Sheffield finds musical Grease is the show that it wants at Lyceum as Crucible goes punk with Typical Girls

This production promises to be grittier and more glamorous than ever before. The 1970s movie version of the show was of course a huge hit, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy.

After a whirlwind summer romance, leather-clad greaser Danny and girl-next-door Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High for senior year. But can they survive the trials and tribulations of teenage life and find true love once more?

With its phenomenal score, bursting with hits including Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted to You and You’re the One That I Want, this new version is brought to life by a fresh young cast.

The show is directed by Leicester Curve theatre’s artistic director Nikolai Foster with choreography by Arlene Phillips.

Grease comes to the Lyceum Theatre from October 5-9. Tickets can be booked through the box office in person, over the phone on 0114 249 6000 or at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.

Sheffield Theatres continues to follow the industry-wide safety protocols and government guidance for indoor entertainment. All the latest information is available at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/your-visit.

It’s well worth heading to the Crucible to see Typical Girls, a riotously funny and moving story of women prisoners who form a punk band when a music teacher comes in to lead some sessions to help with their rehabilitation.

The show is a co-production with Clean Break, a theatre company set up by two ex-women prisoners who use theatre to discuss issues around women and crime and help bring positive change to women in the prison system.

Writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm uses the songs of women’s punk band The Slits, including the title song, to highlight each prisoner’s story – the seemingly loudly confident Mouth (Alison Fitzjohn) talks about her anxieties and battles with booze, Munch (Lara Grace Ilori) looks back on a failed, turbulent relationship with a girlfriend, Jane (Helen Cripps) aims to look respectable and different from the chaotic inmates, Geordie (Lucy Edkins) cleans to keep sane and Precious (Eddy Queens) tries to picture her children.

The cast, brilliantly directed by Róisín McBrinn of Clean Break, create the sheer joy of making music in a place where there's nothing else positive for them. They all make their characters entirely believable and you are swept along with their story and the impossible dream of performing to an audience.

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Lucy Ellinson plays music teacher Marie, who wants passionately for the women to succeed – just how passionately is shown at the end of the show when things begin to unravel.

Carrie Rock as Jo represents the voice of authority in the prison system, clashing with Marie as she worries the sessions have gone too far amid public criticism of the rehabilitation experiment.

Typical Girls is at the Lyceum until October 16. There’s a livestream of the show on October 6. Box office details as above.

Butter Side Up Theatre Company return to Theatre Deli, Sheffield this weekend with an original parody musical of the hit TV show Game of Thrones after a wait of more than a year due to Covid.

Like many companies during lockdown, the cast had to contend with the novelty of Zoom rehearsals as well.

Writer and director Sian Meredith brings Westeros to life with a healthy dose of bitter sarcasm, dry wit and enough Game of Thrones trivia to keep any fan happy.

As well as poking fun at the mistakes of the TV show, Game of Thrones: The Spoof Musical adds a medley of pop hits to the mix.

Butter Side Up Theatre Company are no strangers to satire, having performed Batman: A Spoof Musical to sell-out audiences in 2017.

“Rehearsals have been filled with laughter,” said writer and director Sian Meredith.

“We bonded as a cast over the things we loved and loathed about the TV show and now, working hard to bring the silliness to stage is even better.

“Pop music is so light and fun and the opposite to the usual tone of Westeros that it felt like the perfect genre to display the characters’ hidden feelings.”

Game of Thrones: The Spoof Musical will be performed at Theatre Deli, Sheffield on October 1 and 2. Tickets are available at www.buttersideuptheatre.com

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