The new artistic director at sheffield theatres is seeking talented playwrights who will speak to a new generation. Meanwhile he chats to Tony Greenway.
An hour before I speak to Robert Hastie, the new(ish) artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, I manage to get hold of four tickets to the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage show in London. This is good news and bad news. On the upside, my children will be thrilled. On the downside, and aptly for Harry Potter, it means that £360 has been swiftly magicked away from my bank account. If our seats were in the stalls, this would be OK; but we’ll be about as far away from the stage as it’s possible to get: in the balcony, about halfway back. We’ll be so far up, we could have a game of Quidditch. Hastie sympathises. ‘Congratulations on getting the HP tickets, they’re like gold dust, he says. ‘But, ouch. That’s got to hurt. Going to the theatre can be an expensive business.’ And that is why he recently announced that Sheffield is dropping its lowest ticket prices, scrapping its booking fees, offering 10,000 £15 tickets across the new season and telling drama or performing arts students in Sheffield that they can come to the Crucible stage for free. ‘For me it’s about how do we open our doors as wide as possible,’ he says. ‘There are lots of reasons why people go, or don’t go, to the theatre and price is right up there among them.’
Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Yorkshire Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Yorkshire Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Charity Starts At Home
How do we teach our children the importance of giving back?
THE INTERVIEW Steph McGovern
Live from Leeds - Steph McGovern returns to the studio after a scary lockdown lesson in live TV
THE SCENE SETTERS
Hidden away in a North Yorkshire village, you’ll find a business making huge stage sets for global audiences, from TV’s The Voice, to the Olympics and Trafalgar Square’s plinths
On solid ground
Dry stone walls are the thread that bind Yorkshire’s landscape. Fancy giving it a go? Pete Maynard quit his job to do just that
The French furniture hunters
A day in the life of Stephen and Kath Hazell who run The French House in York, one of the largest French antiques businesses in the UK
Face value
We caught up with Sarah Thomas, co-founder of the York-based beauty brand that’s changing the game with waterless, vegan, natural and organic products
Wildlife in crisis
From the bottom of the sea to the top of the tallest tree, there are tales of wildlife woes all over Yorkshire. The good news is that it’s not too late to save what little remains
Decorative art
Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality
Boxing clever
The Hare at Scawton was named Yorkshire Life Restaurant of the Year in 2019 and owners Paul and Liz Jackson had big plans for their gourmet hotspot. When lockdown happened, they put down the kitchen knives and opened the tool box. The results are spectacular
All the dales
This route from Thixendale to Hanging Grimston is often missed by local hikers, but it covers a number of glorious dales. Warning: there’s a one in six climb, but the views make it all worthwhile
