Crucible Theatre Archives - North West End UK

28Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Doll’s House – Crucible Theatre

A Masterful production of a Masterpiece of Theatre. ‘All my life I have been a Doll that is taken out to play with and discarded when boredom dictates, I have no voice and I have no opinion, I am never heard, I am what you want me to be... never what I truly am… but what and who am I?’ This famous Henrik Ibsen play was originally written in 1879 and was inspired by real events. In 1878 Ibsen wrote ‘There are two kinds of moral law, two kinds of conscience, one for men and one, quite different, for women. They don’t understand each other; but in practical life, woman is judged by masculine law, as though she weren’t a woman but a man’. In this statement stands the heart of this play. Shocking as it was in its time it still now remains so, although with less poignancy but y...

12Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chariots of Fire – Crucible Theatre

Chariots of Fire is the stage adaptation by Mike Bartlett of the 1981 Oscar winning motion picture. This Sheffield Theatre production is cleverly directed by resident award winning Artistic Director Robert Hastie and unfortunately, his last Sheffield production in the role. Hastie with Associate Director Lilac Yosphon and Assistant Director Chantell Walker re-imagine what was first performed at the Hampstead Theatre in London in 2012. In the Olympic year of 2024, this production marks 100 years since the Paris Olympics of 1924 when this extraordinary real life story takes place and is subsequently dedicated to Sheffield Olympians past and present. It would seem the circular stage (theatre in the round) of the Sheffield Crucible is the perfect location to house a production that requires...

Chariots of Fire at The Crucible production images released

11Jul

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Chariots of Fire at The Crucible production images released

Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre has released images from their current production of Chariots of Fire. Adapted by Mike Bartlett (Doctor Foster, King Charles III) from the 1981 Oscar-winning film based on the remarkable events of the 1924 Olympics and directed by Sheffield Theatres’ Artistic Director Robert Hastie, this production marks the 100th anniversary of the true stories of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams and their record-breaking achievements. The cast includes: Bethany Antonia as Florence and Frank; Adam Bregman as Harold Abrahams; Richard Cant as Master of Caius; Waleed Elgadi as Sam and as cast; Bessy Ewa as Sybil; Sally Frith as cast; Tom Glenister as Aubrey Montague; Mark Lockyer as Master of Trinity; Lois Pearson as Jennie and as cast; Eddie-Joe Robinson as Schloz and as c...

14Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Miss Saigon – Crucible Theatre

Billed as Sheffield Theatre’s new production of Boublil and Schonberg’s Miss Saigon, this production marks my 40th visit to see this show. My first being back at Drury Lane in late 1989, and I have also been lucky enough to direct the show back in 2018, therefore, I would consider myself to be a bit of a connoisseur. Yes, I am aware of the political issues that surround it, I am aware that creating a new production was met with anger from some, but I am also aware that highlighting issues allows the audience to formulate their own responses … our history is relevant to our future. I have given myself a length of time to digest what I saw last night before reviewing this production. It is new, it is different, it is edgier, starker, less self-indulgent in its direction and more invested ...

<strong>Standing at the Sky’s Edge – Crucible Theatre</strong>

29Dec

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Standing at the Sky’s Edge – Crucible Theatre

Some books you only ever want to read once, some films do not stand up to the scrutiny of a second watch, and some plays you will try to forget before you even leave the theatre foyer. I reviewed 'Standing at the Sky's Edge' in its original incarnation at the Crucible Theatre back in March 2019, when I had no hesitation in naming it amongst my top five shows of that year. I'm delighted to say that this revival matches the original production in every way, my love affair with this superb production was rekindled and London audiences are in for an invigorating blast from the north when it transfers to the National Theatre early in 2023. Retaining eight of the original cast of nineteen, including the core of the lead performers, allows these actors to revisit and more fully explore their c...

