Summer Holiday The Musical – Crucible Theatre

Jump aboard as The Bus stops at the Crucible!

A Sheffield Theatres Production in association with Blackpool Grand Theatre bring the summer to Sheffield and the Yorkshire weather played its part too. With a giant sandpit outside the theatre and stripy blue and white deckchairs, with buckets and spades abound both children and adults had a lovely time with live music adding to the ambience. The fully air-conditioned Crucible Theatre gave a wonderful place to escape the blistering sun and enjoy a Summer Holiday from a cool vista. The stage version of the classic film has been specially adapted for the Crucible’s round stage by Michael Gyngell and Mark Haddigan resetting the story of Don and the gang from Sheffield on South Yorkshire Transport to Paris, Italy, the Alps and Greece. A fun story which uplifts and doesn’t take itself at all seriously but serves as a celebration of carefree days, friendships, kindness and youth.

Directed by Sheffield Theatres Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman and Ben Occhipinti with Movement Direction by Lesley Hutchinson, Richard Reeday as Musical Director and the responsibility for additional arrangements. Set and Costume Designer Amanda Stoodley, Lighting Designer Rory Beaton and Tom Marshall as Sound Designer had no easy task to bring the story alive with the problems the Crucible stage presented. Much of the obvious; the Bus; is now left to the imagination and multi Kabuki drops early on in the production gave a backdrop of psychedelic panels which framed the two-piece band and leave an open stage. The use of four trucked two-seater bus seats and a separate steering wheel complete the set with additional geographical tourist/landmark locations wheeled on and off momentarily by the cast when appropriate and the odd ferry boat or two! The bus itself makes a ‘small’ appearance or two to the audience’s delight, but I won’t spoil that surprise and watch out for the Mini and the shower! The Crucible stage is a large area to fill without set and the cast felt a little sparse at times and struggled to fill the area, especially when there was a need for a physical and personal journey and a new destination to be portrayed, which gave the first act a quite statutory feel. The second act didn’t appear to suffer the same problem and was much more whole cast driven.

The enthusiastic and energetic Cast are all actor/musicians, and the score is played live in character hence the small two-person band. With endless additional multi-role playing, Don (George Jones) and his band of mechanics Edwin (Jim Duah), Cyril (Elliot Mackenzie) and Steve (Robin Harris) are a fun-loving motley crew who all gave great musical performances with acted through instrumentals. The Do Re Mi band who hitch a ride to Athens on the bus were equally engaging, Nis Raza Hamilton as Angie, Matthew James Hinchcliffe as Al and Trudy Ward as Mimsie all find love on the South Yorkshire Transport. Don’s love interest who starts off disguised as a 14-year boy and then at the end of Act One is discovered to be the famous Barbara is played by Fanta Barrie, and she handles the role well. Barrie and Jones chemistry is strong on stage, and their rendition of The Young Ones is most sincere. There are strong also strong chemistries between Duah (Edwin) and Hinchliffe (Al) and Mackenzie (Cyril) and Hamilton (Angie). Robin Harris most be noted as the King of Cameos and his nods to Del Boy amongst others are hilarious, watch out for the SYT Official in Act Two… worth a full on belly laugh! But it is the comedy pairing of Jane McCarry as Barbara’s mother Stella and her agent Jerry played by Damian Humbley who steal the show with their ‘Allo, Allo’- esque undercover antics, and overly expressive delivery. They manage to fill the stage whenever they enter usually due to some catastrophe or another!

All in all a feel good show and a jolly journey that I am sure will gather greater speed as it runs (if it doesn’t break down, we are talking SYT here!), with some well performed and notable songs to sing-a-long to and a gentle reminder of when life was so much simpler, as ‘we won’t be Young Ones very long’! So hit the sandpit, grab an ice-cream and jump on a South Yorkshire Transport bus in Sheffield– the perfect way to enjoy the Summer Holiday! The production runs at the famous Crucible Theatre Sheffield from the 20^th June until the 18^th June with Matinee, Captioned, Relaxed and Dementia performances on certain dates, see Sheffield Theatres website for details.

Reviewer: Tracey Bell

Reviewed: 25th June 2026

North West End UK Stars: