Sheffield announces Macbeth, My Fair Lady, Monty & Moore
Sheffield Theatres’ new season will include Macbeth, revivals of My Fair Lady and A Taste of Honey, a new play from DC Moore and – as previously reported – a stage version of The Full Monty..
The play centres around feisty, 16 year-old, pregnant, Mancunion Jo whose with a gay best friend, a missing mother and a black boyfriend away at sea. The production will feature a live jazz band on the stage.
The play was Delaney’s first, written when she was just 18. She died last year making this the first major posthumous revival.
The Crucible’s big Christmas show will be a revival of Lerner & Loewe’s classic musical My Fair Lady about Covent Garden flower seller turned linguistic guinea pig Eliza Dolittle. The show, adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, features the songs “On The Street where you Live”, “With a Little Bit of Luck” and “I Could have Danced all Night”. Daniel Evans will direct with designs by Paul Wills, choreography by Alistair David, musical direction by Nigel Lilley lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Simon Baker.
November will see the world première of DC Moore’s latest play Straight which asks, “When is your best friend not your best friend?”. It follows a night out with friends Waldorf and Lewis who make a bet that will takes their friendship to a whole new level. Straight will be directed by Richard Wilson with design by James Cotterill, lighting by Johanna Town and music and sound by Michael Bruce. DC Moore‘s plays is include the pub-specific Honest, Alaska and The Empire.
The season’s biggest coup is undoubtedly the return of The Full Monty – the story of former steel-worker turned male strippers – to its home town. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy has adapted his own screenplay for the stage in what will be his first work for the theatre. Beaufoy’s films include Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, 127 Hours and the adaptation of Slumdog Millionaire which earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
The Full Monty will be co-produced by Sheffield Theatres with West End producing partners David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. Robert Jones (Wizard of Oz, Calendar Girls) will design.
Also featured in the season is the UK regional première of Penelope Skinner’s comedy The Village Bike, originally staged last year at the Royal Court in London. Jonathan Humphreys directs with design by Fabrice Serafino, lighting by Natasha Chivers and sound by Alex Baranowski. The season kicks off in September with artistic director Daniel Evans helming Shakespeare’s Macbeth with a design by Richard Kent, lighting by David Plater and music composed by Richard Taylor.