14Feb

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Anna Karenina – Crucible Theatre

As the house lights go down, a series of spotlights reveal a lone figure: Anna Karenina. “This is my story”, she says. But she is not in this alone. Two main stories are intertwined. The titular character, Anna, an unfulfilled wife and mother, meets Count Vronsky, an officer in the Russian army; they begin a passionate affair, and the consequences are dramatic. At the same time, Constantin Levin, an idealistic young landowner, is courting Kitty, Anna’s sister-in-law, and is learning what it means to experience heartbreak and learn responsibility. Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of the epic novel by Leo Tolstoy takes a story that we think we are familiar with – but probably don’t know as well as we think we do and makes it accessible to a new generation. “Where are you now?” Anna and Lev...

19Dec

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

She Loves Me – Crucible Theatre

From the moment the ensemble stepped off the trolleybus onto the stage and the doors of Maraczek’s Parfumerie swung open, I was hooked. She Loves Me is a visual feast from start to finish, making the most of every inch of the stunning set designed by Ben Stones. Shop counters fit together like jigsaw pieces, bicycles and beds come and go, and a French-style café appears out of nowhere. Blink for even a second and you’re bound to miss something – maybe even the arrival of autumn or winter! She Loves Me tells a classic story, which has been adapted more than once from the original play by Miklós László; most famously into the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. It’s a simple plot: two co-workers, Amalia and Georg, who show a strong dislike for one another on the...

Casting announced for “She Loves Me” at The Crucible this Christmas

2Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Casting announced for “She Loves Me” at The Crucible this Christmas

Sheffield Theatres announces the cast for its Christmas musical She Loves Me at the Crucible Theatre from Saturday 11th December 2021 – Saturday 15th January 2022. Directed by Sheffield Theatres’ Artistic Director Robert Hastie, the cast includes: Adele Anderson playing Head Waiter (Fascinating Aïda), Lewis Cornay playing Arpad Laszlo (John and Jen, The Book of Mormon), Andy Coxon playing Steven Kodaly (Curtains, West Side Story), Marc Elliott playing Ladislav Sipos (The Girl on the Train, Macbeth), Kaisa Hammarlund playing Ilona Ritter (Fun Home, Sweet Charity), Karl Seth playing Zoltan Maraczek (Annie Get Your Gun, The Kite Runner), David Thaxton playing Georg Nowack (The Phantom Of The Opera, Passion), and Alex Young playing Amalia Balash (Guys and Dolls, Stan...

27Oct

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Lemon Table – Crucible Theatre

The Lemon Tree is presented by Wiltshire Creative, Malvern Theatres, Sheffield Theatres and Home, in association with MGC. It is two short stories penned by Julian Barnes, co-directed by Michael Grandage and Titus Halder and performed by the actor Ian McDiarmid. Lighting designer Paule Constable, Associate lighting designer Ryan Day and Sound Designer by Ella Wahlstrom make up the creative team. Barnes’ 2005 book of Short Stories are first person accounts on the reality of ageing. The two chosen stories in the Lemon Table are told through the eyes of Jeffrey in ‘Vigilance’ and the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius as he draws to the end of his life, in the second – ‘Silence’. Both these dramatizations are depicted back to back over a 65 minute period by McDiarmid with the ease of a masterc...

3Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Talent – Crucible Theatre

Just over five years ago, in April 2016, Britain lost a unique and irreplaceable comedy voice with the untimely death of Victoria Wood. In addition to her brilliance as a stand up comedian and actress in both comedic and dramatic roles, Wood also scripted a number of plays and musicals for the stage and her very first attempt from 1978, 'Talent', is the subject of a revival at Sheffield’s Crucible during July. The world of the late 1970's northern working men's club, is evoked by both the cheesy ballads playing as we enter the auditorium and the set design of Janet Bird. A golden cloak covers the stage and reaches up to a white grand piano perched high on a plinth, evoking the glamour of Liberace and 1940's Hollywood. This is quickly revealed to be a grotty backstage with boxes of crisp...