Cast Confirmed For Daniel Evans's New Season At Sheffield Theatres!

With his production of The Full Monty on national tour, and The Daughter-in-Law opening earlier this week, Artistic Director Daniel Evans announces the new season for Sheffield Theatres.

Alan Bennett's award-winning The History Boys opens at the Crucible in June, with Matthew Kelly as Hector and Nicholas Day as the Headmaster.

Daniel Evans will then direct his second musical, This is My Family, following in the success of the critically acclaimed My Fair Lady. Siân Phillips leads the company in the world première of Tim Firth's new musical.

Acclaimed screenwriter Kay Mellor will then make her Sheffield Theatres' debut directing her own play, A Passionate Woman. Lynda Bellingham plays the title role, opposite Christopher Timothy. Following performances at Sheffield, the production will embark on a national tour.

The season is completed by Associate Director Paul Miller returning to the Crucible with a new production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

Also announced today is the New York transfer of Mike Bartlett's Bull to 59E59 Theaters in New York, as part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival.

Artistic Director Daniel Evans said today, 'I'm delighted to announce details of our forthcoming work in Sheffield. Whilst this is undoubtedly a challenging time for us, having received our third round of local authority cuts in as many years, it's crucial that we continue to celebrate the essential part Sheffield Theatres plays in making Sheffield a vibrant place to live.

'I'm thrilled that Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly is coming to play Hector in Alan Bennett's The History Boys; Siân Phillips will play May in Tim Firth's brand new musical comedy This Is My Family; and Lynda Bellingham will play Betty in Kay Mellor's A Passionate Woman.

'Later in the autumn, following his most recent success with The Daughter-in-Law, Paul Miller will direct a brand new production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.'

CRUCIBLE

The History Boys

By Alan Bennett

16 May - 8 June

Cast includes: Ross Anderson (Rudge), Oliver Coopersmith (Posner), Nicholas Day (Headmaster), Tom Rhys Harries (Dakin), Regé-Jean Page (Crowther), Edward Judge (Timms), Matthew Kelly (Hector), Joshua Miles (Lockwood), Edwin Thomas (Irwin)

Director: Michael Longhurst; Designer: Chloe Lamford; Lighting Designer: Neil Austin

Music and Sound: Ben and Max Ringham; Choreographer: Imogen Knight

Musical Director: Tom Brady

'I'm a Jew. I'm small. I'm homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I'm f**ked'

A levels may be over, but for one set of unruly pupils, their education is far from finished.

Back in lessons to train for entrance exams, the boys find themselves caught between two opposing styles of teaching. Eccentric Hector leads with a flamboyance that brings everything to life, while cynical Irwin has been brought in by the Head to provide a ruthless route to Oxbridge. But with love, sex and university on their minds, the question is, will any of them make the grade?

The History Boys by Alan Bennett is one of Britain's favourite comedies, full of stunning one-liners and teenage anxieties.

Nicholas Day plays the Headmaster. For theatre, he has worked extensively for both the RSC and National Theatre. Other theatre credits include The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Hecuba (Donmar Warehouse), Boy Gets Girl (Royal Court) and The Iceman Cometh (Almedia Theatre and Old Vic). For television, his work includes Garrow's Law, Cambridge Spies, In Defence and The Lakes; and for film, Wolfman, Amazing Grace and The Golden Bowl.

Matthew Kelly plays Hector. For theatre, his credits include, The Seagull (Southwark Playhouse), God of Carnage(Southampton), Educating Rita (Menier Chocolate Factory and Edinburgh Festival), Legally Blonde, Spamalot (UK tours), Buried Child (Curve Leicester), Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Sign Of The Times and Lend Me A Tenor - The Musical(both West End), Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Trafalgar Studios), Troilus and Cressida(Shakespeare's Globe), Victory (Arcola Theatre), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), Mirandolina (Manchester Royal Exchange),Endgame (Liverpool Everyman), Forgotten Voices (Riverside Studios) and Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West End - Olivier Award for Best Actor). For television, his work includes Cold Blood, Bleak House, Egypt: The Pharaoh And The Showman and The Temple Of The Sands, Moving On, Benidorm, MI High, My Family At War, Forensic Casebook, City Hospital and Stars in their Eyes; and for film, Showreel, Tribute, Two Stops To Bank and Tortoise.

Michael Longhurst directs. His credits include Nick Payne's If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (Roundabout Theatre, New York),Constellations (Royal Court and Duke of York's Theatre).
He has directed world premières at the Royal Court, Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival including Adam Brace's Stovepipe in a promenade co-production with The National Theatre. He is a recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award at the Young Vic (Dirty Butterfly, 2007) and a Fringe First (Guardians).

