University of Sheffield Archives

Into the Woods – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

1May

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Yorkshire & Humber

Into the Woods – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

Sondheim’s 1987 Broadway classic reinvented Grimm tales, and whilst this production from the Sheffield University Performing Arts Society needed not to reinvent, it certainly sought to invoke the classical quality of the musical and succeeded in doing so to great effect. Jamie Stephens’ and Rory Violet’s direction was fantastic. Scenes were carefully considered, and the conveyer-belt qualities of the work were well understood, bringing about an amusing and potent sense of urgency and slickness. I got a strong impression there was some really useful time put into fine-tuning the actors’ performances also, as there was evident depth and a real freedom and aliveness that can often only be wrought out by a director-actor working relationship. The layers of these performances are arguabl...

Amelie – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

Amelie is a light, layered romantic comedy that interrogates love, loneliness, purpose and progress - and this production by the young cohort of the University of Sheffield was a strong presentation of the famous French work. Alfie Cowgill and Katie Weller’s direction was resolute - an adept understanding of space and dimensions, engaging vignettes and consistent emotional narrative evoked by this ensemble cast. Charlie Harmer and Tessa Chan’s musical direction was equally as well touched, although these driving orchestrations did not always interplay well with each other with some disjointed and missed cues. Some transitions were handled excellently, and the world was well crafted for this. This demonstration of theatrical intellect was fleeting, which is a shame as there was cl...

Be More Chill – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

SUPAS’ production of ‘Be More Chill’ demonstrates there is a strong future in the next generation of creatives, with the only question being left asked of them is to try and emulate more faith in their own abilities and a slightly enhanced focus to get them to the next level. Alice Bell’s direction of Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz’s text, based on Ned Vizzini’s novel, is good. Transitions tend to avoid interrupting the action and there is a strong sense of narrative peaks and troughs successfully struck upon. Although Daniel Brown’s set design is easy on the eye with its simple-but-effective approach, the play is proxemically stagnant and there is no great use of the abundance of depth and height there is to utilise. Bell tidies this up nicely, however, with some great texturing of scenes us...