Crucible Theatre

Arthur Lloyd.co.uk The Music Hall and Theatre History Site Dedicated to Arthur Lloyd, 1839 - 1904. Above - A Google StreetView Image showing the Crucible and Lyceum Theatres, Tudor Square, Sheffield in October 2016 - Click to Interact. The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, stands roughly on the site of the former Theatre Royal, Tudor Street , and almost next door to the Lyceum Theatre . It was built at a time when Sheffield had lost all its major Theatres and had only one small venue left in operation, namely the Library Theatre . In 1969 work began on a new Theatre for the City, the Crucible Theatre, designed by Renton, Howard and Wood Associates, with a thrust stage and a steeply raked auditorium, with a capacity of 900. The Theatre opened with a production of 'Fanfare' in November 1971, and today also has a small Studio Theatre attached with a capacity of 400. The Theatre was the subject of a £15 million refurbishment during 2007 to 2009 during which it remained closed, apart from the staging of the World Snooker Championships in 2008 and 2009. The Theatre reopened on the 11th of February 2010 with a production of 'An Enemy of the People' and was followed by an official reopening by the Earl of Wessex on the 18th of November 2010. The Sheffield Crucible is today one of Britain's major touring venues and a Producing House in its own right, and is also famous for being the home of the World Snooker Championship, screened on TVs all over the world every year. If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share please Contact me. The Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield was designed by the well known Theatre Architect W. G. R. Sprague in 1897 and is today the only complete Sprague Theatre still surviving in the Provinces . The Lyceum was built on the site of Stacey's Circus which was destroyed by fire in May 1893 , and its successor, Walter Emden's City Theatre which had opened on Boxing Day 1893 but closed in 1897 . Right - A Programme Cover for the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield for the D'Oyly Carte Principle Repertoire Opera Company performing 'Patience' and 'The Mikado' on March the 13th 1905 Courtesy Ron Knee. The Lyceum used the City Theatre's stage house but the stage itself was rebuilt along with the rest of the Theatre, including a wonderful new auditorium constructed on three levels, Stalls, Circle, and Balcony which was reported at the time to be able to accommodate some 3,000 people. The Lyceum Theatre opened on Monday the 11th of October 1897 with a production of Bizet's 'Carmen' by the Carla Rosa Opera Company. The ERA reported on the new Theatre in their 9th of October 1897 edition saying:- 'This palatial temple of the drama, which has taken the place of the City Theatre , will undoubtedly rank high in the list of beautiful new playhouses which are beginning to adorn the main streets of the principal provincial towns . The new theatre externally presents a most commanding and ornate appearance, occupying, as it does, an entirely isolated position, with exits into three important thoroughfares, viz., Tudor-street, Arundel-street, and Tudor-place. Mr W. R. Sprague has certainly had a difficult task, but a look at the building shows at once that he has triumphantly succeeded, for in place of the flat, uninteresting elevation of the old City Theatre , the eye of the artistic beholder is gladdened by a bold, classic frontage, with imposing Ionic columns and ornamental designs, symbolical of the high and honourable purpose for which the structure has been erected. Right - A Painting by George Richmond depicting the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield in 1897 . George says that the colours were suggested by the restored auditorium photos on this page. The Theatre opened with a production of Carmen given by the Carla Rosa Opera company. The set George has placed on the stage is a faithful recreation of the original act one set for this opera taken from the original drawing and used in the Premier p