STUDIO

This Is My Family

Close relatives. Dream holiday. Total nightmare.

A brand new musical comedy by Tim Firth

19 June - 20 July

Cast includes: Bill Champion, Evelyn Hoskins, Terence Keeley, Rachel Lumberg, Siân Phillips

Director: Daniel Evans; Designer: Richard Kent; Musical Director: Caroline Humphris

Lighting Designer: David Plater; Sound Designer: Nick Greenhill

Imagine you entered a magazine competition to describe your family.

Imagine you came first and won a dream holiday for the lot of you, anywhere in the world.

Then imagine you're thirteen and what you'd written was a load of lies 'cause actually you feel your family is on the verge of splitting up.

Where is the one place on earth you could take them that might make a difference?

Tim Firth's work for theatre includes Calendar Girls, Sign of the Times, Our House, The Flint Street Nativity, Absolutely Frank, The Safari Party, Neville's Island, and A Man of Letters. For television, his credits include Trapped, Cruise of the Gods, Border Cafe, Preston Front, The Rottentrolls, Once Upon a Time in the North and All Quiet on the Preston Front; and for film, The Wedding Video, Kinky Boots, Calendar Girls and Blackball.

Siân Phillips' recent theatre credits include Cabaret (Savoy Theatre & UK Tour), Little Dogs (Frantic Assembly / National Theatre of Wales), Lovesong (Frantic Assembly, UK Tour & Lyric Hammersmith), Juliet and Her Romeo (Bristol Old Vic), A Little Night Music (Opera Theatre of St Louis), Calendar Girls (UK tour & West End), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Regrets Only (New York),Rockaby (Dublin/Barbican Centre), Great Expectations (Cheek by Jowl and Royal Shakespeare Company), and The Dark, Maxibules, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Man and Superman, Night of the Iguana, Vanilla, Thursday' s Ladies and Hedda Gabler (National Theatre). Her television credits include New Tricks, La Femme Nikita, The Murder Room, Aristocrats, Crime & Punishment, The Oresteia, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley' s People, How Green Was My Valley, I, Claudius, The Magician's House, Ballykissangel, Summer Silence and Snow Spider; and for film, Gigolos, Goodbye Mr Chips, Coming and Going, Dune, Murphy's War, Valmont, The Age of Innocence, House of America, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Under Milk Wood.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Daniel Evans directs. As an actor, his previous work for the company includes Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest. As director, he previously directed An Enemy of the People - the opening production of his inaugural season, Racing Demon as part of The David Hare Season, Othello, Macbeth, My Fair Lady and most recently, The Full Monty (currently on tour). An award-winning actor and director, Evans' work includes Sunday in the Park with George (Menier Chocolate Factory, Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway) - a role for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical (his second Olivier Award, the first being for Merrily We Roll Along in 2001) and a Tony Award nomination. His extensive credits include work with the Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre. Evans is a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

LYCEUM

A Passionate Woman

Written and directed by Kay Mellor

10 - 21 September

Cast includes: Lynda Bellingham, Christopher Timothy, Peter McMillan

Designer: Robert Jones; Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin; Associate Director: Jack Ryder

It is the morning of Betty's son's wedding and she decides to go up into the attic to dust.

Surrounded by clutter, memories and ghosts from her past, Betty finds herself torn between the three men in her life - a husband she's never really loved, a son she's about to lose and a man she had a passionate affair with over thirty years ago.

Desperate to escape it all, there's only one place to go and that's.... up.

This is the first ever major revival of Kay Mellor's glorious comedy, which she later adapted as a major television drama for BBC One. After the run at Sheffield Theatres, the production embarks on national tour.

Award-winning writer, director and actress Kay Mellor (b1951) directs her 1992 play in a new production for Sheffield Theatres. Having honed her craft on long running drama series, Mellor went on to write many of the UK's finest television dramas includingBand of Gold (RTS Award, ITV Programme of the Year), Some Kind of Life (Prix Niki Award), Girl's Night (Gracie Allen Award),Playing the Field, Gold, Fat Friends (Dennis Potter Award), A Good Thief, Between the Sheets, Gifted, The Chase, Strictly Confidential and The Syndicate (which returns to the BBC later this year). For film, her work includes Fanny and Elvis.

