royal Exchange Theatre), Enough (Traverse Theatre), Queens of the Coal Age (Royal Exchange Theatre and New Vic Theatre), Chicken Soup (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre/Sheffield Crucible Theatre/59E59 Theaters, New York); Weald (Finborough Theatre in association with the Royal Exchange Theatre), Bitch Boxer (Soho Theatre/Adelaide Fringe/UK tour), Boys Will Be Boys (National Theatre), You and Me (Greenwich Theatre) and Nothing (Royal Exchange Theatre), Winner of the Youth Panel Award at the Manchester Theatre Awards 2017. Bryony trained at East 15 Acting School and the National Studio Director’s course and was the BBC Theatre Fellow in 2014 at the Royal Exchange. As an associate director she has worked in The West End, The National Theatre and internationally.
First performed at the Finborough Theatre, London under Neil McPherson, Artistic Director.
CRUCIBLE
A John Rwothomack production
FAR GONE
By John Rwothomack
Directed by Mojisola Elufowoju
Thursday 3 & Friday 4 December 2020
“If I invited you to come with me on journey, a story, will you come with me?”
Northern Uganda. When Okumu’s village is attacked by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), he and his brother’s lives are changed forever.
Far Gone is a profoundly moving story of a young boy’s journey from childhood innocence to child soldier. Seen through the eyes of those that love him and those that betray him, Okumu’s experience strikes straight at the heart through a powerful one-man performance.
John Rwothomack is a Ugandan-born, London trained, and Sheffield-bred and based writer, actor and director. John trained as an actor at Rose Bruford School of Dramatic Arts and sits on the board of governors for Migration Matters Festival. John is also part of Sheffield Theatres Bank Cohort and was nominated by Sheffield Theatres to English Touring Theatre’s Nationwide Voices scheme.
Theatre credits include: Writer and performer of Far Gone (Theatre Deli, Sheffield Theatres), assistant director on The Last King of Scotland (Sheffield Theatres), as assistant director for Sheffield Theatres’ resident company, Utopia Theatre, credits include; I Am David Oluwale and Shadows in Different Shades. As an actor, theatre credits include: H&P and On Missing (the Cockpit Theatre), Tales From the Playground (Paper Finch Theatre), The Emperor Jones (The Lost Theatre) and The Low Road (Stratford Circus). As director credits include; Bad Blood Blues (Theatre Deli). As playwright, credits include; Far Gone.
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres & Evolution Pantomimes Production
DAMIAN’S POP-UP PANTO!
Written and Directed by Paul Hendy
Wednesday 16 December 2020 – Sunday 3 January 2021
Press night: Friday 18 December at 7.15pm
Sheffield Legend, Damian Williams saves Christmas with Damian’s Pop-Up Panto, a fun-sized festive treat for the whole family. When a baddie steals the joy of pantomime, will Dame Dolly and her friends manage to rescue it? Oh yes they will!
Written and Directed by Sheffield Theatre’s regular pantomime producer, Paul Hendy, and with a cast of five West End performers, this hilarious 70-minute extravaganza will feature all the favourite panto moments including great musical numbers; the cart routine; and, of course, the famous ghost gag bench (‘well, we’ll have to do it again then, won’t we?!’)
Joyous, funny and uplifting, this really is a must-see show.
Paul Hendy is the writer and director. Paul wrote, directed and produced the short film, The Last Laugh. The film has been a huge success at major film festivals around the world winning several awards including Best Comedy Drama at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Award of Excellence at the Global Film Festival (San Diego) and Best Film at the Manchester Film Festival.
On television, Paul hosted shows such as The Disney Club, Don’t Try This At Home with Davina McCall and Wheel of Fortune. He also hosted the BAFTA nominated Dear Mr Barker and the cult classic Stash the Cash.
His novels Diary Of A C-List Celeb and Who Killed Simon Peters? were published by Transworld in 2004 and 2009.
Paul directed and produced a UK Tour of Mister Maker & The Shapes Live! He also directed and produced a UK Tour of Morecambe. Paul has the screen rights for Morecambe and is currently developing a film called Bring Me Sunshine about the life story of his comedy heroes, Morecambe and Wise… watch this space!
Damian Williams
Damian became well known to television audiences in the early nineties for his appearances as Ginger Gahagan in the BBC series Billy Webb and the second series Alfonzo Bonzo. His other television appearances include Lumpy in Spatz; Gavin in Exam Conditions and Ian in The Bill.
