Crucible Theatre Sheffield: Sir Ian McKellen among fans of 'Britain's finest theatre'

Designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch, the venue hosts regular theatrical performances and is most famously known for being the home of the World Snooker Championships which has been held there annually since 1977.

Collin George, the theatre's first director, suggested in the 1960s that the Crucible had a thrust stage where the audience would be sat on three different sides of the centre.

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The suggestion was inspired by theatres created by Sir Tyrone Guthrie who was passionate about bringing audiences and actors together.

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John Tomlinson, Producer at Sheffield Theatres, said: “The auditorium has such a beautiful layout where you're never more than 22 metres away from centre stage when watching a play.

“The uniqueness of the stage allows the audience to see more of the action - they get the finer details of an actor’s performance which is special.

“A thrust stage is one that is not seen very often in England or in fact around the world.

“We're incredibly grateful to Colin George, his son Tedd, and designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch who gambled when developing the concept of the theatre's layout - their artistic innovation in the 70s has made the crucible a very special and unique place to be.”

Theatre Book Prize winner 2022 ‘Stirring Up Sheffield’ written by Colin and Tedd George, tells the story of how the idea for the revolutionary theatre came about and explains the difficulties that were faced.

Many famous names have performed at the Crucible during its 51-year history including Victoria Wood, John Simm, Kenneth Branagh, and Dominic West.

Mr Tomlinson said: “The Crucible is famous for many reasons: The architecture, the stage that we have, the people that work here and our audiences who are exhilarated by the work that we make here.

“There’s a really sweet spot in the Crucible where you can see the fine detail of a snooker cue hitting a ball across the table, and then you can be transformed into a project like Life of Pi where you're in the middle of the ocean.

“The Crucible has an epicness when it needs to and takes us to far-gone places, but it also has detail where you can see every minutia of an actor or snooker player’s work.

“People are very used to seeing the typical world of theatre and when they come to the Crucible it opens up their mind when seeing something very different.”

The Crucible is one of three venues at ‘Sheffield Theatres’ - a theatre complex in Sheffield city centre which compromises The Lyceum, The Crucible Studio and the world-famous Crucible theatre.

The three venues make up the largest regional theatre complex outside of the London region.

Mr Tomlinson added: “The legacy of the Crucible’s developers lives on through all of us and we have to continue to be innovative and connect to our community and audiences.

“We want to be the best theatre in England and in the world and we’re not doing a bad job I don't think.”

The World Snooker Championships will return to the Crucible once again in April next year.