This summer, we're hosting a variety of compelling guest productions in the Studio Theatre. Audiences can expect visions of the past and possible futures, live music about the call of wild places, explorations of identity and resilience, as well as a unique new play by young creatives.
First to visit the Studio is Lava on Wednesday 11 May. In this new play by James Fritz, boy meets girl, boy can’t talk to girl, and a small asteroid has hit the capital city. In a world that celebrates self-expression, what happens to those who can’t express themselves? And what lengths will we go to, to make sense of our sadness?
Sheffield People's Theatre Young Company combine theatre and gaming to create a brand new production where the audience makes the decisions in Maybe I Will on Saturday 28 May. The Young Company is a group of ambitious young artists aged 18-25 who are all looking to develop a career in the creative industries. Maybe I Will follows the possible paths of a newspaper staff during local election time, when their benefactor The Big Bad Wolf does something controversial. The power to decide lies with the audience.
Under the Stars, a creative arts charity for people with learning difficulties and/or Autism, present two original shows from Tuesday 31 May – Wednesday 1 June. Freedonia is about a dystopian world where dreaming is forbidden, and The Many Journeys of Maria Rossini follows the adventures of the villagers and a fearless old woman in sixteenth-century Scilly.
These Hills Are Ours then plays on Saturday 4 June. Do you ever want to run away from it all? Daniel Bye and Boff Whalley did exactly that: they ran a series of routes from the centre of a city to the top of the peak overlooking that city. But what are we really running from? In story and in song, These Hills Are Ours is the story of what they found out on those journeys.
Family show What Happened To You is on Saturday 9 July. Follow Little Red, Bo and Noodles, three raggedy puppets, who just like their puppeteers, are trying to get through the day but ahead of them lies a mountain of challenges. This show exposes the preconceptions disabled people face in a playful and humorous way, and showcases the endless opportunities out there once barriers, of all kinds, are removed.
In an attempt to find clues for how to overpower uncertainty, circus Strong Lady Charmaine presents Power on Thursday 14 July. Expect a mix of storytelling, circus, comedy and a voiceover soundtrack of people revealing their strength and struggle in their own words. Uncover stories, choice, change, resilience and determination - and marvel at the extraordinary strength of ‘ordinary’ people.
as british as a watermelon plays onThursday 21 July. ‘My name is mandla. It means power. I gave it to myself.’ mandla rae has a selective memory and they are scrambling to piece together their life. This play questions what it means to belong through exploring mandla’s fragmented asylum and migration memories. mandla weaves poetry and storytelling together with destruction and colourful chaos.
All Studio productions are on sale now. Tickets can be booked through the Box Office in person, over the phone on 0114 249 6000 or at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