Lynda Bellingham plays Betty. For theatre, she most recently created the role of Chris in the stage play of Calendar Girls. Her other theatre work includes Vincent River (Old Vic Productions), Sugar Mummies (Royal Court) and Losing Louis (Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios). For television, her work includes Mr Eleven, Love Soup, Robin Hood, At Home With the Braithwaites, My Uncle Silas, Martin Chuzzlewit and All Creatures Great and Small. Bellingham was also a series regular on Loose Women.

Christopher Timothy plays Donald, reuniting with his All Creatures Great and Small co-star Bellingham. For theatre, his work includes The Diary of Anne Frank (York Theatre Royal and UK tour), Season's Greetings, Hay Fever, Heroes (UK tours), All the Fun of the Fair (Garrick Theatre) and The Grapes of Wrath (Chichester Festival Theatre and ETT tour). Timothy was also a series regular on Doctors.

A Passionate Woman is the second co-production between Sheffield Theatres and David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers, the multi-award winning producers of Art, Brief Encounter, God of Carnage, Calendar Girls and The Full Monty.

CRUCIBLE

The Winter's Tale

By William Shakespeare

2 October - 2 November

Director: Paul Miller; Designer: Simon Daw; Lighting Designer: Mark Doubleday

Composer: Terry Davies

'It is requir'd you do awake your faith'

Family bonds and lifelong friendships are torn apart as one man's wild jealousy turns to tyranny.

Years later, a young couple in another land set in motion a miraculous redemption.

Comedy and tragedy combine in Shakespeare's fantastical story, directed by Sheffield Theatres' Associate Director Paul Miller.

Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres, Paul Miller directs. For Sheffield Theatres, his work includes True West, Hamlet,Democracy (as part of The Michael Frayn Season, and also Old Vic) and The Daughter-in-Law (currently in the Crucible). His other work includes Elling at the Bush Theatre and Trafalgar Studios, Baby Girl/DNA/The Miracle, The Enchantment, The History Boys (Wyndham's and Ahmanson Theater LA), Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads and The Associate for The National Theatre, andTotal Eclipse at the Menier Chocolate Factory. He worked for many years at The National Theatre Studio developing new plays and has directed for the Bush, the Arcola, Hampstead, ETT, Soho Theatre and the Royal Court.

Sheffield Theatres IN NEW YORK

Bull

By Mike Bartlett

Director: Clare Lizzimore; Designer: Soutra Gilmour; Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford

Sound Designer: Christopher Shutt

Sheffield Theatres' recent production of Mike Bartlett's Bull, staged in the Studio Theatre in February, will transfer to the 59E59 Theaters in New York, as part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival.

The production, which runs at the Off-Broadway Theatre from 22 April to 2 June, will star original cast members Adam James,Eleanor Matsuura and Sam Troughton, with director Clare Lizzimore at the helm.

Mike Bartlett's razor-sharp play about office politics; or playground bullying - depending which side you're on - follows the story of three office work colleagues applying for just two jobs and explores the issue of bullying in the workplace.

Mike Bartlett is an award-winning playwright. He is currently Associate Playwright at Paines Plough, and has previously held the role of Writer in Residence at The National Theatre (2011), and Pearson Playwright in Residence at The Royal Court Theatre (2007). Plays for the theatre include Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre and Gielgud Theatre), Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough national tour and Royal Court), 13 (National Theatre), Decade (co-writer Headlong), Earthquakes in London (Headlong, National Theatre), Love,Love,Love (Paines Plough/Plymouth Theatre Royal), Cock, Contractions, My Child (Royal Court Theatre), Artefacts (Bush Theatre/Nabokov). Plays for the radio: Heart, The Core, Family Man, Love Contract (BBC Radio 4), The Steps, Not Talking (BBC Radio 3).

Clare Lizzimore is an award-winning theatre director. Her credits include Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre, Michael Frayn Studio), One Day When We Were Young (A Sheffield Theatres and Paines Plough co-production as part of the Roundabout Season), Pieces Of Vincent (Arcola Theatre), Pacific Island (RSC), Faces In The Crowd (Royal Court Theatre), War and Peace, Fear and Misery (Royal Court Theatre/Latitude Festival), On The Rocks (Hampstead Theatre), Jonah and Otto(Royal Exchange Theatre), Tom Fool (Glasgow Citizens' Theatre / Bush Theatre), The Most Humane Way To Kill A Lobster(Theatre 503) and, as Co-Director with Max Stafford Clark, The Mother (Royal Court Theatre). Her awards include the Channel 4 Theatre Directors Award and the Arts Foundation Theatre Directing Fellowship. Lizzimore is currently an Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre.

www.britsoffbroadway.com

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