Damian was the presenter of Damian’s Are You Smarter Than Your 10 Year Old? for Sky One and was also in the recent series of Birds of a Feather. Damian is always in demand for Musical Theatre and in 2013 and 2014 he played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray both at the Leicester Curve as well as a tour of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Damian’s first love is comedy and he has played various comedy roles from Luther Billis in South Pacific to Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Damian played Tommy Cooper in the new play Being Tommy Cooper, and toured in the one-man play My Dog’s Got No Nose. He also played Tommy Cooper in the short film The Last Laugh, written and directed by Paul Hendy for which Damian won Best Actor at Southampton Film Festival.
Damian has toured the country for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in Theatre. A well respected farceur Damian has appeared in: Run for Your Wife; Cash on Delivery; Funny Money; Tom Dick & Harry; It Runs in the Family; Not Now Darling; There Goes the Bride; Out of Order; Caught in the Net; Dry Rot; See How they Run; Don’t Dress for Dinner and The Ladykillers. Damian has spent 2019 with the cast of ITV’s Benidorm in their UK Theatre tour of Benidorm Live! And played Whiff in Andy and the OddSocks for CBeebies.
Evolution Productions
Emily Wood and Paul Hendy started Evolution Productions in 2005 and have built a reputation for superior, bespoke pantomimes with the emphasis on high quality production values, strong casting and genuinely funny scripts.
They are extremely proud that in a Daily Mail report on the ‘Top Ten Pantomimes in the Country’, three of the shows were produced by Evolution. They were also delighted to win ‘Pantomime of the Year’ in 2016/17 and 2017/18 at the Great British Pantomime Awards (for Dick Whittington at The Marlowe Theatre and Mother Goose, here at Sheffield Lyceum).
Over the last fourteen years they have worked in some of the best theatres in the country. This Christmas, they are producing pantomimes here at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield, The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, the Hawth Theatre in Crawley, the Grove Theatre in Dunstable, the Lichfield Garrick, Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, the Alban Arena in St Albans and The Octagon Theatre in Yeovil. They also hire sets to six other pantomimes across the UK.
Emily and Paul pride themselves on casting some of the country’s most talented performers, among them: Stephen Mulhern, Emma Barton, Jake Wood, Rita Simons, Scott Maslen, Sam Womack, Ade Edmondson, Nigel Havers, Gareth Gates, Steve McFadden, Larry Lamb, Charlie Brooks, Shaun Williamson, Wendi Peters, Jake Canuso (Benidorm), Matt Baker, George Takei (Star Trek), Toyah Willcox, John Partridge, Sheila Ferguson (Three Degrees), Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia), Joe Swash, Rachel Stevens, Ian ‘H’ Watkins (Steps), Sid Sloane, Andy Day, Cat Sandion, Rebecca Keatley, Katrina Bryan (all CBeebies), AJ Pritchard (BBC’s Strictly), and Vanilla Ice.
In 2014 Evolution brought a brand new production of the Olivier Award-winning West End play, Morecambe to theatres all over the country. It received rave reviews and was a huge critical success.
In 2015 Evolution worked with the children’s author, Rod Campbell taking a stage version of his book Dear Santa to theatres across the UK as well having an International Debut in Singapore! They also began their three-year tour of Mister Maker and The Shapes Live! By 2017 the show had visited over a hundred UK theatres and received fantastic reviews!
evolution-productions.co.uk
Facebook & Twitter - @pantomimes
Instagram – evolutionpantomimes
Sheffield Theatres Listings:
TOGETHER SEASON AT THE CRUCIBLE THEATRE
HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID TO ME
Friday 30 October – Saturday 14 November 2020
Press night: Monday 2 November, 7.30pm
Audio Described and Signed Performance: Wednesday 11 November, 7.30pm
Captioned Performance: Thursday 12 November, 2.30pm
Tickets from £15 [Limited Availability]
OPERATION CRUCIBLE
Tuesday 17 – Saturday 28 November 2020
Audio Described and Signed Performance: Wednesday 25 November, 7.30pm
Captioned Performance: Thursday 26 November, 2.15pm
Tickets from £15 [Limited Availability]
FAR GONE
Thursday 3 & Friday 4 December 2020
Tickets from £15 [Limited Availability]
DAMIAN’S POP-UP PANTO!
Wednesday 16 December 2020 – Sunday 3 January 2021
Press Night: Friday 18 December 7.15pm
Captioned Performance: Saturday 19 December, 2.15pm
Audio Described and Signed Performance: Saturday 19 December, 7.15pm
Tickets from £15 [Limited Availability]
Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA
Box Office 0114 249 6000 – Mon – Sat 10am to 8pm
On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6pm.
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
