Daniel Evans announces final Sheffield Theatres season

Daniel Evans has today announced his final season as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres.

The season opens with a production of Kieran Knowles’ Operation Crucible, followed by a new version of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley's Lover Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun will be the Crucible's Christmas musical, prior to the world première of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae.

First performed at the Finborough Theatre, Operation Crucible is set against the backdrop of the Sheffield Blitz and will be directed by Bryony Shanahan (Boys Will Be Boys – National Theatre), running from 6 – 24 September.

In a co-production with English Touring Theatre, Sheffield Theatres present a new version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, adapted and directed by Phillip Breen (Cyrano de Bergerac – Theatr Clwyd), from 21 September – 15 October. Banned in the UK until 1960, D.H. Lawrence’s novel is inspired by the setting of his Nottinghamshire childhood reeling from the aftermath of the Great War. Following performances at Sheffield Theatres, the production will embark on a national tour.

In recent years the Crucible has become known for its highly regarded Christmas musical, this year Paul Foster (Tell Me On a Sunday – Tour) will direct Anna-Jane Casey (Mack and Mabel – Chichester Festival Theatre) as Annie Oakley in Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. With choreography by Crucible favourite Alistair David (Show Boat – Crucible), the Wild West musical will run from 8 December – 14 January.

For the younger festive audience, Sheffield Theatres will co-produce The Snow Child, with Dancing Brick and the Unicorn Theatre from 14 December – 7 January.

Finally, the Crucible will kick off 2016 with another world première, Everybody's Talking About Jamie – a new musical by Dan Gillespie Sells (lead vocalist of The Feeling) and Tom MacRae (Crash of the Elysium – Manchester International Festival).

Running from 8 – 25 February 2017 and directed by Jonathan Butterell (Into the Woods – Donmar Warehouse), Everybody's Talking About Jamie tells the story of a sixteen-year-old Sheffielder who 'has a secret'.

On his last season, Daniel Evans said: "I’m delighted that my final season at Sheffield will combine new and classic plays and musicals. It’s particularly edifying that two of our productions – a new adaptation of the classic novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and a brand new musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – will come to the stage after many years of development work.

"We shall soon be announcing news of my successor, but in the meantime, I want to thank everyone at Sheffield Theatres – staff, partners and audiences – for the most joyful seven years."

After seven years at Sheffield Theatres, Daniel Evans will leave the company at the end of June to become artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre.