Sheffield Theatres has announced that Robert Hastie is leaving as Artistic Director after eight years.
His final season from summer 2024 to spring 2025 in the Crucible Theatre and Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse in Sheffield will include a number of new productions.
Highlights of Hastie’s final season include a new production of Chariots of Fire (6 – 27 July 2024) by Mike Bartlett, directed by Robert Hastie. The production celebrates the 100th anniversary of record-breaking races at the 1924 Paris Olympics and the true story of two athletes’ support of each other’s beliefs.
Other highlights include a new version of A Doll’s House (21 September – 12 October 2024) by Henrik Ibsen and adapted by Standing at the Sky’s Edge writer Chris Bush. The production will be directed by Elin Schofield, reuniting the pair after ROCK / PAPER / SCISSORS.
Also a new production of Little Shop of Horrors (7 December 2024 – 18 January 2025) will be their winter 2024 musical. The show has a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, and music by Alan Menken.
A co-production with Utopia Theatre will take place in 2025, producing Death and the King’s Horseman (3 – 8 February 2025) by Wole Soyinka, directed by Mojisola Kareem; and there will be a revival of Tennessee Williams’ multi-award winning play A Streetcar Named Desire (1 – 29 March 2025), directed by Josh Seymour.
In the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, productions will include Sheffield Theatres and Theatre Centre collaborating on Dizzy (25 September – 12 October 2024), a fantastical teenage odyssey of grief, love, unexpected heroes and street art by Mohammed Zain-Dada.
Also, KENREX (26 October- 16 November 2024), from Aria Entertainment, the makers of Olivier-nominated hit Cruise, which brings together western, true crime and music. The show is written by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian, performed by Jack Holden, and has music by John Patrick Elliott.
Other productions include Malorie Blackman’s award-winning book Pig Heart Boy (27 February – 15 March 2025), adapted by Winsome Pinnock, directed by Tristan Finn-Aiduenu, and co-produced with Unicorn Theatre and Children’s Theatre Partnership.
Robert Hastie said in a statement that, “it has been an honour to lead this wonderful group of theatres for the last eight years, and to work alongside such a committed, talented and kind collection of people”. See below for the full statement.
Robert Hastie directed the acclaimed Sheffield Theatres production of Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which has gone on to win multiple awards at the National Theatre, and is now playing at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in the West End.
Sheffield Theatres has attracted attention, awards and audiences under Hastie’s leadership, including winning 9 UK Theatre Awards, 7 Olivier Awards, 3 Tony Awards and 3 Stage Debut Awards. Sheffield Theatres has also been named Theatre of the Year twice by the Stage, as well as winning the Stage Award for Achievement in Technical Theatre.
What They Said
Robert Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, said in a statement: “It has been an honour to lead this wonderful group of theatres for the last eight years, and to work alongside such a committed, talented and kind collection of people. There is nowhere like it – the range of theatre spaces, and the multiplicity of local and national relationships Sheffield Theatres enjoys, make this place a whole cultural ecosystem, and it’s been a joy and an education to work at its heart. The bumper season we announce today reflects the variety and quality of great nights out and opportunities to join in that our audiences rightly expect of us.
“I have loved working here. I will miss crossing Tudor Square and bumping into actors on a break from rehearsal, young artists on their way to an R&D workshop in our Talent Development space, lines of schoolkids queuing noisily for a matinee in the Lyceum, passers-by keen to stop me and tell me what they thought of last night’s show in the Crucible. The immense privilege of working in a city that loves its theatre is something I will never forget. Every time I’ve introduced a new director, actor or designer to our stages, it has been with an enormous sense of pride in the warm welcome I know they’ll receive from our staff and audiences. It’s inspired me to programme adventurously and eclectically, to invite world-class talent whose work I admire, to make productions of my own that I’m hugely proud of, and to dedicate resources to nurturing the next generation of local artists who are already beginning to make their presences felt on stages in Sheffield and beyond. Above all to see no useful distinction between the value we place on work that connects with our local neighbourhoods and that which achieves national and international acclaim. I’ve had the great good fortune to have been supported in all these endeavours by a dedicated board of trustees chaired by the great, much-missed Bob Kerslake, and by successive Chief Execs Dan Bates and Tom Bird and Deputy CEO Bookey Oshin, true champions of the theatre who have taught me so much about compassionate leadership, and who have become dear friends. I’m beyond excited to see where Tom and the splendid senior team take the theatres next, as they begin the search for a lucky Artistic Director who is about to discover that this is one of the best jobs in British Theatre.
“For now, I’m looking forward to a thrilling final season that mixes bold new voices with global classics, risk-taking work for younger audiences with innovative new musical theatre, and family entertainment with chances to get involved in an inclusive participatory programme. I’m delighted to fire the starting pistol with a new production of Chariots of Fire, adapted by Mike Bartlett from the iconic film about the Paris 1924 Olympic Games, as we countdown to Paris 2024. It will be an epic way to say goodbye to the stage – the best of its kind in the country – that I’ve been lucky to call home for the last eight years.”
Tom Bird, Chief Executive of Sheffield Theatres, said: “Rob’s contribution to Sheffield over the past 8 years has been colossal. He has brought to Sheffield Theatres a rare combination of electrifying ambition mixed with a warm and humble personality. Rob’s achievements here are too many to mention in full, but they range from the intrepid ROCK / PAPER / SCISSORS, to the deeply human The York Realist, to a gorgeous Guys and Dolls. With Standing at the Sky’s Edge, he led the team that crafted a theatrical holy grail: a show that simultaneously empowers a specific place and achieves astonishing commercial success elsewhere. In line with the values of craftsmanship and friendliness that Sheffield holds dear, Rob is both a master of his art, and absolutely lovely with it. He leaves these theatres in rude health, and the city with an even bigger heart.“
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